Scripture Part 8: Being Corrected By Scripture

There is no one who is good except God. There is no one perfect except God. So unless you think you are God you need correction. I need correction too. We all do. The primary method God corrects us is by scripture. But the question is, are we being corrected by scripture?

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

If you are never corrected by scripture, God's word, Something is seriously wrong. Either you're not reading scripture at all, you're rejecting what it says, or you're delusional. No mere human has everything right. Scripture has correction for all of us. If we are never corrected by scripture that is a huge red flag warning. God corrects those He loves like a parent that loves their child. If you're not being corrected, do you really belong to God?

Revelation 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.
Proverbs 3:11-12 My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord Or loathe His reproof, For whom the Lord loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.
Hebrews 12:7-8 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

To be clear, the sinful flesh seeks to justify itself. Our flesh lies to us and tricks us. It tells us we are good, or at least that we aren't that bad. It tells us that our church has it right, even though no church does. We don't like to think that we are wrong, or that the church we go to is wrong. All are wrong except God. That's why the Holy Spirit gave us scripture. When scripture tries to correct us our flesh tries to justify our error and sin. It seeks other scriptures to contradict the scripture the flesh doesn't like, even though scripture doesn't really contradict itself. Or better yet, our flesh gets us to ignore the scripture it doesn't like entirely. A Christian takes correction and rebuke on board. A self-worshiping fraud rejects correction and rebuke, calling it an attack or falsely assigning it to Satan. If we are going to call ourselves Christians we ought to act like it and accept the correction the Holy Spirit provided us in scripture.

Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid.
Job 5:17 Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

Even when we do see that scripture contradicts us it is natural to want to make sure we are reading it correctly. However, this does not mean searching for some goober's twisting of that scripture away from its real meaning so we don't have to accept the clear teaching of the passage. It means checking it against the context it was written in, against the rest of scripture, and checking reliable sources. Reliable sources absolutely does not mean the ones that agree with us. A reliable source has demonstrated fidelity to scripture in the past, shows the basis of their work and reasoning, and accurately quotes in context. In other words, they have proven they are reliable through repeated checking. The best also present other viewpoints that could be valid even if the author disagrees. Those that contradict scripture, say things with nothing to back them up, or say things that contradict reality are unreliable. Many of those are false Christians. Examples include those that deny the divinity of Christ, deny God is good, deny the reality of God's creation, or refuse to accept correction themselves.

Hebrews 12:11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

I must admit I do not like it when I find out I'm wrong, especially about theology. But I would hate staying in the wrong even more because I love the truth. So when I find an error I've made, when I am reproved, when God disciplines me, it makes me happy to finally be in the truth. I celebrate it. I am full of joy that I can make those corrections in my life and in my teaching. Is it comfortable? For an instant it is very uncomfortable and annoying. But the joy of getting it right is many, many times greater. On top of that there is the joy that it was just demonstrated in my life that I belong to God because He has disciplined me.