Think on These Things
December 2001
1. The Bible: Too Complicated?
2. Why Have Difficult Passages?
Here is a favorite argument used by those who would have us all ignorant of Bible truth: “The Bible is just too complicated to understand.” This line of reasoning has no doubt had an effect on people’s thinking. After all, if it is too complicated to understand, why even try? And most do not.
The complexity of the Bible is an interesting subject. On the one hand, the myth that the Bible is too complex to understand is destroyed by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:3-4: “... by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ).” On the other hand, the Bible is not trivial. The Apostle Peter said that Paul wrote some things “hard to be understood” (2 Peter 3:16).
It is not difficult to reconcile these two passages. Peter did not say that all things were hard to be understood. We can be safe in concluding that parts of God’s word are quite simple (2 Corinthians 11:3), while others are much more challenging. The milk of the word is a term used by both the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 3:2) and the Hebrews writer (Hebrews 5:12). Milk is easily digested by the babe in Christ; meat requires more maturity for its discernment.
There is a lesson here for both the weak and the strong. To the babe in Christ: God expects us to render obedience in all things that we understand to be His will (Hebrews 5:9). It is our job, not just to believe that He exists, but to also “diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Growth is an essential part of the life of the Christian, and this requires the addition of knowledge (2 Peter 1:5-8). To those who freely feed upon the meat of God’s word, it should be recognized that you never “arrive.” Indeed, it was those who had the most knowledge of God’s word who were the recipients of the harshest rebuke from our Savior (see Matthew 23).
The fact that the Bible cannot be totally mastered is further evidence that its author was none other than God. And the simplicity of its first principles further adds to this evidence. The Bible is the most efficient book ever written, guiding us to every possible good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17) while containing absolutely no useless information (Matthew 4:4). There is a reason that most people cannot understand God’s word, but it has nothing to do with intellectual ability (Matthew 11:25, 13:10-17).
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The goal of this page is to promote morality and justice in our society (Prov. 14:23).
As the previous article indicated, while some passages in the Bible are easy to understand, some are much harder. Reference was made to 2 Peter 3:16, where the apostle Peter writes the following about the epistles of Paul: “…in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.” Notice first, from this passage, that it does say hard to understand, not impossible. Secondly, there is no indication given that because these passages are hard to understand, we can each have “our own interpretation.” The passage condemns those who would “twist” (or distort) the true meaning of these passages. As we “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord” (2 Pet. 3:18), the hard passages become a little easier for us (see also Hebrews 5:11-14).
But why would God even want to make some passages hard to understand? Why not make it where all can understand, with the least amount of effort? Consider carefully the following points: The word of God, written the way it is, has a way of separating those who love the truth from those who don’t (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12); those with humble hearts from those with proud hearts (Matt. 11:25); those with honest intentions from those who would distort the Bible (2 Pet. 3:16). To understand some passages, we do have to do some very diligent study (2 Tim. 2:15). That’s why, according to Proverbs 2:1-5, proper understanding is reserved for those who want it very badly.
Let’s make one other point about difficult passages, and this one is a little surprising. There are some things in the Bible we will never understand. In saying there are things we will never understand, we’re not referring to those things that reveal God’s will to us. We’re talking about those things that are incidental to the main message. For example, in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, we will never know for sure what Paul means by his “thorn in the flesh,” but we can know exactly what God’s will is for us in that passage. I don’t know the meaning of all the symbols in the Book of Revelation, but I don’t have any trouble understanding God’s will for me in that book. You see, there is a big difference between understanding the will of God (Eph. 5:17) and understanding every word in the Bible.
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