"Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion,” correct?

No one can truly “understand the Scriptures” (Lk 24:45), or those who teach it, or receive the benefits from studying it, without being able to discern or tell the difference between truth and opinion. What is the difference between the two? Does it really matter?

Are Christians supposed to be an opinionated people? Are those who teach the Scriptures, ministers of the gospel (such as pastors, evangelists, and teachers) supposed to teach us their opinions about the Bible? Is it okay to teach one’s opinions about God and His word to others?

As some say, “Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion,” correct? Is everyone entitled to their own opinion? Is it right to share them with others, especially with God’s people?

The Exact Definition of the Two

Truth is fact, but opinion is speculation, guessing. Truth is revealed or evident, but opinion has not been revealed, for it is hidden, or unknown. It is not evident. Truth is accurate, but opinion is theory. Truth is “non-fiction,” but opinion is “fiction.” Truth we know for sure, but opinion we do not know for sure, because there is no true evidence for it.

In the Scriptures, truth is written, commanded, or in some evident way, revealed or implied therein. But opinion is not written, commanded, or revealed, or implied therein. So since opinion is not commanded, therefore it is not applicable, appliable, or practiceable as religion. It has not been commanded by the Lord, so He does not require us to understand it or practice it. For He did not communicate it to us. Truth, in the form of Scripture, is from God, but people’s opinions about God and the Scriptures are from men. Opinions originate from men, for the source or author of it is not God. He never said it or implied it or revealed it to us through the holy prophets in the Scriptures.

So truth is required and essential, but people’s opinions about God and the Scriptures are not, and may be misleading, vain, misinterpreted, misapplied, or contrary to what is true.

The Scriptures define opinion as guessing

The word “opinion” is in the Scriptures, but it is defined as: “speculation,” or “disputations,” or is considered “no command of the Lord,” because He did not reveal it, imply it, or speak it Himself through the holy prophets.

For example, the subject of this passage of Scripture, Romans 14:1 through chapter 15:7, is “opinions” (Ro 14:1), which is sometimes translated “disputations,” as in the so called King James Version. The word “disputations” gives us a sense of the true nature of an “opinion,” that it is disputable because it is not fact, commanded, or implied in the Scriptures.

Therefore, it is something that is of one’s own thinking or interpretation, not God’s. And if we teach it to others or share it with others, it gives rise to disputes. This is why in this passage on the subject of “opinions” (Ro 14:1) it points out to us that if one has an opinion, not the truth, he is to have it “as your own conviction before God” (Ro 14:22), meaning he is not to share it, discuss it, or teach it to others, but instead keep it between himself and the Lord.

Indeed, in the confines of the Scripture, as to how the Scriptures define it, thus how God defines it, is that “opinion” is “speculation”; guessing. It is not a commandment of the Lord. It is from one’s own mind, not the mind of God. For example, Paul said it himself: “Now concerning virgins I have no command from the Lord, but I give an opinion” (1 Cor 7:25). So before Paul speculated (opinionated) on this subject, before he guessed, Paul cleared himself by saying that he had no commandment from the Lord about whether or not virgins should marry. So whatever Paul said on this subject is not binding, meaning that there is no sin incurred if one does not follow it (as verse 28 indicates). But in this chapter, Paul did say some things about marriage which were commandments from the Lord (SEE 1 Cor 7:10, 39). These are binding. So if we break them, we are sinning. In 1 Timothy 1:4, the concept of opinion is sometimes translated and defined as “speculation,” again indicating the true meaning of “opinion,” that it is guessing, and it says that this does not further the gospel because it is foreign to it, namely “strange,” and it is considered “fruitless discussion” (1 Tim 1:3, 4, 6).

Understand the difference between opinion and application

Now there is a difference between an opinion and an application of a commandment. For example, an opinion, since it is a guess, speculation, does not have a true commandment associated with it. Therefore, we cannot apply it or practice it. It should not be our habit, simply because there is no clear commandment for it. Yet we must apply the commandments of God in order to fulfill the will of God. So an application of a commandment of the Lord is not an opinion (yet it might be a correct application of it or an incorrect one).

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it” (Lk 11:28). And, “Good understanding have all those who do His commandments” (Ps 111:10). So, to be blessed and to demonstrate good understanding of the Scriptures, we must observe, do, and apply the commandments of the Lord. But opinions have no commandment from the Lord associated with them, that is, no clear and evident or convincing commandment upon which to be based. This is why we should not be teaching them to others or even speaking about them or discussing them with others. For they are not true to the Scriptures.

Conclusion

Christians are not supposed to be an opinionated people, but a people of the truth, who listen for the truth, follow the truth, and speak the truth. Like Jesus said, “ ‘For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify of the truth. Everyone who is of the truth, hears My voice.’ Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’ ” (Jn 18:37, 38). Now are you like Pilate, who spoke as if he still did not yet know what is truth? Are you an opinionated person? Or are you a person who wants to be, as Jesus said, “of the truth”? Do you wish to belong to the truth? Are you willing to be associated with it or an opinion?

Likewise, those who teach the Scriptures (pastors, evangelists, and teachers) are not supposed to be opinionated people, but as it is written in the Scriptures about them (SEE Eph 4:11), they are supposed to be “speaking the truth” (Eph 4:15) in the assembly of Christians, not their own opinions. In order to understand the Scriptures, and those who teach it, we must discern the difference between truth and opinion. We must be of the truth, not an opinion, for there are many opinionated teachers and worshipers.

Yet, God will not commend us for our opinions. He will commend us for the truth, being of it, by it, and for it, especially when we apply it in our own lives and in the assemblies, and when we speak it to others.