It's possible to begin a discussion by talking about or even defending what God has said, and yet end up with beliefs that allow us to disobey Him. At the dawn of creation, for example, Satan slithered up to Eve and drew her into a religious discussion. He simply asked what God had commanded regarding the forbidden tree--but he led her to a deadly conclusion (Gen. 3:1-6).

The apostle Paul feared that we might repeat Eve's mistake. In his letter to the Roman Christians, he cautioned against coming to the wrong conclusions. He wanted believers to rejoice in God's grace and the free and unmerited gift of salvation (Rom. 5:12-21). But Paul knew that some might wrongly suggest that since God is so gracious we don't have to follow any rules, and we can do anything we want (6:1-2,15-16).

In contrast to what happened to Eve and many others, Jesus Christ gave us an example of how to avoid being led to the wrong conclusions. He responded to Satan's temptations by referring to Scripture and at each point affirming His commitment to God (Mt. 4:1-11).

In every religious discussion, keep God's Word at the center, and you won't arrive at wrong conclusions.  — Haddon W. Robinson