“Sometimes heretics quote from the prophetic Scriptures, but they misuse them in several ways.  First, they don’t make use of all the Scriptures.  Second, when they do cite a passage, they don’t quote it in its entirety.  Thirdly, they quote prophetic statements out of context.  Furthermore, they like to select ambiguous passages, so they can distort them to agree with their own opinions.  Finally, they gather a few expressions here and there, not looking to the meaning, but making use of the mere words, while altering the meaning.

“But truth is not found by twisting the meaning of Scripture.  Doing violence to the Scriptures is no way to establish one’s teachings.  Yet, people have used this method to corrupt all true teaching.  However, to find truth, a person must consider what perfectly belongs to the Sovereign God and what is becoming to Him.  One must also establish the meaning of any particular Scripture passage by using other similar passages from Scripture.

“In contrast, heretics don’t want to turn to the truth. . . . When they promote false teachings to men, they are plainly fighting against almost the whole body of Scripture.”