scripture Ripping
MATTHEW 18:16
"But if he hear thee not, take with thee one or two more, that at the mouth of two witnesses or three every word may be established."
In this verse, the out of context meaning is taken to mean that a personal revelation from the Lord or the meaning of a certain Scripture is basically established by a majority vote. First this is a logical fallacy of appeal to the popular. If individual church organizations and church leaders establish personal revelation or Scripture using this method we could logically conclude that many churches and church leaders would come with many different meanings of the same Scripture. Biblical interpretation is done by using biblical hermeneutics which is an accepted practice by many theologians. By using these establishments of biblical interpretation we can exegete the proper meaning of this verse in context. Let's take a closer look.
The surrounding context of this verse reads as follows;
Mat 18:15 ~ And if thy brother sin against thee, go, show him his fault between thee and him alone: if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Mat 18:16 ~ But if he hear thee not, take with thee one or two more, that at the mouth of two witnesses or three every word may be established.
Mat 18:17 ~ And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the church: and if he refuse to hear the church also, let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the publican.
As you can see from verse 15 this involves if a fellow Christian has wronged you in some way and how to deal with them. This involves getting a few witnesses who can confirm the wrongdoing that the other has done so that the truth of the matter may be established and if the person still does not come to reason it can be taken to the church leaders to settle the matter. This is clearly dealing with church conduct issues and has nothing to do with personal revelation or interpreting the meaning of a Scripture.
In this verse, the out of context meaning is taken to mean that a personal revelation from the Lord or the meaning of a certain Scripture is basically established by a majority vote. First this is a logical fallacy of appeal to the popular. If individual church organizations and church leaders establish personal revelation or Scripture using this method we could logically conclude that many churches and church leaders would come with many different meanings of the same Scripture. Biblical interpretation is done by using biblical hermeneutics which is an accepted practice by many theologians. By using these establishments of biblical interpretation we can exegete the proper meaning of this verse in context. Let's take a closer look.
The surrounding context of this verse reads as follows;
Mat 18:15 ~ And if thy brother sin against thee, go, show him his fault between thee and him alone: if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Mat 18:16 ~ But if he hear thee not, take with thee one or two more, that at the mouth of two witnesses or three every word may be established.
Mat 18:17 ~ And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the church: and if he refuse to hear the church also, let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the publican.
As you can see from verse 15 this involves if a fellow Christian has wronged you in some way and how to deal with them. This involves getting a few witnesses who can confirm the wrongdoing that the other has done so that the truth of the matter may be established and if the person still does not come to reason it can be taken to the church leaders to settle the matter. This is clearly dealing with church conduct issues and has nothing to do with personal revelation or interpreting the meaning of a Scripture.
