Is Revelation 22:19 not Valid Because it's not 'Didactic'?
J.C. Thibodaux
About the silliest argument I have ever heard. I actually got this one from someone on the staff of James White. When I asked him about Revelation 22:19, he responded that Revelation was not a 'didactic' (teaching) book, but that is was 'apocalyptic,' and for reasons known apparently only to him, that made its teachings on salvation less authoritative than a didactic book such as Romans or John, and that the doctrines of unconditional election and perseverance of the saints were taught clearly there, so whatever Revelation says, it could clearly not be contradicting those. Argument by categorization? I could not twist my brain in that direction if I tried. For starters, unconditional election and perseverance of the saints are not clearly taught or even spoken of in John 6, Romans 9, or anywhere else in the Bible. There is in fact a substantial- body of evidence that goes against them (see our Topics); they are merely mistaken conclusions that Calvinists have drawn after reading those scriptures. Secondly, all scripture is inspired and good for doctrine and instruction (2 Timothy 3:16). Was Christ guilty of irresponsible theological interpretation because He used a 'historical' book instead of a 'legal' book in Matthew 12:4 (when He used 1 Samuel 21:6 to argue the lawfulness of plucking grain to eat on the Sabbath)? What nonsense. I am not suggesting that it is impossible to misuse scripture, but to simply discount the clear testimony of God's word because it is not in the category of books you think it should be in is just plain silly. Considering brother White's other literary accompishments, I honestly expected much better of his representatives.
Bottom Line:
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Any testimony of any part of scripture is useful for doctrine, be the book 'didactic' or otherwise.
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