How Can We Understand the Word of God?
You don't say much about the Bible before someone says, "Well, that's just your interpretation!" How do you answer that?
The only authoritative answer is for God somehow to step up and say, "No, that's not just his interpretation - it's My interpretation!" Being the God of Truth (Isa. 65:16, John 14:6-7), He can't do that unless it is true. So the question of interpretation is vital.
What makes people suspicious of careful Bible study?
The Bible states that the mature no longer "reason as a child" (1 Cor. 13:11), and it plainly commands us "in your understanding be men" (1 Cor. 13:11), but Christians often seem to distrust careful thinking. Forgetting that our reasonable worship involves being transformed by the renewal of our minds (Rom. 12:1-2), we sometimes imagine that there is something innocent and spiritually pure in ignorance. People are excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them (Eph. 4:17-18), destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6), so this is a serious mistake.
However, we need to go beyond lamenting and criticizing this lack of interest in mental discipline and careful interpretation. To find a cure, we need to understand its causes.
It's hard for our heads to argue with the need to interpret the Bible carefully, but our hearts sense several problems, which make us shy away.
Many who insist on careful study of the Bible appear to contradict their own assertion that the Scriptures are sufficient
Bernard Ramm, expressing the view of many, claims that no light is available on a number of names in Isaiah except through commentaries or Bible dictionaries. [1] To say that no light is available in the Bible about things within it seems to contradict the doctrine that the Scriptures alone are sufficient.
In fact, the Bible itself gives a great deal of light about the names Ramm mentions, especially Tyre, Sidon, Moab and Anathoth. Whoever knows the Bible and leans on it should know this. Anyone who really believes that no light is available in the Bible itself about these names just hasn't looked very carefully in it, suggesting that his reliance on commentaries has undermined his dependence on the word of God itself. The learned so often display this kind of folly that learning gets a bad name.
The Bible itself often teaches us to look outside of it for understanding of what is written in it, as I showed in detail in Chapter 2, but not wherever our traditions dictate, and not according to rules of our own making. We need to look outside the Bible where the Bible says to look, because the Bible can be no more trustworthy than whatever we interpret it by. To assert that understanding is impossible apart from commentaries effectively adds these to the text. To the extent that these commentaries are wrong, whatever supposedly cannot be understood without them is lost for any practical purpose.
MacArthur makes this point as follows: "Misinterpreting the Bible is ultimately no better than disbelieving it. What good does it do to agree that the Bible is God's final and complete revelation and then misinterpret it? The result is the same: one misses God's truth." [2] In fact the result is worse - while the unbeliever merely speaks his own opinion, the misinterpreter clothes his error in God's authority.
All of this repels people. Many sense that in the name of "rightly handling the word of truth," Bible teachers are cleverly applying ostensibly sound principles to make the Bible say whatever they want. Biblical scholarship too often serves as a means to subject the Bible to our own traditional doctrines, just as a crooked lawyer uses the law to do injustice (Matt. 23).
Champions of careful interpretation are too often careless themselves
Many who criticize careless interpretation of the Scriptures wrench passages out of context or read their own interpretations into them in just the same ways they criticize in others. MacArthur warns us, "Refrain from making a point at the price of proper interpretation." [3] As I showed in Chapter 5, he flagrantly violates this principle in his use of Jude 3, reading into it a future application completely foreign to its context and offering no justification for doing so.
This is not to say that he and others like him are intentionally deceitful. My point is that for any of us, when our principles conflict with ideas which we treasure, these principles do not empower us to handle the Scriptures correctly if to do so threatens the doctrines which we love.
Anyone can interpret the Bible correctly when it agrees with what he already thinks. Correctly handling the word of truth means correctly handling it when it conflicts with our dearest beliefs. Unless the Bible regularly compels me to abandon errors I love in favor of truth I detest, what do I really know about how to understand the Bible? How will any of this happen, except by taking up our cross each day as Jesus says?
