FIGURES OF SPEECH ARE NOT CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE

“Fear not little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom: (LUKE 12:32)

Some time ago I heard a man attempt to pour ridicule upon the custom of pastoral preaching. He made a strong point that after conversion, a person should go out at once and begin to win souls, not go to church and hear preaching.

 

For illustration, he reasoned that a farmer candles his eggs once, not every week, and sends them to market. But there was one very serious weakness in the argument: Christ did not say to Peter, “Candle my eggs”; He said, “feed my sheep.”

 

Christians are not eggs to be candled; they are sheep to be fed!

 

Feeding sheep is not a job to be gotten over with once and for all; it is a loving act to be repeated at regular intervals as long as the sheep live. Peter well understood His Lord’s meaning and years later admonished certain elders of the church to “feed the flock of God which is among you.” Not one word did he say about candling eggs!

 

Figures of speech should illustrate truth, not originate it. Christians are living creature’s dependent on food, and must be fed well and often if they are to remain healthy. Our Lord selected the figure of sheep because it accords with the facts. The figure of eggs does not.

 

Beware the man who makes a figure of speech teach doctrine. There’s something better in the Bible than figures of speech to be twisted to fit our own prejudices!

 W. Tozer