Paul seemed surprised at the sudden spotlight. “Well, that’s a very large and complex subject…..”
“Surely it is, but did you inform these dear folks of that when you used that verse (2 Thess 2:15) to get them to begin to question the sufficiency of God’s holy Word?”
There was a deathly silence. “I didn’t feel it necessary to go into such detail, no.”
“Even when you knew admitting the confusion that exists in Rome about the topic would surely undercut the very attempt you were making to convince them of the necessity of abandoning their belief in the sufficiency of Scripture and embracing the alleged sufficiency of Rome? I find that disingenuous at the very best, don’t you?”
“You don’t have to get offensive” Paul said.
“Deceiving God’s people is offensive to me, sir, and dishonestly undercutting the confidence of the saints in the inspired Word of God is too. So you are admitting you knew of these issues, and yet allowed these fine people to remain in ignorance of them?”
“Well, I can see this was not a very good idea” Paul said as he closed his Bible with a thump.
“Did you ever see Rocky V, Paul” I asked with a smile. He just looked at me, so I continued, “Remember that line, ‘I didn’t hear the bell?’ I’m not quite finished yet. I haven’t gotten to the positive evidence drawn from the nature of Scripture as Paul presents it in 2 Timothy 3:16-17. I haven’t addressed Jesus’ teaching on the relationship of any and all traditions–even allegedly divine and inspired traditions–to Scripture. And remember, I haven’t even started on the historical material yet.”
“Yes, well, you may wish to continue with those topics” Paul said as he slipped his Bible into his bookbag, “but I really don’t think this is the best forum for continuing this. I sense a strong spirit of anger in you, and I just don’t think it is wise to continue this here.”
“A strong spirit of anger? I see! Do forgive my zeal for the truth as well as the honor of God’s Word! I believe my questions are quite direct and to the point. If you were aware of the fact that you were only offering your own personal, and fallible, opinion of the meaning of the verse, and that the system to which you were seeking to win these folks does not, in fact, even give you an infallible definition of what this alleged ‘tradition’ as you interpret it contained or even still contains, how could you, in good conscience, not make that clear? Surely you realize that your appeal to the alleged ‘certainty’ of Rome would evaporate in the light of such a revelation, would it not?”
Read the whole of this thought provoking, fire kindling, spirit quickening article in defense of the gospel here.
- James White, Sola Scriptura in Dialoguei
Footnotes
- Emphasis mine. [↩]
