SHOW ME THE CHAPTER AND VERSE

Ask me for Scripture. You should. Just don’t tell me an entire doctrine has to fit into one verse, using your exact terminology, before you’ll accept it. Where did that requirement come from? Show me the chapter and verse for that. After His resurrection, Jesus began with Moses and went through the prophets, explaining what the Scriptures said about Him. Luke 24:27. He took them through passages across Scripture and showed them how they fit together. We ought to be willing to turn a few pages too. The Bible also checks our interpretation. Think of an error correcting system. You misunderstand something in one passage, then another passage forces you to go back and look again. God’s Word can correct us, provided we’re willing to let go of an argument when it does. Take the Trinity. Deuteronomy 6:4 says God is one. John 1:1 says “the Word was God,” and John 1:14 says “the Word was made flesh.” In Acts 5:3, 4, Peter tells Ananias that he lied to the Holy Ghost, then tells him he lied to God. At Jesus’ baptism, the Son is in the water, the Spirit descends, and the Father speaks from heaven. Matthew 3:16, 17. All those passages have to be accounted for. Saying “Trinity isn’t in the Bible” doesn’t explain a single one of them. You’ve objected to the name. You still have to deal with what the name describes. The rapture gets the same treatment. Paul says believers will be “caught up” to meet the Lord in the air. 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. He explains the resurrection and the changing of believers in 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52. Read them together and you get details you wouldn’t have by stopping at either passage alone. Argue about the English label all afternoon if you want. “Caught up” is still sitting there in the text. Baptism works the same way. Jesus commands it in Matthew 28:19. Philip baptizes the Ethiopian in Acts 8:36, 38. Romans 6:4 and Colossians 2:12 explain its connection with burial and resurrection with Christ. The command, an account of it being practiced, and its meaning are spread across different books. Studying them together is how you learn what Scripture teaches about it. There’s a spiritual issue here too. In Matthew 13:10 through 15, Jesus describes people who hear without understanding and whose hearts have grown dull. Paul says the things of the Spirit of God are “spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14. A person can know the words well enough to argue about them and still resist what they say. Every one of us needs to remember that when we open the Bible. Those same Scriptures can bring someone to faith in Christ. Paul told Timothy they were able to make him “wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 3:15. God’s Word reaches people who don’t yet believe. Of course, gathering a pile of verses doesn’t automatically make your conclusion right. Every passage has a context. You have to read what surrounds it and pay attention to who is being addressed. If another passage challenges your conclusion, go back and examine it. You don’t get to demand Scripture from everybody else while ignoring the verses that challenge you. I’ll gladly give you chapter and verse. Just don’t close your Bible when I give you more than one. #MoreJoyMinistries