Author	Thread: Interpretation: Seek the Balance of Scripture
Admin	Interpretation: Seek the Balance of Scripture Posted : 3 Jun, 2010 08:09 PM From D.A.Carson (A Bible scholar you should know!) (1) As conscientiously as possible, seek the balance of Scripture, and avoid succumbing to historical and theological disjunctions. Liberals have often provided us with nasty disjunctions: Jesus or Paul, the charismatic community or the "early catholic" church, and so forth. Protestants sometimes drop a wedge between Paul's faith apart from works (Rom 3:28) and James' faith and works (Jas 2:4); others absolutize Galatians 3:28 as if it were the controlling passage on all matters to do with women, and spend countless hours explaining away 1 Timothy 2:12 (or the reverse!). Historically, many Reformed Baptists in England between the middle of the eighteenth century and the middle of the twentieth so emphasized God's sovereign grace in election that they became uncomfortable with general declarations of the Gospel. Unbelievers should not be told to repent and believe the Gospel: how could that be, since they are dead in trespasses and sin, and may not in any case belong to the elect? They should rather be encouraged to examine themselves to see if they have within themselves any of the first signs of the Spirit's work, any conviction of sin, any stirrings of shame. On the face of it, this is a long way from the Bible, but thousands of churches thought it was the hallmark of faithfulness. What has gone wrong, of course, is that the balance of Scripture has been lost. One element of Biblical truth has been elevated to a position where it is allowed to destroy or domesticate some other element of Biblical truth. In fact, the "balance of Scripture" is not an easy thing to maintain, in part because there are different kinds of balance in Scripture. For example, there is the balance of diverse responsibilities laid on us (e.g. praying, being reliable at work, being a biblically faithful spouse and parent, evangelizing a neighbor, taking an orphan or widow under our wing, and so forth): these amount to balancing priorities within the limits of time and energy. There is the balance of Scripture's emphases as established by observing their relation to the Bible's central plot-line; there is also the balance of truths which we cannot at this point ultimately reconcile, but which we can easily distort if we do not listen carefully to the text (e.g. Jesus is both God and man; God is both the transcendent sovereign and yet personal; the elect alone are saved, and yet in some sense God loves horrible rebels so much that Jesus weeps over Jerusalem and God cries, "Turn, turn, why will you die? For the LORD has no pleasure in the death of the wicked."). In each case, a slightly different kind of Biblical balance comes into play, but there is no escaping the fact that Biblical balance is what we need. www.monergism.com Post Reply
View Profile History	Interpretation: Seek the Balance of Scripture Posted : 7 Jun, 2010 05:24 PM Where do you find that in the bible? Post Reply
View Profile History	Interpretation: Seek the Balance of Scripture Posted : 7 Jun, 2010 05:30 PM Since you "don't believe Biblical facts," PJ, why does it matter to you where anything is in the Bible? Post Reply
View Profile History	Interpretation: Seek the Balance of Scripture Posted : 7 Jun, 2010 08:46 PM It's called using....oh never mind you have to much pride. It has clogged your ability to reason with people. Pixy as proved that clearly in this thread. Post Reply
View Profile History	Interpretation: Seek the Balance of Scripture Posted : 8 Jun, 2010 11:00 AM PJ asked ~ Where do you find that in the bible? Please take the time ta read this through... 2 Timothy 2:14-16 (King James Version) 14~Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. 15~Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,{{{ rightly dividing the word of truth.}}} 16~But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. Anyone here...Please correct me Ifin ima wrong...but these be the 1, 2, 3 's of the A, B, C's of Study, Interpetation, Balance of Scripture...xo Post Reply
View Profile History	Interpretation: Seek the Balance of Scripture Posted : 8 Jun, 2010 12:25 PM @GJ- I think that's a decent passage to support this. I really like one of the phrases in verse 15 in the NIV: "correctly handles the word of truth." I love the word "handling" there because handling something IS different than just doing a quick read through and then spouting off that you believe what you've read, when you've never really taken the time to interpret what you've read or process it any way. It would be like sitting at a table in an art studio w/ a lump of clay in front of you... and not taking the time or care to actually handle the clay, but immediately just rushing out of the art studio and proclaiming that you believe that there's clay... and then discounting anyone who has anything other to say about about the clay than that they just believe... saying that they must just believe and not "manipulate" the clay in any way... because you've never bothered to actually handle the clay, and therefore, have completely misunderstood the purpose of clay. The clay isn't not going to be clay any longer because you've handled it. Rather, you gain understanding of what the clay actually is by handling it. Glancing at something in passing is so very different from actually handling it... from spending time with it... meditating on it... holding it up against other Scripture to gain further insight... Post Reply
View Profile History	Interpretation: Seek the Balance of Scripture Posted : 8 Jun, 2010 12:54 PM @ Pixy...So very true...what you shared bout the Clay an the Potter brought ta my memory the 1st time I read Isaish...I was so newly born an when I read this book in the Bible...well...I wanted ta Rush right out an Tell/Preach ta All the Jews that they really missed it...The Messiah...Christ...Jesus...after all...if I got it only beein newly born, why cant they ?...An of course I thought I was jus the One fer the job...lol... Needless ta say...that was not what Father had in mind fer me...although I have no setbacks talkin ta Jews bout Jesus/Yeshua...xo Post Reply

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