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2 Peter 3:16
16 As [hos] also [kai] in [en] all [pas] his epistles [epistole], speaking [laleo] in [en] them [autos] of [peri] these things [touton]; in [en] which [hos] are [esti] some things [tis] hard to be understood [dusnoetos], which [hos] they that are unlearned [amathes] and [kai] unstable [asteriktos] wrest [strebloo], as [hos] they do also [kai] the other [loipoy] scriptures [graphe], unto [pros] their [autos] own [idios] destruction [apoleia]. KJV-Interlinear
16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. NASB
Paul, who was formerly known as Saul, was nothing but a sleazy murderer, hiding behind the self-righteousness of religion. But one day while he was traveling along a road, Jesus blinded him and had a heart to heart talk with him. After that episode, Saul became Paul and then he became the premiere writer of scripture in the New Testament.
From God, through a former scum-bag of a person, we have the blessing of receiving the greatest doctrines of all time.
As a writer, Isaiah would probably be the Paul of the Old Testament, in terms of difficult doctrines.
Paul writes some of the most difficult to understand, and revealing doctrines, ever, and when we complete our study of Peter we will begin going through Pauls’ letters before returning to the Old Testament.
Difficult does not mean impossible however. Ask a two year old about the state of the world and you’ll get ignored or a funny look at best. So it is, with Bible doctrine. You have to learn the little things and build upon them bit by bit in order to be able to see the complete picture of life.
The unbeliever has no spiritual mechanism within him. The believer who is indifferent, antagonistic, argumentative, and so forth (unstable), has the spiritual mechanism in order to learn, but without doctrine, both of these types of people cannot see the full picture of life. Only seeing a partial picture means that you cannot ever reach the correct conclusions or find the right answers.
And, since the spiritual side of life is the larger side of life, then seeing only a few pieces of the puzzle (without doctrine) leaves you virtually blind. Remember that show on television, concentration? When you can see what is behind only a couple of the hundred pieces, you cannot even guess what the answer is. And in life you don’t even know the category, and you don’t have any clues without doctrine. In life, all guesses and conclusions are one-hundred percent wrong.
Time, patience and study on a daily basis, combined with application of the things you learn, all of this while functioning in fellowship, are the only way that you can grow up spiritually into a full and complete life.
The spiritual life functions only while you are in fellowship. That is why many folks do not learn, even while they read their Bibles. That is why the confession process is so important. Without it, your prayers, your whole spiritual function are disabled and worthless.
Likewise, this is why those who are spiritually dysfunctional (unbelievers, unstable believers, etc.), create such a problem for everyone in life. They take truth and distort it, compromise it, reinvent it, ignore it, and in their sowing confusion in the world, only destroy, ruin, and lose their own future.
Doctrine is the only means of seeing through, and the solution for, all of the opinion pollution from the world.
If ever there was a global meltdown, environmental ruin, destroy the planet concept, then lack of doctrine is the cause – not fossil fuel, not trash, not economic spread the wealth philosophies.
