23 April 2011

These things transferred to myself

Paul said (see 1 Cor. 4:2-6, emphasis mine):
Moveover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

... yea, I judge not mine own self.

For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.

... And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against the other.
Nephi said (see 1 Ne. 19:23, emphasis mine):
but that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah; for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning.
I see the following three ideas present in both statements:
  1. habit of personalizing scriptural teaching
  2. attempt to teach by example
  3. making reference to prior patterns of personalization in a teaching situation
These scriptures are filled with a refreshing spirit of no-nonsense, concrete, step-by-step spiritual teaching. The teachers' attitudes are unassuming and direct.

I've been in teaching/learning situations like this, and it feels really good to have a teacher that both understands the material and is willing to put it on your level when explaining it.

I'm grateful for Paul's and Nephi's willingness to be as frank and humble as they were in these scriptures. It's been a blessing to me to read, compare, and contrast the two scriptures.

1 comment:

  1. Good stuff, thanks for posting it. In some ways, this reminds me of some of the points that (reposting to clean up bad markup)
    Christopher Hall makes in 'Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers'. He says that good exegis comes from: proximity to the scriptures and application of the scriptures in our everyday life & service.
    I wrote a little bit about this here: http://eldersjournal.blogspot.com/search/label/modern%20patrilogia

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