Have you ever heard anyone say, “You can make the Bible say anything you want it to. It is all a matter of interpretation?” One of the obstacles to people embracing Christianity is the idea that Christians can make the Bible mean anything they want it to mean because of all the different interpretations of the Bible. In other words, Christianity is reduced to opinions and preferences about the Bible without a clear set of beliefs.
Let’s respond to this objection. The premise of this article is that God has made “the main things the plain things,” in the Bible. On these areas where God has made his truth clear, Christians do not take different interpretations. Let’s look at two ways God has made the teaching of the Bible clear and then see how we can understand the differences.
Surprise! Surprise!
The first thing to point out is that among Christians (Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox) there is a surprising amount of agreement on what the Bible teaches. In fact, there is far more that unites them than divides them regarding the Bible’s teaching. Jude expressed it as the “faith that was once and for all entrusted to God’s holy people.”
Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.
Jude 1:3
The truth of the Christian faith, which was entrusted to the church, has been passed down and clarified faithfully through the centuries. Here are a list a twenty truths which all Christians agree:
- The Bible is God’s revealed Word.
- God is the Creator of the heavens and earth.
- God is Triune (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).
- God is the Lord over history.
- Mankind fell into sin and is incapable of escaping from it or its consequences.
- God chose Israel out from among the nations of the world to be a light to the nations around it.
- God used Israel to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus.
- Jesus was born of a virgin.
- Jesus took on human nature as the incarnate second person of the Trinity.
- Jesus lived a sinless life of perfect obedience to the will of the Father.
- Jesus died on a cross as the sacrifice for sinners in order to provide forgiveness for our sins.
- Jesus rose physically from the dead.
- Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father.
- Jesus rules supremely over all of history.
- Salvation is based on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- Salvation is by grace and through faith in what Christ has accomplished.
- The Holy Spirit started the church on Pentecost.
- The church is the fellowship of God’s believers living in obedience to Christ.
- Jesus Christ will return personally and physically to bring his kingdom to earth.
- All humanity will stand before God to be judged.
The writers of scripture makes clear that certain truths stand out in importance. For example, Paul speaking of the resurrection of Jesus emphasizes the centrality of the belief:
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 15:17-20
John gives another example of the importance of holding to a central belief as seen in the incarnation of Jesus:
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.
1 John 4:1-3
Many more examples could be given. What is noteworthy to consider is that billions of Christians have held these beliefs in common for over the last 2000 years. We should be rather amazed by this startling level of unity. This faith that has been “once and for all entrusted” has and will continue to hold. This is a testament to the Bible’s clarity because the key truths of the Bible are all evident.
The Overarching Story of the Bible
SIX ACTS
Second, all believers in Christ agree on the story or plot line of the Bible. It can be broken up into six acts with Jesus Christ as the central character. The Bible was written over a period of 1500 years (1400 BC to 100 AD) with more than 40 writers, under many different empires, cultures and circumstances. As you move from book to book, you will detect differences in style, emphases and content. Yet, with all these contributing factors, it tells ONE STORY.
Act 1: The World’s Beginnings God created humanity in a world with flourishing beauty and life-giving abundance without anything to spoil it.
Act 2: Humanity’s Rebellion People rebelled from this original divine artistry and purpose. They traded life-giving abundance for a world governed by self-centered brokenness. The world descended into a moral fall in which it was impossible for humanity to recover alone.
Act 3: Israel’s Quest God stepped in to save his story and set in motion a plan to restore the world from this place of brokenness by taking one nation, Israel (from the descendants of Abraham), and setting them apart to be a light and guide to other nations. This was the dawn of restoration from brokenness.
Act 4: Christ’s Arrival At the height of this story, God sent Jesus to the earth: truly God and truly man who lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death on the cross, and rose to vanquish sin and the darkness of evil. He was the very standard of understanding how God viewed humanity; and how we should treat one another, and what true justice looks like. Through Jesus’ life and ministry, God’s restoration was breaking into our human experience.
Act 5: Christ’s Kingdom After Jesus had completed his work of demonstrating the power of love over all the brokenness caused by the world’s rebellion and evil, his followers are launched on a mission to expand this life-giving freedom and dignity to every corner of humanity, one conversation, one act of love, one wrong turned right at a time.
Act 6: Homecoming The final act tells us Jesus returns and restores what was not fixed and overthrows that which resists love and wholeness. This is the monumental ending to the story as well as the beginning of a new one which never ends in eternity.
JESUS IS the CENTER
The fulfillment and center of this story is Jesus. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, he appears to the men walking on the road to Emmaus. Though they were not aware of who was walking with them, the Savior opens their eyes to the reality of how the entire Bible points to his coming. As they were bewildered by recent events, Jesus gave this explanation.
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
Luke 24:25-27
The writer of Hebrews would emphasize the very same centrality that all of the Bible points to and is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
Hebrews 1:1-2
What About the Disagreements?
There is a lot that can be said as to what are the areas of disagreement and why we have them. Let’s list some important ones.
- Christians may agree on the meaning of passages but differ on how to apply them. One example may be the timing (when it should occur) and mode (how it should be done) of baptism. Yet, all followers of Jesus agree on the importance and need to practice baptism. Honestly, much of the difference does not come from interpretations of the Bible but traditions which have been practiced over time.
- Some may be more influenced by past tradition than what the Bible teaches. Those in this category will read past traditions into the passage. An instance of this is how some have grown up with an “altar call” at the end of the service, and when they see the word or idea of “altar” (e.g. Romans 12:1) in the Bible, they read their experience into it.
- Others may be guided by prejudices (not necessarily racial) and read those into the text. Someone may see a prohibition against tattoos in Leviticus. (Leviticus 19:28) Ignoring that this was a stipulation for the Old Testament Israel, the verse is still cited to confirm a prior dislike of tattoos, when really the Bible is silent on the topic.
- Not all scripture is equally clear. Some passages are harder to understand. The apostle Peter said this regarding some of Paul’s writings.
Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
2 Peter 3:15-16
As Peter states, some people will not take time to study at a deeper and more thorough level the difficult passages in the scripture. These people remain “ignorant” of what is being taught and then “distort” the truth.
There are more reasons we can provide. This is what is important to sum up. All scripture is inspired and important. Yet, not all the Bible has the same relevance. Isaiah 53 as the prophecy of Christ’s suffering has a lot more relevance than the genealogies of Israel in 1 Chronicles 1-8. What God has wanted to make undeniably clear, the scriptures speak with certainty. What is not as clear, followers of Jesus have the privilege to look deeper into God’s Word to mine the wonderful insights which God’s Word holds in store. Because God has made “the main things the plain things,” we can have confidence in the essential and life-giving truths of the Bible.
Story of Grace 