Subject: Study Bible |
Bible Note: Hi, Tim... I'd sure hate that too! Of course, we have a greater obligation to insure that our teaching is sound, in harmony with the Word (James 3:1; Titus 1:9; 2:1; Ephesians 4:29). So I'd sure hate for the many silent readers -- now or in the future -- to come away from the forum with a false assurance that they are free to self-generate doctrine. (As though the Holy Spirit leads one person into one kind of "truth" while leading another into another kind.) Still and all, it amazes me when trying to keep people from falling off one side of the mountain, they resist, insisting that you're pushing off the other side of the mountain. So, to reiterate: The gifts of Christ to His body -- individually and corporately -- are essential. One is not inherently superior to another. The truth is not a subjective matter. The Holy Spirit will instruct in that which is true, not bypassing the mind, but through the text of the Word itself. Our God is imminently rational. In order to protect us from our propensity to turn everything upside down, God has gifted the church with the Word, His Spirit, prophets, apostles, pastors/teachers, and one another. Hence, the better question -- as Beja suggested -- is to ask, in the midst of our striving to exercise the necessary disciplines of Bible study, how do we "heap to ourselves" teachers (both living and dead) that will rightly instruct us in the sound doctrine of God's Word? Isn't that the proper application of 2 Timothy 4:1-5? In Him, Doc |