By Timothy Kitchen Jr

When repeating another man’s words is mistaken for hearing from God

“Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.”
— Jeremiah 23:30

That is an extraordinary accusation.

These men were speaking God’s words. They were using religious language. They sounded as though they possessed a message from God.

Yet God said:

They stole it.

They had heard what another man said, picked it up, repeated it, and presented it as though the message carried divine authority through them.

Jeremiah 23 presents a serious distinction between receiving something from God and merely repeating something heard from somebody else.

Everyone Has a Message

God says:

“I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.”
— Jeremiah 23:25

Everyone seemed to have something to say.

Everyone had a dream.

Everyone had an interpretation.

Everyone could speak about God.

But God asks a much more important question:

Did it actually come from Him?

That is the issue running through Jeremiah 23.

A man can speak true words without being the man to whom God originally entrusted those words.

A person can repeat a doctrine without understanding how it was proved.

A preacher can repeat another preacher.

A congregation can repeat another congregation.

An organization can repeat another organization.

Eventually everyone may be saying essentially the same thing—and yet nobody stops to ask:

Where did this actually come from?

“Steal My Words Every One From His Neighbour”

Then comes God’s indictment:

“Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.”
— Jeremiah 23:30

Notice the expression:

“Every one from his neighbour.”

One hears another.

Then another hears him.

Then another repeats what he heard.

The words travel from person to person.

But somewhere along the way, the source becomes obscured.

That is the danger.

It isn’t necessarily wrong to learn truth from another person. God has always used human teachers. Paul himself asked:

“And how shall they hear without a preacher?”
— Romans 10:14

The problem is not receiving teaching.

The problem is taking what was received and acting as though we independently possess the authority, revelation, understanding, or commission behind it.

There is a difference between saying:

“This is what I was taught, and I have proved it from God’s Word.”

and effectively saying:

“This is mine.”

Where Did You Get It?

That question should be asked more often.

Where did we learn what we believe?

Who taught it to us?

Where did they receive it?

Can we trace the teaching back?

And most importantly:

Can we prove it from the Bible?

Paul wrote:

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”
— 1 Thessalonians 5:21

We are not told merely to repeat all things.

We are told to prove them.

Once proved, we are to hold fast.

There is a tremendous difference between inheritance and imitation.

A son may receive something from his father and understand where it came from. He values it, proves its worth, preserves it and passes it onward.

An imitator merely copies what he sees.

God’s truth should be transmitted faithfully—but its source should never be forgotten.

“What Hath the LORD Answered Thee?”

The surrounding verses make the point even stronger:

“And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.”
— Jeremiah 23:33

And:

“Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?”
— verse 35

Notice the question.

Not:

What did your neighbor say?

Not:

What is everybody preaching?

Not:

What did the popular teacher say?

But:

“What hath the LORD spoken?”

God continually brings the attention back to Himself as the Source.

Wheat or Chaff?

Earlier God asks:

“What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.”
— Jeremiah 23:28

That is the distinction.

A person can collect enormous amounts of religious information. He can quote sermons, articles, books, ministers and traditions.

But religious information is not automatically spiritual understanding.

God says:

“The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.”
— Jeremiah 23:28

Faithfully.

Don’t change it.

Don’t embellish it.

Don’t claim what God didn’t give.

Don’t make yourself the source.

Don’t use God’s words to establish your own authority.

If God gave His Word through another servant, acknowledge that.

If you learned something from somebody, acknowledge that.

Then prove it by Scripture.

Truth does not become less true because somebody else taught it to us.

Paul Refused to Build on Another Man’s Foundation

Paul expressed an interesting principle:

“Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation.”
— Romans 15:20

Paul understood that God gives different responsibilities to different servants.

He wasn’t interested in simply taking another man’s labor and making it appear to be his own.

He also wrote:

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.”
— 1 Corinthians 3:6

Paul planted.

Apollos watered.

But neither was the ultimate source.