Academic principles do not prevent us from being blinded by confidence in our own understanding
Rightly denouncing the practice of allegorizing to suit oneself, one teacher illustrates his point with a preacher using Nehemiah to teach about the Holy Spirit. He concludes, "The book of Nehemiah has nothing to do with the walls of human personality, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or speaking in tongues." [4]
The Bible explains the significance of Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah as follows: "A city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit" (Prov. 25:28). Since this proverb explicitly tells us that any city resembling Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah does portray a man who lacks self-control, the rebuilding of those walls certainly speaks of the work of the Holy Spirit, who is the author of self-control (Gal. 5:22). It turns out that Nehemiah has everything to do with the walls of human personality as expressed in self-control, and with the Holy Spirit who builds such self-control.
This is disconcerting. The teacher who uses allegory to make the Bible say whatever he likes is a fool, but if a careful student of the Bible overlooks truth which that fool can see, how are his principles of interpretation actually helping him?
Academic principles of interpretation do not really grab us as self-evident and morally imperative
Because ignorance and deception originate in rejection of the truth of God (Rom. 1:21-22), accurate understanding is rooted in fundamental moral imperatives already written in our hearts, not in abstract principles learned in school. Jesus thanked his Father for hiding the mysteries of his kingdom from the wise and prudent and revealing them to babes (Luke 10:21).
Rules learned in school are important, but they are not the fundamental things. What really makes the difference between the one who studies the works of God and is transformed (Ps. 111:2), and one who studies and gains nothing but worldly folly (1 Cor. 1:20)?
In his preaching of the gospel Paul commended himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God (2 Cor. 4:2). Understanding the Bible is not really a special science learned by the intellectually proficient in a class in Biblical interpretation; it is the law of God written in the heart of every person. Consider with me some of its elements.
Listen carefully to what it really says
Listening carefully means letting it say what it says, and not making it say what we already believe. It’s easy to twist the Scriptures to our own destruction, deceiving ourselves and others. The Scriptures are designed to work that way, giving us the freedom to be deceived if that’s what we want, and in this way keeping everyone in darkness who loves the lie (Rev. 22:15).
How do we know that’s happening? I’ve found a simple test. Do I really like it just the way it’s written, or do I wish it were written a little differently to make it easier to prove something I know is true? It’s amazing how often I wish something were written a little more clearly!
Here’s the real meaning of that thought, every time: “My way is right, and the way of the Lord is not right.” The instant that thought flits through my heart – which is nearly every time I open the Bible – I can take it captive simply by telling God that that’s what I’m thinking and talking to Him about it.
Our natural instinct, of course, is to avoid this bad news by hiding from it somehow, unwilling to entertain the possibility that we’ve been dumb enough to count ourselves smarter than God. We soon find comfort as we see how it really means what we think after all, and so we sink into the darkness in fulfillment of 1 John 1:6, 8, and 10.
God gives us a second chance by sending us people that don’t see it our way. Our exasperation with their folly and with our inability to straighten them out testifies that we are still in darkness, if we care to listen. As we realize that we convince others of truth only by being convinced of truth ourselves, we get another chance to forsake our thoughts and at last to open our earst to God.
When perplexed or dissatisfied, ask God questions, instead of first trying to figure it out
If you don't understand, say so. The only dumb question is the question you don't ask. Every teacher wants his students to understand these two points, and God made teachers in His image to make us understand that He is that way too.
David was a man after God's own heart (1 Sam. 13:14), but what does the Bible mean by this? In Psalm 27:4, David tells us his heart's desire:
One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the delightfulness of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
What makes David after God's own heart is that his heart wants to behold God's delightfulness and ask Him questions in His temple, that is, in the midst of His people (1 Cor. 3:16).
When God appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked him what he wanted, Solomon asked God for a "hearing heart" in order to discern good and evil in judgment (1 Kings 3:5-9). God openly confirmed his answer shortly thereafter by having him successfully judge the case of the two harlots (1 Kings 3:16-28).
