What Sasse Says: "Why Are There Different Interpretations of Scripture?
How it is possible for Christians who really want to obey this Word, and seriously ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten them, to arrive at contradicting conclusions as to the meaning of a certain passage no one can know. The reason is not, as the Catholic churches claim, the lack of an infallible teaching office which through the unfailing enlightenment of the Holy Spirit is able to decide authoritatively which exegesis is right and which is wrong. Otherwise, one should expect that the churches which reject the sola Scriptura, the church of Rome and the Eastern churches, would agree which that infallible teaching office is. The reason is rather to be found in the nature of God's revelation. God's Word always comes to us hidden in his humanity. Thus, not by our own reason, but rather by the grace of the Holy Spirit, can we perceive the divine truth in faith. This applies also to the understanding of God's Word by the Reformers. They are fallible like us.
From This Is My Body, Luther's Contention for the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar (Revised Australian Edition, Lutheran Publishing House, Adelaide, 1977) p.232."
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GJ - This Sasse quotation seems a little tentative, but it is only an excerpt. Overall, he is quite good.
Difference in interpretation comes from the wrong view of the Word. Inerrancy is not the main issue. An inerrancy conference can feature 57 varieties of the Christian confession. They only agree about inerrancy - at least they think so.
When the Holy Spirit is divorced from the Word, any foul error can creep in and take over. The basic issue is treating the Bible as an old-fashioned textbook, a classic, but not taken seriously the unified Truth, the Book of the Holy Spirit.
Thus we are taught by yahoos who disagree with what the Word of God teaches about itself. They have more respect for the owner's manual of their SUV. The so-called conservative Lutherans are among the worst offenders. That explains why they love worshiping with Andy Stanley, Driscoll, Leonard Sweet, Stetzer, and Martin Marty.
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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "What Sasse Says":
It is very popular today to view the Bible as an owner's manual for life. As Luther said, "doctrine is heaven, life is earth". Now, we have "Bible studies" for everything, because the church must always be relevant. Those influenced by the Church and Money Changers like to peddle their snake oil as Bible-based financial planning. All of these methods are sanctification based, with a wrong view of sanctification. You may as well put a yellow cover on the NIV and sell it at Barnes and Noble as "Life....for Dummies".
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GJ - Randall Schultz is correct, and that is the common thread uniting the fraud named Joel Osteen with the make-me-rich folks at LCMS/WELS Cornerstone. WELS pays consultants to tell them they need expensive buildings for masonry evangelism, which means they will need to pay consultants to show them how to raise all that loot.
