Once again, I find myself way behind in my blogging.  No excuse, just a number of distractions mixed in with a dash of spring fever.  Anyway, back to the topic of a high vs low view of the Bible. 

20 years ago, when I was at another church, I would often meet with some of the men attending the University of North Texas for Bible study and sometimes just to discuss whatever was on their minds, current events, cultural shifts or whatever.  One night they came in with this question.  Why are there so many different denominations with differing theological views?  They presented it this way.  If all our pastors are prayerfully seeking the Holy Spirits guidance in their studies and work hard at objectively teaching what the Bible clearly says, why so many disagreements? 

After some discussion I put forth several options from which they could vote on for the most likely reason.  Option 1 - The Holy Spirit has a sense of humor and is leading them to different conclusions just to see the debates.  Zero Votes.  2. Maybe the pastors aren’t being truthful about their prayerful approach to study.  50/50 on the votes.  Most thought there might be some like that but were sure their pastor wasn’t like that.  3.  Maybe some of these pastors are more influenced by their education and mentors than they realize.  That got the most votes.     

They understood the impact of 2 Peter 1:21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.  If the Holy Spirit guided the human authors in writing the Bible, He wouldn’t lead someone to believe it meant something today different than what He had inspired the authors to write.  We know languages evolve over time.  The meaning of words can change with the culture.  But God doesn’t change and neither does the intent of His revealed word. 

Therefore, the words of the Bible should not be interpreted to mean something today they didn’t mean when first written down.  Unfortunately, not everyone follows that rule.  In a previous post I mentioned a survey of pastors in which only 25% of the respondents agreed with 2 Peter 1:21. So, the rest apparently followed either what they had been taught in seminary or the ‘what it means to me’ rules of interpretation.  And that is how we end up with so many different denominations and contradictory belief structures. 
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God created a universe that follows defined laws of physics, chemistry and biology.  Which means we can trust that the things we make using those rules will work as planned.  We trust reality will continue in its present state.  So, why would we not conclude that God would also have defined spiritual laws?  

This post is taken from my Easter message at Trego Community Church which is also this week’s podcast. 

Since it is Easter, I want to post some observations about Jesus Christ’s final words from the cross.  John is the only gospel writer who mentions these particular statements.  It’s also true John did not include a lot of the material Matthew, Mark and Luke covered in their gospels.  I’ll also point out he was the only Gospel writer who actually witnessed the crucifixion as well as the only disciple to do so.  And John is the only N.T. author whose specific purpose was evangelistic.  Which is, I believe, the reason he wrote the following.  

John 19:28-30 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

Notice I highlighted and underlined 3 words in these verses.  I did so because all three translate the same Greek root word teleo which means to finish or to complete.   It’s likely the NKJV translators used the different English words because of the grammatical differences in each usage of the word Teleo.   Let me explain.   

In the first clause of v. 28 is actually John’s commentary on Jesus Christ’s entire ministry.  And Accomplished translates the Greek word tetelestai, the perfect indictive form of teleo.  The perfect indictive means a completed action that carries an ongoing permeant impact.  John is telling us Jesus had completed everything He had been sent here to do and there is nothing else to do for all time.  There is nothing else needed to complete the redemption of mankind or any individual human.  In other words: 
John 1:29 He has taken away the sin of the world. 

John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
John 10:10 I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 

2 Corinthians 5:19 that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

There was one more prophecy concerning the crucifixion to complete so John wrote “that the Scripture might be fulfilled, (Jesus) said, “I thirst!””  The cross reference is Psalm 69:11 “For my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”  The word fulfilled translates the Greek word teleiōthe which is the Aorist form of teleo.  Again, a completed action that would connect His crucifixion to Messianic prophecy.  The Roman soldiers gave him vinegar to drink not knowing they were fulfilling prophecy but the Priests and Pharisees would.

With that final act completed Jesus Christ said tetelestai one last time and gave up His life.  When Jesus Christ said “tetelestai” He really meant it was finished, complete. The cause of death that had plagued mankind since Adam’s sin in Genesis 3 had been removed.  Jesus Christ was telling us the work of redemption was completed once and for all time.  I believe the repetition of Teleo was for emphasis, stressing the reality of our faith alone Justification. 
 
