by Jacob Ninan
The Bible is a precious gift that God has given to mankind in order to help us with our salvation and our life with Him. It is crucial that we make use of this gift to the maximum and get all the benefit which God has planned for us. At the same time, we need to make sure that we use it in the right way. Using the Bible in the right way can help us to get closer to God and live the kind of life that He wants us to enjoy. But misusing the Bible can get us into more problems, since our enemy, the devil, is waiting around to mislead and deceive us.
The three main aspects of the Bible
We can say that God has three distinctive goals in giving the Bible to us. The foremost purpose of the Bible is to reveal God to us. There are many religious books that are the result of different people's imaginations about God. But the Bible is a book where God reveals Himself to us and shows us what kind of a Person He is. These days some people think about God only as love. Some of them even assume that the God of the Old Testament was somewhat harsh and full of judgment and punishment, and that the New Testament shows Him as a loving Father who loves us, protecting, providing and taking care of us. But the description of God which we get from the whole Bible shows us that God is not only loving, compassionate, forgiving and kind, but also holy, righteous, just and impartial. We people also have different parts to our character, and different parts of God's character come out depending on what each situation requires. If we only think of the forgiveness of God and omit the part about Him being a Judge one day, we don't get to understand Him as a real Person. He provides salvation freely as a gift for people who repent, but will act as a strict Judge for others who turn away from His salvation and walk in their own ways.We must remember that God has not revealed Himself to us in the Bible in the form of systematic theology laid out in neat chapters. But He has revealed Himself in a progressive manner from the beginning of the Bible to the end. It is only as we read every part of the Bible and seek to recognise His personality behind everything that we begin to get to know Him. We also get to become acquainted with Him in real life through our real experiences as we begin to implement what He has taught us through the Bible.
The second aspect of what the Bible offers us is a history of God's dealings with mankind. This can broadly grouped as the story of creation, man's fall into sin, and the elaborate steps God undertook to provide redemption for us. Our salvation from sin is a major part of the Bible, showing us what all God has done for it and what we need to do in order to receive it and enjoy it. The Bible tells us how God created all that is in heaven and the earth and finally created man and placed him in it. The next important thing that is noted is how man sinned and fell away from God and caused all the suffering that we now see in the world. From there begins the description of what God started to do in order to bring man back to Him. As men began to become more and wicked, God decided at one point that things had gone too far, and the only way to stop this was to destroy the whole of mankind through a flood. He began a new line through Noah and family who came out of the flood by obeying Him. But then people began to go away from God even after this. Then God started a new thing by picking out one man called Abraham from his idolatrous family, taking him to a new place and starting a nation called Israel from his descendants. God's plan for the people of Israel was to make them an example to the other nations around them, by giving them special laws and instructions. But Israel also moved away from God and His ways, going after idols and living their own lives just like the people around them. Those who read the Bible till this point can recognise that there was not even one man who was totally righteous and that everyone deserved the judgment of God. It was at this point that God brought in His masterpiece.
God brought in the ultimate way to save people who could not keep His commandments but kept sinning one way or other all the time. This was salvation through grace – undeserved favour from God. Jesus the Son of God came to earth, lived as a Man and gave us a perfect example to follow. But then He died on the cross as the perfect Lamb of God, taking the punishment for the sins of mankind. Now those who recognise themselves as sinners, repent and come to receive this salvation from the Saviour can be forgiven freely and accepted as children of God. The Bible also describes what these born-again people should do to live the kind of life by which they can be increasingly set free from the power of sin in their lives and become transformed into the character of Jesus.
Thirdly the Bible talks about the future for mankind and this world. God tells us what He has prepared for those who return to Him and receive salvation, and also what judgment awaits those who refuse to humble themselves and return to God.
