Believing the Word

I've noticed that among those who claim to follow the Word of God there appears to be two categories. Oh, sure, there is the third category -- those who discard God's Word -- but I'm talking about those who don't. These two categories would be those who allow the Word to shape their world and those who allow their world to shape the Word.

It is undeniable that there are difficulties with Scripture. For instance, it was written in foreign languages long since dead. What does it mean when it says what it says? Take, as an example, the description of the ephod for the priests in Exodus 28. Included in the instructions is this: "in the fourth row a beryl and an onyx and a jasper" (Exo 28:20). Look up the original words used and you'll find that the word for "beryl" is "perhaps topaz" and the word for "onyx" is "probably the beryl". What? Well, we don't actually know what the ancient Hebrew words, tarshı̂ysh and shôham, meant to the ancient Hebrews or exactly to which of our gemstones they correspond. So we make an educated assumption and move on. Of course, if it turns out that "beryl" actually was "topaz" and "onyx" was really "beryl", the theology doesn't change and we're not in danger of heresy or some such. But other troubles arise that are more difficult. John, for instance, writes "No one who is born of God practices sin" (1 John 3:9). So, quite clearly, all true believers enjoy sinless perfection, right? Well, that's a problem because John also writes, "If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1). So we do sin. Either we have a contradiction or we've failed to properly understand something here. That is a difficulty.

So, you're someone who wants to follow the Word of God and you are reading along and find "You shall not wear a material mixed of wool and linen together" (Deut 22:11). You stop there and scratch your head. "No one is particularly concerned these days if you wear material mixed of wool and linen, so what does this mean?" Here is a difficulty. Your resolution to this difficulty will demonstrate whether you are one who allows Scripture to shape your world or one who allows the world to shape Scripture.

I remember hearing R.C. Sproul Jr. telling the story of someone who was objecting to Scripture. "The Bible is against women," someone told him. He responded, "Let me say two things about that. First, if it is, we must be." He went on to explain second that it was not true that the Bible was against women, but his comment illustrates what I'm talking about. If you are going to have a biblical worldview -- a view of the world that is shaped by the Word of God -- you will need to be willing to conform your current perceptions and opinions to God's Word whatever it says rather than shape His Word into your current perceptions and opinions.

So the person reading "Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey" (1 Sam 15:3) will have a problem. God commanded Saul to kill men, women, children and animals. Really? The dilemma. Your approach to the solution to that dilemma will be determined by whether you are shaping the Word to your view or shaping your view to the Word. Clearly such a statement would fall outside of that which we consider "good". But if it really means what it says, the answer is not to explain how this text is myth or legend or hyperbole or whatever other approach you might offer, but to realign your definition of "good" to that of God's definition. If this is your approach, then you can examine the text for what it says, conclude what it actually means, and then make whatever corrections in you that might be necessary.

In my experience among those who claim to follow the Bible, those who shape the Word to their world are far more numerous than those who allow the Word to shape their view of the world. Obvious examples are plentiful. Does the Bible say that wives must submit to husbands? Clearly, yes. If you are going to explain that away, you are going to do so with a prior commitment to a modern worldview rather than a commitment to Scripture. Does the Bible teach that women should not teach or usurp authority over men? Undeniably, yes. If you are going to explain that away, you are going to do so with a prior commitment to a modern worldview rather than a commitment to Scripture. Does the Bible say anything about homosexual behavior? Anyone with any reading skills can tell you it does. So if you are going to explain that away, you are going to do so with a prior commitment to a modern worldview rather than a commitment to Scripture.

Let's look at an example. Paul wrote, "Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments; but rather by means of good works, as befits women making a claim to godliness" (1 Tim 2:9-10). Three people were discussing this passage. One person argued, "I think it's clear from the text that Paul is forbidding women to wear braided hair or gold." A second person said, "From the context, I think that Paul is saying, 'I want women to adorn themselves with the proper clothing of good works' and was not actually talking about what they could physically wear." The third person said, "It's silly to try to tell women that they shouldn't wear jewelry or nice clothes, so that can't be what this is trying to say." In this example, the first two people were attempting to allow Scripture to shape their worldview. The third (with likely the most popular answer) was not. That is, in the case of the second person, if the first person could convince him/her that it actually did constitute a command about what women should wear, he/she would comply. That's the difference.

Time and time again God's Word will come up boldly against the popular views and positions of the world around us. Working at making the Bible align with those views is standard ... and wrong. Becoming "acceptable" is a fool's errand when our very own Savior promised "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you" (John 15:18). Paul assured us that the truth would not be met with open arms, but regarded as foolishness (1 Cor 1:18ff). Both John (1 John 2:15) and James (James 4:4) warned about preferring the world to God. So what is your prior commitment? Are you going to shape the Word to your view of the world or allow the Word to shape your view of the world? I guarantee that the former would be more comfortable and the latter more painful. But I also guarantee that truth is better than being deceived, that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, and that while every man is a liar, God is true.