Those who grow up hearing various statements of
Scripture explained away, often become so accustomed to that sort of
thing that it does not bother their conscience. In fact, they seem
totally unaware that they are rebelling against God when they explain
away what He says. Eventually their approach to Scripture becomes so
inconsistent that they can talk about the importance of accepting what
the Bible says one moment and explain something away the next.
If that mindset consisted of nothing more than
ignorance, it would not be difficult to correct. However, there is a
spiritual force at work makes it hard for people to escape that error
(Luke 19:42). Many times, those who agree that it is wrong to explain
away what God has said do it anyway, while thinking that they are only
giving the correct explanation. What they do not realize is that the
only correct explanation is no explanation at all. That is why Dr.
Francis Pieper would, when asked for his interpretation of a verse,
simply quote that verse from memory in the original Hebrew or Greek.
Whenever people assume that the Bible is a book of
dark and mysterious sayings, they wind up looking outside of Scripture
for light, while reading unscriptural ideas into the text. Furthermore,
because they are looking outside of Scripture strife will be
inevitable, and Satan will use that strife to lead them even further
from God's Word. In time, some will turn their back on the Bible
entirely, looking for some other “scripture,” organization, or
self-proclaimed prophet to guide them. For that reason, we need to
emphasize the clarity of Scripture (2Corinthians 3:12). Once people
start looking outside of Scripture for spiritual truth, Satan has them
in his snare.
The alternative to Satan’s delusion — which few find
— is to let the plain grammatical meaning of the words of Scripture
stand as it reads. If you do not understand something, don’t make up an
explanation. Instead, be humble enough to admit that there are many
things beyond your ken and simply defer judgment.
In order to clarify what I mean, let us look at
three passages of Scripture.
1- “According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of
the world, … having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to Himself.” (Ephesians 1:4-5)
2- “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Savior; who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the
knowledge of the truth.” (1Timothy 2:3-4)
3- “For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge,
that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that He died for all,
that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but
unto Him which died for them, and rose again.” (2Corinthians 5:14-15)
The first of those statements tells us that God has
“chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,” the second tells
us that God wants “all men to be saved,” and the third tells us that
Christ “died for all.” Therefore, because that is what the Bible says,
that is what we should believe and teach. In other words, a true
disciple of Christ will accept all three of these statements without
trying to get around or explain away what they say (John 8:31).
Nevertheless, there is a tradition which does just
that. Assuming that if God chose who would be saved, He must not want
“all men to be saved,” and, therefore, Christ must not have really
“died for all,” the followers of that tradition contradict and explain
away 1Timothy 2:3-4 and 2Corinthians 5:14-15. It was of such people
that Dr. Walter A. Maier was speaking when he said:
No statement of Scripture should ever be interpreted
to contradict another statement of Scripture. Those who contradict
God's Word are not being led by the Spirit of God and therefore do not
have the spirit of truth (1John 4:6, Isaiah 8:20). Because they are
explaining away what God has said, they are rebelling against God.
Because the Bible reveals the good news of salvation
in words so clear that they need no interpretation, we can share that
good news with others simply by showing them what the Bible says
(2Corinthians 3:21). For example: The Bible says, “All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Therefore, the idea that
we are all guilty before God is not just my opinion, or anyone else’s
opinion. It is God’s opinion, and His opinion is the only one that
counts. Likewise, the Bible plainly says, “Christ died for our sins”
(1Corinthians 15:3). And, because the Bible plainly says it, that
doctrine is not just my opinion, or anyone else’s opinion. It is the
Word of God. The point that I am trying to get across is that instead
of helping, interpretations only confuse people by leading them away
from the important truths, namely those truths that are so clearly
stated in Scripture that they need no interpretation.
In addition, people often use interpretations to
hide the fact that they have rejected what the Bible says. One good
example of that is “theistic evolution.” Those who interpret the first
chapter of Genesis to teach theistic evolution are trying to hide the
fact that they have rejected what that chapter actually says. In short,
their claim to have another interpretation is nothing more than smoke
and mirrors.
Our job is to believe and teach what the Bible says,
not what we think. Therefore, when the Bible says “In six days the Lord
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,” that is what
God wants us to believe and teach (Exodus 20:11). Likewise, when the
Bible uses the words “the evening and the morning” to describe each of
the days of creation, God wants us to believe and teach that each of
the days of creation had an evening and a morning (Genesis
1:5,8,13,19,23,31). Those who teach otherwise are rebelling against God.
The importance of the clarity of Scripture can be
illustrated by the fact that those who assume that the Bible is a book
of dark sayings can read its words without grasping what is being said.
They are so intent on finding some hidden meaning, that they ignore the
plain grammatical meaning of the words, while being carried away by
their own imagination (2Corinthians 4:4). However, before you start
thinking that you are immune from that error, let me give you a little
test.
When the Bible tells us that some, “for a while
believe, and in time of temptation fall away,” do you accept what it
says or try to explain it away? (Luke 8:13)
When the Bible tells us that Jesus will raise up
believers on, “the last day,” do you accept what it says or try to
explain it away? (John 6:39,40,44,54,59)
If you try to explain such passages away you are rebelling against God.
Instead of rejecting what the Bible says, we need to change our
thinking to bring our own opinions into accord with what it says
(Isaiah 8:20, 2Corinthians 10:5).
Because God’s doctrine consists of what God says in
His word, not what men think, the doctrine that God wants us to teach
is explicitly stated in the Bible (2Corinthians 1:13). Therefore, if
you need a passage explained, let the Bible explain it, other
explanations are not of God. For example, the Bible explains the words,
“By grace are ye saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8-9) by saying,
“According to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5). In short, since both
of those passages are telling us how we are saved, they are both saying
the same thing. The grace by which we are saved consists of God’s
mercy, and Christ is the source of that mercy.
Since the true doctrine is explicitly stated in
God's Word, we can learn that doctrine by simply looking at what the
Bible says. That being the case, the true doctrine of the Virgin Birth
of Christ consists of everything the Bible explicitly says about
Christ's birth, including the fact that He is God (Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6,
Matthew 1:18-23, Luke 1:26-35, Micah 5:32). The same holds true for the
doctrine of creation, baptism, the atonement, the deity of Christ, or
any other doctrine. What God wants us to teach is what His Word plainly
says. Therefore, men have no business trying to embellish that Word
with their own ideas (John 8:31).
Isaiah expressed that same truth this way, “Whom
shall He make to understand doctrine? … For precept must be upon
precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a
little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:9-10).
Those who reject what the Bible says, while teaching
their own opinions as the Word of God, are trying to make themselves
God, and, for that reason, are guilty of the sin of Satan (Isaiah
14:12-15). In order to have the truth, we must be willing to accept
whatever the Bible says, without corrupting it with man made
explanations. Moreover, once we have learned the truths of Scripture,
God will cause those truths to resolve themselves in our mind, so we
can see that nothing in Scripture is unreasonable or contradictory.