Who Told You That

     Tonight we were studying 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.  Two primary points were made.  The first point that was made was from the context of Scripture.  The point was made that Paul was warning the Corinthians not to choose the lifestyle of the Corinthian culture.  At the obedience of the Gospel the lifestyle of Christ was the chosen lifestyle of the Corinthian believer.  Paul was warning them not to stray from it.
     The second point made is the usual “talking point” we hear from years gone by in Churches of Christ.  This second point made was that this Scripture was written to forbid members of the Church of Christ from marrying those who aren’t.  As I listened to these ideas several thoughts came to my mind.
     First, when we are studying a passage of Scripture that Scripture has to be interpreted to fit what was going on in the context.  It  has to first apply to those to whom it is written.
     Second, We cannot apply this Scripture to our situation in a way that is not consistent with it’s original writing.  This has to be interpreted in the context of the situation.  We must be consistent with the original intent.
     Too often we bend Scripture to fit our doctrine.  This is not the way it ought to be.  Instead of bending Scripture to fit our doctrine we ought to bend our doctrine to fit what the Scripture actually is saying.  It is disturbing that so many are willing to read between the lines of Scripture in order to uphold pre-concieved doctrine.  Why not let the intent of Scripture determine doctrine? Isn’t this much better than bending Scripture to fit doctrine?