Discovering Bible Truth

The verse that we are looking at today is I Timothy 6:10.  This is another familiar verse that is quoted quite often.  You even here this verse quoted occasionally in movies.  It says:

For the love of money is the root of all evil… KJV

Most of us have probably heard this verse taught in line with the way that the King James Version translates it.  The way that the KJV translates this verse makes it sound like the love of money is the root of ALL evil…just as it reads.  The problem is that this translation is not accurate.  The verse should actually says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.  The New King James, English Standard, and New American Standard versions are accurate when they say:

For the love of money is a root of all kinds or sorts of evils…

The way we have heard this verse taught doesn’t even make sense.  Is the reason my 3-year old son doesn’t pick up his toys when I tell him to a result of him loving money?  Of course not!  The love of money is NOT the root of all evil, it is the root of all kinds or all sorts of evil.  With just a little study the true meaning is clear.  Let’s not be lazy in our study of Scripture.  Doing so leads to the abuse and misuse of Scripture.

READ OTHER POSTS IN THIS SERIES

Misused and abused Bible verses part 1- Hebrews 10:25

Misused and abused Bible verses part 2- Proverbs 29:18

Misused and abused Bible verses part 3- Proverbs 22:28

Misused and abused Bible verses part 4- II Chronicles 7:14

Misused and abused Bible verses part 5- I Thessalonians 5:22

Misused and abused Bible verses part 6- I John 1:9

Misused and abused Bible verses part 7- Deuteronomy 22:5

The verse that we are looking at today is Deuteronomy 22:5.  This verse may not be a big deal where you live, but for some reason in the south it is one of the most abused and misused Bible verses there is.  This is a case where Scripture has been twisted to match what people want to believe.  What is sad is that people are living their lives based on an inaccurate view of Scripture. 

Here is what the verse says:

The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

This is the proof verse that is used for saying that women should not wear pants.  That is not at all what this verse is teaching…there are so many ways to accurately dispute this interpretation that I’m not even sure where to begin.  Let’s start with the historical context.   At the time of this writing Israel struggled in two main areas, immorality and idolatry.  More specifically, at the time this was written Israel was battling with what to do with pagan temples and false priests.  Women were dressing as priests in the pagan temple and men were dressing as female prostitutes outside the temple.  They had statues built of pagan gods.  The statues were said to be of both sexes.  Sacrifices were offered to the statue by women dressed as priests.

God was telling them not to mix the pure with the impure.  Don’t mix the moral with the immoral.  Moses was combating the sin of transvestitism…cross-dressing and its immoral and impure application within the pagan temples. 

We can also see this teaching of not mixing the pure with the impure in the Scriptural context.   Look at verses 9-11.  Here is what they say:

You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or all the produce of the seed which you have sown and the increase of the vineyard will become defiled.  You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.  You shall not wear a material mixed of wool and linen together.

If verse 5 is actually teaching that women should not wear pants and people ‘obey’ that verse, why are verses 9-11 not also obeyed?  If you are going to misapply verse 5 you should be consistent and also misapply verses 9-11. 

The only teaching we have in Scripture about what clothes women are to wear is found in I Timothy 2:9.  Women are to dress modestly.  There is no verse that in any way teaches that women should not wear pants.  If you want to live by this extra-biblical standard…go for it, but PLEASE don’t try and make it a biblical issue…it simply isn’t one.  To make it one is to abuse and misuse Scripture.

READ OTHER POSTS IN THIS SERIES

Misused and abused Bible verses part 1- Hebrews 10:25

Misused and abused Bible verses part 2- Proverbs 29:18

Misused and abused Bible verses part 3- Proverbs 22:28

Misused and abused Bible verses part 4- II Chronicles 7:14

Misused and abused Bible verses part 5- I Thessalonians 5:22

Misused and abused Bible verses part 6- I John 1:9

I have had several people e-mail me with verses that they wanted to see included in this series.  So over the next five days we will be looking at another set of misused and abused Bible verses.  As I stated a few weeks ago, our goal should be to understand and interpret Scripture accurately.  Any meaning we give to a verse that is not in line with its intended meaning is an abuse and misuse of that passage. 

The verse that we are looking at today is I John 1:9.  I realize that this is a very familiar verse that is quoted quite often, but the context is often ignored.  The verse says “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Although we should confess our sins on a daily basis, that is not what this verse is teaching. As you will see, to apply that meaning to this verse is dangerous.  This verse is specifically talking about the forgiveness and cleansing that comes at the time of salvation, not daily confession.  There are two ways that we can know this.

