To have a knowledge of scripture but no UNDERSTANDING of the MESSAGE is a knowledge that "puffeth up"
Saul was LEARNED  in all the scriptures and sat under the greatest teachers(theologians?) of his day.
yet with ALL his learning UNDERSTOOD ...............NOTHING.
To the extent that he thought he was doing GODS WILL in the persecution of the saints even unto death.
When he 'saw the light' he didnt suddenly lose all his reasoning or learning but now they were PUT IN CONTEXT!
and his mind was SUBMITTED TO THE MIND OF CHRIST.
That also does not meen he 'lost' his mind.
But that now his OWN thoughts and REASONING were not the FINAL arbiter of the truth.
But he WILLINGLY subjected each thought "unto the mind of Christ"
and all that learning came under GODS hand and was then DIRECTED in the RIGHT WAY!
and can be seen in the OUTPOURING of his thinking in his letters now not in the DEAD LETTER but in the QUICKENED WORD.
When PAUL prayed for the CHRISTIANS in Ephasus it that thier EYES of thier UNDERSTANDING may be OPENED that they may COMPREHEND with all the saints what is the exceeding greatness of His power that is towards them who believe.................."
Can it be doubted that he was looking BACK to that day when HIS eyes of understanding were opened and he SAW and UNDERSTOOD the POWER of HIS RESURECTION?
and so coiuld pray the more efectively for those who had not yet GRASPED or understood even as Christians thre POWER made AVAilABLE to them CONTINUALLY who believed and of which he was alive to.
The devil seeking STILL to BLIND THE MIND so that they would not.
How?
By DISENTION,CONTENTION,CONFUSION and STRIFE.
So that if you allow it, you cannot think STRAIGHT.
For though we may be BORNagain yet as BABES even in this world we have to GROW in our UNDERSTANDING and knowledge.and take our place in doing so in the world we now live.
Therefore we MUST get a RIGHT understanding.
For in the book of Ephesians Paul speaks of the church (which is His BODY) "coming to the UNITY of the FAITH"
Now some are seeking a so called 'unity' at the expence of TRUTH.Thinking that the LIGHT can have fellowship with DARKNESS.
But the UNTIY of "THE faith....." comes by ALL in the BODY haveing the same UNDERSTANDING which we have already shown produces FAITH!
Not just of ONE part of the truth for instance concerning being BORNagain.
But CONCERNING the WHOLE gospel.
But the WHOLE  is  BROKEN into PARTS.
and if we look at the Lord HE "took the BREAD and BRAKE it,THEN gave it to His disciples"
and often did so.
On the road to emaus he again BROKE the bread of scriptures THAT THE "EYES of thier understanding could be opened" and though as He did so they still did not recognise Him who spoke to them yet "did not thier hearts burn with in them when He did"! and it was when He BROKE THE BREAD that thier eyes were OPENED and they RECOGNISED HIM "of whom they spoke."
nd now though BEFORE they had been "WEARIED OF THE JOURNEY" were so QUICKENED by the Word and the POWER of His resurection that they RAN back to Jerusalem
Very often when the Word is preached our hearts BURN WITHIN us but we do not recognise it til afterwards.
If we was to stop and think about it we will also recognise those times before we were saved when we felt that burning but took n notice.
That the Word was BROKEN to our understanding by the Holy Spirit unbeknown maybe to others.
yet working still. untill we were able to GRASP it and the LIGHT DAWNED and our faith IN God was BORN.
Yet we soemtimes forget how WE recived it and try and give it to others WHOLE and unbroken.
and expect them to believe.
and though we can trust God to Work yet is it not written that we are "co-workers with God"?
and to freely give even as we have recived?
So if it has bene 'broken' unto us then we should as far as we are able break it to others.
and not think that by giving a load of scriptures it will nessercarily give understanding!

