Frank

Oh, dear, have I really gotten so tongue-tied I am not clearly stating what I meant to say? I did not mean to criticize either Dave, or KR Wordgazer. So let me clarify.

Dave, you and I are on the same page. We agree that Scripture is the Written Word of God, the final rule of all Christian belief and practice. And we also agree that the Holy Spirit, who inspired the Scriptures, has been given to all believers. And as our Divine Counselor, one of the primary tasks of the Holy Spirit is to teach us all from these same Scriptures all that we need to know about our Lord Jesus and how to truly live in fellowship with him and do his will. John the Apostle made this clear, when he stated in the letter bearing his name: “I am writing this to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But as for you, Christ has poured out his Spirit on you. As long as his Spirit remains in you, you do not need anyone to teach you. For his Spirit teaches you about everything, and what he teaches is true, not false. Obey the Spirit’s teaching, then, and remain in union with Christ” (1 John 2:26-27, TEV).

Dave, I erred when I said that the other person’s “words were similar to yours”; I should have said his “concerns were similar to yours.” Unlike you, he felt that my insistence on the inspiration, inerrancy and authority of Scripture somehow indicated I viewed the knowledge of the Written Word as having priority over the knowledge of the Incarnate Word, whereas what I tried to convey to him that the purpose of knowing the Written Word was that we might truly know the Son, who is the Incarnate Word. Scripture is never an end in itself; it is the divinely appointed means which the Spirit uses to bring us into living, vital fellowship with Jesus Christ, the Living Word, of whom it testifies. But if Scripture is not a true and infallible revelation of Christ, the Living Word, then how can we be sure we know him or what his will for us is? And that was the point I was trying to make with this other person. But, again Dave, I think both you and I agree on this.

KR Wordgazer, I think I may have slightly misunderstood your original comment. I had thought you’d encountered some people who, while affirming a belief in God’s sovereignty, foolishly declared he would never reveal himself to a woman nor call her to be his messenger. I was thinking such people obviously had forgotten about Deborah, who was both judge and prophet. And that is why I responded the way I did. But since I didn’t get your real point, my response was off the mark. I apologize for that blunder on my part.