Back to What?

When it comes to life in the Body of Christ, be that in our households or the local assembly of believers, people are often tempted to say we need to get back to what the early church said and did, or what the Reformers said and did, or what so and so said and did. While that is not necessarily a bad thing, it is easy in the process to make some of the mistakes they did.

I often benefit from the views of some of my favorite authors, pastors and friends, living and dead, using their views almost as a sort of compass as I navigate life, cultivate a biblical worldview and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. They can be helpful but certainly have their human limitations. The word of man about the Word of God is not inerrent or infallible. I am influenced by others I respect. But that must never be allowed to take precedence when handling Scripture. We must trust God more than man. To make an obvious point, it doesn't matter what era you choose from, human examples are not Jesus nor did they write Scripture. They merely commented on It. Often they pointed people back to Jesus and Scripture but we ought not to point people to people, but back to Jesus and the Scriptures.

We must take great care who we follow and why. Beware of the pitfalls inherent in any human viewpoint or opinion or system of thought, while benefitting from it's strong points. The only inerrent, infallible source we have is God and the only inerrrent, infallible document we have is Holy Scripture spoken by God Himself (2 Tim. 3:16). The Living Word of God and the written Word of God are our true north. We must always point people back to Jesus and Scripture, trusting the Spirit of God to apply the Word of God in the lives of the people of God.