Do you interpret scripture without the Holy Spirit?

Pharisees interpret Scripture without revelation from the Holy Spirit.

How horrible it will be for you, you blind guides! You say, ‘To swear an oath by the temple doesn’t mean a thing. But to swear an oath by the gold in the temple means a person must keep his oath.’ You blind fools! What is more important, the gold or the temple that made the gold holy? Again you say, ‘To swear an oath by the altar doesn’t mean a thing. But to swear an oath by the gift on the altar means a person must keep his oath.’ You blind men! What is more important, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? To swear an oath by the altar is to swear by it and by everything on it. To swear an oath by the temple is to swear by it and by the one who lives there. And to swear an oath by heaven is to swear by God’s throne and the one who sits on it. Matt 23:16-22

The Pharisees interpreted Scripture with their minds, without any revelation from God. So they would modify God’s Word according to their own ideas and preach that as God’s law. There are Pharisaical religious leaders doing that today too. They don’t understand the spirit behind God’s Word, but preach it according to the letter – and “the letter kills” (2 Cor.3:6). These preachers don’t see their inconsistency either, when they disobey that same word in some other area.

Here is one example. Some church-leaders teach that the wearing of jewellery is a sinful luxury and look down on any sister who may be wearing even imitation jewellery. But those same preachers may have spent more  building their own house with many luxurious fittings in it, with the money of those same people!  But theydon’t see their inconsistency and hypocrisy there. They ease their conscience by saying that Scripture does not speak against the use of expensive marble flooring in a house, but only against jewellery (1 Tim. 2:9; 1 Pet. 3:3)!! But Scripture actually urges us to avoid all unnecessary luxuries.

There are many other examples like this. Such church-leaders do not have the revelation of the Holy Spirit on the Word. Instead, they interpret Scripture to suit their own convenience and judge others.

Do you do these things?

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