God gave the increase.

That keeps human beings in their proper place.

The Danger of Becoming an Echo Chamber

Jeremiah’s warning becomes particularly serious when applied to a religious community.

One minister quotes another.

That minister quotes another.

Members repeat the ministers.

Articles repeat previous articles.

Sermons repeat previous sermons.

Eventually everybody agrees.

But agreement by itself proves nothing.

Ten thousand people repeating something they heard from one another does not transform it into revelation from God.

There must always remain an open Bible and the question:

“What hath the LORD spoken?”

Otherwise a religious community can become an echo chamber in which everyone hears everyone else—and mistakes the echo for the voice of God.

Even True Words Can Be Misused

This may be one of the deepest lessons of Jeremiah 23.

Falsehood is not the only danger.

Truth can be mishandled too.

God specifically says:

“that steal MY WORDS every one from his neighbour.”

They were stealing His words.

A man can therefore take something true and use it falsely.

He can take God’s truth and use it to elevate himself.

He can repeat another servant’s teaching while obscuring where he obtained it.

He can take an inherited body of teaching and subtly present himself as its discoverer.

He can possess the vocabulary without possessing the understanding.

He can reproduce the words while abandoning the faithfulness with which those words were originally delivered.

That is why merely asking, “Is what he said technically true?” isn’t always enough.

We should also ask:

What is being done with God’s truth?

The Word Is Not Ours

Peter wrote:

“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”
— 2 Peter 1:20

And continued:

“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
— verse 21

The Word belongs to God.

The truth belongs to God.

The Church belongs to God.

The people belong to God.

The glory belongs to God.

No minister owns God’s truth.

No organization owns God’s truth.

No writer owns God’s truth.

No individual owns God’s truth.

We are stewards of what God gives.

And a steward must be faithful.

“Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”
— 1 Corinthians 4:2

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

There is humility in saying:

“I didn’t originate this.”

There is integrity in saying:

“I learned this from someone before me.”

There is faithfulness in saying:

“Here is where I received this understanding—and here are the Scriptures by which you can prove it for yourself.”

That does not diminish the teacher.

It establishes a chain of faithful transmission rather than a chain of stolen authority.

Parents should teach their children.

Older Christians should teach younger Christians.

Ministers should teach congregations.

Those congregations should teach others.

But at every link in that chain we should remember:

The truth did not begin with us.

Don’t Merely Repeat—Prove

There is also a warning here for the hearer.

We cannot excuse ourselves by saying:

“That’s what my minister said.”

Or:

“That’s what our church teaches.”

Or:

“That’s what I’ve always heard.”

The Bereans provide the proper example:

“They received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
— Acts 17:11

They listened.

Then they searched.

They received teaching without surrendering personal responsibility before God.

That is the balance.

Receive. Search. Prove. Hold fast.

Whose Voice Are We Hearing?

Jeremiah 23 should cause every teacher—and every listener—to examine himself.

Am I speaking because God’s Word actually says this?

Or because I heard someone else say it?

Have I proved what I believe?

Can I show it from Scripture?

Do I acknowledge those through whom I learned?

Am I faithfully preserving what was delivered?

Or have I taken another person’s work, removed its history, and begun speaking as though it originated with me?

Above all:

Can I trace it back to God?

Because eventually every human voice must become secondary.

The minister is not the Source.

The apostle is not the Source.

The parent is not the Source.

The organization is not the Source.

They may be instruments through which truth is transmitted.

But God is the Source.

That is why Jeremiah’s question remains so powerful:

“What hath the LORD spoken?”

Not what everyone is saying.

Not what everyone is repeating.

Not what we heard from our neighbour.

What has God said?

And when He has spoken, we should neither steal His words to exalt ourselves nor alter them to suit ourselves.

We should receive them.

Prove them.

Acknowledge how they came to us.

Live by them.

And faithfully pass them on.

Because they were never ours to begin with.

They are the words of God.