SF, how many notable Rabbic theologians did Jesus quote, with comprehensive citation etc etc etc, when making his points to the Pharisees, the Disciples, or even the Devil? Oh my! None? Well THERE’s a shock. Seems more like a list of “disparate quotes” approach. Or maybe not so “disparate,” as both Christ and the Apostles make liberal use of those specific, narrow Scriptural citations to make specific points on the basis that, hey, if GOD says this is the way it is, that ends the debate.
Which is why you can’t make good use of Scripture if you don’t believe in the power of it. For those who try to get God’s word from any number of other sources or filters, the plain and obvious meaning of Scripture will never be enough. So it must be discredited and taken out of the picture, displaced by some human authority, which is idolatry, probably the principal sin of the Jewish magisterium of Jesus’ day.
So it’s not too surprising that Jesus never reprimanded anybody for not listening to the Rabbinic lens on Scripture. Instead, He held them responsible for not listening to Scripture itself.
Remember the man in Hell begging Abraham to send someone to warn his family about that terrifying place? But Jesus says if they will not listen to the law and the prophets, the Scripture as it was in His day, they would not listen though one rose from the dead. To paraphrase Shakespeare, the fault, dear Steelfish, is not in our Bible but in ourselves.
You see, the Bible is perfectly comprehensible in it’s essentials to anyone who “has an ear” to hear it. But our sin makes us deaf, and only Christ can heal that deafness, much more a miracle than any physical healing, up to and including resurrection from the dead. Thank God the Holy Spirit has not left us at the mercy of a corrupt magisterium, but has given us both His word, and the ears to hear it.
Peace,
SR
Um, “Rabbic” should be “rabbinic.” Sorry.
“the plain and obvious meaning of Scripture will never be enough.”
So you will forgive only 70 x7=490?
Or when Jesus says:
“He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal, and I will raise him up at the last day” according to Protestants He actually did not mean it.
Besides aren’t there various versions of the Bible?
This is why we need one single authority empowered by Christ Himself and extended to Peter and his successors to make authoritative interpretations including the very selection of the books that constitute the Bible- the early Church Fathers, as well as to rule on heretical beliefs: The Council of Nicea etc. who exhaustively study and examine the sacred documents, the oral traditions and make such determination.
This is why every eminent theologian after whom colleges and universities have been named are either Catholic or converts to Catholicism.
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Well said...for those with ears to hear.