Let me give an example. There is a lake in Tennessee that was the only home of a particular type of trout. This fish existed nowhere else. Fishermen loved to come fish for it. The only problem was the mosquitoes around the edge of the lake. They ate up the fishermen. Well, of course, everyone knew you couldn't just poison the mosquitoes. That would harm the lake. So they came up with an ingenious approach. They laid down a layer of smoke around the lake. The smoke didn't affect the water, but it prevented the mosquitoes from laying eggs and ... voilà! ... the mosquitoes were gone. And so were the fish. The mosquitoes were their primary food. The trout vanished. You see, it was true that the mosquitoes bothered the fishermen and it was true that you shouldn't poison the lake and it was true that eliminating mosquitoes with smoke didn't poison the lake ... but it didn't take into account the last point -- fish eat mosquitoes. Three facts that, in a vacuum, ended up eliminating a trout breed.
Consider a biblical example. The Bible says,
Wives, subject yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord, because a husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is Head of the assembly, and He is the Savior of the body. But even as the Church is subject to Christ, so also the wives to their own husbands in everything. (Eph 5:22-24)More than once.
So, the truth is that wives need to submit to their husbands as they would to the Lord, as the Church submits to Christ. Peter says even if the husband doesn't obey the Word (1 Peter 3:1). It's in there. It's the truth. Wives, do that.
Here's the difficulty. If you lay that out there in that bare form, you set yourself up for ... error. Too many men, calling themselves "Christians", will use this truth to cudgel their wives. "God's Word says to submit, so you'd better submit ... to my every whim." Whether it is spiritual, emotional, or physical abuse, some will use this truth to heap it on their wives and believe they are justified in doing so. Why? Because they're operating with truth in a vacuum. It's not that simple.
It's not that simple because it's not complete.
"Wives submit" is true, but it is incomplete when it neglects the very next command: "Husbands, love your wives." (Eph 5:25) It ignores the plain requirement that husbands are not to domineer, but to give themselves up for her (Eph 5:25). It fails to notice that husbands are commanded to "live with your wives in an understanding way" and to show her honor (1 Peter 3:7). The truth that wives are to submit to their husbands is true, but it is not the whole truth. Conversely, the wife that says, "I don't have to submit to him because he isn't obeying God by giving himself up for me" is not obeying God either. These two truths go together. They work together. They are aimed at specific individuals, one at the wife and one at the husband, but they work together. They can't be taken in a vacuum.
Much of Truth is like that. Most things in life are connected to many other things. It is true to say, "The Bible says that homosexual behavior is a sin", but if that is as far as your truth goes, you will miss important factors like "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10) Just another example. It is true to say, "He who withholds his rod hates his son," but it falls short if you do not include the requirements to love your children (Prov 13:24). Just as "wives submit" taken out of context misses "husbands love" and ends up in abuse, other genuine biblical truths taken in a vacuum will result in abuse -- abuse of people, of love, of God's commands, etc. Our task, then, is not to compromise truth. Our task is to embrace it fully. And, I hate to tell you this ... that takes time and effort and work. The alternative, however, falls short of the glory of God, and we all know that's not good.
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