Isaiah 50:4-5 says of the Messiah:
The Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples
That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.
He awakens me morning by morning,
He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple.
The Lord God has opened my ear;
And I was not disobedient,
Nor did I turn back.
The Father gave Jesus the tongue of a disciple by giving him the ear of a disciple. Here too, and in the verses that follow, the prophet tells us how Jesus endured suffering - his Father awakened his ear day by day in order to listen.
With this David agrees, in Psalm 40:6-8 (NKJV):
Sacrifice and meal offering You did not desire;
My ears you have opened;
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
Then I said, "Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written
of me;
I delight to do your will, O my God,
And Your law is within my heart."
Does God want all kinds of stuff from us, or ears that He Himself has opened so that He can pour His truth into them? Through hearing, God's law enters the heart, and in this way we come to delight in His will, whatever it may be. When Mary sat at his feet and listened to the word of God, Jesus said, "Few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:42).
Putting it another way, Jesus said elsewhere that the foremost commandment is, "Hear, O Israel!" (Mark 12:29). Loving the Lord with an undivided being is a consequence of hearing the Undivided God Who makes undivided those who hear Him (Deut. 6:4-6). In any case, who can imagine loving Him apart from listening to Him?
How then do we get a hearing heart? Solomon answers as follows (Prov. 2:1-6):
My son, if you will receive my sayings,
And treasure my commandments within you,
Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding;
For if you cry for discernment,
Lift your voice for understanding;
If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
Then you will discern the fear of the Lord,
And discover the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Solomon testifies here that the way to make our ears attentive to wisdom and to incline our hearts to understanding is to cry for discernment and lift our voices for understanding. Knowledge and understanding come from the Lord's mouth; hearing through the word of Christ. [6]
Asking questions - the parable of the sower
When he told the parable of the sower (Mark 4), Jesus concluded, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear" (Mark 4:9). To learn who has ears, we need only keep reading and find out who hears. In the very next verse we find those around him with the twelve asking Him about the parables.
To these who asked, Jesus said, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God; but those who are outside get everything in parables, in order that while seeing, they may see and not perceive; and while hearing, they may hear and not understand lest they return and be forgiven" (Mark 4:11-12).
Now who were the privileged? Not only the twelve, because it was not only the twelve but those who were around Him with the twelve who were asking and who got his favorable answer. The difference is simply this: they asked him about the parables. God gave them ears to hear by giving them a mouth to ask Jesus to explain what they didn't understand.
To teach them how to understand parables in the future, Jesus asked them, "Do you not understand this parable? And how will you understand all the parables?" He then proceeded to answer his own question by explaining to them the parable. They came to understand this parable by becoming fools enough to ask him to explain it (1 Cor. 3:18), and that's how we get to understand all God’s parables, whether in the Bible or elsewhere.
As for those who do not ask, but instead try to figure it out some other way, Jesus promises that "while seeing, they may see and not perceive; and while hearing, they may hear and not understand lest they return and be forgiven" (Mark 4:12). Working it out ourselves actually prevents us from returning to God and being forgiven!
What if God is angry with my stupid question?
By now, someone has certainly thought of Zacharias the father of John the Baptist. Zacharias became mute for nine months when he questioned the angel. To some, it seems obvious that he would have done better to keep his mouth shut.
Did Zacharias lose his speech for questioning the angel? The angel said it was for not believing his words (Luke 1:18-20). Had he kept silent, would there have been no unbelief in his heart? In the wilderness, they didn't question the things Moses told them, but they disbelieved him anyway.
Although their silent unbelief led to disaster, Zacharias suffered no permanent harm from the doubt that he expressed, and through his muteness he was cured of his unbelief. Taking his entire experience into account, didn't he come off much better than if nothing had happened to him at all?
The mercies of the Lord are very great, so that even his reproofs are comforting - as David said, "Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me" (Ps. 23:4 NKJV).
