Like Apostle Peter said, there is no private interpretation of God's Word.
This is a commonly misunderstood conclusion. Peter is not saying there are no private interpretations of Scripture, but that personal speculation ought not be taught for Scripture, unless or until Scripture proves them true. No prophecy, teaching, preaching of Scripture should be of any private interpretation not proven by Scripture.
So if someone is pushing their 'own' idea, they simply have left God's Word and that's all there is to that, except this...
This is what I am saying about there can be private interpretations, but just don't teach them without Scriptural proof.
We can have personal insights and leaps of imagination about Scripture, but they ,ust be first proven to teach them as truth of God.
How exactly... is someone going to 'know'... when others are pushing an idea of their own and claiming it is God's Word? Easy, those who have actually... STUDIED all of God's Word will know.
Actually it's easier than having to know all Scripture.
A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject.
All it takes is one or two verses that plainly contradict the theory, to do away with it, or at least to correct it to conformity of those verses.
This is why God covers a topic in multiple places in His Word. Thus multiple Scripture witnesses of a matter is the proper way that leads to proper interpretation of His Word.
Exactly again. A true interpretation will begin to see all manner of Scriptures appearing to support it. A false interpretation will be found twisting all manner of Scripture to
make it appear the Bible supports it. There's a difference, that can be seen as the case it argued.
And if the one refusing to acknowledge doesn't know enough Bible Scripture in order to truly disagree, then simply leave that deceived person alone.
True, however it's not so much about having 'enough knowledge', but having integrity enough to be corrected by one or two Scriptures.
Pray for them, and go on to someone that wants help in God's Word.
Exactly. It can be just as seductive to try and force the truth, as it is to continue arguing a lie.
But to be able to do that of course, you'd first have to have God's calling and urge of The Holy Spirit, and already had disciplined yourself in God's Holy Writ like Apostle Paul recommended to Timothy.
True again. Not only the discipline of rightly dividing the word of truth, but also the disciple of not endlessly arguing over heresies.
Like the famous quote in the movie The Wild One, Marlon Brando is asked what he is rebelling against, and answers, "What have ya got?"
Nice take. However, nihilism is not teaching something false, but simply rejecting anything of authority.
I will only say that God's Word shows our flesh body is not the 'real' us, i.e. not our real person. Our spirit and soul, which are attached together and leave our flesh body, is our actual person, and continues on to God when our flesh dies.
Amen to that brother. The natural man rejects any spirit and soul, but there are theologians that makes spirit, soul, and body the same thing. A source teaching for JW rejection of Jesus is Lord and God, is actually based on a natural theology that the soul is the natural body and so the soul is mortal flesh and blood. They say the soul dies with the body, and conclude by carnal thinking, that since Jesus was a man that died bodily, He cannot be God.
Likewise, with Lord Jesus, His Spirit was always God The Christ, even when He was still in Mary's womb.
Exactly. The Word came down from heaven, to dwell in the natural body prepared for Him by the Spirit in the womb of Mary. And so, God the Word was made flesh, with a natural body made of the seed of David, Abraham, Noah, and of Adam.
The body of man is not made in the image of God, Who is Spirit, but is made and formed of the dust, the same as all living creatures, but with entirely different shape. It is Christ who came down to earth, to take on Him a natural body
in the likeness of men. Not in the likeness and image of apes or giraffes.
His Spirit inside His flesh body did not change; He simply chose to allow His flesh body limitations to be like we experience, except when it was needed for Him to escape those limitations (like upon the mount of transfiguration, working miracles, etc.).
True. He also could have called down legions of angels to defend Him against Judas' allies.
New flash: you already have a 'spirit' body inside you right now.
Agreed, our souls are still created in the lowest parts of the earth and wrapped in the womb to come into this world, housed in an earthen vessel of natural flesh and blood.
But I am speaking of how angels never have their bodies of spirit clothed with flesh. Being made flesh and blood is a little downgrade from that of angels. Also, our spiritual bodies are not clothed in immortal physical bodies, until the resurrection of the dead.
The flesh is just earthly material matter of this earthly realm, and not spirit-soul which is of the Heavenly realm (Eccl.12:5-7 again, and John 3:6).
True. Jesus turns our eyes from flesh and blood, to the spiritual man and God, by saying natural flesh has no profit in it. It's the inner man of the heart, that we ought clothe with honor, praise, and glory of Christ. This inner spiritual works is seen in outer honest and godly living.
I don't get into the usage of the 'humanist' terms like modern Bibles use (i.e., NIV). The word 'human' is vague if trying to explain differences in any spiritual sense.
Now this is a big amen. I too always try to stick to Bible words. Calling ourselves 'human' is a secular word, that is used many times by the world to corrupt or even dismiss the soul of man. It is also used by the world, and some hypocritical Christians, that say sinning is 'only being human', and so long as we are still 'only human', then we will continue sinning on earth like all humans.
I hate to say it, but the many of my Christian brethren I've spoken with still struggle with the idea of Christ being Immanuel (God with us) born in the flesh. They don't believe Jesus of Nazareth is God Immanuel (Isaiah 7), nor do they believe that He even existed before being born in the flesh.
These are the heretics that claim Christian religion only. They are not Christians in Christ. If we do not believe Christ is both Lord and God, it is not possible to be a born again son of God.