First, we must look at the context.  In context this passage is clearly dealing with salvation.  Verse 5 tells us about the nature of God and that He is light.  Verses 6, 8, & 10 teach us about the nature of the unsaved and that they are living in darkness. Verses 7 & 9 show us the test of true salvation; confession and cleansing.  The way that we move from darkness to light is through confessing our sins (vs. 9) and being cleansed (vs. 7 & 9).  That is the only way to have the light of eternal life.

Second, we need to understand salvation.  At the moment of salvation we are forgiven, we are cleansed, and we are declared as righteous by God.  When God looks at us all He sees is the blood of Christ, not our sin.  The Bible actually says that our sins are remembered no more, they are cast as the far as the east is from the west.  They are gone on the basis of Christ’s perfect substitutionary sacrifice. 

At the beginning of the verse there is a conditional phrase: “If we confess our sins”.  This is the condition to being forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness.  If this verse is teaching that we need to confess our sins daily in order to be cleansed and forgiven, then the only conclusion that can be drawn is this:  As a Christian, if I don’t confess my sins today then I am not forgiven and I am not cleansed. 

I am going to state the danger of misapplying this verse bluntly.  If you blend the misapplication of this verse with the truth found in the doctrine of salvation that I mentioned earlier you are left with the teaching that you can lose your salvation.  Think about it.  If I am cleansed and forgiven forever at the time of salvation as the Bible teaches, and if this verse is indeed teaching that Christians need to confess their sins daily in order to be forgiven, then if I don’t confess my sins today I am not forgiven or cleansed…I must have lost my salvation.  That is the only way the misinterpretation of this verse can mesh with the truth of salvation.

Thankfully, that is not what this verse is teaching.  If we confess our sins then we are mercifully  forgiven, we are graciously cleansed, we are saved, we are declared as righteous forever.  Nothing can cause us to lose that salvation or that forgiveness.  We need to understand that seemingly small misapplications of verses can have very damaging consequences.  Let’s not misuse and abuse Scripture.

I was reading through Matthew 23:5-7; 13-32 where Jesus is lamblasting the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees.  As I was reading and looking at the above verses, I began to write down the characteristics of hypocrisy that are mentioned.  I thought I would share them with you. 

1. Hypocrites do what they do so they will be seen by others- vs. 5
2. Hypocrites love the place of prominence- vs. 6
3. Hypocrites love titles- vs. 7
4. Hypocrites hinder others from truly being saved- vs. 13
5. Hypocrites are greedy- vs. 14
6. Hypocrites are overly concerned with numbers- vs. 15
7. Hypocrites are deceptive and dishonest- vs. 16-22
8. Hypocrites major on the minor- vs. 23-24
9. Hypocrites are focused on traditional rituals- vs. 25-26
10. Hypocrites are focused on appearance- vs. 27-28
11. Hypocrites compare themselves to others- vs. 29-32

The verse that we are examining today is I Thessalonians 5:22.  This verse has frequently been interpreted as “abstain from all appearance of evil.”  The meaning that is assigned to this verse goes something like this: we should stay away from anything that even looks like evil.  Other than the fact that this is impossible to do, there are several problems with this interpretation.

First, it is simply not accurate.  The word that is translated ‘appearance’ actually means form, figure or kind.  It should say abstain from all kinds or forms of evil.  Out of the 10 commentators that I read,  not one of them holds to the view that we are to avoid the ‘appearance of evil’.  They all agree that the verse is teaching that we should avoid all kinds and forms of evil.  As Vincent says the word that is translated as ‘appearance’ is actually never used in “the sense of semblance [appearance]“.  It means form or kind. 

Second, when this verse is interpreted as ‘avoid all appearance of evil’ we then not only have to differentiate between right and wrong but also what may appear as wrong.  As Fausset says, “There is no intent to draw a contrast between appearance and substance in this verse.”   Christ died to save us from actual sin, not what some may view as sin.  It is our sin that separates us from God, not those things that others may view as looking like sin.  This truth can even be seen in the life of Christ.  Jesus healed the sick on the sabbath, ate with publicans and sinners, and even interacted with prostitutes, actions which bore the appearance of evil, but which were not to be abstained from on that basis. 

Third, as Christians our standard of right and wrong is based solely on Scripture…no one will argue that point.  If something is indeed wrong, it is wrong because the Bible says so.  When we attempt to avoid everything that even looks like evil, we are throwing that standard out the window.  We are no longer concerned with being obedient to Scripture…our focus is on what other people think.  Living based on the opinions of others either leads to legalistic living or liberal living…it never results in biblical living.  When this is our goal we no longer have a solid foundation of right and wrong.  We settle for a standard of right and wrong that is relative to the views of those around us. 

