Weekly devotional 3-7-16 Leaven Leavens The Whole Lump
Turning to commentaries for an insight of a passage of Scripture is often helpful, but one must be cautious as to the commentaries selected. Most commentaries are a collaboration of the insight and thoughts of well-studied persons who participated in the formation of a particular commentary and are therefore mostly accurate. To these persons we should be appreciative. We can learn much from them about the customs, historicity, and the religiosity of various peoples, including God’s chosen people, the children of Israel, but when it comes to theology we should be cautious and not depend solely on any single commentary. As well-meaning as the commentators may be they are human. They are capable of error. We should, we must, let Scripture speak for itself and closely compare Scripture with Scripture as a common thread does exist. If anything that a commentator proffers leads in a different direction, we must diligently and prayerfully search for correct understanding.
We, who hold that Jesus Christ paid the price of our redemption in total, should surround ourselves with commentaries (if we are going to use them) that support this truth and not consult commentaries that might lead us in a different direction. Now someone might say, “But we should be open minded and consider other views.” There is a great danger in such a philosophy. Remember once a thought or suggestion is planted in one’s mind it often advances from a thought to being a fact, a truth. Remember, this is a spiritual matter and Satan will use implanted thoughts or suggestions to weaken if not destroy our trust in our Savior.
Speaking in a parable Jesus said, “24The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this’” (Matthew 13:24-28a NKJV). In another parable He said, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened” (Matthew 13:33 NKJV). In the first parable Jesus later identified the enemy as Satan (13:37-39). The implication of the second parable is that the nature of leaven is such that once the process of leavening begins, it is impossible to stop. Thus a Christian must be careful of what he or she allows to capture their minds.
The Apostle Peter warns that Satan walks about like a roaring lion seeking who he may devour (1st Peter 5:8). He does this not only through sufferings and persecutions, Peter’s subject of address, but through untruth. We must not subject or expose ourselves to untruth by reading commentaries that have even a hint of a persuasiveness that would lead us away from the truth of God’s word.
Blessings
stevelampman@comcast.net stevelampman.com
Transforming Power; The Work of God on Behalf of Man
Evangelical Free Church www.efreebible