When it comes to making doctrine that is simple much more complex, the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) has no peer.
In second place are the modern-day ‘Reformed’ theologians of the Protestant Church.
Both groups of theologians exegete Scripture in such a way that leaves the average person so mind-boggled that he loses the ability to read or understand the Bible on his own. Once they learn to sow division and confusion, they then proclaim from their ivory towers that we defer to the experts when exegeting Scripture.
In the case of the RCC, that is the point.
The RCC has overintellectualized Scripture to the point where they deny people salvation. They have buried the five words of the Gospel so deeply that even their priests do not know what the Gospel is.
When was the last time you heard or read where a Roman Catholic proclaimed that Christ died for our sins?
According to Scripture, salvation occurs in two parts:
Part 1: We hear the Gospel, believe it instead of refusing to believe as most others do, repent and are saved by God’s grace through his gift of faith. We are saved by grace through faith in the work of Christ, not by our good works.
Part 2: We are commanded to remain in the faith, never to abandon it, and work out our salvation with fear and trembling by overcoming the temptations that beckon us to return to the world.
The RCC rejects Part 1 and falsely teaches its parishioners to work out their salvation, without receiving the gift of faith, through their own efforts. Their leaders work diligently and overintellectualize the faith to hide what they have done.
Modern-day ‘Reformed’ Protestant theologians have made two critical errors that weaken the faith through over-intellectualization. These are:
- Proclaiming ‘no free will predestination,’ a philosophical doctrine that hampers evangelism, muzzles the call for repentance, and takes our eyes off the Gospel.
- Allegorizing Scripture instead of taking the intended literal approach to understanding the Word of God, especially eschatology where the nation of Israel is concerned. This process requires severe over-intellectualization to hide their folly.
They then spend their time justifying their theology, constantly moving the goal posts when they are confronted on their inconsistencies, and causing confusion where none should exist.
By creating their own theology, they empty the cross of its power.
To compound their error even further, their false doctrine causes them to neglect Christ’s admonition to “Keep Watch” for his return.
Both false teachings threaten to shipwreck our faith.
There was a time when the ‘church father’ Origen was the most famous teacher in Christendom (250 A.D). His theology came from his own imagination and severely weakened the faith for many years.
It is likely that his false doctrines, which were dominant at the time, led to the great persecution of the early fourth-century church.
The fact that he gave himself an orchiectomy should have been their first clue that this guy had problems.
Paul addressed the issue of the over-intellectualization of Scripture when he instructed:
“So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels” (II Timothy 2:22-23).
When we move away from the foundation of the faith, or when we allegorize Scripture that was meant to be taken literally, we create foolish, ignorant controversies that breed unnecessary quarrels and divisions.
Paul further addressed this problem in his first letter to the Corinthian church. As with all Scripture, his advice is still relevant today.
“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God (I Corinthians 2:1-5).
Here is how the Apostle Paul handled this problem of over-intellectualizing Scripture when he addressed the Corinthian church.
Chapter 3 “But I [the Apostle Paul], brothers, could not address you as spiritual people [who should be guided by faith rather than intellect], but as people of the flesh [who exchange faith for philosophy], as infants in Christ [who suckle on human wisdom which creates false and misleading narratives].
2 I fed you with milk [because you were not fully developed in the faith] not solid food [of faith and repentance, Hebrews 5:11-14], for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh [you follow human wisdom and create jealousy and dissension rather than focusing on the Gospel].
For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, ‘I follow Paul [or, today, Martin Luther/Lutherans],” and another, “I follow Apollos [John Calvin/Calvinists],” are you not being merely human?
5 What then is Apollos [John Calvin]? What is Paul [Martin Luther]? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted [the Gospel], Apollos watered [with sound doctrine], but God gave the growth [the glory belongs to God, so do not call yourselves by the name of a man].
7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth [God’s Gospel brings salvation, not man’s theorizing]. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages [Talents] according to his labor [he will be put in charge of many things]. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field [not man’s field], God’s building [God’s temple, not man’s temple].
10 According to the grace of God given to me [through faith], like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation [the Gospel, I Corinthians 15:3], and someone else is building upon it [Woe to me (or any preacher) if I do not preach the Gospel].
Let each one take care how he builds upon it [with sound doctrine]. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid [the Gospel is the foundation that was laid] which is Jesus Christ [and his dying for our sins and conquering death at his resurrection].
