What Does the Bible Really Teach?

What Does

the Bible Really Teach?

When it comes to understanding what the Bible really teaches, unavoidably this involves hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is the process of interpretation that is used to develop our belief system. Any erroneous matter used in the process  means that we will miss the truth when forming our conclusion. This is just like shooting an arrow at a target in an archery competition and a miscalculation of the wind causes the arrow to drift a little causing it to miss the target. We can be assured that there has to be many errors in interpretation of the Scriptures, because there are so many different points of view on the various topics that are found in the Bible. Consult an encyclopedia or dictionary on theology and you will be astounded that one book, which is purportedly a love letter from God to humans, can be interpreted in so many different ways.  Understanding what the Bible really teaches requires us to be diligent in finding out how we can interpret it correctly and apply its truths for our good.

A couple of days prior to writing this, when walking on a walkway that crossed over a road to a railway station, I saw a Jehovah Witness sitting on a chair next to a portable book stand advertising their literature. I decided to talk to a Jehovah Witness. At the time, he happened to be writing a letter. During our conversation, I asked him a number of times how we could get to know God personally. He kept telling me: “We get to know Jehovah through reading the Bible”. I explained to him that if he were to write me a letter and told me all about himself, this did not mean that I actually knew him. For all I know, he might not exist. Someone else could have written the letter. And even if he did write the letter, unless I knew him personally, I could not possibly get to truly know him by means of the letter alone. At best, all I could know would be facts about him based on how I interpreted what he wrote. Naturally, he agreed with what I was saying because what I was saying is true; besides, he was writing a letter and I did not know him. Eventually, he admitted that he did not really know God, only what he had read in the Bible. I suggested that he ought to read the Gospel of John, from chapters ten to sixteen, and ask God to show Him the truth.  The reason I said this to him is because I know that if he truly read these Scriptures, he would have read such things as:

I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture. The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10.9-11 ).

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me (.John 14:6)

However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming (John16:13).

The Jehovah Witness replied, “I would start at Psalm eighty-six first, because there we find the name of Jehovah.”

 In the World English Bible “Yahweh” is used instead of “Jehovah”. When we read the first six verses of this Psalm, we learn that the writer is petitioning (to be truly technical) YHWH and not Jehovah or Yahweh to answer his prayer:

Hear, Yahweh, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul, for I am godly. You, my God, save your servant who trusts in you. Be merciful to me, Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to the soul of your servant, for to you, Lord, do I lift up my soul. For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you. Hear, Yahweh, my prayer. Listen to the voice of my petitions (Psalm 86:1-6).

The truth is the Jehovah Witness has been indoctrinated to accept that Jesus is not really God, only Jehovah is God, therefore praying to Jesus is futile. The Jehovah Witness cries out to Jehovah to be saved and ignores the fact the same Bible informs us that only through knowing the Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus, can we be saved and receive the Spirit of Truth, Who will guide us into all truth. The question for the Jehovah Witness is: Does he truly want to know what the Bible teaches? Or, Is he going to rely on studying Jehovah Witness publications for his Bible Study? From reading the Bible myself, I have come to realize, a personal relationship with Lord Jesus Christ is required to begin learning what the Bible really teaches—since all things have been created through Jesus Christ, it just so happens, He is also the Author of the Bible. The Jehovah Witnesses, on the other hand, teach that Jesus is not God but a created being, just like any other angel. In which case, according to their thinking, why go to a created being to be saved when Jehovah is greater than all. However, if we understand that only Jesus is the way to the truth that provides eternal life, then we would earnestly seek out Jesus, so we might be set free from ignorance by learning the truth.

