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What Saith the Scholars? Or What Saith the Scriptures? Prepared by Chris Reeves * Southside church of Christ Gospel Meeting * September 20, 2015

First-Century “Scholars”  The Pharisees were “scholars” who made void the word of God (Mt. 15:6)  The Sadducees were “scholars” who ignored the word of God (Mt. 22:29)  Many follow the “scholars” instead of truth (Jn. 7:45-49)

21 st Century “Scholars”  Today, it is becoming more popular among some brethren to appeal to religious “authorities” and “scholars”  More and more are becoming dependent upon what men say about the scriptures rather than the scriptures themselves  Commentaries, online articles, scholarly journals, etc.

21 st Century “Scholars”  Some brethren are now accepting what the “scholars” say and rejecting what good, sound, brethren say  This is showing up among brethren with seminary degrees and in social media; many “scholarly” books and articles are being recommended (the older preachers used to call it “drinking from denominational wells”)

21 st Century “Scholars”  “Facebook Theology” quote scholars (NT Wright, John H. Walton, R. Albert Mohler, J. Dunn, etc.) little to no Bible study (context, word studies, etc.) conclude quickly without settled reasoning from scripture dismiss what sound brethren say as “traditional” or “Church of Christ view”

21 st Century “Scholars”  “Facebook Theology” claim that your “op” (original post) was misunderstood toss out religious ideas and then move on to other topics before the previous one has been resolved claim that you can’t discuss anything anymore without being criticized

What Saith the Scholars?  Scholars are not divine, they are human; they may we weighty, but not inspired; they may be skilled, but do not know everything; they may be learned, but not infallible (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20-21)  Scholars are prejudice; they come to the text with preconceived ideas such as denominationalism, Calvinism, premillennialism, liberalism (2 Pet. 3:16)

What Saith the Scholars?  Scholars disagree with themselves (change their views) and with other scholars as to what a particular Bible verse means (Jn. 10:35)  Scholars are not needed; God wrote scripture for the common man to read and understand (Acts 17:11)

What Should We Do?  Paul asked, “What saith the scriptures?” (Rom. 4:3; Gal. 4:30; see also Rom. 9:17; 10:11; 11:2; 1 Tim. 5:18; Jas. 4:6)  Test all things with scripture (1 Thess. 5:21; 1 Jn. 4:1)  Do not go beyond (think of men above) what is written in scripture (1 Cor. 4:6)

What Should We Do?  Speak as God’s scripture (1 Pet. 4:11)  Dig into the scriptures (Jn. 5:39; Acts 17:11; 18:24)  Appeal to scripture in our writing, speaking, teaching, learning, preaching, and persuading (Lk. 24:27, 32, 45; Acts 8:32,35; 17:2; 18:28; Rom. 15:4)

What Should We Do?  Compare scripture with scripture (Jn. 19:36-37)  Not, “What saith the scholars?”, but, “What saith the scriptures?”