The word of God is not a secret code that needs unlocked.

[Bible_Highlighter]

Jesus used parables to fulfill prophecy,

And to teach doctrine.

it is true some of the disciples did not understand at some point but note that after Jesus resurrection when the spirit was sent to all who believed, they understood, same today, people who received the Holy Spirit that jesus said he would send ""the comforter" understand, Peter was quite correct in saying that Paul's texts, far more complex in structure and vocabulary was difficult to understand for the common man. Still today we see very different interpretations to most of Paul's verses and concepts, definitely not easy to understand. so many denominations for so many different interpretations. For My part I rely fully on the words of Jesus and seldom quote Paul for clarity.

This all proves my point. It does not prove your point that Jesus was always easy to understand. The parables were never understood by the Jews during His time who did not believe in Him. It was only the disciples that Jesus gave the meaning of the parable to. Also, while the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles, that did not mean they could not make mistakes based on wrong thinking. Peter made a mistake whereby Paul had to rebuke him to his face. Paul made a mistake in going back to Jerusalem and allowing the Jewish Christian elders to convince him to go through with an OT ritual.

As for understanding Paul: The veil of Paul is easily lifted if:

#1. One reads Paul's words in light of the false heresy of Circumcision Salvationism for Initial Salvation in Acts 15 in the KJV.
#2. One understands that Paul was referring many times to Initial Salvation and that he was not teaching that we can later abide in sin with the thinking we are saved all because we have a belief alone in Jesus (i.e., Easy Believism). Yes, we are saved initially by faith (a belief alone) in Jesus, but that is not how the faith continues. The faith continues with Sanctification of the Holy Spirit to live a holy life pleasing to God.


....

 

[Genez]

And exactly which copies of the Hebrew and Greek are you suggesting?

The BHS and UBS v4 are the standards.

And I know plenty of Saved People who know nothing about Hebrew or Greek.

The scholar I always learn from does not work with only one manuscript.

Whichever manuscript you have chosen?
How much are you able to really understand?
How well do you understand idiomatic word usage?
How well can you determine what ellipsis leaves out?
What a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th class condition can totally change what one assumes to be so?
How well do you understand how a word had changed in meaning for various periods in history?
How well do you understand a background of a passage, as to know why what was said implied at the time of writing?

There is so many things to know that most Christians have no idea even exists.

 

[Bible_Highlighter]

The scholar I always learn from does not work with only one manuscript.

Whichever manuscript you have chosen?
How much are you able to really understand?
How well do you understand idiomatic word usage?
How well can you determine what ellipsis leaves out?
What a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th class condition can totally change what one assumes to be so?
How well do you understand how a word had changed in meaning for various periods in history?
How well do you understand a background of a passage, as to know why what was said implied at the time of writing?

There is so many things to know that most Christians have no idea even exists.

Not all Greek manuscripts agree with each other. They say different things. So if a person uses multiple Greek manuscripts, they have to decide for you or you have to know the Greek to be able to decide. In my book, it is too risky to trust any one man to get the understanding from the Scriptures. They could be deceiving you on certain things in the Bible. We are supposed to study to shew ourselves approved unto God. It is also illogical to hold to a multi-manuscript tradition position (Like mixing Alexandrian texts with Byzantine texts). There is no history of such a practice.


....

 

[Genez]

The Bible never mandates that we must learn Greek to understand God.
.

Pastor-teachers are mandated to do that for us.
Sad to say... You would never know that from what too many present today.

One pastor I knew, wrote telling me that the word used in John 1:18 is used to command pastors,
to faithfully exegete the Scriptures. It is the same Greek word used to describe the function of Jesus
towards mankind for us to be able to understand God.

He told me that John 1:18, tells us in the Greek that Jesus exegetes the Father for us.

John 1:18​

​

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest ​

relationship with the Father, has made him known.​

​

The Amplified Bible dug deeper into the Greek. It renders it like this...​

​

No man has ever seen God at any time; the only unique Son, or the only begotten God, ​

Who is in the bosom [in the intimate presence] of the Father, He has declared Him [He ​

has revealed Him and brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him ​

and He has made Him known].​

​

Much of the riches of the Scriptures will be lost to those who go with the flow of mainstream Christianity.
I do not know any other way to tell you that truth.

God provides the church only a few good teachers (James 3:1)
A vast majority of teachers will be doing a poor job. (2 Timothy 4:3)

It's in the Word.

