The first [caveat] is concerning the matter which we hear, “Take heed what you hear,” (Mark 4:24). We must hear nothing with approval except what we know to be the word of God. We must, therefore, be well acquainted with the Scriptures ourselves, and by them test the things which we hear, whether they are the word of God or not, as the men of Berea did, Acts 17:11. The second caveat is concerning the manner of hearing, “Take heed how you hear,” (Luke 18:18). That which we know to be grounded upon the Scriptures we must receive, “not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God,” (1 Thess. 2:13). We must with reverence attend to it; we must in our hearts believe, and we must in our lives obey it.

Related Bible passage: MRK.4.24

Topics: The Bible & the Word of God, Discipleship

William Gouge

William Gouge (1575–1653) war ein englischer puritanischer Theologe und Geistlicher, der über vier Jahrzehnte an St. Ann Blackfriars in London predigte und maßgeblich am Westminster-Bekenntnis mitwirkte. Bekannt wurde er für seinen monumentalen Kommentar zum Hebräerbrief sowie für seine Abhandlung über christliche Familienethik, deren streng patriarchales Rollenverständnis bereits von Zeitgenossen und heute kritisiert wird. Heutigen Bibellesern begegnet er vor allem in konservativ-reformierten Kreisen als klassischer Vertreter puritanischer Schriftauslegung und praktischer Alltagsethik.

All quotes by William Gouge (7)

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