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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.[/QUOTE]


Answer: Acts 17:10, 11. 10The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

If you read these verses, they are self explanatory. Verse 11, says : these (the Bereans) were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for (explains WHY) they received the word with great eagerness, EXAMINING the Scriptures daily TO SEE WHETHER THESE THINGS WERE SO.

At this point I would like to share with you a “golden rule of interpretation” a dear brother said: “When plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense, lest you end up in nonsense”.

To be Bereans, is what the verse says and it means. Meaning examining the Scriptures (read verses). For the Bereans was to examine the Old Testament because the New Testament didn’t exist. If you study the Old Testament appropriately, you will see that Jesus was the Messiah that the Old Testament was talking about. There are over 1800 prophesies that LITERALLY were fulfilled with Jesus. Jesus Himself told this point to the two on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24:27). 27Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. Jesus Himself was a Berean in the sense of explaining the Scriptures about Himself!!!

Few examples of over 1800 prophesies fulfilled LITERALLY:

Born of a virgin: Gen 3:15; Isa 7:14. Jesus to be of David’s family: 2Sam7:12. Born on Bethlehem: Micha 5:2. Sojourn in Egypt: Hose 11:1. Would live in Galilee: Isa 9:1,2. Announced by a herald: Isa 40:3-5, Mal 3:1; 4:5. Massacre of Bethlehem’s children: Gen 35:19,20; Jer 31:15. Would include the gentiles: Isa 42:1-4. Healing ministry: Isa 53:4. Teach through parables: Isa 6:9,10; Psa 78:2. Rejected by rulers: Psa 69:4; 118:22; Isa 6:10; 29:13. Entry into Jerusalem: Zech 9:9, Psa 118:26; etc.,etc., etc.,………

I pointed this matter in my original post. Again, I would like to repeat for you: By the way, allegorization is the license for “inventing doctrine”. Allegorization also leads to say that the Bible has some parts “more important” than others, so we don’t need to understand or pay attention to those so called “less important” parts. On the contrary Jesus Himself said in Mt 5: 17, 18 17“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished”. This means we have to take God’s Word seriously and ALL the Scripture (2Tim 3:16), not just a few verses or chapters or only the New Testament but the WHOLE BIBLE (Old and New Testaments). Again, Paul the apostle is telling us ALL Scripture, the one to whom God gave directly the revelation of the mystery (Eph 3:3,4). Ps 40:7 “Then I said, Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me”. The whole Bible (meaning Old and New Testaments) speaks about Christ, and ALL the Scripture is God’s breath; meaning Old Testament and New Testament. Jesus Himself when He was on the earth taught everything from the Old Testament, because the New Testament did not exist yet. Our safeguard to avoid falling into error, is to follow what the Bible (the 66 books) is telling us LITERALLY.

One specific example (out of the many) of how W. Lee allegorizes the Bible: W. Lee says that the 10 commandments in Exo 20 is a “marriage contract”. It is a beautiful “allegory” made up by himself and it fits the verses, but the problem is that LITERALLY the Bible doesn’t say that. Therefore, based on that self-made allegory he builds another allegory then he ends up with something else that the Bible is NOT saying. This kind of hermeneutics (method of interpretation) is very “dangerous”, because you end up with something else, that the Bible is NOT saying. The Bible will tell you very specific if that is an allegory or not, like in Gal 4:24 “This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar”. But if we read the Bible plainly what it says, we will see that the Bible means what it says and says what it means LITERALLY except when the Bible tells us otherwise, without allegorizing or spiritualizing (Mt 5:17,18). Otherwise you come up with your private interpretations so called “divine revelation” that “nobody else knows”, because it is private.