I was recently shown this quote from one of the pastors here in Inverness
'The reason the church is in trouble is because it pays to much attention to a book that the early church didn't have, and ignores the Spirit that they did.'
This is quite possibly the most ignorant statement I have ever heard, it is ignorant of the problems faced by the contemporary church which leans towards ignoring the Word rather than paying it too much attention. The Bible is the word of God and as my friend who showed me the quote rightly said, ' what about 2 Tim 3:16' All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
In this text we can see that the Scripture is breathed out by God, that is Spirit inspired, the Spirit of God and the Word of God are not in competition. What we need is the Spirit to help us understand His word that we can live the way Paul encourages, living in righteousness and equipped for every good work. Both word and Spirit are necessary for life and godliness.
Secondly it is ignorant of the state of the early church, whilst it is true that the very first generation of New Testament believers didn't have the writings of the Apostles, they did have the Apostles and in Acts we find them siting under the Apostles doctrine every time they meet. Also they had the Old Testament which is still God's word, and even before the end of the Apostolic age Paul's letters were being passed around because Peter says, 2 Peter 3:14 just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
As you can see Peter and his intended audience had access to Paul's letters and Peter recognised them as having the same weight as the Old Testament writings, 'the other scriptures'.
Finally, most of the New Testament letters were written to churches that were experiencing problems because they were no longer remembering the lessons from the Apostles so the Apostles wrote to them to show them how they should be living in light of the grace they had recieved, pointing out along the way the errors that they might fall into.
Rather than overlooking the word in light of experience we need to check ourselves, our doctrine and our experience by the word, let the word speak and do its work.
Oh that we would be like the Psalmist in Psalm 1 who delights in God's law and meditated on God's word day and night.
Shalom
Stephen
'The reason the church is in trouble is because it pays to much attention to a book that the early church didn't have, and ignores the Spirit that they did.'
This is quite possibly the most ignorant statement I have ever heard, it is ignorant of the problems faced by the contemporary church which leans towards ignoring the Word rather than paying it too much attention. The Bible is the word of God and as my friend who showed me the quote rightly said, ' what about 2 Tim 3:16' All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
In this text we can see that the Scripture is breathed out by God, that is Spirit inspired, the Spirit of God and the Word of God are not in competition. What we need is the Spirit to help us understand His word that we can live the way Paul encourages, living in righteousness and equipped for every good work. Both word and Spirit are necessary for life and godliness.
Secondly it is ignorant of the state of the early church, whilst it is true that the very first generation of New Testament believers didn't have the writings of the Apostles, they did have the Apostles and in Acts we find them siting under the Apostles doctrine every time they meet. Also they had the Old Testament which is still God's word, and even before the end of the Apostolic age Paul's letters were being passed around because Peter says, 2 Peter 3:14 just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
As you can see Peter and his intended audience had access to Paul's letters and Peter recognised them as having the same weight as the Old Testament writings, 'the other scriptures'.
Finally, most of the New Testament letters were written to churches that were experiencing problems because they were no longer remembering the lessons from the Apostles so the Apostles wrote to them to show them how they should be living in light of the grace they had recieved, pointing out along the way the errors that they might fall into.
Rather than overlooking the word in light of experience we need to check ourselves, our doctrine and our experience by the word, let the word speak and do its work.
Oh that we would be like the Psalmist in Psalm 1 who delights in God's law and meditated on God's word day and night.
Shalom
Stephen
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