Don't Add To the Scriptures

# 8 Today's Prime Time Devo comes from: 1Ti 1:3 “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia--remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.” (1 Ti 1:3) Paul's first order of business in his letter to Timothy is to reign in the superfluous doctrine that was popping up in Ephesus and the surrounding area. These teachings cause disputes and divisions that tear down, rather than build up. The word “cause” here means to present an occasion and the word “disputes” means to question. Superfluous teachings, (adding to the Scriptures) provide opportunities to question the veracity of the Scriptures. It is an age old ploy of Satan who pulled it on Eve in the Garden when he said, “ "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" This is the first example of “adding to” the Word of God found in Scripture and bears mentioning here. A careful reading of Scripture will show that God never commanded Adam and Eve not to touch the fruit, He told them they were not to eat of it. The touching of the fruit was a fable, something added to the Word of God. Think of the effect of such an addition to the Word. Eve cannot eat of the fruit without first touching it. She touches it, and nothing happens. Well if she touches it and nothing happens, then why be afraid to eat of it? And sin enters the world through the portal of adding onto Scripture. No wonder Jesus warns us in Re 22:18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book;” Beware of the teaching of fables. Are the teachings IN Scripture or not? Be a Berean who are spoken of in Ac 17:11, they heard the apostle's teaching but then checked it out in the Word of God. They , “searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”