continued from last week…
If Satan can convince me that the Bible is not understandable, he has effectively ended my
opposition to him, and my service to Jesus Christ. I have become nothing but a curiosity, an
interesting but shifting point of view which can be quickly dismissed in favor of another. Is this
not the danger of our divided religious world? People get the idea that anything goes. Any
conceivable interpretation is as valid as any other. But is this a proper approach to any serious
writing, particularly that which styles itself the word of God?
The next time someone tells you that they do not take the Bible literally, ask them what they
mean, exactly. Pick a well-known passage, such as John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting
life.” The chances are good that, because they want to believe what they think this verse teachers,
they will agree that this should be taken literally. Yes, they will admit that God actually loved the
world enough to sacrifice his son, Jesus Christ. Show them that such a conclusion is not only
reasonable, but it is demanded by the clear meaning of the language of this and numerous other
passages. The force of such statements simply cannot be denied or minimized. To deny this
passage would call in question numerous others, such as Paul’s statement in Romans 8:32: “He
that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely
give us all things?” To reject one is to reject them all.
If the truthfulness of a passage is in question, try backing up and looking at something more
fundamental. If the Bible cannot be trusted or understood to explain the nature of Christianity and
the work of the church, can we believe the Bible when it teaches us about the very existence of
God himself? Can we take it literally when it says that God exists and that he did this or that? If
the Bible cannot be taken literally in the matters which are difficult for me, why should it be taken
literally for anything?
The truth is that, like any other serious composition, each and every statement in the Bible
should be taken literally unless the context itself demands otherwise. In no other way can we be
fair with the message from God which the Bible claims to be.
And, when you really stop and think about it, recognizing that we are to be judged by the
word God has given us (John 12:48), does it not behoove us to look seriously and contemplatively
at the Bible as the actual, inspired word of God? That would seem to be a much wiser course of
action then minimizing or dismissing it as “merely poetic or figurative.”
