HANDLING ACCURATELY THE WORD OF TRUTH
This picture aptly illustrates the issue at hand: can every cowherd and every milkmaid correctly understand and interpret the Scriptures? Or does the King James Version's wording give us a hint of what can happen? "Dividing" can mean causing division: many illustrations I looked at showed a vertical sword stabbed into a Bible and one picture actually showed the mathematical symbol for division! Staking one's own position on a mistaken interpretation can cause division. What does the Bible really say about this, why have we come to the point where many insist that their personal view is the only right one and if you disagree they disown you?
The wording in the above title – "handling accurately the word of truth" – is from the NASB version, a very exact and accurate Evangelical translation. In 2 Timothy 2:15, the Apostle Paul is instructing Timothy how to shepherd the flocks in the region of Ephesus, where Paul had appointed him (1 Tim. 1:3) to ordain leaders in the churches there (1 Tim. 3: 1-10), just as Paul and appointed Titus to do in the churches on the island of Crete (Titus 1:5-7). This illustrates the apostolic oversight over churches to insure that correct doctrine is being accurately taught: Timothy and Titus were both to fulfill this apostolic function.
Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica to "stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us" (2 Thes. 2:15). And he instructed Timothy to "guard that which is traditioned to you, turning away from the empty chatter and oppositions of falsely so called knowledge; which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen" (1 Tim. 6:20-21). The word "tradition" is "paradosis" in Greek, meaning that which is passed down from one person in authority to another. Also note "by word of mouth" – in the first 15 centuries of the Church, written copies of Scripture were rare and expensive, so much "traditioning" was oral from one generation of apostolic teachers to the next.
When Jesus was tempted right after His baptism, the devil mis-quoted Scripture to challenge Jesus to show off His power – see Mat. 4:5-7. Over and over in the New Testament we are warned to guard against false teachers and teachings. There are hundreds if not thousands of mistaken answers to a problem in higher math, but only one right answer: the same is true of Christian doctrine. Jesus told the Sadducees – "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures, or the power of God" (Mat. 22:29).
The Apostle Peter wrote that "no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation, just as no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit" (1 Pet. 1:20-21). Notice the connecting words "just as": in the same way, or just as, holy men of God spoke, so also we need "holy men of God" – saints and Church Fathers, those recognized by the Church – to correctly interpret Scripture. Not "every cowherd and every milkmaid" can do it correctly.
St. Peter also wrote that the wise writings of the Apostle Paul were sometimes hard to understand – "our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you; as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction" (2 Pet. 3:15b-16).
Finally, St. Paul instructs Titus how to train new elders – "holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict those who contradict him. For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain's sake." (Titus 1:9-11).
There are those whose mistaken ideas contradict sound doctrine: unruly, vain talkers and deceivers who are seeking self-gratification. But there are also those who are able to exhort in the sound doctrine. Let us strive to become the latter, by the example of the Apostles and their successors!
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