Going at it Backwards

I remember once hearing a speaker talking about that stunning passage in Paul's first epistle to Timothy where he says that women aren't supposed to usurp authority from men (1 Tim 2:9-15). "They tell me," he said, "that if we take this passage at face value, it says we should consider women as second-class Christians." He followed that with, "Let me say one thing here before I get to the passage. If that's what it says, then we must." Now, he concluded immediately after with, "Of course, that's not what it says ..." but I found the statement to be ... disturbing.

I think a lot of times we Christians go at it backwards. Here's a very common approach. "What do I know? How do the biblical claims fit into that?" Perhaps it's what we think we know from experience. Perhaps it's what we think we know from our world, our society, our families, our culture. Perhaps it's even what we think we know from the Bible. But we often tend to take explicit texts and revise them because they don't fit in with "what we know." And I think that's backwards. Even dangerous.

Look, here's what we do know. We know the Bible is "God's Word". It is "God-breathed" (2 Tim 3:16-17). And, of course, we know that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). What else? We know that God is holy. No, not holy--"holy, holy, holy" (Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8.) (Isn't it significant that "holy" is repeated thrice and the "thrice-holy" is repeated twice? Seems like an important point.) Since "holy" means "set apart" and since God is "not a man" (1 Sam 15:29; Job 9:32; 1 Cor 1:25), it follows inexorably that God is not like us. That is, if we do not find in His Word that He is different than us--sees things differently than we do, has different values than we do, has different plans than we do, and so on--then we have reason to doubt that this is actually His Word. Fortunately, we find that to be true. Unfortunately, we often discount what we see because it doesn't line up with what we think. And we're back to the problem.

Look, we need to start with God here. The Bible is His Word. What He says is true. Expect that He won't be the same as us. So ... what does it say? That's what we ought to be asking first. So if God said (He doesn't; this is just an illustration), "I actually am a flying spaghetti monster," we would be obligated to agree even if it went against our feelings and prior assumptions. Or, as that speaker in my opening example, if God said we should treat women in a way that our culture defies, we would be obligated to do it.

So when we read statements about what God is like or statements about what is true, we need to ask ourselves if we're going to go with it or put God on trial. I'm talking about explicit statements here. (Always interpret the implicit by the explicit.) So when God says that He it is His will to demonstrate His wrath and power against vessels of wrath prepared for destruction (Rom 9:22), we are doing Him no favors to say, "Well, we don't like that idea, so let's say it's not so." When God's Word says, "The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil," (Prov 16:4), it doesn't help to say, "No, He doesn't." When we read that God ordered the deaths of a group of Amalekites--men, women, children, and their little dog, too (1 Sam 15:3)--it requires a denial of God's Word to change it. We can ask, "Why would He do that?", but to say, "No, He didn't" is simply to cancel any sort of reliable Word of God.

We need to ask ourselves this basic question. Do we want to know God and His truth for what He is and what He says, or do we wish to impose our own ideas on Him? Our natural (sinful) response is the latter. That's why I found that speaker's statement disturbing--my own sin nature. The right, reasonable, and only safe response is the former. Perhaps we ought to settle that in our minds before we seek to know God better through His Word, His God-breathed letter to us about Himself. Sure, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth." (2 Tim 2:15) Sometimes that takes work. But it's worth it, and it's right, and it's the safest thing to do, even if we discover things we didn't expect about God. Because seeking to know God on our terms rather than His is sheer arrogance, and that cannot end well. And anyone who willingly argues, "God would be wrong if He did that" (whatever "that" might be) is standing on the exceedingly dangerous ground of passing judgment on the Creator of the Universe.