" — answered: "How can I understand, if someone does not instruct me? and he asked Philip to go up and sit down with him" (Acts 8:30-31). Scripture is always in need of interpretation. In the biblical book of Nehemiah it is said: "And they read from the book, from the law of God, distinctly, and added the interpretation, and the people understood what they read" (Neh. 8:8). Sectarian: All of our meetings are organized in this way: they together form a single worldwide assembly, the leading core of which is the anointed members of the "Governing Body."
The "World Headquarters" is located in New York (Brooklyn). The role of the worldwide management of our organization is foretold in the Bible: "Thus saith the Lord of hosts: It shall come to pass in those days, ten men out of all the nations of many tongues, shall take hold of the hem of Judah, and shall say, We will go with thee, for we have heard that God is with you" (Zech. 8:23). Unity is achieved by the fact that everyone loyally submits to the organized channel of communication, the "faithful and discreet slave."
Jesus said that the "slave" should distribute food at the right time and take care of all his "possessions," his Kingdom interests on earth. Let us read: "Who then is the faithful and discreet servant whom his master has set over his servants, to give them food at the right time? Blessed is the servant whom his master finds, when he comes, doing so; verily I say unto you, that he shall set it over all his possessions" (Matt. 24:45-47).
This "faithful slave" is not an individual Christian, but there is a "remnant" of the 144,000 anointed followers of Christ who are still on earth, walking in his footsteps. Today, they are part of spiritual Israel, anointed with the spirit of God's congregation. "To those who walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and unto the Israel of God" (Gal. 6:16)
; compare: "And my witnesses, saith the Lord, are ye and my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe me, and understand that it is I: before me there was no God, neither shall there be after me" (Isaiah 43:10). This remnant faithfully fulfills the duty of a "slave" in this time of the end by taking the lead in preaching the good news of the Kingdom and by distributing spiritual food to the household of faith in a timely manner.
See what is said: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come" (Matt. 24:14). You have read the text about the veil of ignorance, but you have not read it completely. See: "But when they turn to the Lord, then this veil is taken off. The Lord is Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:16-17).
Christ is the "head" of the church of the anointed congregation of 144,000, and through them he provides the right instruction in the faith to the "great crowd." And who in your Orthodoxy provides believers with the correct understanding (interpretation) of biblical truths? Orthodox: Many of the issues that you outlined in your sermon we will consider when we talk about the Church.
In answer to your question about the correct understanding of the Bible, I want to draw your attention to the term "Tradition." Sectarians of various trends for the most part do not have a correct idea of this concept. Cultist: No! On the contrary! We have an idea of what tradition is. Christ said: "... why do you also transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?" (Matt. 15:3); and again: "...
you have removed the commandment of God by your tradition. Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied well of you, saying, These men draw near to me with their mouths, and worship me with their tongues, but their hearts are far from me. but in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines, the commandments of men" (Matt. 15:6-7). You, Orthodox, unfortunately, still hold to the tradition of the elders (Mark 7:5)
, "teaching doctrines, commandments of men." Orthodox: Speaking of Tradition (Holy Tradition), we, first of all, have in mind not the traditions of the elders and teachings, the commandments of men, but the Apostolic Traditions and the Teaching of the Church. The New Testament says enough about the apostolic tradition and its significance. Let us consider some of these texts: "I praise you, brethren, that you remember all my things, and keep the traditions as I have handed down to you" (1 Corinthians 11:2).
Here we see that the Apostle Paul encourages with praise those who adhere to Tradition. Sectarian: I want to check this text on the translation of Novy Mir. Look, it is said here somewhat differently than in the Synodal translation: "I praise you for remembering me in all matters and holding fast to the traditions as I handed them down to you."
In some English translations, the word "tradition" in this text (1 Cor. 11:2) is replaced by the word "teaching". Orthodox: This substitution is not valid. Let's look at the ancient Greek version of this text: ejpainw ' de ; uJ ma'" o { ti pa v nta mou me v mnhsqe kai v , kaqw; " pare v dwka u J mi ' n , ta; " parado v sei" kate v cete.
The literal translation would be: ejpainw ' (praise) de (zh) uJ ma'" (you) o { ti pa v nta mou (that all is mine) me v mnhsqe (you remember) kai v, kaqw; " (and how) pare v dwka (I have conveyed) u J mi ' n (you) ta; "Parado v sei" (tradition) kate v cete (hold). "I praise you, brethren, that you remember all that is mine, and, as I have handed down to you, keep the tradition.
As we can see, we are not talking here about traditions or teaching. Teaching and tradition can be created and established by any person personally, in contrast to tradition, which is accepted and passed on. An example of this is the following words of the Apostle Paul: "For I have received from the Lord Himself that which I have also delivered to you" (1 Corinthians 11:23). St. Vincent of Lirin taught: "Tradition is what you have accepted, and not what you have invented."