And the Holy Spirit guided me to the sound teachers from whom I have learned, and who gave me the desire to confirm what they were telling me. By praying for guidance, by studying the original languages, by seeking Him, I have been led to the truths I affirm. Is that not the proper process, Ken?
This is true -- but Paul was taught by Barnabas, and directly by Jesus Christ as were the remaining Eleven of the original Twelve, which is why he, not Mathias, is the true replacement for Judas. Mathias had followed Christ personally, but we hear nothing of him after the early chapters of Acts, and there is very little historical record of him.
For one thing, the word most often translated "instruct" as it relates to knowing the Gospel is the Greek kateceo (katecheo) and it means "teach," so there really isn't any differentiation as the one you see.
I believe you have misunderstood what Jesus said in Matthew 23:8, especially given that He commanded The Twelve to, in fact, teach.
Matthew 28,NASB
19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always *, even to the end of the age."
In Matthew 23:8, He has just finished a scathing indictment of the Pharisees and the Jewish rabbis, accusing them rightly of using their position to gain personal fame and honor. It is in this context He states "One is your Teacher" -- note the NASB correctly capitalizes the word, which is rendered from the Greek didaskaloß (didaskalos), meaning teacher, but in this context, specifically Christ as the one who guides us to salvation. No one but Him, through the Holy Spirit, can reveal to our spirits and souls the simple truth of faith by His grace. If He meant in Matthew 23:8, "no man can teach you," then He would contradict Himself between the two passages.
Brother Ken, when I go to the effort to show you how you might possibly be lifting those verses out of context, do you consider what I say? I truly hope and pray you do.
So that implies that I am not following the Holy Spirit, for we both know He will not present "two different truths." It would be my impression, then, that you do not believe I am led by Him, and given that I absolutely know that I am, how can we have real fellowship? We don't believe the same things about Christ. How do we resolve that?
I too am amazed when we can read the same Scripture and totally understand it differently. Again, one of us is wrong. What do we do?
Is the mention of those Scriptures at the end of this discussion really productive? It would appear they are used as accusations, but I could be wrong about that. Let me know in what context you use them, please.
No I do not misunderstand as there is a big difference between being told to teach, and considering oneself to be a teacher.
We are to teach other God's word by the Holy Spirit guidance, but we are not to place ourselves or call ourselves as their spiritual teacher. As the Lord was making a statement that to taking those titles means one is taking credit for what the Lord does. So once again it comes down do you in your studies give those men the credit and did you take and test what they were teaching or did you just accept it to be truth.
For we are to test all teachings to see if they align with God's word, and if they do not or they make the simplicity more complicated then what it clearly states then it moves away from the teachings of God. We had a discussion before about what
James 5:19-20 was referring to, and I countered what you said by giving the Greek definition of the word
psuche (soul) and how it is used in this scripture. Strong's and Thayers Greek study guides both show this is speaking of saving one's soul from eternal death in the lake of fire...
I then mentioned the two scriptures from Revelation because they are parallel verses that state where satan's seat/throne is at which is in Pergamos, Turkey, and the other says this seat/throne is given to the man of sin. They clearly tell where to look at for the rise of this end times individual, yet many still claim an American president, the pope, vatican, Rome, or a world system to give this title to.
The Holy Spirit does guide all believers in to all truth, the difference is some get ahead of themselves as the Holy Spirit guides people in the truth in different times. What I mean by this is that He may give me understanding on prophecy now, but other believers He may not give this knowledge tell later. Yet some even though they have not been lead by the Spirit in that area will take it on themselves to still try to understand it.