I said some of these things before in an earlier lesson, but this was on my heart and I wanted to share it.

Months ago, when we first started these 5 Minute Lessons on the Kingdom of God, I was struggling on how to bring the teachings of justification and sanctification together in such a way as to maintain the balance of both subjects as Scriptures present them.

Then I heard a pastor on the John Ankerberg Show say, "Well I believe ..." "I know there are scriptures that seem to be saying the opposite. But because of this verse I believe ..." I thought to myself, "Something is wrong here!"

In my confusion, I reached out to several people that I respect, who also have a good knowledge of Scripture. One was my friend David Moore. He helped me see something that I had never thought of before.

Consider the difference in Eastern thinking (Jesus culture) and Western thinking (everything is in the doctrinal creed). Western thinking says every verse in the Bible has to fit into our doctrinal creed. So now we have: Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Jehovah Witnesses, Church of Christ, etc.

By some estimates there are approximately 34,000 different protestant denominations and sects. In the approximately 500 years since Protestantism's origin with Martin Luther (usually dated 1517), this number translates into an average of one new Protestant denomination or sect developing every week! Even the original "reformers" — Martin Luther, John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli — did not agree on doctrinal matters and labeled each other's teachings heretical (Scripture Alone? Joel Peters).

David B. Currie stated, "Since attending seminary I had looked for, but had never been able to find, a systematic theology that dealt with all the data of Scripture. Every single one had fudged certain verses or ignored others in order to make its system work. This had bothered me immensely."

Have you thought of how many times Jesus said something or even His Apostles, that does not fit into our own doctrinal creeds? I can think of a lot of these kinds of verses (1 Corinthians 15:29; 1 John 5:16; James 2:24, etc.).

In Eastern thinking (the culture of Jesus), the teaching was different. For instance:
Jesus' teaching is like a bicycle wheel. Jesus is the hub (John 5:39) that everything ties to, but the bicycle spokes go out and never touch, they are different aspects of truth that all connect to the subject, which is Jesus and His Kingdom (Luke 16:16). But we try to make it a church creed in which we cannot unify in our thinking, so we set the Scriptures against themselves, out of our own ignorance, because we see darkly (1 Corinthians 13:9).

Partial knowledge creates problems. The Scripture is clear that our knowledge is partial. It is because of the very imperfectness of our knowledge, that we must exercise love. Imperfect knowledge leads to differing interpretations in theology. Paul asserts this fact in 1 Corinthians 13:12. The ancient mirror was a piece of polished metal which tarnished and pitted easily. It gave an imperfect image. We see imperfectly now, but then face to face. We must search the Scripture, we must study God's Word, we must wait on God. But when all is said and done, we are compelled to say, "Lord, I have searched Your Word, but I know only in part, I do not perfectly understand" (George E. Ladd).

So let us exercise love and understanding with each other. Remember, all doctrine should lead us to Jesus (John 5:39), and all Scripture is to be honored (Matthew 4:4), so let us not change and twist or set Scripture against each other, because the Word is God (John 1:1).