"What Do You With the Verse that Says...?"

I don't wear on my sleeve what I believe about the church. I doubt that you do either. However, if you think outside the institutional box about what the church should be, you will eventually get some questions. Some of these questions are legitimate, while others are just designed to cause/win an argument.

I have zero desire to engage in any more theological and/or ecclesiological debates. My years in seminary sort of inoculated me against that. I encourage you to avoid these types of arguments as well.

No matter how hard I try, I still run into Christians who want to argue with me about the church. These folks are not angry, but at the same time they definitely want to win an argument. Not long into the conversation they unfailingly begin with the proof text verses. It will sound like this, "What do you do with the verse that says..........?"

In my experience these verses are yanked out of context about 98% of the time (no exaggeration). Not surprisingly, most of the verses apply to O.T. Israel as opposed to the church. Regardless, the verses are forced out of their original paragraphs and into isolation. Standing alone, the verses almost sound like evidence for the institutional practices that these folks are defending.

I've decided what my answer is going to be from now on when I hear, "What do you do with the verse that says............?"

My answer will be, "I look at the context."