But John and the others who had witnessed the crucifixion went home thinking it was all over.    They were wrong.  There was one more Messianic prophecy about redemption that had to be fulfilled.   

Psalm 16:10-11 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Healing the sin wound which kills is not enough.  What we still needed was life.  We also had to know that what Jesus had said on the cross was true.  And that is the great significance of Christ’s resurrection.  It is irrefutable proof that Jesus Christ has the authority and power to give us life, everlasting life. 

1 Corinthians 15:17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
1 Corinthians 15:21 & 22 For since by man also came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ validates everything He ever said including John 3:16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
If you believe John 3:16 you can be sure you have everlasting life. 

Being a strong proponent of the High View of the Bible, means I believe it is the verbal and plenary inspired word of God.  I also believe God, being the creator of languages is precise in the use of language, even when working through human authors.  Being all knowing, sovereign and wise He was able to accurately reveal truth to us through those human agents.  Therefore, I believe we should take the text of the Bible at face value. 
Unless it is clearly intended as figurative language we should take it literally.  Parables, metaphors and colloquialisms should be interpreted as such.  So, some knowledge of the author’s culture and native language is needed to ensure the most accurate translation into our own culture and language.  We should never apply 21st century English meanings to words written down thousands of years ago in either Greek or Hebrew. 

I’m explaining all this because almost weekly I encounter people who admit to having difficulty with some Biblical passages because the words don’t fit with the denominational positions they were taught growing up.  The same is true for people who did not grow up in Church and became a believer as an adult.  We all bring a personally acquired world view into our new life in Jesus Christ.  And everyone who comes to Christ must work at reordering their understanding of reality. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  The words I underlined are not found in the Greek text, but were added by the translators.  It is a common practice intended to help the English reader get the sense of what is being said.  In this case it actually works against the author’s original intention.  Let me offer a more direct rendering of this verse.  “If anyone be in Christ, a new creation the old passed away behold, all have become new.”  The believer has not become a new creation as is implied by the added words, but is rather living in a new reality that is nothing like the old.  That means we who are in Christ need a new world view.  The Christian needs to develop a future mindset that fits this new reality. We will live in the eternal Kingdom God also calls the New Heaven and Earth.   

That is at the very heart of Paul’s general command to all believers in Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  The renewing of your mind requires an eternal perspective and new information.  Contrary to what you may believe spiritual truth is not inherent to our natural mind.  If comes through knowledge of God’s word. I refer you to the post on 2 Peter 1:2-4. 

So, when what the Bible says doesn’t match what you’ve been taught in the past, who are you gonna believe?    

I was recently in a conversation with someone on a particular doctrinal topic in which we disagreed.  It wasn’t heated, but we ended it with neither of us having been persuaded by the other.  The reason we could not come to an agreement is germane to my previous posts on our understanding of the Bible, the high view of Scripture vs. the low view.  You see both of us were in agreement that what the Bible said on the topic we were discussing was difficult to understand.  Let’s face it there are a lot of things in the Bible that sound strange even absurd to us.  The same is true in science.  But our lack of understanding doesn’t mean those things are not true. 

Take Malachi 3:6 “For I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.”  What does it mean that God doesn’t change?  He is immutable, He does not change in His fundamental nature and attributes.  Omniscient is how we define His immutability in terms of knowledge and wisdom.  He knows everything there is to know about what has been, what is, what will be and what would have been under different circumstances.  That is something we who are trapped in time and space where everything follows a path of progress either in decline or growth struggle to understand.  

But the Bible insists it is still true.  Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”  Our ability to fully grasp God’s immutability does not make it less true.  And redefining a Biblical doctrine so we can make sense could be seen as a form of idolatry, because makes Him into someone other than who He is. 

Consider the incident in Numbers 21 where God established looking at a bronze replica of a snake as the cure for being bitten by a poisonous serpent.  Would you have found that difficult to believe?  There is no medical evidence to support such a claim.  It certainly would not work today. So, does that mean it never happened?  How about Jesus Christ walking on water or feeding 5,000 men and their families with 5 loaves of barley bread and 2 small salted fish?  Did those events never happen either?  I’ve read commentaries that made it clear the author’s thought so.  
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Hebrews 11:1-2 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.” That’s not the definition of faith; it is an explanation of its function.  No human witnessed the creation but we believe, have faith, that God did create the universe and all that is in it.  We do not need to understand the physics by which He did it in order to believe He is the Creator.  In terms our personal belief structures (theology) the task is to correctly organize what the Bible says and stick with that.  If I might adapt a phrasing I got from Imad Shehadeh, President of the Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary, Biblical truth is not a problem we have to explain so much as a wonder to explore.  

