Originally posted by Rajk999
With one mouth you proclaim the inspired word of God and how complete and accurate it is. WIth another mouth you extrapolate and go off preaching different doctrines not clearly in the Bible and often opposing clear Bible doctrines like those from Christ.
No, no, no. You're not going to get away with this bit of slander either.
With one mouth I confess that I believe in the inspiration of Scripture.
And with the exact same mouth I have more than once submitted to this Forum, that I do not consider my
interpretations of Scripture to be infallible.
Now, if there is error in some of my analysis, you have to do more than just say it is there. You have to present a good case for error in what I expound.
Watch this.
What us the
"different doctrines not clearly in the Bible" that you say I am preaching ?
It could be the case that what you
DON'T want to
SEE you argue is not "clear" in the Bible.
Yet you are unable to see the flaw in your preaching...
Once again, I do not regard all my interpretations as infallible.
Look, you do not see me argue about CREEDS. You do see me argue about the plain words of the Scripture.
Creeds of the Christianity are secondary. Creeds of Christianity may even be inadequate. Regardless, creeds are secondary.
What you see me emphasize over creedal like statements is the WORDS of Scripture. Don't get me wrong. Some creeds (and I say
some) may be helpful in a limited way. No creed surpasses the importance of the WORDS of the Scripture.
If my quotation of the WORDS of Scripture and my expounding on the WORDS of Scripture are considered by you "different doctrines" or false Christian teaching, you have to demonstrate that.
I've never known you to be successful in doing that.
Now, you want to insist that the
gold, silver, and precious stones have absolutely nothing to do with the work of the Trinity ??
To that I would say "Maybe". But I think probably they DO have to do with the blessing of the Father, the blessing of the Son, and the blessing of the Holy Spirit.
What is rather symbolic there certainly can be spelled out in plain un-allegorical teaching.
The Christians ARE
"partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4) .
If you cannot grasp the connection, even if imaginatively embellished, between the lasting material of
GOLD and the divine nature of God by which gives the believer to right to address God as
Father, then you need help.
Silver is thought by more than two or three expositors to be a symbol of Christ's REDEMPTION.
And
"precious stones" ? Come on now ! Come on now Bible reader.
You mean you never read that the saints are LIVING STONES to be built up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood ?
" Coming to Him, a living stone, rejected by men but with God chosen and precious.
YOU YOURSELVES ALSO ... as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ." ( 2 Pet. 2:4,5)
Can sinful human beings be built up a spiritual house without the transformation work of the Holy Spirit ?
Can fallen sinners be changed to offer up
"spiritual sacrifices through Jesus Christ" WITHOUT the transforming work of the Holy Spirit ?
Is it not the transforming work of the Holy Spirit which constitutes fallen people to become PRECIOUS to God ?
Is it not the Holy Spirit that can build up the saints in oneness ?
Are the saints not to be the
"dwelling place of God in Spirit" (Eph. 2:22) ?
How are they so made to GROW into a habitation of God in spirit without the Holy Spirit ?
We have plain TEACHING to stand behind the allegorical symbolism of the
"gold, silver, and precious stones" of First Corinthians?
Does such an expounding HURT the Christian ?
Or is such an expounding AGAINST the Gospel of Christ ?
At worst it is a little visionary.
Readers, God can be our
Father. His divine nature being imparted into us is like
gold which cannot be burned up.
Believing into Jesus Christ constitutes a sinner BOUGHT by Jesus Christ out from under the law of God.
" Christ has REDEEMED us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse for us ..." ( Galatians 3:13a)
Jesus Christ can PURCHASE you out from under the eternal judgment of God.
Jesus Christ can BUY you out from under the curse of the law which renders every man stone guilty before God.
Jesus Christ can REDEEM you as SILVER buys.
Come on now people. is it too hard to hear that the church is built up with the divine nature of the Father, the redemption of Jesus Christ and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit -
gold, silver, precious stones ?
that the word of God the way it was written, the teachings of Christ the Son of God, the words He preached .. is not good enough for you.
This expounding of the work of the Father - Son - Holy Spirit, I do not believe harms any Christian I doubt that it harms any unbeliever who has a desire to plumb the depths of the New Testament.
Which one of my usages do you think is the most outlandish ?
My indicating the divine nature of the Father via the symbol of
gold ?
My indicating the redemptive work of Jesus via the symbol of
silver ?
My indicating the transforming work of the Holy Spirit via the symbol of
precious stones?
Which one of these allegorical treatments would you suggest is the most damaging to the Gospel as Jesus preached it ?