What God wants for us
God's constant aim is for man's welfare, to bring him back from where he has fallen, to where He has His best planned for him (Jer.29:11). When He offers man salvation, it is not just to give him forgiveness and again forgiveness, but to deliver him from the power of sin (1Jn.3:8). God gives grace not just for forgiveness, but also to transform man from all his bondage to the life of God (Tit.2:11,12). We can say that the Bible tells us how to receive free forgiveness from God for our sins, and then also about how we can live in an increasingly greater life of victory over sin. The Bible describes how it can equip us to live a godly life each day (2Tim.3:16,17). God uses His word which many human authors have written as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit, sometimes to correct or even rebuke us if that is what we need, and at other times to comfort, encourage and teach us. We must keep in mind that the goal of learning from the Bible is to be more and more filled with love for God and for all people. This cannot result from a mere intellectual study of the Bible, or discussing among ourselves what each of us thinks about it, but ensuring that we keep a pure heart, good conscience and a sincere faith (1Tim.1:5-7).One way people go wrong
As we read in the above passage, what we can also see around us is that many teachers and preachers are moving away from this focus to wanting to be known as great teachers. For example, they take hold of some Hebrew or Greek word and start novel ideas that turn people's attention with discussions that do not lead to godly lives. We should not be taken up with such discussions even if these teachers are Bible scholars or other kind of 'experts'.How we ought to respond to the word
What we should do is to study the Bible in depth, meditate on what we learn, and see how God wants to mould our life to become more like Him. Our 'hope of glory' – to become like Jesus in His character – comes from allowing Christ to dwell in our heart (Col.1:27). Christ dwells in the deepest part of our being, our human spirit. If we submit to Him, He can change us in our soul which is another name for our mind where we think, feel and make decisions. Finally, the outermost part of our being, our body, can do externally what He wants us to do. God works inside us to give us the desire and the ability to do His will, and then we work this out in our mind and body (Php.2:12,13). This needs to affect every part of our life, even to the level of eating and drinking for the glory of God (1Cor.10:31). Just imagine, on the contrary, if we study the Bible and all it results in is to fill us with scholastic ideas which we can discuss with others, and it does not produce any practical transformation of our life that Christ wants to give us!How we stray from the Bible
It is sad to see, but we see all around us across the world preachers, teachers and writers bringing out new ideas that sound interesting, novel, and impressive as they come with Bible quotations and Hebrew and Greek meanings, backed by great academic qualifications. The problem is that many of these teachings are not aimed at making us more godly. Paul warns us to reject teachers who bring 'strange' doctrines that are not 'healthy' (producing godly lives) (1Tim.6:3,4). Our challenge is to discern this difference as we read or listen to them.Example 1
Paul says clearly that Christ is the head of every man, the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ (1Cor.11:3). This has now become a very controversial subject, and many people do not recognise this hierarchy between a husband and his wife, saying that they are both equal and that they should submit to each other! The word 'egalitarian' has become very popular in this context! Of course, it is clear that men and women are equal in value before God (Gal.3:28), and that in eternity we will all be like the angels - without marriage relationships or this hierarchy (Matt.22:30). But what Paul is saying here is about the arrangement on the earth now, where this hierarchy has been put in place to bring order into the relationship. For 2000 years of church history there was no argument on this subject, and women have been following the practice of covering their head in the church as a sign of recognising this authority over them. But this has changed in the recent times, and now churches who follow this instruction are becoming rare.One argument that some people hold against this practice is that this must have been a special practice in the local church in Corinth that dealt with some women who were disrespectful to their husbands. This does not hold, because Paul clarifies that other churches did not have any other practice in this matter (1Cor.11:16). Actually Paul told the wives in the church at Ephesus also to be subject to their husbands (Eph.5:22). He told the church at Colosse also the same thing (Col.3:18). So, what we see is that this was Paul's uniform teaching for all churches. But then, some others point out that Paul was unmarried and that he might have been a male chauvinist! If so, how is it that Peter taught the same thing in his letter, quoting the example of Sarah submitting to Abraham (1Pet.3:5)?
