I Only Read The Bible

 

By Dr. Ken Matto

 

And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? (Mark 12:24)

 

Have you ever run into a Christian who held a wrong interpretation of Scripture and when you try to explain to them where they need to be corrected, they simply hit you with another trite Christian saying that “I only read the Bible?”  I was having a discussion on Facebook with someone and the subject was salvation.  I had pointed the person to one of my studies on the subject of salvation and suggested that he read it.  It makes no sense to retype everything when there is a study which covers the subject completely and my only purpose was for him to read and see where he was in error.  He was cherry picking his verses and completely rejected any context.  It is important to know that “isolation of verses will make your case but will never lead you into truth.”  He refused to look at the study but kept posting isolated verses as if he was imparting some biblical truth to everyone. 

 

Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. (1 Corinthians 2:13) 1 Corinthians 2:13 gives us the formula by which we are to arrive at a true biblical conclusion.  There are some verses that stand alone and can deliver major truth but even those verses are in harmony with other verses in the Bible.  As one who has been teaching the Bible for about 35 years, I take very seriously what I study and post because I have no idea who is reading these studies and therefore I do not post a study on any subject unless I can back it up according to the Scriptures.  All one has to do is look at any study I post on my site and you will always see the Bible as the source.  I am not looking for followers because if I was, I would not teach a gospel so laden with the Scriptures.  Instead, I would tell people what they want to hear like the media ministries and most churches.  When I say Bible, I am speaking about the King James Bible not one of the modern counterfeits.  I wanted to post the conversation to show you what normally is found on social media.

 

Me - Did you read the article?

Him - No. I'm asking a simple question. It's a Y or N question. I'm assuming from your responses you folks are NOT believers in repentance. Am I right?

 

Him - As for your material Ken I don't need to read it. I have a bible. That's senior in authority to your book. I don't discount your intelligence at all. No doubt you're much smarter than me. I barely passed 8th grade! LOL. But the bible is our final authority-I'll appeal to it. Nothing against your works...I simply prefer the KJV.

 

The man is a hyper-free willer and believes a person must repent before they can become saved.  In other words, he is preaching the Billy Graham gospel which is a works gospel.  No person can repent of their sins before salvation for the simple fact is that they have no power to achieve full repentance.  One must be indwelt by the Holy Spirit and then they will have the power to live a repentant life.  When these free willers go to the streets and start telling people to repent of their sins, my question is this, how does a person repent of a lifetime of sinning in 1 minute?  Repentance comes after salvation!  Repentance is a change of mind and how can a person in an unsaved state change their mind when their mind is still dark with sin.  Repentance is linked with progressive sanctification.  There has to be another power to help them resist sin and that power is the Holy Spirit who empowers us in our fight against sin.  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

 

The argument that many Christians use to fight against the fact that they are wrong in their understandings and have no desire to correct themselves is their stubbornness in reading the materials of others.  Now it must be clearly understood that anything which is written about the Bible is inferior to the Bible itself.  No writing of man can ever be on the same level or authority of the Scriptures.  To show you how ridiculous the statement is “I only Read the Bible” here are some scenarios which refute that defense mechanism.

 

Doctor: Take this medication but read the directions clearly!

Me: Sorry but I only read the Bible!

 

Lawyer: Did you read the contract over?

Me: Sorry but I only read the Bible!

 

Investment Counselor: Read the prospectus before you invest!

Me: Sorry but I only read the Bible!

 

Policeman: Sir didn’t you see that stop sign?

Me: Sorry but I only read the Bible!

 

Banker: Here is the agreement and the loan terms, read it carefully before signing!

Me: Sorry but I only read the Bible!

 

Wife: Did you read our daughter’s essay she wrote for school?

Me: Sorry but I only read the Bible!

 

As you can see applying that trite defense mechanism “I only read the Bible” to all phases of life makes no sense so then why do Christians outright refuse to read anything spiritual which may help them.  Many forget one major thing and that is that God has placed in the body of believers teachers, not to lord it over people but to help and guide them into believing what is true.  There are many false gospels out there and the only way you will know what teacher or preacher is false is by reading their material and on the other hand the only way you will know if a teacher or preacher is true, is by reading their material.  One of the major problems in Christianity is that the majority of Christians are theological slaves to some type of belief system whether it be free will, pre-trib rapture or whatever and they totally refuse to think beyond the walls of those systems.  Thinking is missing totally in Christianity today!  Teachers are not only in the body of believers in the New Testament, they were used also in the Old Testament.

 

7 Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place. 8 So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. (Nehemiah 8:7-8)

 

During the time of Nehemiah when he and the people finished the wall, they set up a high pulpit for Ezra.  And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam. (Nehemiah 8:4)  Then the people gathered around and heard Ezra reading the law of God to them.  Then we read that there were thirteen teachers plus the Levites and what were they doing?  They were explaining to the people the law and causing them to understand it.  Coming out of Babylon after seventy years, there were many who were born there and did not know the Hebrew language and the priests were there to help the people understand especially those who were not schooled in Hebrew.  This is a very important verse because it is neglected in modern Christianity.  They read the law and gave the words distinctly or specifically, then explained the words, and then commented on it according to the way it was written in Scripture.  In Christianity today, you have churches which use counterfeit Bibles such as the NIV or ESV which change the words and use Roman Catholic manuscripts as their source.  The words are changed, the meanings change, and if you give people explanations of wrong words and meanings, then you have a congregation building their lives on false teachings.  This is why the church is in such confusion today because they all use modern versions which differ from each other.  So we see that God utilized teachers who were schooled in the law to help the people understand the law so they would be obedient to it. 

 

This is also the responsibility of the teacher in the New Testament, to help others understand the Bible so they grow up in the truth and not a false teaching whether it be taught by their church or favorite media minister.  The teacher must be a corrector and that makes it sound like they are arrogant but a true teacher is not arrogant and just wants the people he comes in contact with to walk in the truth.  I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. (2 John 4)  John was joyful that his children were walking in truth because they learned correctly.

 

And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:28)  God is the one who sets up the teachers in the church and they do not call themselves.  In the days we live in, it is imperative to know that the Bible teachers you are listening to is true or false.  If they are false, then run for your spiritual life and if they are true then learn from them.  When I was a young Christian, I learned from many good teachers and because I heard from good teachers, I was able to know who the false teachers were.  When one is studying to be an FBI agent, they teach them all about money and they learn all about the government issued money and by knowing the true bills, they can then spot a counterfeit.

 

What I am saying in this study is don’t shut anyone off immediately without giving them a fair hearing.  We have all kinds of trite sayings in Christianity which are used as defense mechanisms and all they do is continue to keep us prisoner to our theological system of choice.  It has been my experience that those who claim to read the Bible only prove that is not true because what they come up with could never be if they were Bible only.  So never hide behind some trite saying believing that you are protecting yourself because you are not.  What you are doing is possibly stifling your own Christian growth and perpetuating a theological belief that has held you in captivity for many years.

 

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