Saturday, July 7, 2012
MOSAIC DISPERSION
No truth is founded on a single verse of scripture.
The minimum requirement to establish new covenant truth is two co-witnessing New
Testament verses taken in context, with three preferred (Matt. 18:16; 2 Cor.
13:1; Ref. 1 Tim. 5:19; Heb. 10:28; type – Dt. 19:15). Truth seemly established
on a single verse of scripture is either incomplete, with applicable related
passages excluded, or simply is not truth. The strength of a doctrine is
directly related to its frequency of mention. Conversely, doctrine must be in
harmony with all topically related parallel passages, without conflict or
contractions, all passages taken into unifying consideration. God teaches by
mosaic dispersion, dispersing bits and pieces of a doctrinal mosaic here and
there, breathing truth through the various New Testament writers. A mosaic of
truth must be “seen”, perceived, in all its various colors and hues before it
can be understood. The “workman” of God’s word is to collect everything God
says on a subject and compile it into a comprehensive whole – complete the
mosaic.
For example, there are at least 27 New Testament
passages on asking and receiving petitions from God: To take any one of these scriptures such as
Jn. 14:12-15, “Whatsoever you ask in my name, that I will do”, and form a
doctrine for petitioning God based solely on this one condition at the
exclusion of the other 26 scriptures, is not considering the whole council of
God. In addition to “ask in my name” one
must also believe (Mk. 9:23), abide in Jesus and have His words abide in them (Jn.
15:7), bear fruit (Jn. 15:16), ask according to His will (1 Jn. 5:14), obey His
commandments (1 Jn. 3:22, 23), etc. It
is wise to be “slow to speak”, searching the scriptures (Acts 17:11) to
ascertain the “whole council of God” relative to any truth, before sharing
truth with others. Failure to consider all the relevant parallel passages when
studying a topic is paramount to assembling a picture puzzle while discarding
some of the pieces, creating an incomplete picture. God is obliviously serious
about His command to study as a perquisite to rightly interpreting truth and to
gaining His approval. This methodology is sayonara to Cherry-picking passages to substantiate pet doctrines.
Truth-Truth: Truth with a
Capital “T”
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