The Ground Rules 3/3

Before we get into God’s word, there are a few ground rules that we must go over. 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us that we ought to be workmen who are unashamed, who correctly handle the word of truth. We want to handle God’s word the right way and that presumes that there are incorrect ways to handle God’s word. Here are five ways that the Scriptures may be misused and which we want to strive to always avoid:

The Scriptures may be misused when we are ignorant of what the Bible says on a given subject.

A common mistake that many people make is to use one verse or phrase in Scripture to trump all other statements in Scripture. For instance, some people will say, “The Bible says you are not supposed to judge others…” And it’s true that the Bible does have that phrase in it. Matthew 7:1 partly says, “Do not judge…” But that is not the whole message that Jesus was speaking in the Sermon on the Mount, rather Jesus was pointing out that we may be judged by the same standard we use for other people. But there are other Scripture verses that tell us to judge for ourselves what is right. Other verses tell us to help out a brother or sister caught in sin, that requires judgment on our part. In fact, the spiritual gift of discernment is entirely a matter of judgment. So, it is not so simplistic as people say. We must take into consideration all that God has said on a subject.

Another example we can take is Jesus’s command to love our enemies and love one another. It is true that one of the characteristics of Christians ought to be love for others. But some people interpret that to mean that we cannot also proclaim what is right and wrong, because that would not be loving (and it may also be judgmental). The issue of homosexuality, for instance, demands that we show love to the person but we must also reject the person’s homosexuality because God is equally clear that that is sin. In fact, we are supposed to love everyone no matter their sin, yet at the same we must reject everything that the Bible calls sin. We can’t pick and choose what we like from Scripture and leave out what we don’t like, it is all God’s message to us and we must take all of it into account. 

The Scriptures may be misused when you take a verse out of context.

Have you ever heard of someone who splices together an audio or video clip and it makes it seem like someone said something bizarre or sensational, but it was really because they left out some words or distorted the context of the words? People do the same thing with God’s word. There are thousands of words in the Bible, if we just picked the words we liked and strung them together, we could get a message that is completely different than what God has given us. Part of the beauty of Scripture is that it must be understood as a whole, we cannot divorce what God said on one occasion with what he says on another occasion. Rather, we must wrestle with all His statements and try to discover the mind and will of God through all of it.

For instance, in John 10:34, Jesus says, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” The Mormons takes this verse and use it to justify their doctrine that men can become gods. Of course, there is nothing in Scripture that supports that interpretation and it goes against the very nature of God himself. But by removing the verse from its context, it seems to support what Mormons say. However, if we were to read the entire passage, it quickly becomes clear that Jesus was not teaching deification at all, rather he was teaching about man’s mortality—the opposite of godhood.

If we take words or verses out of context to suit our own wants and desires, we have misused Scripture and we must repent of that.

The Scriptures may be misused when you read into a passage and have it say something it does not say.

In Mark 16:17-18 it says, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them…” There are some groups that have taken this verse and interpreted it as something that Christians must do. So, in their services they handle dangerous snakes and drink poison to prove that they are God’s chosen people. Unfortunately, many people have been harmed and some have died because of these activities. A careful reading of this passage shows that this was not a command for Jesus’s followers to obey but rather a description of God’s protection upon them in the course of their Christian witness in the world. It does not say that we should do these things. In fact, the Bible tells us to be sober minded and self-controlled (1 Tim 3:2), that would mean to avoid dangerous activities that could harm others.

Another example would be the Holy Spirit’s activity on Pentecost. In Acts 2, we read that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus’s followers and they spoke in various tongues. Some groups have taken that event recorded in Acts and have wrongly said that it is God’s prescription for all of us, that every Christian should speak in tongues. But the Scriptures do not teach that in this passage.

When we read into a passage and have it say what it does not say, we misuse God’s word and need to repent of that.

The Scriptures may be misused when you give undue emphasis to less important things.

A classic example of this is the tendency to divide over our understanding of end times events. There are several interpretations of how the events of Revelation are going to unfold. It is good and right for us to study the book of Revelation and to want to understand it better. But when we begin to make much of our particular interpretations over and against someone else’s interpretation, we might be giving undue emphasis to less important things. We must all agree that Jesus is coming back, but whether he comes back before the tribulation, during the tribulation, after it, before the millennium or after it—it can begin to take a larger than life dimension that God never intended for us to promote. We ought to study and debate these things among ourselves, but let’s not lose sight of the higher priorities that God has given to us—to preach the Gospel and live as obedient followers of Him in a dark world. 

Other issues might be our understanding of spiritual gifts, our beliefs about music in church—drums or no drums, modern songs or ancient hymns, etc. We ought to hold loosely to the things God has not been clear about, admitting that we may have misunderstood and be wrong about something, and hold tightly to what He has clearly revealed. When we give undue emphasis to less important things, we need to step back, repent of our own ambitions, and seek the Lord’s guidance for the way forward.

The Scriptures may be misused whenever you use the Bible to try to get God to do what you want rather than what God wants done.

Think about this scenario, Matthew 18:19 says, “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” So, after reading that, a young lady says to her friend, “I think that John is so handsome and would make a good husband for me. Do you agree with me?” And the young lady’s friend replies, “Oh yes, absolutely!” “Great! Let’s pray together and claim this promise from the Lord…”  And so, they believe that they have a promise from God and that He will give them whatever they ask for because they have agreed upon it.

It sounds a bit ridiculous, right? It is ridiculous because that is misusing Scripture. Yet, it happens all the time. People do this with money and health and family and jobs. But James 4:3 says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” When we ask according to God’s will, he gives to us, but we when ask selfishly or when we try to get God to do something rather than doing what God wants, we misuse Scripture.

Scripture is meant to change us to become more like Christ, it is not a set of magic spells that allow us to try to manipulate God. When we are more concerned with our desires than God’s desires, we are in the wrong and we must repent of that.

Review

There is a right way and a wrong way to do Bible study. In previous videos we have gone over the personal cost and the requirements for doing Bible study. Today, we have talked about how to avoid misusing and abusing Scripture. We can misuse Scripture in any of five ways:

  1. When we are ignorant of what the Bible says on a given subject.
  2. When we take a verse out of context.
  3. When we read into a passage and have it say something it does not say.
  4. When we give undue emphasis to less important things.
  5. When we use the Bible to try to get God to do what we want rather than what God wants done.

Let’s avoid those things and commit ourselves to be faithful men and women who will rightly handle the word of truth. God’s word is powerful. It is living and active. It can change our lives. And it will change our lives when we come to it humbly and accept it as God’s authority on our lives.

This wraps up the ground rules of Bible study. In our next video, we’re going to get into the nitty-gritty work of examining a passage and I’ll teach you how to study your Bible in a way that is practical, personal, and meaningful. 

Until next time, may God richly bless you as you study His word!