Is the Bible Open for Interpretation?

From a Sunday school lesson, I had to expound after some prayer and research. We discussed the bible and its relevance, and also about interpreting the scriptures. There was great discussion with many opinions. Ultimately, it came down to what people had in mind for themselves. Now I am not challenging that because I am not God (Praise HIM!), nor do I truly believe my opinion is any better than any one else’s.

However, I have been seriously contemplating this topic since that session, and I had to look up some things. I consulted some lessons by John MacArthur and Perry Stone for some help. I merely felt the need to get this down while it is fresh in my heart.

Without doubt or question, I have come to the following conclusion:
I believe and testify (to believers and not) that the Bible is the inspired and authoritative Word of God. It is infallible and inerrant in its message and scope, and it is sufficient in its content and context for any one of my needs of faith.

I used to think differently, based on what I heard the world teach; that it was just a book of stories and fables with valuable lessons for an open interpretation. And that is where I believe the question, or rather “problem” of interpretation comes in. Our society has been inundated with so many different impressions from so many sources, both theological and secular, that it’s like when a goldsmith ads extra ingredients to gold to lessen its purity which cheapens it both in appearance and substance. The doctrinal differences based on biblical interpretation in the denominations are just like those impurities in blended gold. In 1 Timothy 1:3-7, Paul actually instructs Timothy to charge other believers not to stray from the teachings of the scriptures. The point is so that the primary focus be on what God’s Word says rather than that which causes dispute.

The bible actually has the answers to the questions and doubts we have about its relevance and value.

THE BIBLE
“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.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-7

ON THE WORDS OF THE APOSTLES
“For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” - 1 Thessalonians 2:13

ON PROPHESY IN THE BIBLE
“And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” - 2 Peter 1:19-21

ON THE PERFECTION OF SCRIPTURE
“And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.” – Luke 16:17

ON THE SUFFICIENCY OF THE BIBLE
“For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” - Revelation 22:18-19

ON THE NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE
“Oh, how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
For they are ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the ancients,
Because I keep Your precepts.
I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.
I have not departed from Your judgments,
For You Yourself have taught me.
How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.
Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.” - Psalm 119:97-105

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” - Hebrews 4:12

How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to Your word.
With my whole heart I have sought You;
Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You. - Psalm 119:9-11

Ultimately, the bible is a mosaic revelation of Jesus Christ and His part in the Holy Trinity:

In Romans, Paul calls it the mystery of the Godhead.

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” - Romans 1:20

The Holy Trinity isn’t something that came about with birth of Jesus or His death on the cross. Nor did it come about with the writing of the New Testament. The truth of the Holy Trinity goes back to before the beginning of time as we try to understand it. But for the sake of definition, it is actually mentioned in the very first three verses in the Bible.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, `Let there be light’; and there was light.” - Genesis 1:1-3

(v.1) “God created the heavens and the earth.” This refers to God the Father.

(v.2) “…the Spirit of God was…” This refers to the Holy Spirit.

(v.3) [the WORD of] “…God said, `Let there be light’.” is about Jesus, the Son.

Remember that the sun, moon and stars were not created and there was darkness until day four. Why then does God call for light on day one?

It really isn’t the archaic mystery so many think it is.

Let’s take it from the time of Jesus’ earthly life.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. - John 1:1,5

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” - John 9:5

Get the connection? In the beginning of Genesis we are exposed to God and the Holy Spirit by name. In Genesis 1:3, God speaks and makes light. God’s Word becomes Light.

Genesis 1:3 is the revelation of the Word who was Christ.

We absolutely saw two of the three in the Holy Trinity by name. Because there is mention of a third faction, this completes the triune concept. Therefore, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are right there in the beginning AS God.

Still wondering how I make the connection between Genesis 1:3 and Jesus?

“And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth.” - John 1:14 (Amplified Bible)

“The WORD became flesh.” In other words, God’s Word has been Christ Jesus from the beginning. And since God’s Word IS Christ, isn’t it right to say that the bible, which is also called God’s Word, is a part of that Holy Union and therefore cannot be OPEN to interpretation, but rather application? When believers read and interpret the bible with an “open mind,” isn’t that where Satan’s influence can come in? After all, when the serpent approached Eve in the Garden of Eden, didn’t he challenge God’s word by challenging the interpretation of what God said (Genesis 2-3)?

“Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’.” – Genesis 2:15-17

And now comes the interpretation:

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?
‘And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die’.’
“Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’.” – Genesis 3:1-5

Do you see the difference in what God told Adam and what Eve told the serpent?

God to Adam: Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

Even to the serpent: We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.

And no, I am not trying to lay the fall on man only on the woman Eve. Because somewhere in there, Adam relayed God’s command to Eve with his interpretation and/or Eve interpreted what Adam told her. And Satan took that and helped Eve’s “open mind” interpret God. WE JUST CAN’T DO THAT. We need to take God at His Word.

So where do we draw the line? Where does God’s word actually stand?

The bible is the divinely inspired, perfectly sufficient, absolutely infallible and inerrant, wonderfully designed, and practically applicable Word of Almighty God. No ifs, ands or buts. Period.

Thanks for your time and attention.

May God receive all Honor and Glory for His purpose. PRAISES BE TO GOD!

Founding Word: Solving The UFO Mystery

The following is an audio expose about the modern day fascination with UFOs and how they are related to teh Christian world view

You can hear more from Josh Allem's Founding Word HERE.