12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones [Sound doctrine], wood, hay, straw [false doctrine/human wisdom]— 13 each one’s work will become manifest [each of us will give an account of himself to God], for the Day [of the Lord] will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire [wood, hay and straw burn up], and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done [by faith or by works of human wisdom].
14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives [because he built with the gold, silver and precious stones of the Gospel], he will receive a reward [a crown of righteousness]. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up [because he preached a Christ out of envy, rivalry, and selfish ambition guided by human wisdom], he will suffer loss [of treasures in heaven], though he himself will be saved [by faith], but only as through fire [everyone who proclaims the Gospel, even if he preaches Christ out of envy and rivalry, because he is defending his own ideology (Philippians 1:13-18), can still be saved by faith].
Note: those who falsely allegorize Scripture that should be taken literally can still be saved by Grace through Faith.
16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone [false shepherds who preach a different Gospel or a different Jesus] destroys God’s temple [by preaching only human wisdom], God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise [puffed up with knowledge] in this age [the dispensation of the church], let him become a fool that he may become wise [strive to know nothing but Christ and him crucified for our sins]. 19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God [your faith must not rest on men’s wisdom, but on the power of God’s Gospel].
For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness,’ 20 and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise [who are wise in their own eyes], that they are futile.’ 21 So let no one boast in men [who are fallible]. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (I Corinthians 3:10-23).
To summarize, we are to rally around and find unity in the Gospel, which is a simple concept:
Christ died for our sins.
This eternal truth came from God, not from human wisdom. Any church that stands on these five words cannot be divided.
We do not rally around ‘no free will predestination.’ No one is edified by this nonsense, and no one is brought to salvation by confessing it.
We do not allegorize Scripture so that it fits into our own ideology or orthodoxy. When you make a mistake in interpreting Scripture, you do not compound your error by continuing to teach false doctrine.
You repent and correct it.
We do not rally around the Roman Catholic confession that “Christ becomes one of us that we might become participants in his life.” Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Barron proclaims this new rendering of the gospel, which seems to be indicative of the philosophy of Roman Catholicism in general.
No one receives the gift of faith by confessing this man-made rendering of this different gospel.
The idea that God has washed his hands of the nation of Israel forever is delusional. There are so many Scriptural passages regarding Israel’s [not the church’s] God ordained role throughout the tribulation, and during the Millennium, that only those suffering from spiritual blindness could miss it.
The allegorists are, at best, just infants in the faith.
Finally, at Fuller Seminary, after years of thoughtful consideration [human wisdom], the luminaries there say they have finally figured out what the Christian stance on the LGBT and marriage should be. According to Daniel Silliman:
“After several years discussing and debating the evangelical institution’s stance—and considering changing policies impacting LGBTQ students, faculty, and staff—trustees voted to reaffirm Fuller’s “historic theological understanding of marriage,” while noting the school’s position that “faithful Christians” can hold other views.”
Actually, Mr. Silliman, no faithful Christian can confess that gay marriage is approved by God or that it is even acceptable. All members of the LGBT must be called to repent and be forgiven in the name of Jesus.
Not given divinity degrees.
That is the position of those who reject human wisdom and obey the Gospel of God.
The above is what you say when you have abandoned the Gospel.
It is amazing that this silly place is called a Seminary. It is horrifying that they are teaching our future pastors.
Jesus, who was God in human flesh, died for our lack of faith and violations of his moral law. He did this so we could be saved by God’s grace through the faith that God grants us when we believe and confess the true Gospel.
That is why our prime directive is to proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins in the name of Christ.
We all know what God’s moral law is because it is written on our hearts. We are all fully aware that when we form an opposition to God’s moral law, we are lacking in faith and violating God’s holiness.
The only way to subdue our consciences and embrace false doctrine is to intoxicate ourselves by over-intellectualizing Scripture and finding comfort in that. Once our consciences are subdued, we can justify anything.
Over-intellectualizing Scripture is a great way to become one with the world.
Sola Scriptura means absolutely nothing if you twist it and cause division in the body of Christ.
Those who do this, and teach others to do so, are building a foundation on wood, hay and straw.
I would not want to have to give an account to my Lord and Savior with that on my resume.
The post The Folly of Human Wisdom :: By The Gospelist appeared first on Rapture Ready.
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