Can a preacher quote a scholar from a denomination he disagrees with without sending people toward that man’s errors?
It’s a fair question. I’m not a Calvinist. I don’t believe God picked some for heaven and some for hell before the world began. And yet some of the most careful writing I’ve ever read on the cross came from men who did. My Logos library is full of commentaries by scholars I’d part ways with on baptism, on grace, on how a person is saved. Some of them still know more about a Greek verb than I ever will.
So should I read them? Should I quote them? And if a young Christian follows my footnote and picks up something wrong, whose fault is that?
Paul Quoted Pagans
Start with Paul on Mars Hill. He’s standing before Athenian philosophers, and he reaches for their own poetry. For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, “For we are also his offspring,” Acts 17:28.
Those poets weren’t writing about the God of Israel. They were writing about Zeus. Paul knew that. He lifted out the line that was true and set it to work for the gospel.
He did it again with a Cretan prophet in Titus 1:12, and then added, This testimony is true, Titus 1:13. The man was a pagan. The sentence was accurate. Paul quoted the sentence.
Truth doesn’t become false because the wrong man said it. And error doesn’t become true because the right man did.
The Bereans Checked Paul
Back up to earlier in that same chapter. Paul had preached in Berea, and Luke records how the town responded. The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, since they received the word with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so, Acts 17:11.
Think about who they were checking. An apostle! And Luke calls it noble.
That settles a lot. Every Christian carries a Bible and a responsibility. Test all things. Hold on to what is good, 1 Thessalonians 5:21. John says the same thing: do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, 1 John 4:1. No reader gets to hand his conscience over to an author, a preacher, or a publisher. Each of us will give an account of himself to God, Romans 14:12.
But the Writer Isn’t Off the Hook
Now, what about the writer's responsibility?
Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment, James 3:1. Jesus said it would be better to have a millstone hung around your neck and be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble, Luke 17:2. No preacher should ever read that verse lightly.
I’m not big into eating whole catfish. Deep-fried fillets with a good breading are more my thing. Now, if you’re going to eat a fish whole, you need to know where the bones run. You need to chew slow. And if you’re the one serving it, you’d better tell your guests the bones are in there.
That’s what writer responsibility looks like. When we cite a man, where possible, we owe our readers a clear word about where we stand with him. If he’s right about the atonement and wrong about how a sinner is saved, we should say so. We shouldn’t send a brand-new Christian into a book on predestination without a word of warning.
At the same time, we can’t treat grown Christians like toddlers. The writer of Hebrews scolded his readers for staying on milk. But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil, Hebrews 5:14. Trained senses come from use. If we never weigh anything, we’ll never learn how.
So where does my job as a writer end and yours as a reader begin? I’d put it this way. I’m responsible for what I hand you and how I label it. You’re responsible for what you do with it once it’s in your hands.
Who Decides?
The last question is the biggest one. Who gets to say which sources are scriptural?
Not me. Not a school, an editor, or the most respected paper in the brotherhood. Jesus answered this one himself. The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day, John 12:48. And Paul set the bar where no man could reach it. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than what we preached to you, a curse be on him! Galatians 1:8.
Did you catch the we? Paul put himself under the word too. So does every writer you’ll ever read, including the one writing this.
Every commentary on my shelf gets measured against one Book, and that Book answers to no one.
So What About You?
When’s the last time you opened your Bible to check something a preacher said? Has anyone ever handed you a book that shook you? Did you run from it, or did you take it to Scripture? Have you made a favorite author your standard without ever meaning to?
Read widely if you’re grounded. Read carefully no matter what. Eat the fish and spit out the bones, and keep the Book open on the table the whole time.
From Fear to Faith | fromfearto.faith