Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
It's real simple.
A Berean compares everything with actual scripture.
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Well I'd like to question that thinking because it seems to me to be an untested theory that Bereans are those who compare everything with scripture. So I'd like to appeal to the title of being "noble" by doing some searching and testing of my own and asking "is it really so?"
Firstly, if we look into history, Bereans were Jews that held no concept of "sola scriptura". It's a matter of fact that Jews in general don't use "sola scriptura" so the idea that a Berean is one who searches scripture and scripture alone for their doctrine as per stock standard American evangelical protestantism is looking unlikely.
Concerning the use of Scripture, in Acts 17 both the Thessalonian Jews and the Berean Jews discussed or debated the Scripture with Paul. So actually searching and comparing to scripture is not the reason Bereans were called noble. Any serious Jew would have done that. If the Bereans were noble just because they used Scripture, then the Thessalonians would be called noble as well!
The key difference between the Bereans from the Thessalonians was their attitude towards the extra-biblical revelation that Paul brought. They were called noble because the Bereans accepted the extra-biblical revelation that Paul brought whereas the Thessalonians rejected the extra-biblical revelation that Paul brought. What differentiated the two groups was their attitude and reception of Paul's rather revolutionary message.
Remember that Paul would not have been recognized as a source of divine inspiration and the scripture that they had would have been their Old Testament, not the New Testament.
So actually to be a noble Berean is to accept the new extra-biblical revelation that comes from God. It was to accept Paul's message such that salvation comes through Christ, and that circumcision is no longer necessary. If the Bereans had stuck to their
literal interpretation of scripture, they would have pointed to their Law and everlasting covenant regarding circumcision etc and rejected Paul outright. They might have said "Paul, the Scripture says circumcision is an everlasting covenant, therefore the message you bring must be from Satan". This is what the Thessalonians did, and what many Jews do today. This is how the Pharisees treated Christ - being firmly rooted to their literal interpretation of their Old Testament. Not being open to new revelation is the main reason the Thessalonian Jews rejected Paul, just as the Pharisees had rejected Christ. Not because the Thessalonian Jews did not use Scripture and the Bereans did.
In summary, the idea that Bereans are those who use scripture alone as their authority is inaccurate, given that the Bereans were Jews who did not believe in the absolute and sole authority of Scripture (they held to oral traditions etc). It was their willingness to accept new revelation from God via Paul that made them truly noble Bereans.
So those who say they are Bereans because they hold to a literal interpretation of scripture are possibly more like the Thessalonian Jews than the true Bereans who listened to the extra-biblical revelation that Paul brought to them.