Now if God thought it wise that He gave in PART by the prophets in sundry times and not only in PART but by DIVERS WAYS.
if we look at the LIFE of Christ we see too that He gave in PART and in divers ways for that si what "He saw the FATHER DOING."
and even as the Lord used varios WAYS to present the TRUTH should we not then do as He?
and use "every means to win some"
Therefore we should learn to' BREAK' or "RIGHTLY DIVIDE the Word of God"
Now to get BREAD you need WHEAT.
and to get WHEAT you need the GROUNDED SEED .
And for the "TRUE BREAD of heaven" To be ABLE to FEED the world it too must needs be broken.
But "the WORD IS A SEED" and that seed which was CHRIST was GROUND between the millstones of Gods wrath when "He became sin" and our judgement fell on Him and in ourstead.
So that His BODY is BREAD in deed and all who eat of it have LIFE.
But here is a thing....
WE who are HIS and are BORNagain of that "INCORRUPTABLE SEED" must needs also be broken so that the LIFE that is WITHIN us may come forth which is CHRIST.
and so if we wish men to UNDERSTAND the MESSAGE without a doubt we must be "crucyfied WITH Christ"
that we might be able to take the 12 loaves and the 5 fishes and feed those who are hungry.
Not for the belly but for rightousness.
"For they who HUNGER and THIRST after rightousness shall be filled"
and HOW wil they be filled and thier thirst quenched if it is not by the EACH PART of the BODY doing that for which it was saved FOR AND PREORDAINED TO DO
"fOR OUT of YOUR belly will flow RIVERS OF LIVING WATER"
and we are to FREELY GIVE that which we have RECEIVED.
We cannot give what we have not got.
But in the MEASURE of what we have we should give.
and we will find that in the measure we give if it is ALL then we will have returned "pressed down and running ....."
So that we will have even more to GIVE.
and that which started out asa trickle wil become a flood.
For we are not to be filled to the BRIM.
But to OVERFLOWING.
What has this to do with understanding the scriptures?
It was the KNOWLEDGE   that Christ was ALIVE.
Not a DOCTRIN.(though it is)
BUT ALIVE!
that spurred those two back to jerusLEM. To do what?
Give that which they had recived.
It was the FACT and the POWER THAT WAS TOWARDS THEM even the SAME that raised up Christ from the dead which ENABLED them to do so and turned the world upside down.
It was the UNDERSTANDING that "the just shall live by FAITH" that revolutionaised LUTHORS LIFE and changed the world and turned it upside down.
For how long did he struggle?
read the life of JOHN BUNYON and see his struggle to UNDERSTAND the message.
But oH! when He did!
the results speak for themsleves.
and thpough he was cast into prison it could not STOP that RIVER of living water flowing which STILL reaches us today.
and is as PURE and undefiled AS WHEN HE WROTE IT.
LATIMER and RIDLEY "lit a candle" that though is semingly is dim at present has STILL not gone out nor ever will.
What they 'Saw' was no vain vision of the imagination of the heart.
But was the UNDERSTANDING of the MESSAGE!
and "the eyes of thier understanding were OPENED....."
The scriptures a a GOLDMINE.
A VAST unttapped in the main TREASURE.
John said? that if ALL the things the Lord said and did were recorded the whole earth could not contain the books recording them.
But what IS recorded is the SEED from the seed it bringeth forth after its own kind.
So what you SOW is what you will REAP.
This applies to the POSOTIVEas well as the negative.
and in the death of the seed and the BREAKING of it;it brings forth the LIFE with in it.
and "NO Word of God si without power"
"And it shall NOT return unto me void but shall acomplish that whereunto I sent it"

[I love the Apostle Pauls instruction to Timothy (AND TO US AS WELL!) in 2nd Timothy chapter 3:]

;D  Great Post!

I love the Apostle Pauls instruction to Timothy (AND TO US AS WELL!) in 2nd Timothy chapter 3:

ALL scripture is profitable for DOCTRINE!

ALL scripture is profitable for REPROOF!

ALL scripture is profitable for CORRECTION!

ALL scripture is profitable for INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS![/b]

He didn't say some, or some of, he said ALL scriptuire is profitable!

DITTO  ;D

Ditto?  ???   Ditto?   ???

Something just ain't right here!  ???

How can that ditto be sincere when you follow after the same lie from hell that Pilgrim follows after that says Gods commandments have been done away with?

