A
doctrine too vast
An OAC
member wrote: “...Ek het dit vir jou genome dat DIE
LEER VAN DIE APOSTEL IS TE OMVATTEND OM IN WOORDE UITEENGESIT TE WORD!...”
Sic
For those of
you who don’t understand Afrikaans, this member is saying that the “...DOCTRINE
OF THE APOSTLE IS TOO VAST TO BE SET OUT IN WORDS!”
This
statement is actually translated from the PREFACE in the catechism.
Catechism of the Old Apostolic Church of Africa…PREFACE; Part
2.2 (pages 3-4):
“...The doctrine of The Old Apostolic Church of Africa is
too vast to be set out in writing. The existence and continuation of the Church
is also not dependent on the limitations of the written word: the existence of
the Church is not dependent on words, but on the revelation of the Power of God...”
This type of
statement is taken as a license to “spiritualize” the Bible and give the Bible
some kind of mystical meaning. In other words, what is on the surface is not
the meaning, but what is hidden becomes the meaning. By this method the
historical meaning then becomes nothing but a fabrication.
“...if you're using
Scripture as a springboard to say whatever you want rather than teaching what
the Bible actually says, you might as well exegete Little Bo Peep..." –
John MacArthur
By
continuously searching the Bible for “spiritual interpretation”, one denies
that the literal meaning is spiritual.
Read the
following verse:
John 1:29 The next
day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world.
This verse
is spiritual, no mystery or riddle or hidden meaning in this verse, but a fact
– and the fact is spiritual.
A
"spiritual interpretation" has nothing to do with a verse having a
hidden meaning. It has to do with believing what’s written and it’s through the
Spirit of God that a person believes.
1 Corinthians 12:3 Wherefore
I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth
Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy
Ghost.
1 John 5:1 Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth
him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
The Word of
God is already spiritual; no person can “spiritualize” His Word any further
because it’s already spiritual. Sometimes people discover figures of speech
called allegories, but this doesn’t mean His Word is being “spiritualized”.
Allegory is an expressive style that uses
characters and events to describe some subject by suggestive resemblances; an
extended metaphor; a short moral story; parable; a visible symbol representing
an abstract idea.
Metaphor is a figure of speech in which an
expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in
order to suggest a similarity.
In Galatians
4:22-31 Paul uses the word allegory
and uses Hagar and Sarah to allegorize the old and the new covenants. Paul then
uses a figure of speech known as a metaphor
“...this Agar is mount Sinai...”
Hagar was
not literally mount Sinai, she only represented it, otherwise Moses climbed up
and down her body and received the stone tablets on her head! Hagar is not the
spiritual mount Sinai either because the LORD came down upon mount Sinai (Exodus 19:20),
sanctified it (Exodus
19:23) and the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai (Exodus 24:16).
Thus the literal mount Sinai was already spiritual and by saying that Hagar is
the spiritual mount Sinai is to deny this.
Hagar was thus
the metaphoric (figurative) mount Sinai.
In Matthew 26:26
Jesus held up a piece of bread in front of His disciples and said “...Take, eat; this is my body...”
Was the
bread literally His body and did the bread go out and get crucified? No, the
bread represented His body and it being broken was a picture of what would
happen to Him.
Did the
metaphor eliminate the reality? Was Jesus cancelled after He used the bread to
represent Himself? No, because a metaphor merely pictures a reality, literal
bread and a literal body but a figurative identification. The bread that
pictured Christ did not eliminate Christ.
At this
point someone may quote “the letter killeth”
out of context to justify their ignorance. So before we carry on, let’s read it
in context:
2 Corinthians 3:3-7 Forasmuch
as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us,
written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables
of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through
Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing
as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able
ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the
letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of
death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children
of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his
countenance; which glory was to be done away:
The letter
that kills is the Mosaic law chiselled in stone because it meant death to the
sinner (Leviticus
20:10-21, Deuteronomy 22:22-27, John 8:4-12). The words that
Jesus spoke are spirit and life and they are written in the Bible (John 6:63).
So whether a
doctrine is too vast or not, this does not supersede any Scripture. Jesus
Himself continually referred to Scripture (Matthew 22:29, Mark 12:24).
2 Timothy 3:15-17 And
that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All
scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and
is profitable for doctrine,
for
reproof,
for
correction,
for
instruction in righteousness:
That
the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Even when
Paul and Silas went to Berea, the Jews in that synagogue were nobler than those
in Thessalonica and after receiving the word with readiness, they searched the
scriptures daily to see whether the words they received were so (Acts 17:10-12).
The Bible
warns us against adding or taking away from Scripture (Deuteronomy 4:2, Deuteronomy 12:32, Proverbs 30:5-6,
Revelation 22:18-19).
To understand Scripture we
first have to start reading the Bible. Scripture tells us about God.
Familiarity with the Scripture is it’s own interpretation and as you begin to
read, the Scripture will interpret itself. The Bible is it’s own and best
source of explanation.
 |
| A Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't - Charles Spurgeon |
“Private
revelations” shouldn’t be trusted apart from confirmation in the literal Word
because God doesn’t leave His Word to private interpretation.
If mere
mortals could “spiritualize” God’s Word, then people will start looking to these
mere mortals and not to the Word. That is how cults are formed.
