I would never know that. Do you mean that 'We must read all the verses to find the truth, it does not lay on either extreme' means 'bless and do not curse'?
I do, yes. I read the Gospel of John and was led toward the foot of the cross and to Salvation. At that point I would have told you that I understood the Bible.The next major point in my Biblical education, I found the Great Commission and could be found beating biblical understanding into the empty heads of the Lost Man with my eighty-seven pound Study Bible and at that point I would have told you, I understand the Bible. There are more mistakes I can recount but I think you can see where this went. As I continue to reread the entire Bible, God is teaching me new truths, often from the same passages and there will be, I'm sure, more mistakes to correct.
One very common misuse found, both, in and outside the Church is the misuse of Matthew 7:1. This verse is known by most Lost Men and Women and is applied to shut the mouths of the evangelical witness'. This verse is the first sentence of what we, in our society call a paragraph and when read as such we find that Jesus was illustrating the result of judging un-righteously and is instructing us to judge righteously.
Sad, but true, the members of a Church, any Church, are not, of necessity, saved and thus, not, necessarily, indwelt with the Holy Spirit and therefore not always led to study to show themselves approved. My important point here is the structure of the scriptures. The Bible Jesus, Paul, John, Peter and all of the first century Church Fathers and teachers taught from is the Jewish Bible, the Old Testament in the Christian Bible. In this light, the New Testament can. easily, be viewed as the only Life Application Commentary ordained or commissioned by God on His Bible.
This does not lessen the importance nor the standing of the New Testament but it does make it impossible that the New Testament and New Covenant Christians of today discarding the Old Testament.
May God bless and I pray this helps.
