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What does it mean to “not go beyond what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6)?

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What does it mean to “not go beyond what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6)?

Many have speculated about this verse. Some have said that it refers to the Old Testament. Of course, that would mean we must throw out the New Testament including the words that say “not to go beyond what is written.” That means that such a teaching is self-refuting. And not only that but that teaching itself goes beyond what is written.

Some have claimed that it refers to the entire Bible. However, if that is the case, Paul is violating his own warning as he writes since much of what he writes after this sentence is not written previously. Many modern writers have tried to say that God never reveals anything that isn’t already plainly spelled out in the Bible, and they don’t realize that they are adding to Scripture when they make that claim. Scripture doesn’t even plainly spell out which of the many ancient writings should be included in the Bible. And not all followers of Christ agree that the current cannon of Scripture is the correct cannon of Scripture.

It is possible that this warning refers to what is written by the prophets and apostles, including both Old and New Testament writings. That would be in line with the warning, “If anyone teaches another doctrine and disagrees with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with godly teaching.” In context, this looks like the specific doctrine is in the sentence just before this, but it also extends to a more general statement of “the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with godly teaching.” What is godly teaching?

There is one reference to “the apostles’ doctrine,” and it appears in the Book of Acts before Pentecost. From Acts 15, we can see how apostles’ doctrine is established. We see Paul exercising discipline over Peter when Peter violates apostles’ doctrine in Galatians 2:11-13. This indicates that each of the apostles was under the government of all the others and that there was no chief apostle other than Jesus Christ. We also see that revelation was given to the apostles and prophets in Ephesians 3:5. Jesus taught Paul directly as recorded in Galatians 1:11-12. However, even after this tremendous experience with Christ, Paul went up to Jerusalem to make sure His doctrine was in line with what Jesus had shown the other apostles. And it was. From this, we can say that there is no such thing as an independent apostle. It is also clear from Paul’s writings that false apostles were teaching doctrines that weren’t in agreement with the doctrines agreed upon by the apostles of that day. We can also see that the apostles’ doctrine was based on what had been written up to that point as interpreted by the Holy Spirit through the apostles that were alive at that time.

Here’s the problem. No one can get outside himself or herself to objectively read Scripture. Either the Holy Spirit will interpret and explain Scripture or human preconceptions will interpret and explain Scripture. For each person, his or her preconceptions don’t seem like preconceptions. They seem to be obvious reality. Challenging them seems like insanity.

Jesus is real and you can know Him personally. If you seek Him, you will find Him. When you find Him, He will teach you. He will lead you to a place where you can grow in Him. God restored the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit in 1948. And He restored the orders of apostles who continue work together to establish the apostles’ doctrine to this day. And that doctrine is established in the Acts 15 way, seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit to understand how the current Scripture should be understood. This is different from the theological approach that tries to discern the meaning of Scripture without the benefit of the Holy Spirit’s leading or the apostolic covering and protection.

It seems that this verse of Scripture is saying not to teach any doctrine that isn’t in agreement with what the apostles of the day have been able to receive from the Holy Spirit and write down. There’s no need to go beyond that doctrine. You will need the Holy Spirit to receive that doctrine from the apostles, but the apostles will be here until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect (totally complete) man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. There will be counterfeits of course, but those counterfeits won’t follow the orders of Scripture. They will disregard those who have been established by God before them, and they won’t follow Paul’s example of submitting themselves to those who were established first.

 

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There are people on Twitter who are blocking me, and I post nothing political.

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BLOCKED

There are people on Twitter who are blocking me, and I post nothing political. I can tell they are shadow banning me because I have several accounts. One day, one of my accounts will suddenly have no new followers while other accounts have many new followers. Every once in a while, something happens. Perhaps someone comes in and removes the choke on my accounts. Perhaps it’s something that happens automatically. I’ll suddenly have a rush of followers on all the accounts. After a few days, the choke goes back on. I don’t know why this happens. Perhaps someone is irritated by what I post.

