Explanations

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 12
 
To be taken up with the Spirit's guidance apart from the authority of the Written Word, may lead to the wildest fanaticism, of which there have been painful examples.
To be taken up with the Word apart from the Spirit's teaching, is rationalism, for it is founded on the false assumption of man's competency to reason about God's truth, instead of being judged by it.
To refuse the authority of the Word because we cannot understand it, is infidelity. To look to any persons or ordinances to come between us and God, besides the accomplished work of His beloved Son, is ritualism.