Genesis 6:2-4 – “the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the LORD said, ‘My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.’ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.” (ESV)
The sons of God, identified elsewhere almost exclusively as angels (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7), saw and took wives of the human race. This produced an unnatural union which violated the God-ordained order of human marriage and procreation (Gen. 2:24). Some have argued that the sons of God were the sons of Seth who cohabited with the daughters of Cain; others suggest they were perhaps human kings wanting to build harems. But the passage puts strong emphasis on the angelic vs. human contrast. The New Testament places this account in sequence with other Genesis events and identifies it as involving fallen angels who indwelt men. Matthew 22:30 does not necessarily negate the possibility that angels are capable of procreation, but just that they do not marry. To procreate physically, they had to possess human, male bodies. The word nephilim is from a root meaning “to fall,” indicating that they were strong men who “fell” on others in the sense of overpowering them. They were already in the earth when the “mighty men” and “men of renown” were born. The fallen ones are not the offspring from the union in Genesis 6:1,2.
- MacArthur, John Jr: The MacArthur Study Bible. electronic ed. Nashville : Word Pub., 1997, c1997, S. Ge 6:2, 4

Does Obama Truly Mock the Bible?

Obama & Religion

The following TV ad has hit the news again:


The phrases spoken by Obama here are extracted from the following:

“Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.

And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson's, or Al Sharpton's? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application? So before we get carried away, let's read our Bibles. Folks haven't been reading their Bibles.” – Barack Obama, Washington, D.C., June 28, 2006

First of all, Barack Obama is obviously NOT anywhere near an expert on religious matter… especially Christian faith and the bible. However, there are a few statements here where he isn’t so far off – he just doesn’t understand their implications.

“no longer just a Christian nation” – Even though there are many faiths and religious practices in America today, this is STILL a Christian nation. The founding fathers intended for the Christian faith to be the faith of the people. Yes, there were and are other religions practiced. And yes, they knew that there would be. But the Almighty God of the Christian faith is the God referred to in all national art, architecture, government documentation. Words like blessings, providence and divine have been used in federal and state documents of state to refer to and honor the God of the Christian faith. We ARE a Christian nation and God deserves ALL the glory for that.

“Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok” - Let’s look at the passage in Leviticus Obama is referring to:

“As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.”

Yes, the bible condones slavery… in a certain context, not as Whoopie Goldberg would have us believe.

Please understand that I do not condone slavery at all in our society or any other in the world today. As referred to in Leviticus, slavery was considered a humane option for enemies of the Hebrews who would be either destroyed or banished to a certain cruel death in a brutal wilderness. There were also slaves who were the Gentiles that either followed the Hebrews in the Exodus from Egypt or joined them along the way. The “humane” aspect of this was that a bondservant was the complete responsibility of the owner. That means that the slave had to be fed, clothed and sheltered by the owner. The slave owner was to protect the slave and the slave’s family as a member of his own family and the Levitical laws were to be applied to slaves as well. Again, this is not an endorsement, just an explanation of biblical history.

“eating shellfish is abomination” – Leviticus does describe eating shellfish as an abomination.

“But anything in the seas or the rivers that has not fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is detestable to you.” – Leviticus 11:10

Again, let’s look at the context. The MacArthur Study bible says, “All of the reasons for the prohibitions are not specified. The major points were: 1) that Israel was to obey God’s absolute standard, regardless of the reason for it, or the lack of understanding of it; and 2) such a unique diet was specified that Israel would find it difficult to eat with the idolatrous people around and among them. Their dietary laws served as a barrier to easy socialization with idolatrous peoples. Dietary and hygienic benefits were real, but only secondary to the divine purposes of obedience and separation. (MacArthur, John Jr: The MacArthur Study Bible. electronic ed. Nashville : Word Pub., 1997, c1997.) But Christians, as Obama claims to be, know that the Levitical laws are covered by the sacrifice or and their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Again from John MacArthur, “More than just abolishing the Old Testament dietary restrictions, God made unity possible in the church of both Jews, symbolized by the clean animals, and Gentiles, symbolized by the unclean animals, through the comprehensive sacrificial death of Christ. (MacArthur, John Jr: The MacArthur Study Bible. electronic ed. Nashville : Word Pub., 1997, c1997.)

“stoning your child if he strays from the faith” – Verses in Deuteronomy about stoning children don’t say anything about straying from the faith. However, for a child to get as bad as described, faith would have been lost because obedience to the Fifth Commandment was shunned by the child.

“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”

What Barack Obama doesn’t seem to understand that the parents would have been raising this child as commanded by God. That included all sorts of effort after effort and effort to discipline him to eliminate his rebelliousness. When that wasn’t able to be done, then the evil the child had become had to be eliminated and that included the child himself. Another thing Obama doesn’t seem to understand that with this verse as with the Leviticus reference, those laws apply to Jews, not Gentiles. So they wouldn’t matter to which Christianity was followed. Furthermore, Jesus came to fulfill those laws by His grace and glorious sacrifice.

“the Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application” – I don’t even need to reference anything to answer this one. But here is a link to the Sermon on the Mount.

If the people of this world were all followers of Jesus Christ and obeyed the Ten Commandments and practiced the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, there would be no need for a Defense Department in any nation.

Barack Obama was being rhetorical in his statements. But when discussing the bible, why be rhetorical? We are commanded to spread the Gospel of Christ and using the bible is one of the very best ways. Obama may not have been intentionally mocking the bible, but in his ignorant ramblings, along with plenty of other liberal positions he touts by using the bible (out of context) to justify those liberal positions.

Christ was not a liberal or conservative. Nor was he democrat or republican. Jesus is the Lord and Savior of the universe and no matter who wins whatever election is being held, it is Jesus who is the master of all!