I want to share with you a wonderful passage from 2 Peter.  I’m doing it from the perspective of the Bible as God’s revealed truth.
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2 Peter1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

How cool is it that we can grow our experience of God’s grace and peace in this life by simply increasing our knowledge of Him and the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is by God’s divine power that we have everything needed for life and godly living starting with everlasting life and the Holy Spirit who is our guarantee of entrance into Heaven (Ephesians 1:13-14).  The key for making the most of our everlasting life now is found in the full knowledge of God.  Where do we find that full knowledge of God? 

Peter points us to the exceedingly great and precious promises contained in the Bible.  The Bible is God’s recorded revelation which He has personally persevered by His power.  Peter explained this way in 2 Peter 1:20 & 21 “knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”  The Holy Spirit has supervised the writing of Scripture and its preservation down through the centuries.  So, we can trust it to be reliable in the matters of life and godliness. 

I am a strong proponent of reading the Bible itself rather than relying on books about the Bible.  Topical books and commentaries have their place, but nothing can really take the place of reading and studying it for yourself.  I recommend the folks at Trego Community Church do 2 things.  First, read at least 4 chapters a day, every day.  Reading as you would any other non-fiction book so you’re familiar with its content. By daily readings you’ll also get to know more about God, His nature and how He interactions with people. 

Then supplement your reading with planned studies of individual books in the Bible.   Read a paragraph and then write down the main ideas being expressed, those things that jump off the page at you and look for the main idea the author is trying to get across to you. Write down any questions you still have about what you’ve read for later investigation.  That is when commentaries come in to play.  You don’t need to buy them as there are several on-line resources that are free. 

Here are some recommendations of sites I use:
Constables Notes @ https://soniclight.com/; 
https://bible.org/; 
https://www.biblegateway.com/.   

Calvinism is not alone in holding to doctrinal views that call into question the character of God.  The Arminian and Wesleyan churches teach a faith plus works means of salvation.  They hold that salvation is open to all, but also any christian can fall from grace and apostatize.  If that person fails to repent of their sin, they will forfeit the everlasting life Christ gave them. 

As I believe Charles Ryrie put it, if you can lose it then everlasting life is the wrong name for it.  But Jesus Christ absolutely called it everlasting life.  He also said it is received the moment someone believes His promise to give it.  John 3:16 and John 5:24 show everlasting life is given immediately and is permanent. 

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” 
John 5:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”  
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Notice neither verse says anything about repentance of sin and clearly says everlasting life is a present possession of the one who believes.  John 5:24 goes on to say there is no future judgement for the believer.   

Even more to the point we are told in Romans 3:23-26 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,  whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,  to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  

V.23 says we have sinned (past tense) and fall short (present tense) of God’s glory or expectations.  In other words, we never actually measure up to His standards with repentance. But Jesus Christ freely justifies those who believe in Him for life.  He can do that because He became the propitiation for our sin when He died on the cross.  Our redemption is completely the work of God because He justly resolved the issue of sin and them became the justifier of those who believe in Jesus Christ. 

Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  In spite of falling short of God’s glory justification means God is at peace with us.  Romans 5:2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  We stand in God’s grace not our own efforts to do good. 

These are all easy to understand promises from God.  But I can understand how confusing it could be for someone who goes to a church that teaches these things are not true.  Human nature being what it is, Romans 3:23, I fear it wrongly results in doubts about God’s word and His character.  

In my last post I posited that a deviation from the plenary verbal inspiration view of the Bible can lead to a distorted understanding of God.  To illustrate that point I got permission from a friend, Ken Yates, to use a recent post of his on the Grace Evangelical Societies blog.  Ken edits the GES Journal and heads up their short-term mission’s work.   The Topic – Is God Good?

