Guideline

The Bible, and the Bible only, should be the basis of our discussions. Our aim should be to understand that which God has caused to be recorded. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for instruction in righteousness". 2 Timothy 3:16.

To achieve this, we should appreciate that "No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation". 2 Peter 1:20. This means that my opinion (and yours) has no place in our investigations. Neither does that of any church. We must leave our preconceived opinions, our hereditary and cultivated ideas, at the door of investigation. If we search the Scriptures to vindicate our own opinions we will never reach the truth. Let us search to learn what the Lord says for us today.

In practical terms this means that when we are faced with a difficult word or verse, the ONLY way to understand it will be by allowing the Bible to explain itself. First of all, by its context, especially the next few verses, and then by allowing another Scripture to explain the problem one. The Spirit of God will guide us in this by showing us examples in the life of Jesus Christ.

As we do this we shall accumulate a "spiritual dictionary" of understandings which we can then use in other places and at other times. "We have received... the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things we also speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual". 1 Corinthians 2:12-13.

Therefore we can use any translation we wish, ignore any chapter and verse divisions, and punctuation, for they have all been added by other men. We do not need to use archaic words such as "thee" and "heretofore", but can translate them into their modern equivalent as we quote. We do not have any of the original documents so we must trust our heavenly Father that He will not give us "stones" when we ask for "bread". See Luke 11:9-13. I will use the king James version as a basis because it is accepted by so many, not because it is any better than any other. We should show our references for the convenience of others, and put Bible texts in quotation marks.

But that does not rule out sharing something we have just found out through other channels. We can make statements, if they are Bible based and corroborated by another "witness", for "at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established". Deuteronomy 19:15.

This "witness" idea is not, as so many suppose, another place in the Bible where the same idea is expressed so that we can judge by "weight of evidence". Those who think like this usually require two or three verses to "prove" God's word. But His word stands alone. If He says it, then it is so. It is written, "Your word is true from the beginning". Psalm 119:160. What we want is another witness, or witnesses, to explain to our dull senses what the first (true) one means. We may come across many apparent "contradictions" in our search, but they are only "apparent", not real. The "contradiction" is in our understanding, not in the word.

Therefore we will need to give regard to "EVERY word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD", including those which seem to contradict what we want to believe. Deuteronomy 8:3.

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws