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  IRRELEVANT PROOF TEXTS
  by Daniel Steele
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Summary: The sermon critiques the misuse of Scripture by Wesleyan
writers, highlighting the importance of using pertinent proof texts and
the consequences of misinterpreting Scripture.

Topics: "Sanctification", "Biblical Interpretation"
Scripture References: John 17:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 2 Timothy 2:15, Hebrews 10:10, 1 Peter 1:15

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DESCRIPTION
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Daniel Steele criticizes the Wesleyan theory of sanctification, accusing
its advocates of misinterpreting and misusing Scripture to support their
beliefs. He points out that even prominent figures in Methodism,
including the founder, have promoted this doctrine with strong proof
texts that, upon closer examination, do not necessarily align with the
intended meaning. Steele argues that sanctification is a decisive work,
not a continuous process, and highlights the importance of interpreting
Scripture accurately and contextually.

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CONTENT
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COMPLAINT is made of "unwarrantable perversions of Scripture to which
the special advocates of this theory (the Wesleyan) find themselves
driven. The utmost violence is continually done both to the text and the
context." This is a sweeping accusation brought against a whole class of
writers, not against some more zealous than wise in the promotion of
this doctrine and experience.

The author well knows that some of the strongest men in Methodism have
specially advocated this doctrine, beginning with its founder, the
scholarly Oxonian, and that they used strong and pertinent proof texts,
some of which he quotes on page 171 in a lump, and then makes this brief
comment on them in the gross that they contain "no note of time
whatever, and not the slightest suggestion of the peculiar doctrine to
maintain which they have been so strenuously laid hold of." Any jury of
twelve laymen with a common school education would decide that these
texts all relate to the present life and not to the resurrection; and
any jury of candid Greek scholars, noting the aorist tenses, would give
a unanimous verdict that the sanctification was not a continuous series
of acts, but a decisive work, done once for all.

While slurring over these great texts, he finds room to amplify on
irrelevant texts to the extent of several pages.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/daniel-steele/irrelevant-proof-texts/
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