THE SCRIPTURE AND DANGER OF PARTIAL KNOWLEDGE.
Partial knowledge of the true religion has led many away from the true God rather than toward Him. God told us in His word in Hosea 4:6, “My People are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” Therefore it is God’s desire that all of mankind come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. And it is also God’s desire that those who are saved come into unity of faith to defend the truth, to speak it, teach it, and to preach the whole truth. It is a common saying that in order for one to arrive at the truth of any matter, then one must hear the whole matter because there are always two sides to every story. In other words, we must not be haughty or filled with pride and say to ourselves things like, “Oh I have heard that before and I just don’t believe it.” It may also be that you have not heard the whole matter before jumping to a wrong conclusion. The book of Proverbs 18:13 says“ He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him. So, it is important to search the scripture for the truth and correct information when we are confronted with controversial teachings and doctrinal interpretations.
Failure to search the scripture regularly and the inability to understand the contents properly like the Ethiopian Eunuch are some of the reasons why Christians unknowingly reject the truth and become misled into errors and heresies by false teachers. “And Philip … said, understandest thou what thou readest? The Ethiopian Eunuch answered, how can I, except someone should guide me? …”. Act 8:30-31. To know the truth and not to be misled, we are not just to attend a Bible believing church where the whole truth is being taught but also, we should read and study the Bible not casually as we read other books for pleasure. We are to study the word of God scrutinisingly to prove to ourselves that what we read or hear is the truth and nothing but the whole truth. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2Tim 2:15. When we rightly divide the word of God, we will understand the teachings of the word of God perfectly in every area without having any contradiction(s) in another part of the whole word of God and the Holy Spirit will help us and open our eyes of understanding.
There abound false teachers who are smooth-talking preachers with ability to tickle people’s ears and tell them what the flesh wants to hear because the carnal man does not want to endure sound doctrine but things that are pleasant to the itching ears – (2Tim 4:3-4). Such people are easily led into errors and to the captivity of Satan the deceiver. The devil is using well-meaning preachers and teachers of the gospel to establish denominations that preach not the true gospel but doctrinal fallacies. They mix lies with the truth, preparing innocent souls for hell. Those who teach false doctrines are blinded by their own sins. They will not enter the kingdom of God and will prevent others from entering. Jesus said “take heed how you hear …” Luke 8:18. Today, we have proliferation of congregations and denominations instead of a united body of Christ. This is not because the word of God has changed any bit. It is because many reject the truth by lack of adequate knowledge of the scripture. They hold onto their own doctrinal beliefs on certain scriptures, ignorant of how to test such doctrines against the true scriptural interpretation. Unfortunately, many false teachers take the advantage of the innocence of the ignorant and the simple to peddle doctrinal lies and heresies to the peril of the unguided. “And the times of this ignorance God winked at (disregard); but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent:” Acts 17:30. Search the Scripture, know the truth and it will set you free. John 8:32. No discrepancies in the Scripture to warrant divisions in the body of Christ.
