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To: Mrs. Don-o
I categorically deny that the Church has made doctrinal errors. Christ has promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against it

Oops. There's the crux of the problem.

Certainly the gates of hell won't prevail against the church. Obviously, the church will stand until the end of time.

But there are errors made every single day all over the world in the church and always will be, no matter how strongly you deny it. Thanks for looking up all those translations. Your first 3 versions support the interpretation I put forth of the verse in Timothy...that God is the foundation of truth.

I wouldn't trust the more modern versions for as much accuracy (such as New Life) since their emphasis is on readability perhaps more than strict accuracy. A Catholic Bible I looked at supported my interpretation as well.

363 posted on 12/08/2006 5:22:46 PM PST by what's up
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To: what's up
Look again: every translation supports the reading that the Church is the "pillar and support of the Truth." We'd do best to find somebody who reads Greek to explain why the appositive refers to the word "Church,", but I've contented myself by looking up some Protestant comentators who presumably know their Greek:

"Hence we may easily conclude in what sense Paul uses these words. The reason why the Church is called the “pillar of truth” is, that she defends and spreads it by her agency...For the same reason, also, she is called “the pillar of truth;” because the office of administering doctrine, which God hath placed in her hands, is the only instrument of preserving the truth, that it may not perish from the remembrance of men." -- John Calvin

"The pillar and ground of the truth. The church is the pillar and support of the truth because it preaches it to the world, preserves it, and transmits it from generation to generation." -- B.W. Johnson

"The Church, or congregation of believers, which before was regarded as the habitation of God, is now, from a different point of view, regarded as the pillar upholding the truth." ---Robert Jamieson

"The church is the house of God; he dwells there. The church holds forth the Scripture and the doctrine of Christ, as a pillar holds forth a proclamation." --- Matthew Henry

"The figure here is evidently taken from architecture, as the use of the word pillar is. The proper meaning of the one expression would be, that truth is supported by the church, as an edifice is by a pillar; of the other, that the truth rests on the church, as a house does on its foundation. It is that which makes it fixed, stable, permanent; that on which it securely stands amidst storms and tempests; that which renders it firm when systems of error are swept away as a house that is built on the sand. Comp. See Barnes "Mt 7:24"; Mt 7:25-27. The meaning then is, that the stability of the truth on earth is dependent on the church. It is owing to the fact that the church is itself founded on a rock, that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it, that no storms of persecution can overthrow it, that the truth is preserved from age to age>" --- Barnes New Testament Notes

All of these Protestant commentaries are found at the Calvin College website.

366 posted on 12/08/2006 6:40:18 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (Jesus, my Lord, my God, my All.)
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