Thursday, November 4, 2010
2 Peter 1:20-21 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
TWO DITCHES ALONG THE ROAD OF SCRIPTURE
When we ask, "How can I really know what God says?" two dangers appear. We might think someone else needs to tell us what God says -- someone smarter that we can listen to and go along with. Or, we might think that only the "voice from inside us" can lead us to the truth about what God really says -- that if we just listen to the voice inside of us we'll know what God is telling us.
In reality, God's Word is the ONLY reliable voice which can tell us what God wants us to know.
At the time of Martin Luther this truth was almost completely forgotten. Through the Lutheran Reformation God caused His Word to be elevated back to it's place of prominence in the church. In other words, God used Martin Luther to pull people out of the ditch of blind submission to religious authority and back onto the sure road of God's Holy Word.
Some people claim that the significance of the Reformation is that a common monk stood up against the evil powers of a tyrannical church hierarchy and won.
Some believe that Martin failed because he did not free the people from the "tyranny" of the Scriptures being their boss. These people would push us into the ditch on the other side of the road, the ditch of "enthusiasm" (the belief that God speaks to people primarily through an inner voice, not through His written and spoken Word). We might also call this the ditch of "self slavery."
Luther wanted to free people from the tyranny of evil men, but he also wanted to free them from slavery to self. When loosed from evil men and sinful self, people are freed to serve God. This is only accomplished through faith in Christ Jesus.
