Tradition must give way to the clear statements of the Scripture

 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “ An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign , and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment  with this generation  and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed  a greater than Jonah is here . The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment  with this generation  and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed  a greater than Solomon is here .  “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from w...

 Ambrose of Milan, “Exposition of the Christian Faith,”   The Arians are condemned by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David: for they dare to limit Christ’s knowledge. The passage cited by them in proof of this is by no means free from suspicion of having been corrupted. But to set this right, we must mark the word “Son.” For knowledge cannot fail Christ as Son of God, since He is Wisdom; nor the recognition of any part, for He created all things. It is not possible that He, who made the ages, cannot know the future, much less the day of judgment. Such knowledge, whether it concerns anything great or small, may not be denied to the Son, nor yet to the Holy Spirit. Lastly, various proofs are given from which we can gather that this knowledge exists in Christ. 188. WHEREFORE we ought to know that they who make such statements are accursed and condemned by the Holy Spirit. For whom else but the Arians in chief does the prophet condemn, seeing that they say that the Son of Go...

  I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people; I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world.  But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any  so-called brother  if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person , or an idolater, or is verbally abusive , or habitually drunk, or a swindler —not even to eat with such a person. For what business of mine is it to judge outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?  But those who are outside, God judges.  1 Cor. 5:9–13 NASB.2020 cf. (Rom. 13:3, 4) The punishments that the church applies in this connection are purely spiritual. They do not and may not consist in fines, corporal punishment, branding, torture, imprisonment, deprivation of honor, banishment, the death penalty, and so forth, as Rome claims; nor in the dissolution of family, c...

Apostles’ Council Apostles’ Council The main topic of the Apostles’ Council was whether circumcision and keeping the Law of Moses were necessary for believers.  The “ men from James ” clearly felt that accepting hospitality from such Gentiles was impossible for Torah-observant Christians; and if this issue had not been explicitly discussed in Jerusalem, then it is not improbable that they had good arguments to persuade Peter and Barnabas . “Righteous Gentiles” may indeed be acceptable to God through his grace, but they could not be part of Israel, and relationships with them would continue to defile Torah-observant Jewish Christians. With the growing success of the Gentile mission, this problem and the threat it posed to Jewish-Christian self-identity will have grown ever greater.  Paul’s own understanding of the grace of God, however, led him to affirm that there could be no distinction before God between the Christian Jew and the righteou...

This message came to me concerning Edom: Someone from Edom keeps calling to me, “Watchman, how much longer until morning? When will the night be over?” The watchman replies, “Morning is coming, but night will soon return (1 Thess. 5:1, 2, 5, 6). If you wish to ask again, then come back and ask.” Isaiah 21:11–12 When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. Matthew 11:2–5 The proclamation to the poor comes at the end because it gives meaning to—that is, interprets—the miracles done by Jesus. Moreover, the miracle that heals only th...