tam wrote: ↑Sat Mar 27, 2021 8:00 pm
There is a big difference between Acts (and Luke) and Revelation.
Nope. Scripture is Scripture. The Holy Spirit wrote what He wrote (in this case through Luke and John, respectively). It's all God-breathed.
tam wrote: ↑Sat Mar 27, 2021 8:00 pm
John received revelation - he was taken in the spirit, heard and saw many things, and was told (in the spirit) to write it down. John is very clear about this, how he received what he saw and heard, as well as from whom. Same as the prophets before him (the Word of God came to Ezekiel...)
This is not what happens in the books that Luke writes. Luke states up front that he investigated the things he wrote, things that had been handed down to them by eyewitnesses, so that he could write an orderly report for Theophilus.
Yes, I agree. Luke was not a prophet. But that doesn't change what I said above.
tam wrote: ↑Sat Mar 27, 2021 8:00 pm
Paul also changed something he taught (because he made a mistake at the start, and learned later the truth from Christ).
"Are you not to judge those inside (the Church)?" 1Corinth 5:12
"Let us stop judging one another." Romans 14:13 (and he is speaking about those in the church here; see Romans 14:4, 10)
They cannot both be true, therefore they cannot both be inspired. But we can know the latter is true - if indeed we are listening to Christ - because Christ told us not to judge (Do not judge, or you will be judged).
Paul is talking about two different things here... related, but different... as Christ Himself was in the very passage to which you refer, Matthew 7:1-6 --
- "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."
Up to the last verse in that passage, He is talking about judging others for their sin, in the sense of condemnation for sin, which is solely God's place and only He is able to do. Christ admonishes us not to do that, both because we are presuming to take the place of God and because we would be heaping burning coals on our own heads, because we ourselves are egregiously guilty of sin (whether we realize it or not) and thus are exposed as hypocrites. It is in this sense that Paul is telling us to "stop judging one another" in Romans 14. Yes, he is speaking about those in the church; he's speaking precisely of what Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7:1-5..
But in that last verse, Christ in Matthew 7:6 is exhorting us to know "dogs" and 'pigs" for who they are -- not that they are actually dogs or pigs, but unrepentant sinners. Christ is here referring to animals that were unclean according to Old Testament Law and telling us as believers not to fall into the same sin as they or waste our time with them. We are to hold on to our "pearls," which here symbolize the great value of the message of the kingdom of heaven. Believers are surely to be merciful and forgiving,
but they should wisely discern the true character of people who are unrepentant and adamantly rejecting of the Gospel so that they are not deterred in their proclaiming of the Gospel to others. And in this discerning, they are to
make judgments for themselves, not in the sense of condemning, but knowing when they are "talking to a brick wall," as it were, and wasting time at the expense of others.
Regarding what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5, there he is speaking about those in the church, too, but it is quite a different thing that what Christ was addressing in Matthew 7. The situation here is of a particular case of a man in their church involved in incest. In 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, Paul first tells the Corinthians that God has set certain boundaries to mark out His people as His own, and that they need to maintain these boundaries through church discipline, which is actually a merciful and graceful thing, the purpose of which is to direct the person back to Christ in love rather than any sort of condemnation. Even God disciplines those He loves (Hebrews 12:6), right?
Yeah, so, Paul did not contradict himself in any way whatsoever. Because the Holy Spirit did not.
tam wrote: ↑Sat Mar 27, 2021 8:00 pm
But this is a good example of something that happens when a person thinks that the bible is the authority, instead of Christ being their authority...
No, but this is a fabulous example of not completely understanding what Christ actually said and how all of Scripture lines up perfectly with it.
Grace and peace to you.
