Heap Big Smoke But No Fire
There is a beautiful unity to Scripture, from Genesis to
Revelation. As a beautiful piece of art, inspired by God, the lights and the
darks fit together and the face of Jesus Christ emerges to the eye of faith,
beloved of His own, a terror to the ungodly.
Paul speaks of this unity in Romans 12:6 as the "proportion of
faith." Those who speak must not go beyond their own measure, as if God
needs their additions, for no one should affirm that which he doubts himself.
But neither should any man exalt himself above others, as if God speaks only by
him, and all others must yield to him, for God resists the proud and gives
grace to the humble. When anyone exerts himself to insist upon his own rule,
then his efforts become a blot on the unity of Scripture and the beautiful face
of Christ is marred in the perception of men.
The unity of faith means that all the parts perfectly agree with each other in
bringing glory to God in Jesus Christ. As the Second Person of the Holy
Trinity, the eternal Wisdom of God, all things are bound up in Him and
perfected in Him. As every faithful minister affirms the truth of Scripture
according to his own gifts, and confronts error in those who intrude error and
their own ideas, the prophesy of the apostle Paul is realized in the world:
that the church "may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth,
and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which
passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."
Eph. 3:18, 19
Although no individual Christian possesses all the knowledge, yet his true
knowledge is true in itself and has no unbelief in it. Although no individual
Christian cannot speak with truth to everything, yet he does speak firmly and
confidently in the thing that he really knows if he speaks in the
"proportion of faith." Finally, although no individual Christian can
fully comprehend the fullness of the majesty of Christ set forth in Scripture,
yet what he does speak in humility and confidence will fit within the beauty of
the final picture, some in the light and joyful parts; others in the more dark
and somber, perhaps.
Every person, therefore, who speaks must study diligently to see that what he
speaks "fits" the rest of Scripture and does not rend the fabric of
God's glorious truth. He must speak with the assurance of understanding [Col.
2:2], the full assurance of hope [Heb. 6:11], and the full assurance of faith
[Heb. 10:22] or he will be a blind leader of the blind, a usurped teacher who
cannot even teach himself.
Proverbs 25:
11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
12 As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover
upon an obedient ear.
13 As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to
them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters. [He is a cup of
cold water on a hot and miserable day!]
14 Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain.
