I Agree With Mark Twain

THEN, we started talking about the Bible – he has read through the Old Testament, but not the New (in spite of thinking the Old Testament is no longer “in-play” – I know, it didn’t make sense to me either). But then he gave a good indication of why he has not pursued the New Testament, he said something along the lines of: “Much of the Bible is open to interpretation, it is not clear.”

I have heard this before and should have asked him for examples but instead, I told him that simply is not true! Reflecting on this later it dawned on me he is right IF/WHEN you start from the wrong starting point – which is where the devil has most people. 

Jesus warned:

The Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?”

He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
“ ‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ 
You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”
And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! . . . you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.” ^{Mk 7:5-13}

The devil is not concerned in the least if people are religious, he is happy that they are “Christians,” AS LONG AS they are in error and lead other people into error, and away from the truth, with them!

No one understands the entire Bible, but that is different than claiming it as commonly being open to differing interpretations.  I concur with Mark Twain:

It is not what I don’t understand about the Bible that worries me, it is what I do understand!

The Bible is very clear!  Anyone who reads it with an open mind and heart will have plenty they understand not to worry about the parts they do not yet comprehend.  The big problem, however, is the traditions we cling to that blind us to the real truth.  The ones who cry “Interpretation!” the most are those who cling to traditions, causing them to become interpretive contortionist – working very hard to make the clear proclamations fit their distorted traditions!

God warned in Jonah:

“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” ^{Jonah 2:8}

If you read the Bible in the light of God’s sovereignty (which is a [the?] key clear theme since the Bible begins with Him creating the heavens and earth and ends with Him creating a new earth – the ultimate in sovereignty!) what has been unclear will suddenly become VERY clear!  Misinterpretation comes into play when, by holding to traditions or refusing to acknowledge what is plain, we choose instead to interpret-away many supporting texts.  Nine times out of ten, the problem is one of faith, not of understanding or interpretation.  Who has not said something TOTALLY clear to a young person and they respond “I don’t understand” (or “I didn’t understand” after they get caught disobeying) because they didn’t WANT to understand – admitting they understood would have eliminated their excuse for doing what was wrong!  We, as adults, often do the same thing.

The most common deadly church tradition (that results in the worst Bible interpretations) is that of “free will.”  It is not mentioned or taught in the Bible, it is not a theme of the Bible; just the opposite, it undercuts the main theme of the Bible, the sovereignty of God in the salvation of man.  Romans 8 and 9 show both “sides” (the side of the blessed and the cursed) in the issue of predestination, the sovereignty of God in the salvation of man.  But when we refuse to accept what the Bible CLEARLY says, holding onto the false doctrine of the sovereignty of man in his salvation, it is unbelievable how people (and the worst are preachers in this error) can distort and contort what God says!

But they argue, “I can’t believe in predestination” (unless it is some twisted definition of it) “because that would mean God is not fair if He does not give everyone a chance, if everything is predestined!”  They fall into the classic error of refusing to live by faith; faith is not believing what is clear, not believing what we understand, it is doing that which we are told IN SPITE OF not understanding it. 

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” ^{Isa 55:9}

I know this will shock many people, we can’t understand some things!  The Bible never explains predestination because we evidently could not understand it.  But this doesn’t mean we can write our own “gospel,” one that eliminates the primary theme of the Bible: the sovereignty of God in the salvation of man.
God does not need us to be ashamed of the gospel, to distort it to save His reputation.  I like what the blind man said when hauled before the court twice to explain Jesus healing Him.

A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,’” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” ^{Jn 9:24 - 25}

It is the preacher’s job to preach the truth. It is for a Christian to accept the truth, EVEN when we don’t understand how it works, like predestination!  It is for God to bring glory to Himself and save His reputation! I don’t do this by changing what He says!  I don’t know how predestination works; God does, no man can understand or explain it, but “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

God is sovereign in all things including in the FULL salvation of man!  This is good news!  This is grace!  Accepting it, by faith, is the key to understanding much of what God says in the Bible!