Was it the Holy Spirit that inspired the writing of scripture or not? Were we as individuals given the Holy Spirit as an advocate, comforter, and helper or not?
Acts 15:8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness by granting them the holy Spirit just as he did us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for by faith he purified their hearts.
Paul commended the Bereans for “searching the scriptures daily to see if these things be true”. It was rather clear that he understood that the scriptures were plain enough that the Bereans and we can easily ascertain whether what those who would propose to “teach” is true to scripture or not.
Yet Catholics on a daily basis it seems excoriate those who would take Paul who was inspired by the Holy Spirit at his word.
And context, context, context, read the preceeding and following lines
10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.
11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. |
So, they did rely on a man's word initially -- two men, Paul and Silas who spread the Good News amongs them. Then they checked the OT to see if the references to the Christ were correct. And also, the Berean Church included GREEKS -- who wouldn't have read the scriptures as they were not of Jewish origin, they took the Gospel for what Paul and Silas preached, tradition alone, not scripture.
Furthermore, note what happened before -- in Thessalonia. There, "For three weeks he [Paul] reasoned with them from the Scriptures" --> THESE THESALLONIANS were cynical personal interpretation folks who disagreed with Paul and Silas' interpretation of scriptures (the OT) on the Christ.
Remember, both the Thesalonians in the passages before this and the Bereans were Jews who studied the OT for the references of Jesus being the Christ. Why did they study this?
because of the ORAL TRADITION that Paul and Silas brought, claiming Jesus Christ was the Son of God.
The Thesalonians rejected this as "it weren't in scripture, cynical personal interpretation", while the Bereans accepted Holy Tradition, i.e. ORAL teaching by Paul and Silas.
if anything, the tale of the Bereans shows the error of cynical personal interpretation.
Remember, the Bereans AND Thessalonians had the Septuagint and nothing from the NT.
The Thessalonians stuck to cynical personal interpretation and rejected the oral teachings of Paul and Silas.
The Bereans did NOT stick to cynical personal interpretation and listened to Paul and Silas. They referred to scripture but accepted the ORAL teachings of Paul and Silas. And they believed.
This is an utter refutation of cynical personal interpretation.
"Paul commended the Bereans for “searching the scriptures daily to see if these things be true”. It was rather clear that he understood that the scriptures were plain enough that the Bereans and we can easily ascertain whether what those who would propose to “teach” is true to scripture or not." Again, the errors of anti-Catholicism require an even wider web of errors to defend.
St. Paul's ministry to Thessolonia and Berea happened about 55 AD, before any of the Gospels were written. Since Thessolonia and Berea were in Greek speaking regions the Scripture they would have read were the Greek Septuagint, in contradiction to Protestant doctrine. St. Paul could not have been imploring them to read what had not yet been written.
Further, Acts 17 brings to the fore the initial teaching of the Church of WHO Jesus was, not what He taught. The teaching to both the Jews and Gentiles concentrated on Jesus being the prophesied Christ who was foretold over 450 times in the "Scripture". The Bereans verified the authenticity of Jesus as the Christ from the Septuagint and were therefore receptive to His teachings. The Thessolonians did not.
Peace be with you