In my previous post I showed how sometimes we make errors in interpreting the scriptures, thinking the Lord has showed us something when He has not. And I showed how scholarship can keep us from certain errors.
This does not mean, however, that Bible scholars, or any teachers, are infallible. Naturally, scholars are very intelligent and well-educated people and, as such, tend to rely on their own ability to figure things out and understand them. Unfortunately, this is a major source of pride. Pride, especially intellectual pride, is a dangerous thing. "Knowledge inflates with pride." (1 Corinthians 8:1) "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5)
What conclusion can we draw? When someone becomes proud in their knowledge about the Bible, God can't teach them much anymore. They become increasingly unteachable. This happens even if they are honored in their church or in academic circles.
I have to say that I have benefited enormously by Bible teachers and scholars, but I have been aware right from the beginning that scholars often rely on their own understanding and too frequently make monumental errors, even believing and teaching heresy at times. Pride is a great danger to the scholar - and to us all. Today, many supposed conservative, orthodox Bible scholars deny certain portions of the Bible. (I have gone into more detail on this in previous posts.)
In times past, evangelical scholars affirmed the entire Bible as the Word of God, but it is becoming increasingly common for many to deny certain portions of it. Take, for example, the times when God told the Israelites to drive all the Canaanites out of the Promised Land or to kill every person in battle. That seems pretty bad, doesn't it. But instead of trying to learn from the Holy Spirit why God did this, they simply deny that God ever said it at all. It seems unjust to them, and since God is not unjust, then He must not have said it. The Israelites must have been wrong about what God said.
No, it is these scholars who are wrong about what God said. I, too, have had trouble understanding why God did some of these things. It seemed wrong to me as well at one time. But I did not reject the scriptures because of this. Rather, I accepted it as God's Word and figured that I simply did not understand. As time went by, He showed me little by little that His judgements of the Canaanites was just and right. I understand justice and judgment much better than I did before.
In other words, my mind became renewed to the truths that I struggled with because I maintained a teachable spirit and a humble mind. Now some people think that I was being intellectually dishonest. If I did not think that these things were right, then I should have rejected them. But I was actually submitting to the Word of God despite my own way of thinking. I knew that the Bible was right so there was something wrong with my thinking. That is intellectual humility. We have to say to ourselves that God is smarter than we are, that God knows what is right even when we think He's wrong.
Some are touting their "intellectual honesty" by rejecting parts of the Bible, not realizing they are rejecting God Himself. They have a different idea of who God is than all that the Bible teaches. They have made God in their own image as a result. He is now subject to their idea of who God ought to be and what He ought to do. This is pride and idolatry.
Now some would ask, "What if we have doubts about certain things? Is it okay for Christians to doubt?" But I think that is the wrong question. The question should be, "What do we do when we experience doubts?" A doubt is really a temptation not to believe what God has said. There is no sin in being tempted to doubt some things, but it is a sin to yield to it. We cannot end up saying that the Bible is in error. It is not. Our thinking can be in error, but His revelation cannot be. Therefore, the fault is in us and not in His Holy Word. We should not have to be intellectually persuaded of every last thing in the Bible for us to accept it all as God's Word. We have to have the humility to accept what we do not understand or even what does not seem right to us.
What we need is humility of mind, an attitude that believes what God has put into the Bible no matter that we may think otherwise. It is not being "authentic" or "honest" to reject the Word because we believe we have a better way of thinking. Our "honesty" is really a species of pride and will prevent God from teaching us and giving us understanding of those very things we question. Questions are fine; rejecting God's answers is not.
There are many things through the years that I have not understood, but I did not reject those things. I just assumed that my mind was not renewed to that particular thing, and that God would show me as time went by. The book of Proverbs says that it takes wisdom to understand justice and judgment. (1:3). It also says not to be wise in your own estimation. We gain wisdom from the Word and from the experience of life (assuming we are paying attention). Therefore, our understanding of things like God's judgments may be lacking when we are younger in the Lord.
When we do not understand something or we think that something in the scriptures cannot possibly be right, it should cause us to dig deeper into the Word, not find theories that supposedly reconcile what we think with what the Bible teaches. That corrupts the Bible and makes it an idol of our own making.
Some have accused those who hold to the Bible no matter what as making an idol out of it. But it those who try to remake the Bible in their own image by imaginatively reinterpreting it in light of their self-assumed enlightened thinking that truly make it an idol. When we exalt our own minds above God's Word, we rebel against Him. Being true to oneself is sin. Being true to God and the Bible is righteousness.
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