Even if your question brings reproof, you'll be better off than by keeping silent and trying to handle it some other way. Even the Lord's correction brings healing and relieves your pain. For good cause Isaiah said, "Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from the Lord" (Isa. 29:15), while David advised, "Pour out your heart before him" (Ps. 62:8).
I'll say it again: if we do not understand something, let's ask. Never be afraid to say to God concerning any matter, "Lord, what do You have to say about this?"
Let perplexity fill you with questions
Winston Churchill is said to have observed, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." This agrees well with the Bible, which says, "The Lord preserves the simple" (Ps. 116:7), but on the other hand, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside" (1 Cor. 1:18-19).
Our cleverness enables us to explain away mysteries that could compel us to understand, if we weren't so smart. The next time you figure out how to take care of all the angles yourself, you will have avoided hearing from God. And the smarter you are, the more convincingly you'll prove to yourself that you don't need to hear anything.
Moses one day saw a bush that was on fire, but the bush was not being consumed by the flames. Unlike some modern critics, Moses was not smart enough to devise a natural explanation, so he said, "Let me turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned up" (Ex. 3:3). The rest, as they say, is history.
The whole world, and the Bible in particular, is filled with paradoxes and other occasions for perplexity. But like that burning bush, every one is a gateway into the presence of God for you if you turn aside to take a careful look, pouring out to God all your questions as they arise.
The Queen of Sheba
Since the Queen of Sheba came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon the son of David, we should all the more come to Jesus the son of David, who was greater than Solomon (Luke 11:31). To emphasize its importance (Gen. 41:32), the account appears twice (1 Kings 10, 2 Chron. 9). The way she came to hear Solomon's wisdom teaches us how to hear the wisdom of Jesus.
When she heard about Solomon, she came to test him with difficult questions - all that was in her heart (1 Kings 10:2). The things in our own hearts that we don't understand are what we need to come to Jesus with: whatever is too difficult for us and other people to properly answer. In this way, we find out that Jesus is indeed a wonderful counselor.
She also brought the best of her wealth. The wisdom of God is free, but if it's not worth losing everything else to get, you will end up throwing it away in order to keep whatever else you'd rather have. How then can you expect God to give it to you (James 1:6)? It's worth remembering that Solomon himself threw away his wisdom for the sake of his women, just as Esau threw away his birthright for a single meal.
Since the Queen of Sheba came as she did, Solomon answered her fully, just as Jesus will, who promised that His Spirit would lead us into all the truth.
Although she came to Solomon with the concerns in her own heart, it didn't end there. She also saw the house that he had built, the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers and their attire, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the Lord (1 Kings 10:3-4).
As we reason with Jesus about all the things on our hearts, we will come to see the house He has built (1 Pet. 2:4-5, Eph. 2:13-22), the food at His table (John 6), the seating of his servants (Luke 14:7-11), the attendance of his ministers and their attire (1 Pet. 5:1-5), and the stairway by which He has gone up to His Father (John 14:12, Phil. 2:5-11).
The Queen of Sheba came to realize that all she had heard was true, and that indeed she had not heard half of the greatness of Solomon's wisdom. Although she said she hadn't believed what she heard, she had believed it enough to show up, and with many people and a vast treasure. Before we come to Jesus, we can never really believe what we hear about Him. Anyone who believes enough to show up as the Queen of Sheba did will always find out that the true extent of His greatness has never been told.
Finally, recognizing the goodness of the Lord, she freely gave her best to Solomon, much like the woman who anointed Jesus (1 Kings 10:9-10, Mark 14:3-9). In return, Solomon not only gave her a return for what she had given, but "all her desire which she requested" (2 Chron. 9:12).
Jesus promises in the same way to do whatever we ask in His name (John 14:12). This promise becomes ours as we learn that only in God's wisdom and in His ways are lesser things worth having (Matt. 6:24-34, 1 Kings 3:11-14).
