WHAT GOD SAYS, NOT WHAT MEN SAY

Over the years I have talked with many people who cannot see the forest for the trees when it comes to understanding what the Bible says. They are so intent on finding some “profound” meaning in every passage that they fail to see what the words plainly say. In order to explain what I mean, think of a news report which says, “Last night a car ran off the road, hit a tree and caught fire”. There is nothing hard to understand about that report; it means just what it says. And, the Bible should be understood the same way! The Bible means just what it says. In fact, that is exactly what Paul was trying to tell us when he said, “We have not written anything to you, other than what you read or understand” (2Corinthians 1:13).

However, what would happen if people tried to interpret that “news report” the way many “interpret” Scripture. Instead of taking the words at face value they would strain at every word trying to find something profound in it. They would ask, “What model car was it? What year was it made? How fast was it going? What made it run off the road? What made it catch fire? Was anyone hurt?” And so forth. The more they thought about it the stronger the opinions would become. Then they would divide into groups, some with one opinion, some with another. Then someone would say, “What the news report says is all a matter of opinion, we need to tolerate different interpretations”. However, ask yourself: In the example given above, was the “news report” hard to understand, or were the people blinded to what it actually said? (2Cor. 4:4.) And, were they arguing over what it said, or over what it did not say?

Now, I realize that disagreements over what the Bible says are not always as trivial as those just mentioned. However, many are. And, they could be avoided if people would just stop trying to read more into the text than is actually there.