Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “Dealing with Difficult Passages”. This lesson gives us direction on our attitudes as we deal with difficult passages. Dealing with them, “honestly and carefully’ (Monday); “humbly” (Tuesday); with “determination and patience” (Wednesday); and “scripturally and prayerfully” (Thursday). On Sunday’s lesson, the quarterly gives some “possible reasons for apparent contradictions”. I believe that there are a couple issues for these difficult passages that the quarterly does not address. Allow me to elaborate.
One real reason for difficult passages is that the writers of the Bible were human. Inspired humans to be sure. But humans nonetheless. As EGW states,
”the writers of the Bible were God's penmen, not His pen. Look at the different writers. It is not the words of the Bible that are inspired, but the men that were inspired. Inspiration acts not on the man's words or his expressions but on the man himself, who, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, is imbued with thoughts. But the words receive the impress of the individual mind. The divine mind is diffused. The divine mind and will is combined with the human mind and will; thus the utterances of the man are the word of God” (1 Selected Messages pg. 21-2).
I hope this does not dismay any of you. That the words of the Bible are man’s words, reflecting the individual. For those who must have the Bible be the dictation of God, with man as an unthinking transcriber, this may be a cause of unbelief. May shake your faith. But the Bible is not dictated by God. And the Bible writers are not unthinking transcribers. So much so that the actual books of the Bible that form our “canon” were chosen (while so many other writings not chosen) by… the community of believers… by humans. Man is so much more involved in the formation of the Bible we hold in our hands than many may think. But I do not find this as a cause for unbelief. Just the opposite. God holds you and me in such high regard, that we (you and I) are a vital part of His redemption plan. Humankind are instrumental in reaching humankind. In fact, God Himself had to come as a human in order to reach humans. And coming this close to sinful humankind is to God’s honor, not to His detriment. Mankind is all too eager to separate God at a distance from sinners in order to maintain His Divine dignity, upon which God holds no store. His supreme Divinity and dignity involve His willingness and His desire to come to sinful man, just where sinful man is. And praise him for it! That is to God’s glory and honor and is why the Bible is written the way it is. God inspiring man… who then writes to His fellow-man… and who in the end decides which writings are worthy of inclusion in God’s Word. As quoted above, “the divine mind and will is combined with the human mind and will; thus the utterances of the man are the word of God”. Amen!
There is another reason for those difficult passages. A reason we often avoid. That God actually adapts to the situation at hand. We want God to act the same, say the same things, and mean the same things … always… in every situation. Yet Love (which is God, so says John) will adapt to the situation. Will adapt to reach and save all. Is this “situation ethics”? Call it what you may. But it is God’s way whatever you call it. His love at times is soft. Sometimes it is hard. Sometimes He holds people responsible. Sometimes He excuses people’s ignorance. But is not this what you would expect from our God who made us as individuals… who knows each individual intimately… who relates to each individually? Who made the Sabbath (and by extension all laws) for man not man for the laws? We so often want a God who is implacable, immovable. But God’s greatest glory, the glory of all heaven, is that He will come to the depths, even to die our death with us. This is God’s glory. And it is one of the causes for the difficult passages. Passages that seem to contradict each other. Because God adapts to the situation at hand. And praise Him for it!
With brotherly love,
Jim