God Expects Man to Understand 

by Aude McKee

In Matthew's account of the Great Commission, Jesus said, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations…" Why would Jesus, the Son of God, tell his apostles to go and teach people if what they were going to teach could not be understood? Did not Jesus, in the command, necessarily imply that the material to be taught was simple enough to be understood and that those to be taught were capable of understanding?

One of the answers to our present-day situation was given by Jesus a long time ago in Matthew 13:15:

"For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and l should heal them."

Jesus placed the blame for not understanding squarely at the feet of those who heard the teaching. They closed their own eyes, stopped their own ears, and hardened their own hearts so that they did not understand!

Incidentally, had you thought about the fact that if a thing is understood by two individuals, they necessarily will understand it alike? If two people disagree on something, one or the other (or both) did not understand!

If one person "understands" baptism to be sprinkling, and another "understands" it to be pouring, then neither of the two really understands what the New Testament teaches. Even the Greek word for baptism means "immersion."

In other words, it is impossible to "understand" baptism incorrectly. So if you and I disagree over something the Bible teaches, we both need to keep studying. When we both really understand we will agree.

 

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