Hermeneutics is the interpretation of the Scriptures. How we are going to interpret the Scriptures is up to us. If we are going to understand what the Bible really teaches, then our exegesis of a text has to be correct and in accord with the general revelation that permeates Scripture. Exegesis is the critical explanation of what a text means. The general revelation is the theme that runs from the first book of the Bible, Genesis, to the last book of the Bible, Revelation. Essentially, we could say that the Bible begins and ends with the revelation of Lord Jesus Christ, because the word GENESIS means ORIGIN and the last book of the Bible begins with the words THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST. With this in mind, it is understandable that we read in the book of Revelation, our Lord Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. From reading the pages of the Bible we have to conclude that when Jesus was talking to the Jews, what He said then is still true:

 You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.  Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life (John 5:39-40).

What this means is any exposition of the Scriptures, any explanation of the Scriptures, any interpretation of the Scriptures, has to bear witness to the purpose of God as revealed through Jesus Christ. Therefore, any systematic search of the Scriptures must also produce within the person doing the searching, a deeper understanding of the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Author and Finisher, the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith.

Systematic theology is constructed with the view that classifying ideas, and then critically analyzing them in the light of the current knowledge of the world, enables us to gain greater insights into what religion means, and how people’s interpretation of their quest to find the answers to life’s questions can be understood at the present time. Systematic theology allows us to trace an idea through the Bible and apply some scientific rigor by utilizing methods of analysis to see where it is faulty or where weaknesses of interpretation lie. A thorough investigation into scriptural themes that critically examines their validity in respect to the purpose of God bears the hallmarks of seeking the truth. Unfortunately, many systematic theologies are propositions (philosophical proposals put forth) that use scripture as proof texts and are not the results of rigorous investigation into the truth of the Scriptures. Systematic theology is a topical arrangement of thought which tends to have an underlying premise from which to interpret the theme, so that it is easy to explain. The problem is always found when a compiler of systematic theology refuses to acknowledge contradictory statements within the Bible and, by doing so, does not allow them to unveil error in the interpretation that is being supported by the proof texts selected on the topic.

It may seem surprising that people claiming to desire the truth, or claim to be hammering out sound teaching on the anvil of truth, could come up with erroneous doctrines. But it happens. Why does it happen? It happens because facts that do not fit the picture the interpreter is trying to put together are  disregarded. Learning the truths of scripture are like putting together a large jigsaw puzzle made up of small jigsaw pieces. Rather than letting the Holy Spirit show where inconvenient truths belong, pieces of the puzzle are discarded and others that do not really belong in that part of the picture are made to fit. Consequently, the picture becomes distorted. Instead of putting together a true representation of spiritual realities, counterfeit similarities are created that appear to have a ring of truth about them, but the sound is foreign to the ears of those who sit in the counsel of God Almighty. Unlike the counterfeit, the truth sets us free; but truth also hurts, and hurts are painful. Pain is not something we are attracted towards. Pain is something we hate. Hence when we encounter something that we do not like, our tendency is to obfuscate the issue and create something more to our liking that seems easier to understand. No wonder Jesus said that the way to life is narrow and few it is that find it.

To illustrate the point with an  example from the scriptures, we shall consider the practice of water  baptism. Jesus said to those whom he chose to teach, who were to become the apostles, that they were to make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Yet there is no evidence of the apostles ever doing this. There is evidence that the apostles practiced baptism but by calling on the name of the Lord or the name of Jesus Christ, but there is no scripture within the New Testament to support that the formula “the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit” as being used. Consequently, any teaching on Baptism that overlooks this fact is in error, if the group or denomination is claiming to abide in the Apostles teachings. For all true Christian teaching is founded on  and originated from the Apostle’s teachings. We could even go as far as to say, all true biblical teaching is the teaching of the Apostles. In which case, the following would not be a problem for any believer:

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.” With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!” Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls. They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer (Acts 2:37-42).

 Now if we are not abiding in the Apostle’s teachings, whose teaching are we abiding in?

For many people claiming to trumpet the truth, this little oversight is usually overcome with the premise that no doctrine can be formulated from the book of Acts because it is merely a record of what happened, not what was actually taught as doctrine. It is no wonder that analytical observers are seen raising their eyebrows when Scriptures are quoted from the book of Acts by these naysayers to support various doctrines based on their propositional truths.