Ken's Post:
At the last GES national conference, Geoff Stevens spoke on the dismantling of dispensationalism. One of the points of his presentation is that if we reject a plain, common-sense way of interpreting the Scriptures (dispensationalism), we will lose sight of God’s goodness. 

Some will say that this is ungracious or an overstatement. But I would like to discuss how Calvinism denies God’s goodness. 

Most readers of this blog have probably heard a sermon on Gen 3:1, when Satan asks Eve in Eden: “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’” Many have pointed out that Satan is questioning God’s goodness here. He leaves off the fact that God told them they could freely eat from all the trees of the garden except one. Satan implies in this question that God is a killjoy. He is holding something back from Adam and Eve. Whatever Eve might have thought about all God had done for them, He wasn’t as good as she thought. 

Who can listen to the Calvinist view of eternal salvation and conclude that God is good? Once again, some will accuse me of being ungracious. Surely, Calvinists believe that God is good. Don’t they? 

But a five-point Calvinist says that God chose only a small group of people to be eternally saved. This small group is called the elect. If you are not one of the elect, you have no hope. Whether you are of the elect or not was determined long before you were born, and there is nothing you can do about it. 

To make matters worse, you can never know in this life whether you belong to the elect. Even if you believe John 3:16, there is no guarantee that it applies to you. If you are not one of the elect, you only think you believe it. Either you didn’t really believe, or you will deny that you believe it at some later date. After you die, you will find out the truth: You never had any hope of eternal life. You were destined before you were born to an eternity of torment in the lake of fire. 

I cannot imagine believing such things. I cannot imagine the anxiety and torment it would produce. Nobody who believes such things can honestly say that God is good. 

The most he could say is that God is good to the elect. But since nobody can know whether they are part of that group, nobody can, as an individual, say that God is good. The non-elect were born into this world, destined for hell, and with no hope. The Calvinist will say they all deserve it. But the one thing he can’t say is that these people should proclaim, “God is good!” 
Satan told Eve in the garden that God was not good. There is a lot of teaching in Christendom today that says the same thing. In fact, Satan was just suggesting it. Calvinism just comes right out and says it: If you aren’t of the elect (and you probably aren’t), God destined you to hell before you were born. 
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Whatever else we say about such a system, it does not describe a good God. Free Grace theology is not like that. We need to get back to the basics: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.” That applies to everyone. If you believe in Jesus for eternal life, you have it and can never lose it. God is good.  

​Let’s look at again at the generic doctrinal statement on the Bible with which I began my previous post. Most churches say the Bible is the inspired Word of God, without error and is the final authority on matters of faith and life.  Theologians call this the plenary verbal inspiration view of the Bible.  It means the entire Bible (plenary) including the word selection and grammar (verbal) was inspired or guided by God.  The human authors did write within the context of their own cultures and personalities however, they did so while under the supervision of the Holy Spirit.   

That is the high view of the Bible.  People who hold to that definition of inspiration take pains to seek out the original intent of the authors meaning the people who wrote and the Holy Spirit who was guiding them.  If you hold a high view of the Bible, you likely follow a literal, historical and cultural interpretation method.  when studying Paul’s letter to the Romans you seek to understand it from the perspective of a 1st century Christian living in Rome.  What did the words mean to them back then, not what they mean today in our culture. 

Not all Christians hold the High view.  There are many who believe the Bible contains the word of God but not in the plenary sense.  40 years ago the county wide association of churches where I lived surveyed all the member pastors on their various doctrinal positions including their view of the Bible.  Only 25%, 1 in 4, held to the High view of Scripture.   The rest, 75%, held a wide range of positions.  Those who believe some of it was inspired by God admitted we can’t absolutely be certain which parts were.  Some even held that inspiration occurs as we read it and the meaning will change to match our need for the moment.   We’ll label that the low view of the Bible. 

People who hold to the low view will seek extra-biblical sources for guidance.  The traditions of their denomination, earlier Church leaders or leaders of different movements in Church history.  So, we end up with a number of theological traditions, Calvinism, Arminianism, Wesleyan/Methodist, Covenant, the Orthodox churches and so on. 

