(Heb
4:10-13 NKJ) For he who has entered His rest has himself also
ceased from his works as God did from His. 11 ¶ Let us therefore be diligent to enter
that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and
spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart. 13 And there is no
creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes
of Him to whom we must give account.
From a
forum thread:
JS:- Your second
line [in a prior post by X] is more authoritative than the clear witness of
Scripture?
X:- That is
what prophesying; which is the testimony of Jesus is to be. Jesus is truth; man teaches what was given to
them but they were still humans. This is
how man can be with 'one accord'; by accepting and believing the testimony of
Jesus that is given in the gift of prophecy.
Notice Paul teaches that WE are to speak the wisdom of God in a mystery;
that is from the gift of prophecy.
Revelation
19-10: "And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am
thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus:
worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
JS:- Thanks
for the clarification.
Your
implied belief that the spiritual gift of prophecy in the sense of error free
inspired speech and writing and / or the spiritual office of prophet in the
same sense continue in the post-apostolic Church; and your implied belief that
you possess the said gift and / or said office; seems to separate your views
from those whose source of authority is Scripture alone.
This is
similar to the Roman Catholic belief in the dual authority of Scripture and the
teaching authority of the Church.
Roman
Catholic scholars seem to gain great freedom from this when they examine what
the scriptures actually say. They seem to have much less worry than Protestant
scholars about undermining their core beliefs since their core beliefs remain
supported by the teaching authority of the Church.
You
might consider using your seemingly similar freedom in discussing what
scriptures seem to say for themselves without consideration of sectarian
traditions. I, for one, would welcome such discussion.
While on
the subject of authoritative basis for opinion, it seems fit to mention one
of the indicators of error is the "bible in the left hand". That is,
a secondary written source of authority. The error ranges in severity from
Islam where the Koran supplants the earlier recognized Scripture, to
over-reliance on creeds and statements of faith. In between we have the golden
tablets of Joseph Smith and the Mormons, Key to the Scriptures of Mary Baker
Eddy and the Christian Scientists, the writings of Rutherford, etc. and the
Jehovah's Witnesses, the writings of Ellen G. White and the Seventh Day
Adventists, the immense body of post-our-Old-Testament, pre-year-1000-or-so,
writings of modern Judaism.
In time,
the "bible in the left" hand often becomes more important in a de
facto sense than the "Bible in the right hand". Traditions always
have a tendency to obscure the Word of God. But written traditions are a
special danger because of the obvious likeness to Scripture.
We too
often forget that unlike other writings the Word of God is Living. The God
of the prophets has foreseen each reader or hearer, and foreseen every reading
or hearing. And He has composed each part of His living Word to meet all their
several conditions in accordance with His purpose.
A small
thing that we can do to avoid "bible in the left hand" errors is to
always use the word "teaching" instead of "doctrine".
The latter word implies "the written content of authoritative
teaching". The former word, like the Greek New Testament word both English
words are used to translate, can mean either the act or the content of teaching
and implies speech more than writing.
I2C
140107b Heb 4v10to13 Left hand bible / I2C / 140107 1219 / Heb. 4:10-13 Left
hand bible
