A friend of mine recently sent me the following question, and I thought it was something that deserved to be answered in a more public setting. By the way, while I don’t claim to be a Bible scholar, I would welcome any questions anyone would have regarding God, the Bible or Christianity. I probably won’t know the answer off the top of my head, but I love researching stuff like that. Feel free to message me or post questions to my FB page. Question: “Is there anything in the bible that can be referenced and applied to anything in our lives today? Or is the bible only good as a history book? It seems like a lot of people want to pull bits and pieces out and fit them into their lives such as quoting bible verses.” Answer: The Bible is absolutely relevant to our lives today. Many people will try to argue that the Bible is an archaic book that has nothing to say to a 21st century world, but nothing could be further from the truth. Charles Spurgeon, a 19th century theologian known as the “Prince of Preachers”, once said, “Defend the Bible? I would as soon defend a lion! Unchain it and it will defend itself.” And so, I will allow the Bible to defend itself in regard to this question. In his second letter to his spiritual son Timothy, the Apostle Paul wrote, “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). We see two things here. First, although some would argue that the Bible is nothing more than the writings (and therefore the thoughts) of various men, Paul tells us here that it is actually the inspired Word of God. Peter further expounds on this idea by telling us, “21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Peter 1:21) So, we see that the Bible, although it was written by approximately 40 men over about 1,500 years, is actually God’s words to us; not just the ramblings of some obscure people. And since God never changes (Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above, who created all heavens lights. Unlike them, He never changes or casts shifting shadows James 1:17), it follows that His Word would also never change. Which is why the prophet Isaiah wrote, The grass withers, and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever (Isaiah 40:8). The second thing we see in Paul’s writing to Timothy is that, because all Scripture is God’s inspired Word, it is, “…profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness….” In other words, it is relevant for us today. And the reason a book some 1,500 years old is as relevant today as it was the day it was written is because, “12 [For] the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 1:12). Unlike other books which grow stagnant and dated over time, the Bible – being God’s inspired Word – is “living and active”. It is able to be adapted to apply to life in the ancient Middle East and in present day America. Assuming the reader knows, and practices, the principles of good biblical hermeneutics!! Hermeneutics is the theory and science of interpreting the Bible. And as we have seen throughout history, it is very easy for people to misinterpret and misapply Scripture (Hitler is said to have based his hatred of Jews on his understanding of what the Bible taught). Which brings us to the second part of the question (although more of a statement). It is true that many people like to use the buffet method of reading the Bible: picking and choosing those texts that support their belief/preference while ignoring the rest. This is known as “proof texting”; finding texts to prove your point, even it means taking the verse completely out of context. To use a couple more theological terms, it is the difference between exegesis and eisegesis. “Exegesis is when a person interprets a text based solely on what it says. That is, he extracts out of the text what is there as opposed to reading into it what is not there… Eisegesis is when a person interprets and reads information into the text that is not there.” (carm.org/dictionary-exegesis). If we “rightly handle[ing] the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), we can absolutely be assured it is relevant to us today. And we can look to Scripture for the answers to all of our questions in regard to faith and practices (what we believe and how we are to live). So, while it is true that many people do misuse the Scriptures, that doesn’t negate the fact that they are God’s inspired Word to His people and, as such, are relevant for us as much today as they were centuries ago.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 12:09:14 +0000
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