What Does the Bible Say?

by GK Werner

 

            People will tell you the Bible teaches this, that, or the other thing. Don’t go to the Bible to see if any of it is true. Don’t go to the Bible to see if it isn’t. Search Scripture to see what God SAYS!

            Here’s the thing—all of us have ideas about what the Bible teaches: presuppositions, doctrines, paradigms, terms, memes, constructs, favorite assumptions, pet theories, buzz words, and so on that some theologian or church or seminary or cult or author or preacher or popstar (or we ourselves) have come up with somewhere in the past or present. Such things may be true or not. But it is so easy for all of us (myself included) to read those things into Scripture. We need to lay such presuppositions aside before we dig into the Bible to find out what it actually says. Furthermore, when we search Scripture to prove our own teachings or refute someone else’s we are in danger of coming up with still more false teachings or becoming mired in endless, fruitless debates over who has the most logical and self-consistent argument for their beliefs (which means absolutely nothing).

            Lay all that aside! The only presupposition to keep is that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” (2 Timothy 3:16)

            WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY? That’s the question! “…learn…not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other.” (1 Corinthians 4:6)

            One major key to finding out what the Bible says is to use the same reading skills we should be employing to read anything else: academic papers, newspapers, history texts, letters, car maintenance manuals, recipes, even fiction and poetry. Many people do this successfully all on their own. Sadly, most do not, thanks to the deterioration of classical education in public schools.

When I was in high school (1967 to 1971), many English teachers had already given up on teaching students how to be critical readers—objectively, accurately, and thoroughly determining an author’s purpose, thesis, sub-topics, supporting details, and assertions. We spent most of our English class time sitting outside under a tree singing cumbia and discussing how we felt about a song or poem, how we ‘interpreted’ an author’s prose or poetry—which is why I later dedicated my English teaching career to training seventh-graders through college seniors (sometimes even fellow teachers in my role as a state curriculum writer) in the critical reading process (also referred to as the inductive reading method).

God wrote the Bible to each and every one of us. He says in John 20:31: “…these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life through his name.” In fact, in 2 Timothy, He commands us to not just read His Word but to study it and rightly divide it (2 Timothy 2:15). Therefore, He has obviously made us capable of doing so!

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)  So we don’t need Catholic priests or protestant clergyman or scholars or theologian or cult leaders or mystics or someone who met an angel (or demon) on a mountainside somewhere (or in a flying saucer for that matter) telling us what the Bible teaches or doesn’t teach.

WHAT DOES IT SAY? That’s the question—observation being the first step in the critical reading process. After laying aside all those preconceived ideas we all have, start with verses and passages that are clear, straight forward, and easily understood in context. Peter says in 2 Peter 3:15-16 that Paul writes “some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.” So, when you come to these tougher verses and passages, go back and check whatever interpretation you may come up with against those clear verses. God doesn’t contradict Himself, so if your interpretation contradicts what He says elsewhere in His Word, reject your interpretation and prayerfully continue seeking the meaning of those tougher verses and passages.

Now interpretation—What does it mean?—is the second step in the critical reading process but it must remain dependent on the first—What does it say? The steps that follow (analysis, which includes explication and synthesis; evaluation; and application) all need to be continuously checked back against the first step—WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Interpretation is not an anything goes proposition. It is not what is known as esoteric interpretation, which relies on secret, hidden, spiritual meanings which contradict each other and can only be divined by the initiated, or are simply referred to as—“Well, that’s my interpretation. You are welcome to yours.” True interpretation relies on such things as determining figurative language, the historic and linguistic context; plus diligent, accurate comparison with the rest of Scripture.

The Bible contains severe warnings against those whose teachings depart from God’s truth. For example, when Paul wrote to the Galatians concerning their turning away from the true gospel of grace in Christ Jesus to embrace another teaching that excluded God’s grace, he said “even if an angel from heaven preach[es] a different gospel…let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:6-9) And John wrote in the closing passages of the Bible a warning to “everyone who hears the words of the prophesy of this book (Revelation that is, in the context of this verse): If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away form the words of the book of this prophesy (meaning Revelation—let’s not go beyond the observation step although there is legitimate reason to apply this verse to all of Scripture—a study for another time), God shall take away his part from the Book of Life…”(Revelation 22:18-19)

Again, we all must prayerfully and diligently guard against the danger or reading into Scripture our presuppositions or those of others, prayerfully and diligently studying the Bible, searching for what God says to avoid being seduced into following men and women whose teachings are not found in Scripture.

We must follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and Him only!