Tradition must give way to the clear statements of the Scripture

  Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: “HE WAS LED LIKE A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER; AND LIKE A LAMB THAT IS SILENT BEFORE ITS SHEARER, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH. “IN HUMILIATION HIS JUSTICE WAS TAKEN AWAY; WHO WILL DESCRIBE HIS GENERATION? FOR HIS LIFE IS TAKEN AWAY FROM THE EARTH.” The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself, or of someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. Acts 8:30–35 The rhetorical question suggests the insensitivity of this generation for its act against God’s servant, who was slain unjustly as he was silent. Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible, Second Edition (Denmark: Thomas Nelson, 2019). Th...

 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...