Honor "little" things and "little" people, and do not favor the great
Jesus truly said, "He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is also unrighteous in much" (Luke 16:10). Our capacity to understand the words of God will stand or fall on our faithfulness in heeding the wisdom of the lowly, people that don't deserve respect in our eyes. When we know we are dealing with God, we try to be on our best behavior. The rest of the time, we act as we are.
I can learn how to honestly interpret the Bible by learning to understand what my wife is telling me, especially when I feel she's being a jerk, and I'm not reassured by how badly I do at this point. If I want to hear the Bible when it contradicts my present understanding, then let me honestly hear the argument of the unbeliever or the "cultist" instead of defeating his argument, in my own mind, by misunderstanding it or otherwise hiding from its persuasiveness.
Most of us, when we hear a "bad guy," immediately give our attention to what's wrong with what he says and why we shouldn't listen to him, even if he's speaking the truth. Then we hear someone in our corner, and even if he is sloppy and dishonest we want to make excuses for him and prove he's right.
For this one we use one set of weights, but for that one we use another (Deut. 25:13, Prov. 20:10, 23). We have forgotten what David knew about his God: "With the pure You do show yourself pure, and with the crooked You do show yourself twisted" (Ps. 18:26). If we are crooked, then God will show Himself twisted, and when God is showing Himself twisted, how will we ever understand?
If we find injustice acceptable in "unimportant" matters and with people of no standing, where we imagine we can get away with it, God will give us over to the habitual injustice that we practice in "small" things. To our ruin we will also deceive ourselves in great things.
If we will learn integrity in the little things we see in daily life, we will understand correctly the eternal things we can't see. I may not know right away if I'm deceiving myself about the Bible, but if I misunderstand my wife or my son, they let me know! When I learn to understand my wife and my children, I will know how to understand the Bible and all other things.
The special case of partiality toward God
Aside from the injustice to the disfavored, partiality toward any self-respecting person is a serious insult.
In wartime, men will often enlist as common soldiers instead of letting their well-connected fathers arrange a soft spot for them. Yet many Christians expect less of God. Many seem completely unaware that to show God personal favoritism is a grievous insult.
Job upbraided his friends for showing partiality to God and speaking unjustly and deceitfully in His behalf (Job 13:7-10). Because they were willing even to disregard justice in order to make excuses for God, they abused Job and brought God's stern rebuke on themselves, just as Job had forewarned them (Job 42:7-8, 13:10).
Partiality involves willfully overlooking problems, or making allowances, because of someone's strength or high position, although the proverb rightly says, "He who winks the eye causes trouble" (Prov. 10:10). Job's three friends stoutly defended God, condemning Job in order to do so, but if it were anyone but God, they too would have found fault right along with Job.
Instead of defending God, Job expected God to live up to His character. So, unlike His three friends, he continually argued with God throughout the argument, and eventually found Him.
Job did get into a little trouble. By means of the earthly things he did not understand, he needed to be reminded that God's ways are also sometimes beyond understanding. But by aggressively questioning God, Job got into a whole lot less trouble than did his three friends, who sought to keep God's favor by making excuses for Him. After he had been tested, God eventually gave Job a very complete understanding of what had happened to him, including its effects in the heavens (Job 1-2). [7]
If we expect God to live up to His character, as Job did, and as Abraham did too (Gen. 18:23-25), we learn God's ways even as he reproves us (Hab. 2:1-2). We can even intercede for others in similar circumstances. But if we defer to God because He is mighty, we will always do injustice to the weak, as Job's friends did.
When we do not reason honestly with God, understanding and even forgiveness will be far from us (Isa. 1:16-18 with 6:10, Mark 4:10-12). This is a clear instance of how unethical behavior robs us of understanding, which brings me to my next point.
To really understand it we must do it
We all know there is a big difference between book learning and practical experience. The Bible clearly teaches that knowledge and understanding are inseparable from actually doing it.
