Catholic Verses - 95 Bibles Passages That Confound Protestants?
THE NECESSITY OF AUTHORITATIVE INTERPRETATION
Pages 31-32: Nehemiah 8:8: "And they read from the book, from the law of God, clearly; and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading" (ch. Mark 4:33-34) Acts 8:27-31: "And he rose and went. And behold, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a minister of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go up and join this chariot.' So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?' And he said, 'How can I, unless someone guides me?' And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him." 2 Peter 1:20: "First of all, you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation" (ch. 2 Pet. 3:15-16). Catholics hold that Scripture is a fairly clear document and able to be understood by the average reader, but also that the Church is needed to provide a doctrinal norm, an overall framework for determining proper biblical interpretation.
Note: Christians should compare Scripture with Scripture in context for a correct interpretation not relying on a institutional entity based in Rome or elsewhere.
1 Corinthians 2:13-16 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Page 32: Does the Bible itself teach that it can always be understood by anyone who is filled with the Holy Spirit, as Luther claims (elsewhere he claimed, famously, that even a "plowboy" could understand it)? This is not the outlook of the writers of the Old Testament.
Note: The Holy Spirit was not given until Pentecost.
John 14:25-26 “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."
Page 33: The Apostles promulgated an authoritative tradition, and they did not tolerate dissension from it. Once again, we find that an important Protestant distinctive is not biblical. So how do they attempt to explain this discrepancy?
Note: Christians will draw their conclusions from searching the Scriptures versus excepting false conclusions from cult members.
Acts 17:10-12 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.