You are going to tell me that you believe every doctrine ought to be based on ALL the scriptures, and then follow after a lie that absolutely perverts the truth of Gods word by rejecting every verse in the NEW TESTAMENT that demands sincerely sincere Christians MUST OBEY GODS COMMANDMENTS?

Sorry, but if you say you believe doctrine ought to be based on ALL the scriptures, then your doctrine ought to be that way!

You have not understood what has been said.
The doctrin of the LAW and GRACE is ONE part OF THE GOSPEL.
Yet the laws ARE instructive and worthy of study for any number of reasons.
The doctrin of the LAW of sin and DEATH should be preached to urrepentant sinners for the preaching of the LAW convicts of sin for that si its job.
The doctrin of GRACE should be preached AFTER the LAW so that the REMEDY for sin may be properly applied and UNDERSTOOD in CONTEXT.
But to the christian or TRUE BORNagain child of God who has been taught by both is still in need of a COMPREHENSIVE understanding of them so that those who still seek to be justyfied BY THE LAW can be so recognised.
and if contentios avoided.

For Paul in writting to Timothy said "that he had all the scriptures that were ABLE to make hi wise unto SALVATION"
Seeing that he had no NEW testament it is clear that Paul was speaking of the OLD testament.
You seem therefore to think that ALL the scriptures speak of is the LAW when they do not.
But as the Lord said they spoke OF HIM!
and it is clear and can be proved that Paul was saying that a person could be SAVED by UNDERSTANDING the MESSAGE of the OLD which was given in PARTS by the FATHER.
Therefore i the OLD testement there is the Law AND Grace.
and OUR faith which is THAT "faith that was ONCE and for all delivered unto the saints" is the SAME faith which is in God and has its FOUNDATION in the OLD.
Therefore what YOU call ALL the scriptures seems to be ONLY the LAW.
when it is clearly not.
All being "the WHOLE council of God"
The LAW being but a PART.
NESSCERSARY and VITAL to the teaching and understanding of TRUE righousness.But not the GAINING OF IT.
For it is not for the MAKING of rightousness but the "SCHOLLTEACHER" who LEADS us to the TRUE rightousness of God that is NOT by the LAW but by GRACE.

Perhaps it might also help?
If its understood that the "commandments of God "under the LAW and the comandments of God to His SONS have TWO aplications.
For there is "the LAW OF SIN AND DEATH."
and "the LAW of CHRIST"
The attmpted obedience to the FIRST IS WELL EXPLAINED BY pAUL IN THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.#

The LAW of sin and death si written on stone and is applied to the OUTWARD man.
The LAW of Christ is written on the heart AND APPLIES OUTWARDLY from the inward man.
the efects are TOTTALY different.
For the LIFE WE now LEAD IS NOT OURS seeing we are DEAD(by the LAW) and the LIFE we live we do by the "faith of the Son of God" there fore the WORKS we DO according to those rightous comandments of God "are not grevios" but it is CHRIST IN us who doeth them .
and so are if we walk in Him WORKED perfectly.
For the LAW outwardly applied and sought to be CONFORMED to producEs not peace but strife. for you ;by so doing ,CONITNUALY are seeking to establish NOT Gods righousness but your OWN.

but those who are Christs "have RESTED from all thier WORKS even as God did from His"
and it should be no longer I that worketh" but Christ that worketh within me" Both to DO and to WILL His good pleasure  and by so doing we fullfill the comandmnents of God.
Not as BONDMEN bound by the LAW.
But as SONS. FREE MEN.
and by so doing establish GODS righousness and therefore ALL the glory is Gods.

