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Jesus, Truth, and the Word of God - Matt 15
Jesus, Truth, and the Word of God - Matt 15
While reading our daily reading, I took a piece of paper and made some observations. It should be obvious, but such observations do not exhaust our understanding of this text. So here are my scribbles:
God commanded and said - (vs. 3,4)
There is GOD.
God has expectations of men.
God revealed such expectations.
God commanded IN HIS WORD – (6).
God's revelation of His will was in verbal communication.
God chose to communicate with man!
God chose to have such communication preserved in written form:
The WRITTEN Word of God is as much the word of God as the spoken.
That revealed THRU the instrument of men (prophets / apostles) is YET the Word of God.
Such revelation can be understood - Jesus expected such of his disciples – (10, 16).
God transcendence does NOT invalidate His ability to communicate!
Purpose of communication is to be understood!
People ERR in their understanding...
Those that are religious CAN and DO err.
Those that err do NOT have everything wrong!
On another occasion - you do ERR not knowing... (Matt. 22: )
As I continued to ponder our reading, I continued with notes.
· Truth DOES offend some people. - 12
· People being offended by truth does not make truth untruthful!
· Because some don't understand does not invalidate the truth.
· Truth is not determined by man's thoughts in agreeing, liking, or rejecting it. Truth is truth.
· Truth IS filtered through each man's conscience! How else do we understand ANYTHING?
· Showing inconsistency or error in others does NOT prove consistency or truth in YOU.
In the end, God WILL bring all of us to judgment (vs. 13). Thus, we need to take a hard look at the Bereans who “received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men” (Acts 17:11-12). What is your attitude towards God, towards God’s word, towards the study of God’s word?
Hugh DeLong
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