Deliver me, O my God,
out of
the hand of the
wicked,
out of hand of the
unrighteous
and cruel man.
For You all are my
hope, O Lord God;
for You are my trust
from my youth.
By You I have been
upheld from birth;
You are He who took
me out
of my mother's womb.
My praise shall be
continually of You.
Psalm 71: 4 -- 6
Before I
Continue in my elaboration as to how the knowledge of history will aid us in
our growth in faith towards God, I think that it would be profitable to
establish certain rules for interpretation.
By means of these rules we will be able to profit by reading the
scriptures and by those works of others who have studied the sacred
writings. These are certain rules will
afford us the ability to meet the connections of those who take exception to
this work or the work of others. Those
who would continue in their objection will not be able to prevail so as to have
some influence upon others that would turn them from their study of Scripture. To object before a study is to be a dull
ignorance and their objections and no foundation. This is why for the serious student who desires to know God must
die so as to ward off ignorance. By
such ignorance some have been led astray to false teachings leading to a
demonstration of their faith which is contrary to the doctrines in Scripture.
Understanding of the rules is
foremost if a person is not to object properly due to their misunderstanding of
the rules attempting to apply Scripture or to interpret Scripture, many fail to
establish with clarity a point of doctrine they wish to be clearly
understood. When we do not receive
assistance by using thorough investigation then interpretation is open to all
opinions, and opinion which may be offered is often without substance and can
be of little or no use. Some people
imagine that they know the Scriptures, and that they have certain hours to be
able to interpret and understand Scripture, yet they have not the direction
which is attained by using certain established rules. Some may object that rules are not necessary, that all is done
simply by the grace of God. Do we not
have rules set forth by the state as to our driving a vehicle on the road? Should a driver of a vehicle know the
rules? Will not those rules of the road
be extended to him by the state, and not by some ethereal importation? So why should the God of the universe who
sets forth the standards for our lives not command that we follow his
rules? Yes, some Scripture is obscure,
at least in the beginning, but with study, and the illuminating power of the
Holy Spirit through His Word, the light begins to shine brighter and brighter
in our darkness? we must pray to God for him to grant to us the insight we need
to understand Him, and His revelation of truth for our lives. I may be able to point to an object, but I
do not have the power to open men's eyes of understanding so that they may see
the fact(s) to that which I am pointing, or to the object at which I
point. It does not take some tenuous
investigation to see that there are those who talk boastfully about Divine
Grace, and with unshamefullness they speak of their understanding, and the fact
that they can explain Scripture without the aid of such direction as rules, and
the power of the Holy Spirit working in their minds and hearts of illuminating
them by the pure and plain scriptures.
May those persons be reminded that they can justly rejoice in God's
great gift of the Holy Spirit. I must
insist to those Christian who professed to understand the Scriptures without
any direction from man (if this be the fact, then they boast of having a real
advantage, and such advantage as not to be the ordinary kind), yet they must
admit that every one of us have learned our language by hearing it constantly
from childhood, and if we learn any other language foreign to us it is by the
same method, by hearing it spoken to us from a human teacher. Does not the Bible and instruct us to teach
our children: "Train up a child in
the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it"
(Proverbs 22: 6). The profit
Jeremiah stated under inspiration:
"Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest My soul depart from you; lest I make you
desolate, a land not to be inhabited" (Jeremiah 6: 8).
Let us beware of such a dangerous temptation leading to a pride:
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall"
(Proverbs 16: 18). Even the apostle
Paul was admonished by the voice of God on his way to Damascus, and a man was
sent to him so that he may receive the sacraments and be admitted into the
church. Peter had to go to Cornelius
and instruct him as to the proper objects of faith, hope, and love. Could God have done this simply by sending
His angels? Yes! But this He for God uses man as his hands,
his feet, and his voice. This He did
not do, therefore, let us put away false pride and learned what ever we can
from man and let us by our learning become aware of those who are not teaching
the truth. Let us not be arrogant and
have jealousy causing us to remain where the truth is not manifested. If we remain where we should not we are all
really tempting God by our own perversity and allowing the enemy to influence
and control our lives. It was not the
eunuch reading the prophet Isaiah? Did
not the apostle Philip explain the Scriptures to him? Did not God open the mind of the eunuch so that he understood the
will of God even to the point of being baptized as a symbol of his
conversion? God uses the age of man
gives Christian be undertaking of interpreting the Scriptures to others. It therefore behooves us to study to know
the truth, to examine what ever man has to say in light of the Scriptures bear
by allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us the truth. By holding fast to certain rules, and following up certain indication,
we will arrive at a hidden sense without any error, or at least without falling
into any gross absurdity. This is the
road I am traveling and while we transverse through history and investigating
what is written we will not be unduly influenced or led or error.
The heart of the righteous
studies how
to answer,
but the mouth of the wicked
pours forth
evil.
Proverbs 15: 28
Commit all you do to God
Richard L. Crumb
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