The Nugget:
Col 2:7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
My Comment:
One must be thoroughly grounded in the Scriptures (Colossians 2:7) in order to discern truth from error.
If you have not done that thorough homework, you don’t have that gift (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).
2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
It is recorded in the Gospels about 10 times that Jesus asked the question, “Have ye never read” or the equivalent (Matthew 21:16; Mark 2:25).
Mar 2:25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?
Have ye never read. FS21, Jdg 14:18, This is the Figure Anteisagoge or Counter Question. Mar 12:10; Mar 12:26, +Mat 12:3 note. Mat 19:4; +Mat 21:16; +Mat 21:42; Mat 22:31, Luk 6:3; Luk 10:26.
Mat 12:3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
Have ye not read. Mat 12:5, Mat 19:4; +Mat 21:16; +Mat 21:42; Mat 22:31, Mar 2:25; Mar 12:10; Mar 12:26, Luk 6:3; Luk 10:26, Jesus appealed repeatedly to the Bible alone as the source of spiritual authority. Notice the preceding cross references which document Christ’s repeated question, “Have ye not read?”
Jesus expected his hearers to have read the Bible. He expects them to understand what they read (Mat 24:15 note). His question, “Have ye not read?” is recorded ten times! Jesus referred to seven distinct passages (Gen 1:27 at Mat 19:4; Exo 3:6 at Mat 22:31-32; Lev 24:6-9 at Mat 12:3; Num 28:9-10 at Mat 12:5; 1Sa 21:6 at Mat 12:3; Psa 8:2 at Mat 21:16; Psa 118:22 at Mat 21:42). Jesus appealed to the Bible as His authority many times, but never once did he appeal to the authority of the religious leaders in Israel (Pharisees or Sadducees), or to religious tradition. He commanded to “Search the Scriptures” (Joh 5:39).
Two dozen times Jesus cites the Old Testament Prophets as recorded in the New Testament (Luk 24:27 note). Even during His temptation in the wilderness, Jesus cited the Scripture, not tradition, when he resisted the Devil successfully. It seems we could learn something from that (Mat 4:4; Mat 4:6, 7; Mat 4:10).
That the New Testament was written by the authority of Christ may be legitimately inferred from the fact that: (1) John explicitly records that Jesus Christ commanded him to write (Rev 1:19). (2) Jesus directly promised that the Holy Spirit would guide his apostles into all truth and bring all things to their remembrance (Joh 16:12, 13). Thus, as they wrote the writings we now have in the New Testament we are assured of their accuracy for they were written under divine inspiration (2Ti 3:16, 2Pe 1:21). Peter called the letters written by Paul “Scripture” (2Pe 3:16), and clearly possessed them as a well-known collection.
Paul cites the words of Jesus, quoting them exactly, from Luk 10:7 in 1Ti 5:17, 18, The book of Revelation makes at least four direct quotations from the Gospels.
By John’s death, the entire New Testament as we have it today was available and being read by or to all genuine Christians. Thus the claim by some Roman Catholics that Jesus gave us the Church, not the Bible, as our teaching authority and source of spiritual truth, the “pillar and ground of the truth” (1Ti 3:15 note), is untrue, for Jesus himself appealed to the authority of Scripture, not tradition or the religious institution of his day. Mat 9:13; +*Mat 22:29, Lev 10:16-20, +Deut 17:19, +*Psa 119:139, Act 13:27.
He also stated “whoso readeth, let him understand” (Matthew 24:15), thus asserting that it IS possible to understand many of the most difficult things in Scripture.
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
let him understand. or, observe attentively. Jesus assumes, asserts, and expects that his hearers, as readers of Scripture, can understand even a difficult passage in Daniel’s prophecy, a firm and strong assertion of and testimony to the perspicuity or understandability of Scripture. +Mat 12:3 note. Mat 13:51; Mat 15:10, **Psa 119:105, **Pro 8:8; **Pro 8:9, Jer 30:24, **Dan 12:4; **Dan 12:9; **Dan 12:10, **Joh 20:31, *Act 8:30 note. Rev 1:3; Rev 17:9.
But if you are not reading God’s Word, studying God’s Word, by searching the Scriptures (John 5:39; Acts 17:11), you’re not there yet.
Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
Act 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
We never get to the point where we know it all. We are to keep on growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (see 2 Peter 3:17, 18).
2Pe 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
2Pe 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.