Is that True?
"...faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God..." (Romans 10:17)
Faith does not come from hearing the word of men, but "the word of God".
So how do we distinguish between the two?
If you hear it from another man, or read it in a commentary, it is the word of man. Not necessarily wrong, but just a man's opinion. It may be received with joy, then tested by the "word of God" in a properly translated copy of the Scriptures.
"...they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11)
When I hear someone say "God told me", or "God lead me", or "God impressed on me", I just remind myself that it is his opinion of what he was told, how he was lead or what he was impressed to do. Equating the word of men to the word of God has lead to countless divisions among Christianity over the last 2000 years. Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day...
"...you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down." (Mark 7:13)
It is not the teaching, rebuking, correcting and training from the word of men that is useful. Too much of that is going around these days. However "all Scripture" is useful...
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." (2 Timothy 3:16)
Next time you hear a sermon, pay close attention to what is read out of the Scripture, and examine closely everything else that is said with this question...
Is that true?
Faith does not come from hearing the word of men, but "the word of God".
So how do we distinguish between the two?
If you hear it from another man, or read it in a commentary, it is the word of man. Not necessarily wrong, but just a man's opinion. It may be received with joy, then tested by the "word of God" in a properly translated copy of the Scriptures.
"...they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11)
When I hear someone say "God told me", or "God lead me", or "God impressed on me", I just remind myself that it is his opinion of what he was told, how he was lead or what he was impressed to do. Equating the word of men to the word of God has lead to countless divisions among Christianity over the last 2000 years. Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day...
"...you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down." (Mark 7:13)
It is not the teaching, rebuking, correcting and training from the word of men that is useful. Too much of that is going around these days. However "all Scripture" is useful...
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." (2 Timothy 3:16)
Next time you hear a sermon, pay close attention to what is read out of the Scripture, and examine closely everything else that is said with this question...
Is that true?