Chapter 14: Scripture, the Basis of Truth. There are many people who are ready to strive after the most excellent pursuits. Such people will not stop searching for truth until they get the proof from the Scripture themselves, for the Scriptures are the basis of truth. To abandon mere human opinion is a great thing, but it's essential to choose accurate knowledge over the false wisdom of human opinion.
If you desire eternal rest, you should know that the entrance to it is narrow, and it requires toil to enter it (Matthew 7:14). When someone receives the Gospel, he shouldn't turn back, like Lot's wife. He should never return to his former life in which he clung to sensual things. Neither should he go back to heresies, for "He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me" (Luke 9:62). Those words were spoken by the author and teacher of the truth, who regenerates old things and creates new things.
He also nourishes those souls who are chosen. His words mean that those who turn back are unworthy to be sons, disciples, or friends of God, for "No man who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). Even down to our own time, many think that Mary was not a virgin on account of the birth of her child, but she was. In fact, some say that after she gave birth to Jesus, she was examined and found to still physically be a virgin.
The Scriptures of the Lord are like that to us. They give birth through the truth, but they remain virgin in the concealment of the mysteries of truth. The Scripture says, "And she brought forth, yet she did not bring forth, for Mary conceived by herself and not from joining with another human." Those who know God recognize that the Scriptures have brought forth truth, but the heretics, not having learned the Scriptures, dismiss the Scriptures as not giving birth to truth.
Some men let the word speak, and they build proofs from it. Others, however, give themselves up to pleasures. They distort Scripture to agree with their lust (2 Peter 3:16). So I think the lover of truth needs force of soul, for those who attempt the greatest things often fail. To succeed, they must follow the rule of truth and cleave to truth. He who has rejected the beliefs handed down by the Church and has darted off to the opinions of heretical men has ceased to be a man of God.
He's like those mythical men who became beasts after being drugged by Circe. He has ceased to remain faithful to the Lord, but if upon hearing the Scriptures he leaves the deception and turns to the truth, then he's like those in the myths who are changed from men into gods. Christ teaches through the Scriptures. The source of our teaching is the Lord. He teaches through the prophets, the Gospel, and the blessed apostles.
He teaches us in various ways and at various times, leading us from the beginning of knowledge to the end (Hebrews 1:1). If anyone should think that another source is necessary, then the true source could no longer be preserved. He who believes the Scriptures and the voice of the Lord is justly regarded as faithful, but use it as the criterion to discover the truth of things. Things that need to be subjected to examination are not believed until they have been so examined.
Anything falling into this category cannot be a first principle. So logically, the first principle surpasses demonstration and must be grasped by faith. At the same time, we abundantly receive demonstrations in support of the first principle. We are thereby trained by the voice of the Lord in the knowledge of the truth. We should not give our loyalty to men simply on the basis of their bare statements, for tomorrow they might state the opposite of what they're telling us now.
So when a statement must be confirmed, we can't confirm it from men's testimony. Instead, we must verify it by the voice of the Lord, for it is the surest of all proofs. In fact, it's the only proof. Those who have merely tasted the Scriptures are the ones I call simple believers, but those who have advanced further and have become accurate teachers of the truth I designate as the ones who are intimate with God. To illustrate from everyday life, craftsmen are superior to unskilled people.
Craftsmen create things that surpass ordinary ideas. Likewise, we can convince others by supplying proof in faith from the Scriptures. We do this by giving a thorough explanation of individual Scripture passages from the rest of the Scriptures themselves. How Heretics Misuse the Scriptures. Sometimes heretics quote from the prophetic Scriptures, but they misuse them in several ways. First, they don't make use of all the Scriptures. Second, when they do cite a passage, they don't quote it in its entirety.
Thirdly, they quote prophetic statements out of context. Furthermore, they like to select ambiguous passages so they can distort them to agree with their own opinions. Finally, they gather a few expressions here and there, not looking to the meaning, but making use of the mere words while altering the meaning. But truth is not found by twisting the meaning of Scripture. Doing violence to the Scriptures is no way to establish one's teachings. Yet people have used this method to corrupt all true teaching.
However, to find truth, a person must consider what perfectly belongs to the sovereign God and what is becoming to Him. One must also establish the meaning of any particular Scripture passage by using other similar passages from Scripture. In contrast, heretics don't want to turn to the truth. That's because they don't want to abandon the claims that self-love makes on them. When they promote false teachings to men, they are plainly fighting against almost the whole body of Scripture.
Those of us who challenge them are constantly proving them to be in error. So they disparage us, saying that we are of a different nature. They say we're unable to understand those things that have been specially revealed to them alone. However, we overturn their teachings by clearly showing that their doctrines contradict the Scriptures. They then do one of two things. First, they often contradict their own teachings.
They sometimes falsely deny that they have taught certain things, so they're ashamed to admit publicly what they pride themselves on teaching in private. When one examines the error of heretical teachings, he finds that this is true of all of them. Secondly, they simply reject the prophecies of Scripture. In effect, they reject their only hope. They invariably prefer their teachings over that spoken by the Lord through the prophets and the Gospel, which has been confirmed by the apostles.
Although they read the book of Scripture that we have readily at hand, they reject them as useless. In their eagerness to surpass common faith, they departed from the truth. They go to the height of irreverence, disbelieving the Scriptures themselves. They would rather do this than to be removed from their positions of honor in their heresies and the coveted first seats in their churches. For the same reason, they eagerly embrace the prominent couch of honor in their falsely called love feasts.
The demonstration of truth among us, from what we already believe, builds faith in what we do not yet believe. This faith is the essence of proof. But it seems that no heresy is able to hear what is worthwhile, but only what is pleasurable. Nevertheless, if any heretic would only obey the truth, he would be healed. As is true with most illness, the cure for pride is threefold. First, the cause of pride must be diagnosed. Then the type of treatment must be ascertained.
Finally, the soul must be disciplined to prevent pride from developing again. When a soul is perverted by unnatural teachings, it's like a diseased eye. Because it cannot clearly see the light of truth, it overlooks the obvious. They say that eels are caught in muddy water where they are unable to see. Just as mischievous schoolboys sometimes lock their teacher out of the school building, heretics shut out the prophecies from their churches.
They regard the Scriptures with suspicion because of the rebuke and admonition contained in them. They sew together a multitude of lies and illusions, so it looks like they're only acting reasonably in rejecting the Scriptures. They are not righteous because they don't like God's commands. In other words, they don't like the Holy Spirit. They are like empty almonds. When people say that an almond is empty, they don't mean that there's nothing inside. Rather, they mean that the contents are worthless.
In the same way, we say that heretics are empty because they are devoid of the counsels of God and of the traditions of Christ. Their doctrines are bitter, like the wild almond. For the most part, they create their own teachings, except for certain truths they are unable to discard or hide because the truths are too evident.