Christian Discipleship Course 52.

Question and answer: “How can I lead a life of balance in regards to Bible knowledge?

We should not build our faith or Biblical knowledge on one truth only to neglect other truths, which are equally important. You can over-emphasise or give more prominence to some issues or doctrines, e.g. Israel, Calvinism, Revelations etc and under-emphasise on others.

Jesus should be our first love and our central theme. It is a good idea to read the Bible through every year, as you may forget other truths. Ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten you. The Holy Spirit will only bring to remembrance that which you have read! Isaiah 28:9-10, Hosea 4:6, 6:3, 1 Corinthians 3:2, Hebrews 5:12, 6:1-2.

John 7:16 Jesus said “My doctrine is not Mine but He who sent Me”

John 14:26 “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to remembrance all things that I said to you”

You cannot build a doctrine on certain selective Scriptures, Romans 15:4, 16:17. You have to take all of them and apply them within their context. You cannot twist or manipulate Scripture to make them fit a doctrine, Matthew 26:23-29, John 5:39. Any half-truth cannot make the whole truth. Beware of half-truths as you may get the wrong half! We can have understanding in some areas but not in others, Isa. 28:9-10, Acts 4:13, 18:24-28, 19:1-11.

Wisdom: We need to get as close to God as possible. Are you a part of the 120, the 70, the 12 or the three disciples? Matthew 17:1, or we can be close to Jesus' heart, John 21:20. The closer we get to Jesus, who is the Truth, John 14:6, then the more balanced we will be in our teaching.

Fact: People can be controversial, often just to justify their imbalance.

We need to be careful from whom we get our teaching - they may be in error, Luke 6:39-40. We should judge all things with Scripture, Acts 17:10-11, 1 Thessalonians 5:21.

Teachers need to be godly and not self-promoting, 2 Corinthians 10:18. Teachers should proclaim and teach ‘the whole council of God’, Acts 20:18-28. We should not focus on our differences in doctrine (but we should expose heresy), but on what we have in common; don’t major on the minors,1 Timothy 1:3-4, Titus 3:9, Hebrews 13:9. Edify one another, Hebrews 12:14.

Think: Am I too focused on one doctrine, or do I desire to know the whole truth? Psalm 111:2.

More Info: Matthew 15:15, Luke 24:27, John 7:14-18, Acts 2:42, 1 Corinthians 13:12, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Ephesians 4:11-16, 1 Timothy 6:3-4, 2 Timothy 2:15, 3:10,16, Titus 1:9.