When Theologians Disagree
What if two theologians I respect disagree about 
Scripture’s meaning?
The answer to this is virtually the same as if the question had been, “What if two theologians I respect agree about Scripture’s meaning?” In either scenario, the proper response is to imitate the “noble Bereans” of Acts 17. These were Jews who listened to Paul and Silas proclaim God’s Word in their synagogue. We are told that “they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” In other words, they combined eager reception of teaching along with daily inspection to see if they were hearing was true.
they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
The fact that godly theologians, whom we admire, disagree on certain issues is not something that we should receive as a threat to our confidence, but rather we should view it as an invitation to carefully and prayerfully think. Take time to ask questions about what you are hearing or readings: What are the claims being made? What are the arguments? What are the assumptions? What are the implications? What are the relevant Bible passages?
In 2 Timothy 2:7, Paul gives Timothy a command (“Think over what I say”), followed by a reason that is also a promise (“for the Lord will give you understanding in everything”). And James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom [if you have a pulse, then you fit in this category!], let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” So whether your favorite theologians agree or disagree, if you want to decide what you believe and to have wise understanding, then the biblical pattern is to ask, to think, and to believe. God will hear your prayer, bless your efforts, and give you help.
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The Author
Justin Taylor serves at Crossway Books in Wheaton, where he is the Study Bible project director and an associate publisher. (First published at New Attitude)
Resources for Family Worship
Resources for family worship can sometimes be hard to come by. Here is a resource that we have found that you might find helpful. (in .pdf format)
Personal Bible Reading – Mark Dever
What is your personal practice of reading God’s Word?
What I always do is read what’s going to be preached on the coming Sunday wherever I’ll be in church. So this week I’ll be reading Psalm 16 because Kevin is going to be preaching on Psalm 16 at our church. And then I’ll also read anything else I’ve been thinking about or I’ve been interested in, or anything that’s been on my mind.
So what would a typical devotional time for you look like?
Well it can be a lot of different things but I’ll just pick one example. I get up, pray through my family, pray through my schedule, pray about other things on my mind, read the text of scripture and meditate on that, confess sin that comes out of meditating on that passage, pray for other people that come to mind, and then go to the membership directory for our church and pray through people in that.
How would you counsel someone–maybe a new christian or someone that hasn’t read the Bible much–to start a daily practice of reading Gods Word?
I think a great thing to do is use McCheyne’s reading through the Bible in a year plan where he gets you through the New Testament and the Pslams twice and the Old Testament. And there are several books keyed in with that (like D.A. Carson’s For the Love of God volumes) and that’s a great way to do it.
What’s your goal going into your devotional time? What are you trying to get out of your time or accomplish during that time?
I want to personally relate to God. I want to be freshly confronted, encouraged, challenged, changed. I want to intercede for those I love. I want to plead for God’s favor and mercy in people’s lives. And I certainly want to be reformed in my own thinking and resolve to live as I read his word.
What’s one thing you’ve learned after years of reading the BIble about how to read the Bible well?
That’s it’s more important that I keep doing it than what I get out of it at any particular time.
A lot of young Christians will have an exciting quiet time on Monday and a really exciting one on Tuesday and an awesome one on Wednesday but then something happens on Thursday and they actually don’t even do it and Friday they do it and they feel guilty and it isn’t that good and Saturday they do it but it’s late and they were discouraged…and then they just get discouraged because they’re not always having a super experience. That’s where I would look at them and say,
Just keep going. Aim at obedience in a long direction set in a pattern for decades. If you just keep going you’ll gain so much by consistency and and faithfulness that there’s no way you can gain just by sudden experience.”
How would you make the case from Scripture for a daily time of Bible reading to someone that’s not convinced they need it or who even opposes it?
I’ve certainly had that conversation before. I certainly can’t prove that there’s such a thing as a “quiet time” in the New Testament. But the very fact that the Psalmist tells us we’re to hide God’s word in our heart implies that unless that’s going to happen by osmosis, we’re going to have to get near the text with our eyes open and get it into our brains and your hearts.
So, I don’t know that you’re in sin because you didn’t have a quiet time today but I can’t imagine having the opportunity to meditate on God’s Word and not doing it. We don’t have a scroll that’s kept away somewhere with only limited chances to memorize it and carry it around with us, we actually have it available in our culture all the time. So we are able to be faithful and to do things that previous generations quite literally died for.
