Notes And Thoughts On The Analogy Of Faith 1

Lately, I've been thinking about being a Baptist and about Baptist history. And in this vein, the next few posts are about the Analogy Of Faith, a key Calvinist doctrine. It is also a historically important Baptist doctrine. Following posts include some notes and thoughts:

Romans 12
6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;

The above, oddly abstract, passage is, in part, the basis of and also the symbol of Calvinist theology. What might this passage mean?

o  Prophecy is used in its broad New Testament sense, meaning teaching and preaching.
o  The Greek text suggests that the word proportion is closely related to the word analogy, hence, Analogy of Faith.
o  The word faith could mean the prophet's faith. It probably has, however, a bigger meaning, suggesting the scheme of divine, Gospel truth.
o  Divine Gospel truth means "Scripture interprets Scripture," or "Scripture interprets itself." When you consider one passage in the Bible, you should also consider other related passages to understand God's meaning.  And the meaning is always "clearly propounded and opened."

And, here is a restatement of this passage: With the gift of grace, all of the teaching and preaching of the New Testament Prophet is analogous to (and reconciles with) the readily known and clearly propounded scheme of divine Gospel truth.