 

[JohnDB]

The scholar I always learn from does not work with only one manuscript.

Whichever manuscript you have chosen?
How much are you able to really understand?
How well do you understand idiomatic word usage?
How well can you determine what ellipsis leaves out?
What a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th class condition can totally change what one assumes to be so?
How well do you understand how a word had changed in meaning for various periods in history?
How well do you understand a background of a passage, as to know why what was said implied at the time of writing?

There is so many things to know that most Christians have no idea even exists.

So you rely upon ONE PERSON'S interpretation....hummmmm

 

[Bible_Highlighter]

So you rely upon ONE PERSON'S interpretation....hummmmm

Yes, I would agree that this is a major problem or flaw.


….

 

[Bible_Highlighter]

Pastor-teachers are mandated to do that for us.

2 Timothy 2:15 is Paul writing to Timothy in that he is to study to shew himself approved unto God. Timothy is both a pastor and a protege of Paul. So Paul is telling his protege to study. This means we all must study the Word of God. It does not mean we are to be spoon-fed by somebody else. Granted, if this does not convince you, I have even more verses.

Acts 17:11
"These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."

• The Bereans were regular believers who were commended for examining the Scriptures daily to verify the teachings they received. This shows the responsibility of all believers to study Scripture for themselves.

Colossians 3:16
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs..."

• Paul exhorts all believers to let the Word of Christ dwell in them richly, which implies that all Christians are to engage with and internalize Scripture.

2 Peter 3:18
"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

• This command to grow in knowledge applies to all Christians, calling for spiritual maturity through knowing and understanding God's Word.

Hebrews 5:12-14
"For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again... For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age..."

• The writer of Hebrews rebukes believers for not maturing in their understanding of the Word. This passage indicates that regular believers should grow in their ability to handle Scripture and move beyond basic teachings.

Also, no Scripture says that Pastors are only to teach Greek. Have you ever read the Pentecost event in Acts chapter 2 before?

One pastor I knew, wrote telling me that the word used in John 1:18 is used to command pastors,
to faithfully exegete the Scriptures. It is the same Greek word used to describe the function of Jesus
towards mankind for us to be able to understand God.

He told me that John 1:18, tells us in the Greek that Jesus exegetes the Father for us.

John 1:18​

​

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest ​

relationship with the Father, has made him known.​

​

The Amplified Bible dug deeper into the Greek. It renders it like this...​

​

No man has ever seen God at any time; the only unique Son, or the only begotten God, ​

Who is in the bosom [in the intimate presence] of the Father, He has declared Him [He ​

has revealed Him and brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him ​

and He has made Him known].​

​

John 1:18 in the AMP says at Biblehub:

John 1:18 AMP​

"No one has seen God [His essence, His divine nature] at any time; the [One and] only begotten God [that is, the unique Son] who is in the intimate presence of the Father, He has explained Him [and interpreted and revealed the awesome wonder of the Father]."​

Several problems here. It says that Jesus is the begotten God. "Begotten" means to father in the sense that he gave seed to a woman. So to say that Jesus is a begotten God implies that He is a God that has a beginning. This is false and heretical. Yet, the AMP just wonders off in la la land and says that this means Jesus is the unique Son as an explanation of the English words that say something different.

Much of the riches of the Scriptures will be lost to those who go with the flow of mainstream Christianity.
I do not know any other way to tell you that truth.

Okay, so you are just believing this one guy. Again, he could be lying to you. You need to test everything with Scripture.

God provides the church only a few good teachers (James 3:1)
A vast majority of teachers will be doing a poor job. (2 Timothy 4:3)

It's in the Word.

Yes, this is true. Scripture does say that there are teachers in the church. But they are not just to impart knowledge but to help us to learn how to apply God's Word to our lives. Some have the gift of teaching by the Spirit. It is not a person just having knowledge of the original languages. The Bible is a spiritual book and it needs to be spiritually discerned. A person who even speaks and writes Greek as their native language could misunderstand the Bible because it is a spiritual book that needs guidance by the Holy Spirit. We also have to obey God's Word in order to receive the things of God like knowledge of His Word and knowing how to apply it to our lives. We have to surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ fully (See: John 7:17, Proverbs 1:7, James 1:22-25, etc.).

…..

