Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate by Jerry Bridges

Author:Jerry Bridges [Bridges, Jerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: NavPress
Published: 2014-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

The writer of Hebrews probably had in mind the spiritual authority of elders in a local church. However, the principle of submission and teachability applies in any situation where someone is under the tutelage or training of a more mature believer. And it is our pride of an independent spirit that makes us unteachable or unsubmissive.

I well remember the night I was first exposed to the teaching of Hebrews 13:17. I was a fairly new officer in the U. S. Navy at the time. I well understood the concept of submission to the authority structure aboard ship, and I had no doubt assumed the authority of teachers and professors during my years in school. But the idea of a spiritual authority to which I should submit was a new and radical idea to me. I am grateful that God exposed me to this principle when He did. It so happened that the very next night I came in contact with The Navigators’ ministry, which stresses one-to-one discipling and mentoring. Because of this new idea of submission to spiritual authority, I was teachable and responded readily to the challenges of being discipled by another.

Resistance to spiritual authority and an unteachable spirit is not limited to students and young adults. I sometimes encounter this attitude in teaching the Bible to older adults. Often a response to something I am teaching is, “Well, I think thus and such.” No appeal to Scripture is made; it is only the person’s opinion. Yet in his or her mind, that opinion is authoritative. There is no willingness to grapple with the teaching of Scripture.

Yet the Bible strongly teaches the value of a teachable attitude. Proverbs, in particular, has a lot to say about the subject. Consider, for example, the following phrases from the first few chapters of Proverbs:

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you … (Proverbs 2:1)

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