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Bible Notes - Tabernacle Commentaries
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1 Thessalonians 2:4
Comments
These are tremendous terms. How were those preachers approved of God? Well, they were approved of God in the very earliest times by the signs and wonders which the apostolic band were given power to do. They were approved, of course, by their character. They were approved by their fruit. They were approved by their trials. They were literally tried and tested, and they did not abandon ship. But they were approved most of all by the Scripture. The Scripture approves the messenger today. The Word of God approves every preacher of the who opens and expounds Scripture as faithfully as he can. Take somebody who may be converted from Roman Catholicism. At one time they were enthusiastic and devoted and ardent Roman Catholics; they believed their priests. But then something happened. A sense of need and desire developed in them and they started reading the Bible. And as they read the Bible, even though they had no input from any sound Bible teaching church, they very quickly began to say: My church does not teach that. My priest does not think that. I shall ask him. And when they asked him, he could not explain. He did not know that scripture, but he was absolutely sure they were wrong, because only the church and the pope can interpret the Bible. More and more the person saw, the great gap between the Church of Rome and the clear Bible teaching. Then they came to another church that simply taught from the Bible. There the preacher made certain statements and explained them, and it was obvious that what he was saying was straight out of the Bible.
Application
Questions
The Greek word translated allowed means tested. What has that got to do with it? The sense of course is tried, so perhaps a better translation would be approved. Now the word ‘allowed’ in the days of the King James translation, you may be surprised to know, meant approved as well as permitted or allowed, but it has lost that sense, approved. So the King James translators, their intention is a little lost. When they translated ‘as we were allowed of God’, they meant you to understand – as we were approved of God, tested, tried, approved of God. And the sense is now lost to us. But that is the sense – ‘as we were approved of God.’
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