We can understand what is going on if we look at the timing of this new emphasis on the equality of women with men which changed the practice of 2000 years. It began when the feminist movement began to enter Christian homes and the churches and claim that women could do whatever men did. Now women not only wanted 'equality' at home, but they also wanted to become pastors, teachers, apostles, etc.! When the pressure became powerful and any one who opposed it was getting labelled as regressive, Bible scholars started finding new interpretations of verses to support the feminists.
We proclaim that the Bible is the inspired word of God for all time, but when some people put on pressure saying that we should adapt the application of the Bible to the practices in the society, we comply. Move with the times, they say!
Example 2
When God started the arrangement called marriage with Adam and Eve, one of the instructions He asked them to pass on to the coming generations, even though it was not applicable to that first couple (!), was that when a man and woman got married, they should "leave their parents, cleave to each other and become one" (Gen.2:24). (Even though this is literally addressed to a man, I think this is a case where man is used generically to represent man and woman.) Without this leaving, there cannot be a proper cleaving, and without this cleaving, they cannot actually become one. They need to realise that now they are starting a new family and not an extenstion of their parents' family, and their responsibility and loyalty should move to the new family. Without this kind of commitment and importance given by both people to each other, there will be much scope for conflict about standing with the parents or the spouse. Thousands of years later, Jesus affirmed that the principle remained valid (Matt.19:5).Too frequently this conflict is there in many marriages, because people think they are wiser than God when it comes to practical things! When two people get married, their spouses are less familiar to them compared to their parents, and it is easier to take the side of the parents. Parents are also unwilling to let their children 'leave them' and start building their new family.
Example 3
Around the 1950s, a new idea came up in psychology that children had their own unique personalities and that they should be allowed to develop them naturally. In other words, parents should not try to fit the children into their own moulds by forcing the children to follow the parents' beliefs and practices. This idea was taken up by many parents across the world, and children began to be given maximum freedom to do whatever they wanted. I suppose the parents also felt relieved that the responsibility for training the children was taken off from them! Years later we can see how this has affected people!Children have a great potential for good or evil, depending on the direction they take. And that depends a lot on how the parents point them. The responsibility for training the children rests mainly on the parents (Prov.22:6), and the parents should not imagine that they can pass it on to the Sunday School, school, babysitters, teachers, etc. The Bible has actually a lot to say about training children, and let me point out some verses. Parents who love their children will pay much attention to disciplining them, and leaving them without paying attention to discipline is the same as 'hating' them (Prov.13:24). This verse mentions the use of a rod for disciplining children, and sometimes, depending on the seriousness of the situation, a rod may have to be used. But we should not get sidetracked by the subject of using a rod and miss the whole emphasis on discipline itself! We must also remember that the so-called discipline given to the children because the parents are angry or frustrated can amount to child abuse. No, discipline must only be done out of love for the children, aimed at training them in the right direction. Children, like us, are born in sin and begin to exhibit their sinful tendencies early in life. This sinful tendencies are 'bound to them' and it requires proper and steady discipline to lead them in a good direction (Prov.22:15). Some parents simply assume that their children are too small for discipline, and so they wait till they grow up. But then it may become too late (Prov.23:13). Finally, the Bible warns us that if a child is left to himself, or the parents yield every time to his demands, he will ultimately bring shame to the family (Prov.29:15). This is the exact opposite of this piece of advice from psychology which I have quoted. Even though the Bible is very clear on this subject, many Christians still prefer to listen to the 'experts'.
These experts have their role, and sometimes we may need their help for dealing with some issues. But we should not allow any expert to go above God's instruction for us, or to contradict it.
"The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your possessions, acquire understanding" (Prov.4:7). This wisdom comes from God, and is usually given through the Bible. To get this wisdom, we have to read the Bible again and again, study it, meditate on it and realign our life according to it. The more wisdom we get, the more we see how it contrasts with the wisdom of this world, and the more we will get discernment and understanding.