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The scriptures are a wonderful gift that God has given to mankind. There are a variety of different ways God could have chosen to communicate with us, but he chose to use the Bible. Even in the time when miracles were often used as witnesses, the ultimate authority was what God had said in the Scriptures (Deuteronomy 13.1-5). Throughout all time, there has never been anyone or anything given the right to trump God’s word. The Scriptures, because they are the word of God, are the final authority on all matters.
While it is a wonderful blessing to have the word of God recorded for us, there are a couple of pitfalls we need to be aware of. Firstly, it is entirely possible that we overlook something very important in the Bible. This is a problem that we create for ourselves, not a problem with God’s word. For instance, the Pharisees claimed to love the Scriptures. They studied them, they memorized them, and they even put portions of them in boxes on their foreheads. However, Jesus said this to them: “[T]he Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5.37-40). Sometimes we get so focused on technical aspects that we miss the point. The Pharisees had become so enamored with the Law that they forgot the purpose of God’s revelation, the Messiah.
Another danger is that the Scriptures can get twisted. Sometimes we do this on accident; no one is right all the time and it is possible to misunderstand things. However, sometimes twisting is done on purpose; Peter wrote about those situations when he said, “...the ignorant and unstable twist [them] to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3.16).
Have you ever noticed that most people who are religious have a “scriptural reason” for what they do? False prophets, like Harold Camping who wrongly predicted the world’s end twice, have “Bible evidence” to backup what they teach. Most people throughout time have recognized that the Bible is the final authority on religious matters. If they don’t like or want to change God’s instruction on a certain topic, then they have to change what the Bible says. You can’t literally change what the Scriptures say, though some have tried that, because it will become very clear very quickly that you are tampering with God’s word. So what do you do? You do the same thing Satan did to Jesus: you change the context of Bible verses, you twist the Scriptures to make them say what you want, or you bend the meaning of verses to your advantage. You use the tricks that Satan has been using to beguile people throughout the ages.
Satan wouldn’t use these tricks if they were not effective. So how do we fight against them? How do we make sure that we aren’t duped by someone who is trying to pervert the Scriptures? The first thing we can do is look for warning signs. The most easily spotted warning sign is when someone is trying to twist the Scriptures is the use of one verse at a time. This is not to say that we can’t reference single verses, but we must be extremely careful to make sure we are doing so correctly. For example, Joseph Smith quotes from James 1.5 and claims that God answered his prayer for wisdom by giving him new revelations. Well, that’s not the context of the verse. A careful examination shows that this verse is dealing with wisdom in suffering, not with getting new information from God.
Another warning sign is when someone limits the definition of a word to a single meaning. Very few words have only one meaning. Even the word baptizō, the Greek word for “baptize”, has several different meanings. Often the particular meaning of a word used in a verse depends on the context in which it is found. For example, when Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins”, he was not telling the crowd to go drown themselves. However, that is a valid meaning of the word baptize; it is simply not the meaning of the word in Acts 2.38. It is a mistake to insist that immersion in water for the forgiveness of sins is always the meaning of the word baptize in the New Testament. It has a broad variety of meanings which are easily determined from the context.
A third way that the Scriptures can become twisted is by selectively quoting passages over a certain topic rather than looking at everything that the Bible has to say. Often this is done with the question, “What must I do to be saved?” It is a very important question, and it is a very biblical question. The way to arrive at the biblical answer is to look at all of the passages that deal with the topic.
However, many times false doctrines are perpetuated by giving them the appearance of a scriptural answer. Quoting a few passages that deal with salvation, like Romans 10.9-10, Luke 23.39-43, and John 3.16, makes an answer appear as though it is biblical. However, merely quoting a couple of places that deal with a topic does not mean we have arrived at the full, complete biblical teaching on a subject. Psalm 119.160 says that the sum of God’s word is truth; we have to look at everything the Bible says. We haven’t completely answered the question about salvation until we also look at Mark 16.16, Acts 2.38, Acts 3.19-20, Acts 22.16 and the various other places that talk about salvation. That may seem like a time consuming task, but eternal salvation is worth the effort!
When we think that we may be misunderstanding the Scriptures or we have a suspicion that someone else is trying to twist the Bible’s teachings, there are a few simple steps we can follow. First, remember to check the context. The Bible is not a book full of verses; it is a book full of contextually connected ideas. Study passages, not verses. Secondly, we must be willing to let the languages and words in the Scriptures be used in the same way that we use words today. Try to think of an English word you use regularly that has only one definition. The same is true of the words used in the Scriptures. We must allow the context to dictate the way that words are used rather than forcing a contrived meaning into the text. Finally, we have to read. Jesus said that those who are his disciples would abide in the word (John 8.31-32). That is the only way that we can come to know the truth – we have to study! By studying topics and passages we will become more familiar with what God is telling us in the Bible, and we will have a much easier time noticing when something doesn’t add up.
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