 

[Genez]

So you rely upon ONE PERSON'S interpretation....hummmmm

One person?
This pastor-scholar was recommended to me by a retired Harvard professor of Ancient languages. He was teaching ancient languages at a Bible college I attended. Other pastors around the country who taught from the Greek and Hebrew did likewise. Billy Graham found out about him, and even asked for this pastor to become his private mentor.

I can understand this much.
You are never going to find "perfect."

Over the years I found some things he taught that I did not agree with. Minor in comparison to all the richness I received the other times. I had to create a personal library to test what I was listening to. I was shocked to see that other scholars also saw
similar things, but no one will teach us on this level to think of doing that kind of verifying.

There have been numerous pastors around the country that studied his messages for their private study.
Both Chuck Swindoll and Hal Lindsay were members of his congregation.

One pastor I became friends with after listening to some bible lessons I gave him, commented how he could not get over the fact that the congregation of this pastor actually wanted such in depth teaching. Most pastors today need to feed baby food to their congregations in comparison.

But.? If you wish? Go your own way if you like. After all... I might be wrong after all.

grace and peace .........

 

[Genez]

Not all Greek manuscripts agree with each other. They say different things. So if a person uses multiple Greek manuscripts, they have to decide for you or you have to know the Greek to be able to decide. In my book, it is too risky to trust any one man to get the understanding from the Scriptures. They could be deceiving you on certain things in the Bible. We are supposed to study to shew ourselves approved unto God. It is also illogical to hold to a multi-manuscript tradition position (Like mixing Alexandrian texts with Byzantine texts). There is no history of such a practice..

With all you got, I would imagine you have a fantastic teaching ministry somewhere?

 

[Brasspen]

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

I know it's true. Parables is a good book to read. I am reminded by this that, all things work for my good. Even death would be working to my good.

 

[Genez]

2 Timothy 2:15 is Paul writing to Timothy in that he is to study to shew himself approved unto God. Timothy is both a pastor and a protege of Paul. So Paul is telling his protege to study. This means we all must study the Word of God. It does not mean we are to be spoon-fed by somebody else. Granted, if this does not convince you, I have even more verses.

Acts 17:11
"These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."

• The Bereans were regular believers who were commended for examining the Scriptures daily to verify the teachings they received. This shows the responsibility of all believers to study Scripture for themselves.

Colossians 3:16
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs..."

• Paul exhorts all believers to let the Word of Christ dwell in them richly, which implies that all Christians are to engage with and internalize Scripture.

2 Peter 3:18
"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

• This command to grow in knowledge applies to all Christians, calling for spiritual maturity through knowing and understanding God's Word.

Hebrews 5:12-14
"For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again... For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age..."

• The writer of Hebrews rebukes believers for not maturing in their understanding of the Word. This passage indicates that regular believers should grow in their ability to handle Scripture and move beyond basic teachings.

Also, no Scripture says that Pastors are only to teach Greek. Have you ever read the Pentecost event in Acts chapter 2 before?



John 1:18 in the AMP says at Biblehub:

John 1:18 AMP​

"No one has seen God [His essence, His divine nature] at any time; the [One and] only begotten God [that is, the unique Son] who is in the intimate presence of the Father, He has explained Him [and interpreted and revealed the awesome wonder of the Father]."​

Several problems here. It says that Jesus is the begotten God. "Begotten" means to father in the sense that he gave seed to a woman. So to say that Jesus is a begotten God implies that He is a God that has a beginning. This is false and heretical. Yet, the AMP just wonders off in la la land and says that this means Jesus is the unique Son as an explanation of the English words that say something different.



Okay, so you are just believing this one guy. Again, he could be lying to you. You need to test everything with Scripture.



Yes, this is true. Scripture does say that there are teachers in the church. But they are not just to impart knowledge but to help us to learn how to apply God's Word to our lives. Some have the gift of teaching by the Spirit. It is not a person just having knowledge of the original languages. The Bible is a spiritual book and it needs to be spiritually discerned. A person who even speaks and writes Greek as their native language could misunderstand the Bible because it is a spiritual book that needs guidance by the Holy Spirit. We also have to obey God's Word in order to receive the things of God like knowledge of His Word and knowing how to apply it to our lives. We have to surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ fully (See: John 7:17, Proverbs 1:7, James 1:22-25, etc.).

…..

How are you comparing Timothy who was having the gift to teach? To some Christian who wishes to learn from qualified teachers?????

If you do not have the gift to study and teach? Not everyone does. You must learn from those who are qualified.