Acts 22:3 English Standard Version (ESV) “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.”

Paul had strong feelings based on his heritage, citizenship and education. Paul also said he considered it rubbish for the sake of coming to know Christ. We can have strong opinions based on strong emotions but that does not mean we are right.

We are still dealing with opinions and where we develop those opinions and why we feel so strongly about them.

Proverbs 22:6 English Standard Version (ESV) Train up a child in the way he should go;  even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Parenting is our first influence in what we see and believe. Not all parenting is alike and if the relationship between parent and child does not foster love and respect, other influences will take over in a child’s opinion making schemes. Those could be friends or someone with sinister designs, like gang leaders or cults.

Love and respect are universal and are not limited to one religion or lifestyle. Whoever provides it for the child has the best opportunity to shape that child’s opinions.

We will find ourselves having strong emotional opinions about a variety of subjects. The world will pull at your emotional heartstrings in order to gain our support and cooperation. Those of us that have not discovered love and respect from a positive source will find ourselves being used to serve agendas and some of those can be sinister. Extremists were not born that way, they were fed a steady diet of hate and blame. 

Saul was an extremist, a zealot for God, he thought, until he met Jesus on the road to Damascus and became Paul the apostle. Saul is perhaps the finest example of conversion we could imagine. His love of scripture was profound even if the strict teachings of Gamaliel missed the mark.

Now we have come to the crux of the matter, what does opinion have to do with truth?

Job 32:1-5 English Standard Version

1 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. 3 He burned with anger also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. 4 Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. 5 And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.

We all have opinions and some of us are heavily opinionated. Here in this sudden appearance of Elihu we might learn a lesson about opinions. 

Job 32:18 English Standard Version (ESV) For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me.

Elihu allowed his anger to break the constraints of the spirit. In doing so Elihu chose his opinion over God’s opinion. Given what God had to say to all of Job’s friends, it would seem that Elihu would have been better off keeping his temper and his opinions to himself.

Rendering opinions in anger sounds like a really bad idea. When we are angry, we are out of control. Opinion in anger, no matter how right it might be will be received with resistance because none of us enjoy coming under attack.

What defines opinions?

The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia has an interesting offering; ce‘ippim, from ca‘aph, “to divide or branch out,”  This is a biblical definition that admits opinions vary and can cause division. Perhaps we can offer that Job being righteous in his own eyes is nothing more than Elihu’s opinion. If this is true, then there might be other opinions about Job. Which ones are true? God’s opinion of course.

A worldly definition of opinion is a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge. Given that this is consistent for all humans, how much weight do we give the opinion of others?

The way we collect information is important. Who we trust in collecting that information is vital. We have a plethora of sources for information and disinformation. Some have devious agendas which are not readily obvious to us. Anything that differs from how we feel is closely scrutinized. Feelings are the most unreliable source for rendering an opinion but it is a major factor. We see it almost daily as conversations use key words used to solicit deep emotional responses.