Hebrews 13:9 KJV
Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
The context compares the doctrines of grace with those of the Judaizers who attempted to mix grace and the law. In our day there are still plenty of "divers and strange doctrines" lifted up by new and fanciful churches.
I found Barnes to be helpful today
"..... they should have settled and fixed points of belief, and not yield to every new opinion which was started. The apostle does not exhort them to adhere to an opinion merely because they had before held it, or because it was an old opinion, nor does he forbid their following the leadings of truth though they might be required to abandon what they had before held; but he cautions them against that vacillating spirit, and that easy credulity, which would lead them to yield to any novelty, and to embrace an opinion because it was new or strange......
......When a man is thrown into trials and temptations, he ought to have some settled principles on which he can rely; some fixed points of belief that will sustain his soul...."[1]
The study of the Word of God will lead a man to refine build upon and even correct his beliefs as he grows in his understanding of God's Word. However, we should be very careful about throwing away what our fathers in the faith taught us just because we haven't arrived at the spiritual place where we understand what they taught.
God help us to have some settled and fixed points of belief form which we do not waver. Then let us, from there, build, grow and develop our walk with the Lord.
Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
The context compares the doctrines of grace with those of the Judaizers who attempted to mix grace and the law. In our day there are still plenty of "divers and strange doctrines" lifted up by new and fanciful churches.
I found Barnes to be helpful today
"..... they should have settled and fixed points of belief, and not yield to every new opinion which was started. The apostle does not exhort them to adhere to an opinion merely because they had before held it, or because it was an old opinion, nor does he forbid their following the leadings of truth though they might be required to abandon what they had before held; but he cautions them against that vacillating spirit, and that easy credulity, which would lead them to yield to any novelty, and to embrace an opinion because it was new or strange......
......When a man is thrown into trials and temptations, he ought to have some settled principles on which he can rely; some fixed points of belief that will sustain his soul...."[1]
The study of the Word of God will lead a man to refine build upon and even correct his beliefs as he grows in his understanding of God's Word. However, we should be very careful about throwing away what our fathers in the faith taught us just because we haven't arrived at the spiritual place where we understand what they taught.
God help us to have some settled and fixed points of belief form which we do not waver. Then let us, from there, build, grow and develop our walk with the Lord.
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