Interpret Scripture By Scripture I believe Scripture is basically consistent with itself. The more I work with it the more convinced of this I become. One of the principles of interpretation is that we try to avoid putting a meaning on one passage which makes it conflict with another. When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, the devil quoted Scripture at him, saying it is written Jesus replied with another passage, saying it is also written (Matthew 4:5-7). I believe we need to look for the it is also writtens of Scripture. I think one major cause of false teaching is a tendency to rely heavily on certain passages in Scripture and ignore others that tend to qualify or limit their scope. At times there are passages in Scripture which, to our limited human logic, may appear inconsistent with themselves or each other. My experience is that often, as I mature in my understanding, I come to realize that they are not inconsistent at all. For example, Philippians 2:12-13 says, Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. I used to say, Wait a minute. Do we do it? Or does God do it? Isnt this contradicting itself? Now I realize that this passage is a beautiful example of a basic principle called co-laboring. In most of our Christian life we and God are working together. We are Gods fellow workers (1 Corinthians 3:9). Jesus gave the image of being yoked with him, as two oxen would be yoked together (Matthew 11:29). We cant do it without him, and he (usually) chooses not to do it without our participation. So a passage that I once thought self-contradictory turns out to be an excellent illustration of a very basic principle of how God works. Where I still find an inconsistency, or have difficulty in reconciling two principles, I simply say, God, I dont see how these two principles fit together, but you do. I hope some day you will show me. But even if you do not, I will work with both principles as best I can. I cannot reject anything that is in your Scripture just because it does not fit my limited logical understanding. God did not give us a tightly organized, logical system of theology. He gave us living principles to work with and live by. I think he did this deliberately. He did not want us to be controlled by rules, but by an active love for him. He wanted us to be dependent on him rather than our own intellects. Our primary faith needs to be in a person - Jesus Christ - and not a set of doctrines. Paul wrote, I know whom I have believed (2 Timothy 1:12). Even when we are not sure about doctrine we can put our faith in the person of Jesus. Theology is important. We need to have as clear an understanding of God as we can. But our theology is only mans attempt to describe who God is and what he does. Sometimes God has acted to shake up mens theology. Acts chapter 10 is a beautiful example. God told Peter to go to a Gentiles house. He also told him, do not call anything impure that God has made clean. Both statements must have shocked Peter to the core; they violated all his training and everything he had lived by. And then the people of Cornelius household began speaking in tongues before they had been baptized or made any profession of salvation! (This one has puzzled many theologians ever since.) God has often said, See, I am doing a new thing! (Isaiah 43:19). Thats his privilege, as God. He is not bound by our theology. If he does something that seems contrary to our theology, he is not breaking the rules; he is merely showing us that our understanding of him was incomplete. We need to distinguish clearly between the words of Scripture, which are true, and the intellectual systems which men have erected on those words, which are useful but fallible.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 21:09:58 +0000
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