continued:
To those who are ignorant of the things of God and perhaps "little children" of God may be swayed and troubled by their foolish and vain arguments.
Id say this.
Those who are ignorant of the things of God.
Look at the scriptures and point to this or that APPARANT contradiction which 'PROVES' the scriptures unreliability and credibility.
Are like those who looking at a largepeice of machinery say a 2 colour printing machine and focusing on the ONE part while ignoring the WHOLE seek to convince others of thier 'arguments'
For if you was to look at such a peice of machinery.
You will find that if we focus on the PARTS we will find that while some parts go FORWARDS at the same time others go BACKWARDS.
And while these are doing this there are others that are going UP at the same time that others are going DOWN.
and while ALL these are moving there are some that have LARGE cyclycal movements and others small ones.
While some seem not to move AT ALL!
Yet if you wait long enough they move ONCE on a cycle that is longer than all.
Some parts are DRAMATIC some hardly noticed.
Yet with it ALL in seeming confusion AND APPARANT contradiction the paper goes in one end and comes out the other PRINTED AND IN TWO COLOURS as it is DESIGNED TO DO.
Now to those who have "humbled themselves under the mighty hand of God" and repented and have been BORNagain they KNOW in thier spirits that it WORKS yet may as yet not be able to fully articulate "the hope that lieth within them"
Nevertheless have the 'PRINT' of the HOLY GHOST upon them.
To those who believe NOT it is "FOOLISHNESS" and impossible.
But to them that believeit is the power of God unto salvation.
So dont be swayed by the 'learned' arguments of others which denies the working of His power within you.
For the DISCIPLES were called "IGNORANT and UNLEARNED men"
Yet they took note "they had been with Jesus"
We are to be READ by all men.
and that which has been IMPRINTED as it were on our hearts AND lived out in the world is 'proof' enough for those with eyes to see it.
The scriptures are a GREAT 'machine' as it were.
and though we may not know or understand all its parts.
Yet we DO KNOW it WORKS and have PROVED it beyond doubt.
But even as we study them and walk in the light of them we will find how more glorios and TRUE they are and become ourselves  able to rightly divide the Word of God that even as we freely receive we also give freely to others.
And those who bring spurios arguments are such that they 'clog' the printing and we ;KNOWING the truth" see and understand the false by the truth we KNOW.
So seek the BIG picture or pehaps more accurately the WHOLE picture.
"For God in sundry times and in divers WAYS spoke by the prophets hath in these LAST days spoken to us by His Son"
And we understand that "prophecy is in PART."
and if we are to become ESTABLISHED in the truth and GROUNDED we must seek to understand the PARTS as well as the WHOLE.
For the OLD testament contains the FOUNDATIONS of FAITH. and the ROOT of our UNDERSTANDING.
but the NEW testament contains the fruit AND THE GLORY of it.
WE NEED BOTH.
If we are to "know the BREADTH,HIGHT AND DEPTH and the love of Christ which passeth all understanding"
For we are not to be "swayed by every wind of DOCTRIN" for it seems that 'doctrins' become popular and while everyone gets moved in that 'days' fashion ;like the tide unawares get moved FAR away down the beach or out to sea,away from safety.
We should be BALANCED,four square"immovable"
So when they say "lo Christ is here or there or in the desert'
Do not go after them.
For CHRIST means ANNOINTING.
and the annointing is as the dove which RESTED on Christ so it is on the PURE UNADULTERATED WORD of God.
and those who KEEP it.
For the dove in the Old testament found no REST and so came back to the ARK but with a TOKEN of it.
But the SECOND time it came not back fro it found a PLACE OF REST.
The HOLY SPIRIT has and is at REST on and in Christ.
and even as the Lord said of Himself as a "seed falling into the ground and DYING"
So was THAT seed  had to QUICKENED by the HOLY SPIRIT when He was "RAISED from the DEAD"
So too then the WORD of God.
For the LETTER killeth bu the Spirit giveth LIFE.
and so as the WORD (WHICH "IS A seed")is SOWN in our hearts and minds,it too must be QUICKENED by the Holy SPIRIT and made ALIVE to our understanding.
and even as the HOLY SPIRIT QUICKNED AND RESTED on Christ so to does it QUICKEN and CONFIRM the WORD  TO US.
and WE are QUICKENED by the Spirit through the Word as we OPERATE in faith looking unto Him who is the AUTHOR and the FINISHER OF IT.
The more we are STEEPED in the WORD not in the letter only but with that which the Spirit quickeneth.
So too will be be STRENGTHENED and fully equiped for every good work.
So SOW to yourselves the WORD and if you do not understand it. seek it!
For the scriptures say "get understanding"!
For if we SOW much we will REAP much and the Spirit of God has soemthing to WORK on and in time will bring things back to our remberance "all things I have said"
The study of scripture then is not an interlectual 'excersise' but a LIFE giving/PRODUCING ,work effecting,SIGHT....seeing and life changing,strength giving WORK.