If you have not yet figured it out, I hold to the High View of the Bible.  I teach it as being God’s authoritative revelation to the Human race.  I believe we have to take what the Bible says at face value, the plain meaning of the words at the time they were written is the meaning we should assign to those words today.  That sounds good, but it is not easy.  Like everyone I’m a product of my culture.  The Bible says some things that are hard to hear, that go against my nature instincts.  But I’m also convinced that if I deviate from the plenary verbal inspiration view of the Bible I will end up with a distorted understanding of God.  And if I’m not clear in my knowledge about the person of God I open myself up to uncertainty and confusion on the most important matters about life now and in the future.  
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More on that in my next post.  

Almost all Evangelical Christian Churches will have in their doctrinal statement an assertion of their belief that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, without error and is the final or ultimate authority on matters of faith and life.      

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.   

There is also the validation by Jesus Christ who spoke of the O.T. Scriptures as God’s Word.  Christ also foretold that the Holy Spirit would guide the Apostles in their writings.  The Lord’s use of the O.T. Scriptures demonstrated that He believed even the words and grammatical structure of every sentence were exactly what God wanted to reveal. 

All of that is reflected in the sample doctrinal statement I listed above.  However, I’ve come to realize there is often a gap between the formally stated beliefs of a church and what is actually taught.  Everyone should be on guard against any misalignment between the ideals of their beliefs and what they actually practice and teach. 

We all have personal theology.  It is our understanding of who God is and the values we derive from that knowledge.  And many of those who study history and culture have concluded that no civilization or country has ever risen above their understanding of God.  I submit the same applies to the individual as well.  As I said above, almost every evangelical Christian claims to believe the Bible is God’s authoritative revelation to the world.  But when I talk to people I find out that many, if not most, do not read their Bibles.   

They read books by Christian authors, listen to music composed by Christian musicians and pay attention to what the Pastor preaches but spend very little time actually reading the Bible.  Their personal theology is a composite of what they hear rather what they have learned for themselves by reading the Bible.  Which I believe is why so many Christians are confused about the nature of God and their salvation. 

My personal view is the only way to overcome any such confusion is to be like the Jews in Berea. 
Acts 17:11-12 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks.  
Test what you hear against what you can read in the Bible.  And give priority to what the Bible says instead of what you hear.  That includes what I’m writing here.  You want to stand in truth. 
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John 17:17 Sanctify them by Your truth.  Your word is truth. 

The New Heaven and Earth as described in the Bible does sound like science fiction; especially the part about the New Jerusalem and the possibility it orbits the earth.  Hollywood has made a one movie, Elysium, that uses a similar story line of a better place to live hovering about the earth.  Elysium was taken from Greek mythology.  But I suspect there is a Biblical influence as well since the movie version has Elysium as a space station in orbit over the earth.  The main difference is the earth is still a dystopian mess.  Anyway, no matter how one interprets what God has revealed about the New Heaven and Earth it is future of unlimited possibilities and wonders that awaits everyone who has received Christ’s gift of everlasting life.  

The main idea I wanted to get across is that God has always intended for us to spread out into the universe.  It is why He made it so big.  A human population that continues to multiply itself forever needs that kind of space in which to live.  And Genesis 1 makes it clear that was God’s plan from the beginning.  It still is, only now God will move us to a New Heaven and Earth to complete it.  It will be Like the present universe but different in that it will endure forever and death will have been abolished.  It really will be a fresh start. 

My guess is He wants to remove all trace of our sinful rebellion.  Which helps to explain the amazing scope of God’s grace poured out on everyone who is born again through believing in Jesus Christ.  The first benefit Jesus spoke of was everlasting life (John 3:16).  The forgiveness of sin (Ephesians 1:7); no future Judgement for sin (John 5:24), imputed righteousness (Romans 4:5), sealed by the Holy Spirit Who is also the guarantee of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:12-13).  All of that and more is because Jesus Christ willingly took our judgement on Himself.  2 Corinthians 5:21 sums it all up well: For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

People believe many things about what lies beyond the Grave.  The thing about belief is that believing itself has no power.  Believing a lie will not alter reality, never has and never will.  Believing what is true is what brings the more harmonious outcome.  The reality is that when we die, we will either be with God or we won’t.  Being with God brings an everlasting abundant life.  To die without Him means the Lake of Fire.  I pray you will choose life with God. 
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John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.