It's not enough to use the Bible as a book of wonderful sayings from which we may choose what we wish for our inspiration. "The Word of truth" must be "accurately handled"; for while it is all given for our spiritual profit, it is not all written directly to us or about us. Therefore, if we truly want to understand and obey God's Word, we must first determine what Scriptures are particularly related to us and study all the rest in the light of these.
Sadly, however, many fail to give the Word of God the respect and reverence it deserves. They take passages out of context, spiritualize them, and give them private interpretations. Finding "precious passages" anywhere at all, no matter to whom addressed or when or why, they put their own spin on them and claim them as promises of God to them. To take isolated statements from the writings of men and use them in such a way would be considered dishonest, but Bible teachers do this all the time with the Word of God!
The Word, accurately handled, is of supreme importance to the Church as a whole as well as to the individual believer. And it's because this fact has not yet been sufficiently recognized that we have in the Church today so many "children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes" (Eph 4:14).
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil (Heb 5:12-14).
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil (Heb 5:12-14).