Another celebrated example is the opposing ideas of “Justification by faith alone” and “Justification by works”, which the Reformer Martin Luther is said to have had difficulty with; so much so, he claimed the book of James should be removed from the Bible, because it taught justification of faith by works.

There are other issues that arise from systematic theology that divorce it from being a coherent expression of a true biblical overview of what the Bible teaches. Systematic theology ought to be like the gospel of John that overlays the other three gospels and when understood brings the four gospels into a cohesive expression of Jesus Christ. In the Gospels, the unenlightened see discrepancies and inconsistencies, but the enlightened see the truth of the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is no problem when every scripture is understood as bearing witness to Lord Jesus Christ. For when we ask the question, “What did Jesus come to Earth to do?” we learn Jesus said that he came to fulfill the law and the prophets, and the Ten Commandments would not pass away until Heaven and Earth do first.

 “Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.  For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished (Matthew 5:16-17).

Many people interpret this as meaning that we no longer have to acknowledge the Ten Commandments. Only if we read the above text from Matthew, we can see that this is not the case. Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets, but the Law itself was not going to pass away. What Jesus fulfilled was the requirements to sacrifice a righteous life as a ransom for all men, so they could be saved, once and for all. This in effect constitutes the fulfillment of the ceremonial laws given to Moses and the predictions of the prophets. The Ten Commandments that were written by the finger of God were not done away with. In fact, they are supposed to be written on the heart of every person who is actually saved unto eternal life. This suggests two things. One that every person who is saved understands and knows the Ten Commandments. The second being, Scripture needs to be interpreted in the light of the Ten Commandments. This should be a natural response for a saved person to do, because the Ten Commandments are written on each one’s heart.

 What does the Bible really teach? The Bible teaches that the Ten Commandments are the only words that have been written by God Himself and they define the requirements for walking with God. Anyone therefore teaching anything different has to be in error. In fact, the Apostle John writes:

 Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God; and whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded. He who keeps his command-ments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us (1 John 3:21-24).

While the temptation is to say that we no longer have to understand the Ten Commandments because Christians believe in the name of Jesus Christ and now love one another, it needs to be noted that in the above text this is referred to as one commandment. Having recognized this, the question now becomes what are the other commandments? The Ten Commandments becomes the obvious answer, if we desire the truth. Moreover, interpreting the Bible through the prism of the Ten Commandments enables us to understand what God requires of us as members of the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Ten Commandments provide us with a system with which to interpret the Scriptures and bear witness to Jesus Christ. They also bring the devotional element of having a personal experience with our Heavenly Father through our Lord Jesus in the Holy Spirit into focus, when we consider the way we ought to live our lives once having examined them in the light of the Ten Commandments.

Seriously, we need to ask ourselves: Does the New Testament teach that it is permissible to possess an evil eye, bear false witness, steal, commit adultery and other sexual perversions, murder, dishonor parents, labor for our salvation, take God’s name in vain and blaspheme God, be idolatrous and reject the salvation offered to us by our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ for humanism? The answer is NO. All these issues and more are covered within the understanding of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments need to be addressed at the beginning of the Christian walk. Sin is not something that ought to be addressed after having claimed to be a Christian for years. Repentance from dead works is essential if we are to have faith in God, otherwise we are numbered among the hypocrites, and Jesus had a lot to say about them.

The Apostles never taught the Ten Commandments were done away with. The Apostle Paul had much to say about the Law, but he is often misquoted and misunderstood. This is evident in the Book of Romans where we read:.

The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ (Romans 8:7-9).

The Bible teaches that those who walk according to the Spirit submit to the Law of God. Those who walk according to the flesh, do not submit to the Law written by the Finger of God because their deeds are evil. The Law shows us what sin happens to be so we can turn away from it and walk in the Spirit of God. We cannot walk in the Spirit of God and commit sin at the same time.