Is it Just a Matter of Opinion?

The idea that scripture is just about men’s opinions, must be completely dismissed.  As we read above - “If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command.  But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored.”

The pastor wrote, ‘Firstly, it seems a bit of a shame to me that you dwell on discrepancies and difference of opinions as much as you do.’

But scripture is not about opinion, it is God’s word and we must be willing to be corrected by it.  As it is written, “All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” ( 2Tim. 3:16-17)

Paul wrote to Timothy, “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you can command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer” (1 Tim 1:3).

Paul doesn’t pretend that the problems in Ephesus are caused by ‘discrepancies and different opinions’.  He calls them what they truly are - “false doctrines”!   

Paul does not encourage Timothy to simply ‘let God be God’ in these situations.  Instead, he charges Timothy with the duty of  “correcting” and “rebuking”:  “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge.  Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction.” (2 Tim. 4:1,2)   

If every different opinion is right, then where is the need for “correcting”?

If no one is ever wrong, then where is the need for “rebuking”?

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The pastor says - ‘Of coarse two different opinions can be right. The Scriptures are a living word that can be interpreted from different angles, perspectives and cultures over the ages.’ 

But what does the Bible say?

When the apostle Paul encountered falsehood in another apostle, there was an immediate reaction.  He says - “I opposed him to his face because he was clearly in the wrong.”  He did not call it a ‘discrepancy’ or a ‘different opinion’ - he called it “hypocrisy”. Paul could have ignored the problem and simply said, ‘let God sort out what He wants to sort out’.   Instead, Paul opposed another apostles in front of other believers:  “When Peter came down from Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he was clearly in the wrong.  Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the gentiles.  But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.  The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.  When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel I said to Peter in front of them all, ‘You are a Jew, yet you live like a gentile and not like a Jew.  How is it then, that you force gentiles to follow Jewish customs.” (Gal. 2:11-14)

Peter was letting his ‘culture’ stop him from “acting in line with the truth of the gospel”, so Paul rebuked him.  Did Peter then turn to Paul and say- ‘it seems a bit of a shame to me that you dwell on discrepancies and difference of opinions as much as you do’?  No!  Peter “was clearly in the wrong”!  His “hypocrisy” was leading others astray!

This has nothing to do with opinion!  It is about whether or not we are teaching and “acting in line with the truth of the gospel”.  Opinion means nothing!  Culture means nothing!  Upbringing means nothing!   We should never let ourselves become so tired, that we allow the Scriptures to be called a ‘matter of opinion’.

We have examples in scripture, of people trying to ‘interpret’ the words of Jesus Christ from their own ‘perspective’, and getting it completely wrong:  Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” (John 2:19). At the time that Jesus said this, the crowd assumed that he was talking about the temple in Jerusalem:  We are told, “Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against Him:  ’We heard him say ‘I will destroy this man made temple, and in three days I will raise another, not made by man’.  Yet even then, their testimony did not agree” (Mark.14:57-59).  It was probably quite reasonable for those people to think that the Lord was talking about the “man made temple”.  How could they know that Jesus was talking about being killed and then rising from the dead?  If the Lord’s own disciples couldn’t understand him at the time, then how could anyone else?   These false witnesses were obviously a little confused, as they did not even agree with one another about what Jesus had said.  Yet what they say at the Lord’s trial is not called their ‘interpretation’.  It is not called their ‘angle’- it is not called their ‘perspective’- it is simply called “false testimony” because it was not “the truth”.

This is what scripture says about scripture-  “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation.”  (2 Peter 1:20)

The Lord Jesus clearly told us, “But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all truth.”   He does not lead us into ‘perspective’ (cultural or otherwise) or points of view or ‘belief systems’ or theology!  He leads us into “all truth”. (John 16:13)

The question we must ask ourselves is - Are we willing to submit to the truth?

This is the question that Paul asked;   “Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth”?  (Gal. 4:16)   He did not say that he was simply expressing his point if view or opinion.  He said, ‘I am “ telling you the truth”!