Who determines the correct interpretation of Scripture ?

[Lou Newton]

Glen B Smith
To:Lou Newton

Fri, Mar 20 at 11:23 AM

What does this verse reveal about the church as the pillar and foundation of truth?

1 Timothy 3:15 New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

or as the TLB reads:

¹⁵ so that if I don’t come for a while, you will know what kind of men you should choose as officers for the church of the living God, which contains and holds high the truth of God.

The NASB reads:

but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

The word translated as "foundation" in the NIV is the Greek word hedraioma. It only appears this one time in the New Testament.

Other English versions translate hedraiomaas as follows:

ground (KJ21, ASV, BRG, DRA, GNV, KJV, AKJV, NKJV, NMB, RGT, WEB)

foundation (AMP, CSB, CEV, ERV, EHV, EXB, GW. HCSB, ICB, ICB, ISV, PHILLIPS, MEV, NOG, NABRE, NCV, NIRV, NIV, NLT, NTE, TPT, TLV, VOICE, YLT)

prop and support (AMPC)

support (CEB, CJB, DLNT, GNT, NASB)

base (DARBY)

buttress (ESV, MOUNCE,)

mainstay (LEB)

bastion (MSG)

bulwark (NET, NRSV, RSV)

holds (NLV)

holds high (TLB)

keeps (WE)

firmness (WYE)

Another Greek word translated as foundation, themelios is used in these passages.

Foundation in these verses refer to a foundation of a building or building upon a foundation.

Luke 6:48, 49; 14:29; Acts 16:26; Romans 15:20; 1 Corinthians 3:10, 11, 12; Ephesians 2:20; 1 Timothy 6:19; 2 Timothy 2:19; Hebrews 1:10; 6:1; 11:10; Revelation 21:14, 19.

The emphasis in using
themelios is placed upon beginning with certainty and endurance.

Another Greek word translated as foundation, katabole is used in these passages.

Foundation in these verses refer to the foundation of the world.

Matthew 13:35; 25:34; Luke 11:50; Hebrews 4:3; 9:26; 1Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8; 17:8.

The emphasis in using katabole is placed upon cosmic beginnings.

By comparing the different meanings of how these words are used the following can be determined. If the Apostle Paul had intended the meaning of the modern English word "foundation," would he not have used themelios? The emphasis in using hedraiomaas is placed upon support, especially when used as a parallel with pillar. A pillar is the support of overhead structure. Some English translations for themelios have the connotation of supporting and protecting the truth. It is apparent that the Church is not the source, cause, or base of truth but the repository and protector of truth, and to do so, the Church must also be the vehicle that determines the truth she is supporting and protecting. This applies directly to the verification and canonization of what the LORD reveals through both the oral and written word. Individuals are not commissioned to interpret revelation for that is the commission of the body of Christ, the Church.

1 Timothy 3:15 calls into question of what should be meant be the priesthood of the believer. If by the priesthood of the believer the focus is upon individual responsibility and access to the LORD, then that seems intact. However, if by what is meant by the priesthood of the believer is to claim that individuals should have the right to determine what the LORD reveals through both the oral and written word where every Christian may determine what the Bible means and what God has told them, then, divine revelation is heard as the chaotic claims of humanity and observed as disunity.


20 March 2020 the old scribe

[Lou Newton]

lou newton
To:Glen B Smith

Fri, Mar 20 at 9:38 PM

Over 2000 years ago the "church" of that day agreed totally with you. The church decided the truth of scripture instead of one "man". They finally decided to kill that one man for being a rebel.

Centuries later the church in Rome decided the truth of scripture and they killed MILLIONS for disagreeing with the ones who were in authority. They burned people at the stake for refusing to call the head of that church, The Holy Father.

The church of England decided what the scriptures said and they also burned people at the stake for disagreeing with those in charge The Pilgrims who were killed and put in prison fled to this land and started the greatest land of freedom ever known in human history.

Islam is run this way also. The "church" decides what is true and what is not true. People are killed for not believing their teachings.


Hebrews 11 NIV

Faith in Action


11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.

3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”[a] For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[c] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.

23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.[d]

32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning;they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

I notice that these examples of faith are not groups of men, but individuals.

We are not saved by joining the right church, but by following One Man, The Lord Jesus Christ.

We are not saved a groups, but as individuals.

2 Cor 3 NIV
. ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Luke 13 NIV

²⁸ “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. ²⁹ People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

Jesus’ Sorrow for Jerusalem

³¹ At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”

³² He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ ³³ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

³⁴“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. ³⁵ Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

I notice that Jesus commends individuals and condemns the church leaders of that day. The ones who followed these church leaders,( who decided how to interpret the scriptures), went to destruction. I think that is a very risky thing to do.


A Sinner Saved by Grace Alone
A Bond Servant of the Lord Jesus
Lou Newton