March 28–April 3

 

Introduction and Lesson 1: “The Uniqueness Of the Bible”

This quarter’s lessons are entitled How to Interpret God’s Word—a noble theme for a Bible study and a very necessary skill to have. The Bible is God’s word to us and was God breathed—God literally “breathed” His thoughts into the minds of those who wrote it. That means it is directly from the mind of God and as such, it can be only true, never wrong. We know God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19), so whatever the Bible says we can know is the truth.

Before we dive into the lesson, let’s look at what God Himself says about His Word. In an excellent article by Dr. V Streifling we get this summary:

God’s Word is Sacred. Indeed He Himself holds it more sacred than His very Own Name. So the Psalmist declared “For You have magnified your word above All Your Name”. (Ps 138:2)

For this reason, God Himself forbids anyone adding to or deleting from His Word, and with fearful consequences—for to do so, one exalts himself above God Himself, who declares “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the Word that has gone out of My lips”. (Ps 89:34). 

So He commands us: “You shall not add to the Word which I commanded you, nor take anything from it”.(De

4:2)

“Whatever I command…you shall not add to it, nor take away from it” (De 12:32)

“Every Word of God is pure. Do not add to His words, lest He reprove you, and you be found liar”. (Prov. 30:5+6)

“…and All Liars will have their part in the Lake which burns with fire and brimstone” (Rev 21:8)

“If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book: and if anyone takes away from the words of This Book…God will take away his part from the Book of life, and from the holy city and from the things which are written in this book.” (Rev 22:18+19)

In His High Priestly prayer, Jesus interceded with the Father “Sanctify them with Thy Word, Thy Word is Truth” (Jn 17:17). 

Thus any additions or deletions in His Word will change

it from Pure Truth, to less than truth, or even lies. 

So God’s condemnation against Israel was: “And she hath changed My judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and My statutes more than the countries around her.” (Ezek 5:6) 

And his condemnation of those nations was: “Who changed the Truth of God for a Lie…” (Rom 1:25)

From this we can see that God considers His Word to be good, true, accurate, reliable, and an expression of His very heart, so we must learn how to rightly interpret it to understand His truths and the way to salvation.

The lesson starts out by establishing the truth of God’s Word and emphasizes it this way, in a quote from the book Seventh-day Adventists Believe:

In it, we begin with the assumption that Scripture, as the Word of God, is “the infallible revelation of His will” and “the standard of character, the test of experience, the authoritative revealer of doctrines, and the trustworthy record of God’s acts in history.

In fact, the opening statement in the Introduction to the lesson also states clearly:

As Seventh-day Adventists, we are Protestants, which means that we believe in sola Scriptura, the Bible alone as the sole authoritative foundation of our faith and doctrines.

To my dismay, the very next sentence—the second sentence of the introduction—is not from the Bible at all but a quote from Ellen White. So much for “the Bible and the Bible only”! If they truly believed the Bible, do you think they would have to bolster its authority with an extra-Biblical writer? Her quote is followed by:

Of course, we are not unique among Protestants in claiming “the Bible and the Bible alone” as the foundation of our faith…

And yet, if you look on the Seventh-day Adventist website, you will see this outrageous and contradictory statement:

You know, I feel sorry for these people who say, “Just give me the Bible and the Bible only—no modern day prophet, just the Bible.”  Now doesn’t that sound pious? There’s only one problem with that: you can’t separate the two, because the Bible testifies of latter-day prophets; each testifies of the other. If you truly take the Bible as the Word of God, then you must accept the true Gift of Prophecy because the Bible testifies to it.”

Do they actually believe that you cannot find salvation from the Bible, but have to add an extra-Biblical authority in order to know what God says? 

After saying “the Bible and the Bible only” is the foundation of faith, why turn around and say that you can’t separate the Bible from some presumed “latter-day prophet”?

Sadly, that seems to be the approach of this lesson—claim that the Bible is the only source of truth and doctrine, then follow it by quotes from an extra-Biblical “authority” to prove whatever doctrine they choose to believe.

 This is not an inspiring beginning to say the least. But when we get into Lesson 1, we are tempted to hope. The lesson says:

The Bible also is unique in its content and message, which focuses on God’s redemptive acts in history. That history is intertwined with prophecy, as it foretells the future of God’s plans and His eternal kingdom. It is the living Word of God, because the same Spirit of God through which Scripture was inspired (2 Tim. 3:16, 17) is promised to believers today to guide us into all truth as we study the Word (John 14:16, 17; John 15:26; John 16:13).

So, let’s see which way the lesson goes. Overall, this week’s lesson contains a good summary of the history of the Bible and the inspiration of the Bible writers; but there are some hidden thoughts that are of concern. 