The "good hand of his God" was with Ezra the scribe because he "had set his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel" (Ezra 7:9-10). The order is most significant. First we seek the Lord's word, then we practice what we find, and then we can teach it.
This is not only to make our teaching credible to those who hear us. It's to make the teaching right. How often we hear what we should be doing, but how seldom does the teacher trouble himself to show us how! Yet how is where the rubber meets the road. We all know what we should be doing - how to do it is what the teacher has been called to teach (Rom. 7:15-23).
If you shy away from teaching how, chances are you don't know. If your teaching is not yet working for you, whom else will it work for? Therefore you must find out how to do it before you can say you understand it, and the only way you can be sure you know how to do it is to begin to do it.
How then do we become doers? James answers that we are to look intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abide by it (James 1:25). The word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. 4:12). It is itself the power to make us doers of what we could never make ourselves do, as Ezekiel found when God's command to stand up caused the Spirit to enter him and set him on his feet (Ezek. 2:1-2). In this way we come to know that there is a real God outside ourselves with power we don't have. This word when implanted within us is itself the power to make us abide by it (James 1:21).
The one who hears without doing just isn't looking long enough (James 1:22-24), like one who stops taking his medicine the moment he feels better instead of finishing it as the doctor ordered. We look away too soon because we kid ourselves that we understand it just because we memorize it and can discuss it "intelligently" with others. We will look long enough when we realize that we don't understand until we are practicing it.
Some trip up in another way - they disregard anything which does not obviously help them right now, just as Esau despised his birthright (Gen. 25:29-34). But Paul rightly said, "All Scripture inspired by God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
Every word of God, no matter how pointless it seems, will contribute to making you a doer of God's will. If you don't know where it fits, just store it up in your heart as did Jacob (Gen. 37:10-11) and Mary the mother of Jesus (Luke 2:50-51). By filling ourselves with truth we see no use for, we change in ways we can't explain.
Finally, do not say, "I understand," until God says you do. How does He tell you that? Hear the Scripture: "A good understanding have all those who do" (Ps. 111:10).
Remember that you are not necessarily brighter than Jesus and the Prophets!
Are you really bright enough to avoid this mistake? It was a big day when I first caught myself thinking this way. I understood that Jesus grew in wisdom (Luke 2:46, 52), and everything he taught, he learned somewhere (Heb. 5:8), and yet I was expecting to be able to understand what he taught without the instruction that he and the apostles had to rely on!
Well then, where did Jesus learn the things he taught? The short answer is that he learned them from his Father, but if we want more than worthless theological platitudes, we need some details. If I'm going to learn what he learned, don't I need all the help he needed? Am I quicker in the uptake than he was?
To learn anything, I often ask God to show me where Jesus or the Biblical writer learned what he's teaching, and I keep hunting for his sources.
In the case of Jesus and the apostles, the teaching always rests on the Law and the Prophets which came before them (Matt. 5:17-19, Acts 26:22). So I know for certain that I never properly understand anything in the New Testament until I see where in the Law and the Prophets the teaching comes from. The New Testament writers learned it there. I'm not smarter than they are, so I'll have to learn it there too.
Search the word to find out how you're wrong, and not to prove you're right
To seek truth and to prove myself right are mutually exclusive. At any rate, this is obvious in those who disagree with me! God's word is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. Its purpose is to call each of us to a change of mind. To use the word of God in order to justify our present way of thinking is directly contrary to its stated purpose. Whoever does so will certainly be deceived - depend upon it.
Why is it so important to be right? Certainly we don't love our own children because they have the correct opinions about everything. As Jesus pointed out, the whole creation shows that God really does rejoice more over one coming to his senses than over 99 who are right all along. If we really want assurance of God's approval, doesn't it make sense to search the Scriptures for evidence that we're wrong, so we can change our minds? Since we all come short of God's glory, won't we be happier when we find out exactly how we are coming short so we can talk it over with Him and get some help?
