INTRODUCTION
DISTINGUISHING GOD’S WORD FROM MAN’S WORD
The words, “We have not written anything to you, other
than what you read,” tell us that the message that God wants us to get from His
Word is so plainly stated that it needs no interpretation (2Corinthians
What conclusions you draw from the words of Scripture
is an entirely different question, and should never be confused with what the
words actually say. Conclusions are the word of man. That is not to say that
conclusions are not important. We must arrive at conclusions in order to apply
what the Bible says. However, all of our conclusions must be judged by what the
Bible clearly and explicitly says. And, any conclusion that contradicts what
the Bible explicitly says must be rejected as false (Isaiah
Because every doctrine necessary for our salvation is
clearly and explicitly stated in Scripture every Christian ought to be able
agree on what is taught. However, because of the blindness of the human heart,
Satan gets people arguing over all sort of trivial matters and interpreting the
Bible to fit their own ideas. And, it is the words of man not the words of
God that are the source of controversy and division. Therefore, in order to
learn what the Bible actually says, you need to put all man-made ideas aside
and look at what the words of Scripture actually say.
First of
all, much of the misunderstanding that engenders controversy stems from the
fact that the word, “literal” has changed meaning. When Martin Luther, and
others living in that period, spoke of the “literal” meaning of the words of
Scripture, they were talking about the grammatical meaning of the words, not an
unrealistic surface meaning of the words that denies any legitimate figure of
speech. Dr. Robert Preus explains it this way.
The literal sense of Scripture is the meaning, or
tenor, that the words directly and obviously convey. For instance, in John 3:16
the literal sense is immediately clear. But there is also a literal sense to
those passages that are tropical and figurative. Such passages we do not read
superficially according to the surface tenor of the words, as when Herod is
called a fox or when we are to cut off a hand that offends us — such an
interpretation would be absurd. In figurative statements of this kind, not only
the words according to their native sense but also the thing or point (res) that the words express according to their quondam
imagery must be considered. The literal sense, then, is the sense intended by
the writer, whatever trope or genre is used. Figures of speech, words, and even
ideas all have their literal sense. And the literal sense (meaning, intention)
of a pericope is drawn from all these ingredients. Glassius makes it quite clear that the literal sense of a
Scripture passage or pericope is not necessarily
identical with the surface meaning of the words, but the genre of the text or
the tropes therein must also be ascertained, when necessary, to determine the
literal sense of a text. (The Theology
of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, Page
321-322).
On other words, the literal meaning is the same meaning that words have in everyday
conversation. As I said previously, it is the same meaning that you are placing
on my words as you read them. It is the same meaning that any author intends
for you to get from his words unless his aim is to deceive. For that reason,
Satan does all that he can to blind people to the plain meaning of the
words, causing them to imagine all sorts of other meanings. False prophets then
twist those meanings as they attempt to make the Bible say what they want it to
say. During the middle ages false prophets led the entire church into darkness
by ignoring the literal meaning of the words while exalting allegorical
meanings (dreamed up by men) as the highest wisdom. Nevertheless, all of the
explanations that men have dreamed up are the word of man, not the Word of God.
And, no truth of Scripture comes from such explanations (2Peter
One argument that Satan uses to lead people away from
God’s Word, is the claim that Scripture alone is insufficient because it makes
no mention of such important doctrines as the “Doctrine of the Trinity”. Satan
even sends cult people door to door trying to sell that idea to the public. Yet
nothing could be further from the truth. While it is true that the word,
“Trinity” is not found in Scripture, that word is simply the name we ascribe to
a body of doctrinal truths that are each clearly and explicitly stated in
Scripture. For example.
1- The words, “Don’t we all have one father? Hasn’t
one God created us,” give us the doctrine that the Father is God
(Malachi
2- The words, “We are in the one who is true, in
his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God, and eternal life,” give us the
doctrine that the Son is God (1John
3- The words, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost… you
have not lied to men, but to God,” give us the doctrine that the Holy Ghost
is God (Acts 5:3-4).
4- And, the words, “There is one God; and there is none other but he,” give us
the doctrine that there is only one God (Mark
In stating those four doctrines I in no way want to imply that the passages I
quoted are the only passages of Scripture that teach those doctrines. Nor do I
wish to imply that those four doctrines are all there is to the doctrine of the
Trinity. There is far more. Nevertheless, those four doctrines constitute the
heart and core of the doctrine of the Trinity. And, the point I want to make is
that each of them is clearly and explicitly stated in Scripture.
I also want to call attention to the fact that those doctrinal truths are not
all found in one place, but are scattered through Scripture “here a little and
there a little”. For it is written, “To whom can he teach knowledge? and who
will he enable to understand doctrine?… for truth must be upon truth, truth
upon truth; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little,”
(Isaiah 28:9-10).
Another line of deception that Satan uses over and over again in leading people away from the literal truth of God’s Word, is the question, “Surely you don’t believe that the Book of Revelation is to be taken literally? Do you?” The people who repeat that question generally assume that it would be foolish for anyone to take the Book of Revelation literally. However, they are failing to make an important distinction, and that brings me to the second point that I want to make. In understanding God’s Word, it is important to distinguish between the meaning of the words, and the meaning of dreams and visions described by those words.
For example: Genesis 41:1-7 describes a dream in which Pharaoh saw seven thin cows eat seven fat cows. There is nothing figurative about the words of the text. Those words give us a straightforward literal description of what Pharaoh saw in his dream. However, that does not mean that the dream itself is a literal description of the events which were to take place. On the contrary, the dream was highly figurative as Joseph’s interpretation revealed.
The same holds true when it comes to interpreting the
dream or vision described in the Book of Revelation. For example: in
Revelation 13:1 we read, “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast
rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns
ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” In reading those words,
the first thing that I want to call to your attention is that those words give
us a straightforward literal description of something John saw in his dream or
vision. However, that does not mean that what John saw in that dream or vision
is to be interpreted “literally,” or that he was seeing future historical
events. On the contrary, the Bible itself tells us that John’s dream or vision
was highly figurative when it tells us that the seven heads of the beast, “are
seven mountains,” (Revelation 17:9). In contrast, when someone makes up an
explanation, like those who claim that the beast John described is really a
man, that is not an interpretation of the words but a purely imaginary
explanation of the dream. As such it is just something someone made up, a figment
of someone’s imagination, not something the Bible says. Yet we have people who
are so confused that they claim to be interpreting the Bible literally when they
make up stories to explain Scripture. In order to avoid such confusion we need
to distinguish between God’s Word and mans word, and stick to the words of the
text. When it comes to interpreting dreams, unless the Bible explicitly gives
us the explanation – as it did in the case of Pharaoh’s dream (Genesis
41:25-27) – any explanation that men come up with is the word of man. And, the
word of man should never be taught as doctrine (2Peter
In
whatever matter Holy Scripture has definitely spoken the Christian theologian
must suppress his own views, opinions, and speculations and adhere unwaveringly
to the divine truths revealed in Holy Scripture. In no case is he permitted to
inject into the body of divine truth his own figments and
fabrications, and at no time must he allow his reason the prerogative
of doubt, criticism, or denial, but every thought must everywhere be brought
into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 2Corinthians 10:5. (Christian Dogmatics, page 39)
Conclusion
When God tells us that he created all things “in
six days,” we should believe what He said (Exodus
Gary
Ray Branscome