Many people read the scriptures and often for different reasons.
There was a great throng around the LORD who were 'touching' Him when He healed the woman "with the issue of blood"
Yet though the power of God to heal was Avalaible to ALL yet only ONE receved it.
So it is with scriptures.
many people read the scriptures but not with faith and so receive nothing from them.
Others study them only for tjheir own prestige and the winning of arguments over others.
Others study them to justyfy THEMSELVES rather than God and seek thier OWN rightousness. and in doing so   find also nothing but the pleasing of thier own vANITY.
The study of scripture is to gain an UNDERSTANDING and 'KNOWING  of God.
His "WAYS and His "ACTS"
His CHARACTER,DISPOSITION and NATURE.
His ETERNAL WILL and PURPOSE.
To gain an proper understanding of the PAST and by doing so have the key to understanding the PRESENT.
by which we may with patience gain soem understanding of that which is to come.
To "come to a UNITY OF THE FAITH"
For "FAITH COMES BY HEARING -" and we see that it is by the UNDERSTANDING not just the hearing "of the Word of God"
Therefore the astudy of the sdcriptures by each PART of the BODY of Christ is nesscerasary for the TRUE unity of the BODY which uis CHRISTS;He being the head and by the scriptures conveys HIS MIND.
Some take the scriptures APART and out of CONTEXT and so make a PRETEXT for error.
The book is a WHOLE book and INDIVISIBLE and EACH PART dovetails with the rest.
"line upon line,precept upon precept"
and should be treated as such.
So for instance soem take the DISPENSATIONS of God and make that ONE doctrin the LIGHT or LENSE to read the WHOLE of scripture.
But to do so means that you will have to twist and torture some scripture to 'FIT' into that FRAMEWORK.
When clearly they do not.
Others with the COVENANTS.
Some MAJOR on PREDESTIANTION to the exclusion of all those scriptures that put that subject in CONTEXT.
Some major on being BORNagain but NEGLECT the "going on to perfection"
Some think and major on the MILK to the EXCLUSION of "the MEAT of the Word"
Perhaps the major mistake of many is that though they are BORNagain and were by the Word AND the SPIRIT of God.
Who QUICKENED that WORD so "that thier eyes of their understanding were opened"So that in understanding ;FAITH in GOD was BORN.
Yet either by thier own thinking or that of others feel  that now that they ARE Bornagain have NO NEED for the HOLY SPIRIT to CONTINUE to quicken the Word and "LEAD them into ALL truth"as HE HAD to thier Salvation so now ONTO THE MEAT.
But instead seek to understand the scriptures with their as yet un-"renewed mind"
But even as we were LED to the truth concerning the message of salvation we must al;so be WILLING to be LED into "all truth"
ALL truth.
Peter made the mistake in thinking that though the revalation and UNDERSTANDING of that great truth "thou art the Christ the Son of the living God" was and is the FOUNDATION of the church and the ROCK on which it is built.
Yet it was not ALL the truth.

For when the LORD went "a little further"  and spoke of His coming death ect peter took it upon himself to say otherwise.and was strongly rebuked for it.
Just because we have a knowledge of the truth of our salvation and of BAPTISM and of sancatifacation. the covenants of God or the dispensations or the BAptism of the Holy Spirit does not meen we yet have ALL the truth.
and we should walk 'softly' before God if He would have us"go a liittle further" on to perfection.
So then we do not or should not SUBJECT the Word of God to OUR thinking and exxperience but rather subject our thnking and experience to the Word of God.
For it is OUR thinking that is to be RENEWED in the Spirit of our MINDS.
and that we do not bring DOWN the Word to our experience but LIFT UP the Word and seek to conform to the Word.