Here is where I disagree: Jesus left one commandment. To love, not to read the Scriptures.
Matthew 21:42 Jesus saith unto them, "Did ye never read in the scriptures......
22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
Luke 24:32...while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures.
John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Matthew 12:3 But He said unto them, "Have ye not read what David did.....
12:5.Or have ye not read in the law.....
19:4 And He answered and said unto them, "Have ye not read, that He Which made them at the beginning made them male and female
21:16 ...And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise'?"
One of the major problems with not reading the Bible and getting your Biblical education from "man" is that then you don't know if it is false doctrine or not. Jesus warns us about that. It was His first warning when the disciples asked Him to tell them of what to expect in end times.
Mark 13:5 And Jesus answering them began to say "Take heed lest any man deceive you.
Matthew 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, "take heed that no man deceive you.
Luke 21:8 And He said, "Take heed that ye be not deceived<.b>; for many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near; go ye not therefore after them.
I appreciate the point you were trying to make but I think it is very dangerous to take man's word on God's Word. After all, that man won't be with us when we stand before God. If I have misunderstood St. Irenaeus and he was only giving an example of "people who WERE LIVING THE FAITH - while, the Gnostics, WHO HAD THE BIBLE, were not"!!!, then please accept my apology. It's just that the sentence of "he defends those Christians who NEVER READ THE BIBLE - AND HE PRAISES THEM!" didn't sound right to me.
........Ping
I enter here where angels fear to tread.
When you quote words of Jesus in this post, I believe that He is referring to the Scriptures of the Old Testament— i.e., “have you not read what David did?”. (in the the Old the New is contained, in the New the Old is explained).
As for John 1:1-—”and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” I believe, of course, that the Word referred to here is God Himself. The New Testament words of God were written after his Redemptive suffering and death. But—in the beginning—He was always the Word.
I am absolutely no theologian, so I understand that I have put myself on hallowed ground here. Still, it seems very uncomplicated to me that the Bible as we know it today was not what carried the first generation of believers.
We read in Acts that they met in community, read the Scriptures, prayed together and broke the Bread. The Scriptures that they read, as I understand it, were those from the Old Testament that revealed that Emmanuel had come and was Jesus the Lord, who suffered and died for us and sent us the Holy Spirit. The Gospels were not yet written for two generations. If, by Scriptures, one would think this means the letters of Paul, Peter, Jude, and Titus-—they were letters at that time, and not canonically part of the New Testament.
I’m just inquiring.
I have a great love and hunger for the Sacred Scriptures, but don’t approach it with a theological background or with the intent of exegesis. I just let it nourish my soul day by day.
One of the major problems with not reading the Bible and getting your Biblical education from "man" is that then you don't know if it is false doctrine or not. Jesus warns us about that. It was His first warning when the disciples asked Him to tell them of what to expect in end times.
When I read the Scriptures, brother, I do not see the idea that the individual is told to take up the Scriptures and interpret them for himself. When I read the Bible, I see authoritative figures (OT and NT) that give the community the "official" interpretation. When the "wolves" or the "Judaizers" come to the Galatians or the Colossians or the Corinthians, does Paul suggest that they take up their Bibles or their tracts that he left them? No, he tells them to look to their authorized leaders or "listen to me".
We see this esp. in the latter books of the Bible, John's Epistles, the Pastorals, Peter, and the Captivity Epistles of Paul. As the Church developed, we see a definite change in how leadership acted. I am sure you will note how the community acted in Acts 1-5 vs. how it acted in the Pastorals. We see a development. I believe it was a natural one that stemmed from the attempt to protect the "doctrines once given". False teachers come in to the community in these later books, and the community is told to reject them, to recall what they were taught and to compare it. This may or may not have included pulling out the letters that John or Paul had previously written.
And finally, how does looking to the Scriptures ALONE provide the assurance that the entire community will agree? Luther said "there are as many doctrines as heads in our community", as he frustratingly realized the Pandora's Box he had opened. The Catholic Church has encouraged reading the Bible in ancient times - we have numerous commentaries from the various saints. However, they are always done in context of what the Church has taught. In other words, the Church is the final authority in judging what is a valid interpretation. Otherwise, how would I know I was right while you were wrong - or vice versus? We wouldn't.
I appreciate the point you were trying to make but I think it is very dangerous to take man's word on God's Word.
You are equating your OPINION with the "official" interpretation. This is, I have noticed, nearly universal among Protestants. Don't you realize that you are a man, and your interpretation of Sacred Writ is just as subject to error as any other individual? What makes you think you are guarded by God, while your neighbor is not? The Spirit guards the Church, the entire community, from error, not the individual. We must change our interpretations, when they differ, to that of the community. This MUST be fact, because there are "Spirit-led" men who claim diametrically opposed points of view on a variety of theological issues in Protestantism. WHO IS RIGHT? IS THE SPIRIT GUIDING BOTH IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS?
God guides the community. IT is the Temple of the Holy Spirit and we are parts of that Body, not the whole alone.
Regards