In Monday’s lesson we see this:

But all parts of the Bible are inspired (2 Tim. 3:16). This is the reason why Paul states that “whatever was written . . . was written for our instruction, so that through . . . the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4, NASB). 

While very true, there is a tendancy to forget that although all of the Bible is written for us to read, not all of it is directed to us. That doesn’t make any of it less true; it just points out the necessity to understand and discern which parts are directed at us and which aren’t. For instance, as we are under the New Covenant, we are not under the rules and laws of the Old Covenant. And yet, from them, we can learn a lot about the coming Messiah and His promised sacrificial death on our behalf, as the Old pointed forward to the New.

Another example cited by critics of the Bible are the instructions in both Old and New Testament about how to correctly treat slaves. The Bible isn’t endorsing or recommending slavery; it is merely giving instruction on how to behave during times when slavery was the accepted norm. 

And by the way, in quoting Romans 15:4, the lesson leaves out part of the verse, so read the complete verse:

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

The phrase that was left out may not change anything, but the act of leaving it out points out a serious mishandling of the Bible. When you quote a verse or verses, you need to quote all of the verse and furthermore, you must quote it in context. Leaving out some, even something that may not affect the meaning, shows an attitude of pride—assuming you can chop up God’s words any way you wish.

There is some coverage of some of the purposes of the Bible such as prophecy (Tuesday), history (Wednesday), and its transforming power (Thursday).

But along the way, there are already many unique and un-Biblical Adventist ideas inserted into the lesson in complete violation of the commands in God’s Word to not add to it or take away from it, for example, things like a non-Biblical view of the state of the dead or the place of Israel in God’s plan. These, and others, are inserted in an apparent attempt to give them credibility without actually trying to show how the Bible supports them—which it doesn’t.

In Wednesday’s lesson, it even manages to insert the idea that obedience is a necessary part of salvation, perhaps even more than faith:

“All the righteous “will be made alive in Christ” (1 Cor. 15:22, NRSV). The term here implies a future act of creation, when those “who belong to Christ,” or remain loyal to Him, will be raised “at His coming” (1 Cor. 15:23, NKJV)

But back up a few verses in chapter 15, and you will see that there is nothing there that stresses obedience over faith.

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming NASB

This may sound innocuous to someone who does not know the unique Adventist doctrines, but it perfectly coincides with their belief that “keeping” the 10 Commandments is a requirement for salvation, directly contrary to Ephesians 2:8, 9:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

As grace is a gift from God, clearly the “gift of God” stressed in verse 8 is not that grace, but the faith itself. It is not about works, or what we do, either before or after believing. It is all about a free gift from God that cannot be deserved or earned, either before or after the fact.

Then, at the end of Thursday’s lesson, there is this biblically correct statement:

Such a unique book as the Bible, constituted in history, imbued with prophecy, and with the power to transform the life, also must be interpreted in a unique way. It cannot be interpreted like any other book, for the living Word of God must be understood in the light of a living Christ who promised to send His Spirit to lead us “into all truth” (John 16:13). The Bible, then, as a revelation of God’s truth, must contain its own internal principles of interpretation. These principles can be found in studying how the writers of Scripture used Scripture and were guided by it as they allowed Scripture to interpret itself.

Finally, some light at the end—the Bible contains its own internal principles of interpretation. It must be assumed that it is true, and when we find a seemingly contradictory statement, we have to search out the explanation.

I particularly like the statement attributed to Dr. David L. Cooper which is often called The Golden Rule of Biblical Interpretation:

When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate text, studied in the light of related passages and the axiomatic and fundamental truths, clearly indicate otherwise.

Now that is the way to study the Bible—take it at its word. Of course, we must have the indwelling Holy Spirit to teach us and give us understanding, or we will go off on tangents and misconstrue what the Bible says. 

Jesus promised in John 15:26 and 16:13 that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. And we can be sure that the Holy Spirit will never leave us to flounder on our own, as Jesus Himself promised in John 14:16 that the Spirit will always be with us.

In Friday’s lesson, after quoting some statements about some martyrs, the lesson ends with this:

The question we need to ask ourselves now is: Would we remain as faithful to upholding the truths in God’s Word? Sooner or later, in the final conflict, that test will come. The time to prepare for it, of course, is now.

Given the Adventist view of endtimes and the necessity of obeying the Law without the intercession of Jesus should we fail, that statement is intended to instill a sense of fear—fear that we aren’t good enough, fear that we may not “be ready”, fear that if we fail, God will throw us out because of an erroneous idea that there is no forgiveness of sins during that time.

How much better to read what Jesus says in John 16:33:

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.

And John 14:16, 17:

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

So, as we start this study on how to interpret the Bible, let’s remember that God has given us all that we need to do just that—His Word and the Holy Spirit Who will teach us. And as truth is one aspect of God Himself, we know that the Holy Spirit will not lead us astray.