Matthew 16:11

How is it that ye do not perceive that I spake not to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then understood they that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Here is an extremely important example of how the word of Christ, or of the Scriptures, should be interpreted. Note that Christ did not change a syllable of what he had said, indicating that the misunderstanding of the Twelve did not arise from any fault in what Christ had said but in their application of it. Note that if he had meant "bread," he would have said "bread." The word he used was "leaven," and his use of it in connection with the Pharisees and Sadducees showed that a literal meaning of the term was not indicated, since a man does not have literal "leaven" in him.

In outlining the qualifications of elders and deacons, the Scriptures speak of "believing children"; to insist that that must invariably mean "baptized children" is to fall into the error of the apostles noted above. Does anyone suppose that the Holy Spirit did not know the term "baptized"? In all cases where the truth of God's word is sought, the strictest attention must be paid to the exact words that are used.

The true understanding by the apostles of what Christ meant was obtained, not by his repeating the admonition in different words, but by their more particular attention to what he had actually said. That proved that what Christ had said was intelligible to them on the basis of what they already knew, provided only that they had applied themselves to know it. The same truth holds today.