I heard a preacher assert on the radio that he had counted and found that Jesus performed only 35 healings in His entire ministry. [8] This man is a diligent student of the Scriptures. Yet he can't see what anyone knows, even many who have never opened a Bible. He overlooks the countless miracles mentioned in just two verses right before the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 4:23-24). He has forgotten John's testimony, the last verse in his gospel, that if all the things Jesus did were written in detail the world itself would probably not hold all the books that were written.
Why such blindness? By kidding himself that miracles have always been exceedingly rare, he can feel better about the rarity of anything miraculous in his own experience. He no longer has to feel spiritually poor, although that very sense of poverty is the blessing of God (Matt. 5:3). Thus do men quench the Spirit of God and ward off His blessings.
Luke tells of an expert in the Law of Moses who didn't even know who his neighbor was because he wanted to justify himself (Luke 11:29). Being "right" feels good because it kills our hunger and thirst for righteousness, puffing us up with empty "knowledge" (1 Cor. 8:1). That deceptive "high" is our reward in full.
We only come nearer to God as we find out we're wrong. Make the Bible prove that you're right, and deep darkness will cover you. Let it keep proving you wrong, and light will rise upon you just as the light grows with the coming of the dawn (Prov. 4:18).
"However you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 7:12)
If any law is universally acknowledged among mankind, this is it. We may disobey it ourselves, but when someone steps out against us we invoke it immediately, crying out, "Well, how would you like to be treated that way?"
Jesus plainly states that this statute summarizes the Law and the Prophets. Not only does understanding the word of God cause us to obey this commandment, but obeying it certainly leads to right understanding, because it is written, "The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes" (Ps. 19:8). Strangely enough, treating others as you wish to be treated is seldom mentioned in connection with interpreting the Bible correctly. Let's look at one point.
Interpret the words of others the way you want others to interpret what you say
Whether it's the Bible or anything else, behind the words is a person who said them. If you want to understand correctly, keep that person in mind. As you interpret the words of that person, consider: should he handle your words as you are handling his?
That one question will make many things fall into place. Are you pleased when people use what you say as a springboard to their own ideas, instead of understanding what you really mean to say? Do you like it when people take offense at what you didn't say, reacting to their own prejudices, instead of first listening carefully to what you really said? When you see others act this way, do you think they're doing themselves a favor?
If your answer is no to these questions and others like them, then you know the things to avoid in dealing with God's word, and anyone else's.
Do you see how someone could understand you better? Take your own advice to them as you approach God's word. Listen to Him in just the same way you want others to listen to you.
Finally, make place for the Teacher
Did Jesus ever say, "Here is a set of principles which will lead you into all the truth?" If that were so, then we really would have a law that can impart life (Gal. 3:21). Only the Spirit of God can impart life, and only the Holy Spirit actually leads us into the truth.
No mere principles, these or any others, can ever take the place of the Holy Spirit. Each of these points presupposes that He is striving to act in your life - what is the use of asking God questions unless He wants to answer, or of listening if He has nothing to say?
The key to understanding the mind of God is certainly to receive the Spirit of God, not just once but on each occasion in which we need to be led into the truth. How this happens is the subject of the next chapter.
Notes
1. Bernard Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1970), 18.
2. MacArthur, Charismatic Chaos, 87.
3. Ibid., 87.
4. Ibid., 90-91.
5. Ibid., 92.
6. Those who ask God for His wisdom and seek it diligently also have protection from error and from men who speak perverse things (Prov. 2:11-13, Acts 20:30).
7. The Biblical evidence that God eventually shows His friends what He is doing is overwhelming (Gen. 18:17, Amos 3:7, John 15:15, 13:7). Job lived 140 years after his trial. Where is the Biblical evidence that in all that time God never let Job learn what is written in Job 1-2? Why do people admire Job for supposedly trusting God even though God never answered him? Idolaters trust gods like that all the time!
8. Charles Swindoll, "Insight for Living" on radio station KKLA,
Hollywood, CA (May 29, 1992).