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Originally Posted by OBW
I have been noticing that Jesus spoke one way to the masses and another to those he was sending to continue in his stead. We like the reference to a kingdom of priests, but I'm beginning to thing that even that had a context.
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I've noticed that too, that there were the "inner 3" of Peter, John and James, there were the 12, there were 70 sent out two by two, there were the women who ministered out of their possessions, there were the 120 continuing together in Jerusalem. There were the 500+ Jesus appeared to in resurrection, according to 1 Cor. 15:6. And so forth. The thousands sitting in the grass, grouped in companies of hundreds, receiving the broken-up bread and fish.
And, they didn't all get the same message. Yes, they all were told to love one another, and to seek the kingdom of God, but there clearly was a public ministry and a private one. And the written word, while a public document, has enough overlapping and/or unspecified material, where each one of us could look at and say "This equals that" in a different fashion, that there is much room for public discussion. And much room for private, prayerful consideration, and "study to show thyself approved."
But boilerplate theology on the fringe of orthodoxy, or beyond it, especially on such matters as public debate over the construction of the trinity, doesn't seem to stand up to cost/benefit analysis. I think Paul would have said that. In fact, I think Paul did say that, in various ways at various times. "Let each one be convinced in his own mind," etc.