I wonder if those guys who chopped the Bible up into chapters and verses had any clue of the potential negative aspect of that project?
Obviously their efforts make it easier for us to find stuff (Bible quizzing would be rather difficult with chapter/verse structure, for instance).
But it also eases the opportunity to yank things out of context (Phil 4.13 and Matt 6.33 for examples)
But methinks the most dangerous and destructive example is found in what we designate Ephesians 2.8-10.
As a reminder…here is 2.8,9:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Wondrous truth! Glorious verses!
And they are all about God, His working, His “part” if you will.
Then comes verse 10:
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Oops! Now it’s about me…my responsibility to cooperate and activate what God has given me.
It’s that offensive, to many, word: w o r k s
People who have been converted out of “works-based-salvation” churchs (Catholicism, various “protestant” churches) appear paranoid about linking works to salvation in any way.
But…grace works.
And that’s still not us, because “it is God who is at work within you both to desire to do and to do His good pleasure.”
Or, to put it another way (since are are to “examine ourselves to see whether we be in the faith”):
“No fruit, no shoot, no root.”