Amen, Amen!!!! It follows that since we are in the fullness of Christ we will not need any man to teach us, after all, who can teach us better than Christ. When other men teach us we evaluate them according to God's word and the Holy Spirit, so really when another man is teaching he is really sharing as we evaluate what he says.
Other men do not have authority over us in terms of teaching, they have a gift given by the Holy Spirit to share with us as we also share with them.
1 John 2:27
"27 And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him remains in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you remain in Him."
John 16:13-14 "13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.…"
These words were instructions given to all born-again believers. Everyone who has the Holy Spirit living in them can teach, preach and instruct others. Men have the role of teaching in the church, women also teach women and children, and both men and women preach the gospel outside the church.
Men and women alike share wisdom with all believers in the church and outside the church system. The men lead and the women share as the men teach. No one who has the Holy Spirit is excluded from teaching and sharing each within their god-ordained roles.
John 14:17
"the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you."
John 14:26
"But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you."
Never allow another human being to silence you when you are being led by the Holy Spirit.
Men will use many ploys to silence you, they will tell you since you don't have a seminary degree you cannot know the truth, as though the Holy Spirit only goes to seminary. They will attempt to convince the pew people are not led by the Holy Spirit.
Men will attempt to silence women by telling them they may not speak things of the word of God to men or anyone, that only men must do this. There is no scriptural basis for women to live in complete silence about the gospel or Bible teaching.
Every false doctrine is based on a short passage taken out of context to make it say what those who teach it want it to say to control the people.
Spiritual leadership does not control others through false doctrine and intimidation. Leaders are to lead by example and teaching and must be teachable themselves.
Everyone is to submit to everyone else allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through every single believer. If one person has a disagreement the first speaker is to stop and listen, then they are both to go to the word together as well as pray for the Holy Spirit to make clear the truth that they might agree.
Those who refuse to pray and study with someone because they count themselves as an authority over others is disqualified to teach.
2 Timothy 2:23-25 "…23 But reject foolish and ignorant speculation, for you know that it breeds quarreling. 24 And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing. 25 He must gently reprove those who oppose him, in the hope that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.…"
The phrase in this passage, "able to teach" is actually in Greek; "able to be taught." No one is above challenges in their teaching and no one carries so much weight in their teaching that they cannot be corrected when in error.
When we place a preacher or teacher above all other believers we have an idol and must repent.
No one has a "position" in the church that is above anyone else, all are equal in God's eyes and all need correcting and training in righteousness at times. Any man who is in leadership and arrogantly asserts that you may not correct him is not obeying the word of God. Leading is not "lording it over", intimidating or pressuring others, leading is by example and teaching only.
1 Peter 5:2-3 "…2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but because it is God’s will; not out of greed, but out of eagerness; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. "
When we trust the Lord Jesus Christ and not men we will show respect to everyone no matter what their office in the church is and we will submit one to another unless those who demand submission are disobeying God. The "demanding obedience to them" is disobedience to God. This kind of leader must be removed, if no one will remove him then we must take ourselves from under his leadership and move on to a proper gathering with an eldership in which no one man rules and no one is paid money to serve.
Seek Christ in all things and you will not be subject to the foolishness of those who love to think more highly of themselves than they should.
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