Educated against Errors
When looking at the Scriptures, some common errors of logic and reasoning have slowly built up over the centuries. If we are aware of these problems and the distortions they cause in understanding Scripture, then we can avoid making these same mistakes ourselves.
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
2 Cor 3:6 KJV
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One of the oldest errors is that of allegorizing the text of Scripture. It dates back to about the second century AD. Allegorizing means taking a passage not as it literally says, but instead applying a more 'spiritual' meaning to it. A favorite passage of Scripture to support this is 2 Cor 3:6 even though doing so takes the verse out of context. Such an example would be the four rivers coming out of the Garden of Eden being interpreted not as four rivers but as the four cardinal virtues. This occurs because people find a 'deeper' meaning to spiritualized text. Often, if a spiritual meaning is found for a text, the literal meaning is done away with which is especially true of Temple rituals and other aspects of the Old Testament Law. This can be very dangerous because different groups or individuals will apply a different spiritual meaning to the same text and there is no clear way to challenge or test it.
Creating partitions or sections of the Old Testatment Covenant is another problem. Within the Scriptures, it is one covenant for one people. Today, however, the covenant is often sectioned into the three major categories of moral law, civil law, and ceremonial law. One of the results of such division is starting to pick and choose what one wants to keep. Often, the moral law is chosen to be kept while the civil and ceremonial laws are regarded as not pertaining today. Yet the Scriptures never make any distinction between any of the laws. All of them were designed to be kept by all of the people.
Another error is the concept of dispensationalism. This idea basically says that the Almighty has allowed, for a temporary time, the release of His people from following certain laws or commands. This idea comes in multiple levels. The most common level is the Christian Dispensation which states that since the death of Messiah, Christians do not have to follow the civil and ceremonial laws of the covenant. Since the time of the Protestant Reformation, it has taken on additional levels by the creation of several dispensationalist periods in the old testament, usually between 3 and 7 eras. According to dispensationalist theology, one must know which era or dispensation one is reading to know how people are to attain salvation. Our Mighty One is stated as being the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The concept of dispensationalism goes against this by stating that He does change over time and has different standards for different people or for different times.
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