I do post the reality of the Münchhausen Trilemma and how it destroys any logic, science, philosophy, theology, etc. that is not based on truth. The human mind can’t self-generate truth. Truth can only be revealed by a Person Who knows all things, can’t lie, and is willing to reveal parts of truth. There’s only one Person like that: Jesus Christ. Therefore, rational thought is impossible without divine revelation. You can see why some people would find this message irritating.

We are dependent on Jesus Christ. Fortunately, He shines His light on every person. However, when someone continues to ignore His light and continues to refuse to thank Him and glorify Him for that light, that person will go into increasing darkness. Some started to walk into darkness with rationalism, evolutionism, and old-earthism. That goes back a couple centuries. Now, it has progressed to the absolute insanity you are seeing in the world.

INSANITY

All the insanity is based on pretending. For instance, rationalism pretends that what you make up is true. Of course, rationalism makes no distinction between what Christ reveals, what the human mind makes up, and what the demons say.

Naturalism pretends that there is no spiritual realm or that the spiritual realm has no effect on the physical realm. Not only that, but it pretends God does nothing, that demons don’t do anything, and that God doesn’t speak.

Materialism pretends God doesn’t exist. And it pretends demons don’t exist.

Naturalism and materialism persist despite the fact that every person knows God exists and reveals reality through the Bible, those who speak by the Holy Spirit, God’s creation, and every other method of divine revelation mentioned in the Bible.

Uniformitarianism pretends that the Creation event and the Worldwide Flood event didn’t take place. It does that in spite of all the evidence against it.

Evolutionism pretends a fantastic story took place. This story violates the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics. It violates the Laws of Information, the Law of Biogenesis, and what we can plainly observe.

GOOD NEWS

On the good side, if you seek Christ, you find Christ. He’s real and you can know Him. And God always leads you into righteousness. However, we all have strongholds in our minds that we have acquired because every form of communication, influence, and power has been pounding us with made-up stories all our lives. That’s because naturalism, materialism, and uniformitarianism are assumed into language almost everywhere. It’s the same with evolutionism and old-earthism. When you listen to the weather, they talk about “how things evolved” or “billions of years ago.” All of this is pure insanity and brainwashing. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is here to demolish those strongholds and replace them with the Truth.

The Truth is Jesus Christ Himself. The Father speaks the Truth to us through the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ (the Truth) authors faith in our minds if we will receive it. God shows us our destiny in Christ, who we really are. He shows us how we fit into the body of Christ. Our Lord shows us what He wants us to do right now. As we see this vision of hope, God’s grace does the works of God through us. We yield. Our part is to submit our bodies to Him, and He does His acts and says His words through us. That’s what righteousness is. It’s the only thing righteousness is.

TRANSFORMATION

As we yield in this way, it’s what Jesus talked about in the Parable of the Sower. The Sower plants the Seed. Hopefully, it lands on good ground. And good ground is a submissive mind, a yielded mind while the Seed is the Word the Father spoke. And Jesus Christ is The Word. How did Jesus Christ get into your heart? The Father spoke Jesus into your heart, and you just had to receive it. However, when you were born again, that was just the start. Now, you continue to listen to the Father. The Father will complete the work in you as you listen to Him and yield to Him. This is how you are edified. God is transforming you.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CHRIST THE BODY

Edification is being built up in Christ. And this edification can’t happen in isolation and independence from the body of Christ. God is forming you as a particular member of the body of Christ. And the Holy Spirit is fitting you into your place. If you read the Letter to the Ephesians, you see the vision of what God is doing in the body of Christ and the unity God has. And you also see the order of apostles: prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. The body is coming to completeness in Christ in perfect Scriptural order with each member of Christ the body on earth totally submitted and joined to Christ the Head in heaven. These things become plain to you as you read. The rebellious fleshly nature is gone then. That day is fast approaching. You will see a first resurrection as the Bible tells us.

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