The truth of this passage is found when verse 21 and 22 are viewed together.  We are to test the teaching and practices that we see;  then we are to retain the good (vs. 21), and reject the evil (vs. 22).   Paul is reiterating a truth that is mentioned in Romans 12:9.  There he says, “Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”  What appears wrong to God…is wrong and is outlined as wrong in Scripture.  What appears wrong to others may or may not actually be wrong depending on that person.  I choose to live by the standard of Scripture; not by a subjective, wishy-washy, man-made, extra-biblical standard.  How about you?

Once again we are taking a look today at a Bible verse that is often abused and misused.  Again, let me reiterate that our goal should always be to understand Scripture in context and not twist the Word of God to make it say what we want.

The verse that we are looking at today is  II Chronicles 7:14-  This verse says “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  This is a very familiar verse that is used often in seeking spiritual healing for our country.  Their are two problems with this interpretation.  These problems are a result of misunderstanding two of the phrases in this verse:  “my people” and “heal their land”.

First, “my people” is referring specifically to the nation of Israel, not the Church…not modern day Christians.  Second, this passage is very specifically and clearly talking about a physical healing of the land not a spiritual healing.  To understand this context you must look at the previous verse (13) which states, “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people.”  God is not promising a spiritual healing of the land, He is promising a physical healing of the land which would include relief from drought, locust, and pestilence.

I am not saying that God will not spiritually heal America if Christians will turn to Him in prayer.  But this verse cannot be used as a basis for that belief.  To change the meaning from a physical healing to a spiritual healing, regardless of the reason, is a misuse and abuse of Scripture.

We are spending a few days and examining several different Bible verses that are commonly used completely out of context.  We are doing this with the goal of understanding these passages in their actual context.  We don’t want to assign a meaning to a passage of Scripture that it does not have…doing so is to abuse and misuse the Bible.

Before we look at the verse for today, I want to take a little time and talk about proper Bible study.  If you are not interesting in this, please feel free to skip to the next paragraph to see the verse we are examining today.  One person said that my interpretation of a verse that we looked at a few days ago was baseless, so I want to explain how these meanings are derived.  There are several components of context that must be studied and understood in order to have an accurate interpretation of a passage.  (1) Scriptural context.  This is how the verse or passage fits into the larger picture.  How does a verse fit with the paragraph, how does the paragraph fit with the book, and how does the book fit with the overall message of Scripture?  Who was this written to?  (2) Historical context.   This is what was going on in the world at that time.  Was this written during a time of war? Why was it necessary for this to be written?  What was happening in the Christian world?  Was there persecution,  growth of the church, false teachers, etc.? (3) Biographical context.  This is a more narrowed aspect of historical context.  It asks similar questions but about the authors and the readers.  The fact that Paul is in prison during some of his writings adds meaning to what he writes.  The fact that Christians were facing persecution adds meaning to Hebrews 10:25.  This must be studied.  (4) Grammatical context.  This deals with the literary styles, word studies, parts of speech, tenses, etc.  Each of these areas of context need to be studied and understood in order to have an accurate interpretation of a passage.  These misused verses that we are looking at are negligently abused as a direct result of one of these areas of study being overlooked.

With that being said, the verse that we are looking at today is Proverbs 22:28.  This verse says “Remove not the ancient landmark, which your fathers have set.”  This is a verse that is commonly used to talk about not moving from convictions and standards that we have set in our lives.  Or it is used to prove that people should not leave certain traditional aspects of our denomination.  That is a complete misuse of that verse.  In the Old Testament land-owners would mark the boundaries of their property with big stones that they called landmarks.  It was common for dishonest neighbors to gradually move their neighbors landmark/property boundaries in order to give themselves more land. 

This verse, and those like it, are teaching that it is wrong to steal from your neighbor…specifically his land.   Deuteronomy 19:14, Deuteronomy 27:17, and Proverbs 23:10  all show that this is referring to land that belongs to someone else, not personal convictions.   Even if you think that people should hold to their convictions and traditions, don’t twist Scripture to try and prove your point.  To do so is to abuse and misuse the Bible!

Yesterday I started a mini-series of posts all under the heading of Misused And Abused Bible Verses.  We are taking a look at verses in the Bible that are commonly used completely out of context.  As I stated yesterday our goal should always be to understand the Bible in context and hold to its biblical meaning not our man-made meaning. 

The verse that we are going to look at today is Proverbs 29:18 which says in the KJV, “where there is no vision the people perish…”  I have heard this verse used numerous times to say that leadership need to have a God-given vision and that when they don’t they are leading their churches to destruction.  This verse is not at all referring to a 5-year plan kind of a vision.   

The word “vision” refers to the revelation that a prophet would receive from God.  It is how God communicated in that time.  It was the method of transferring the word of God to the people.  It can very literally be translated “prophetic utterance”.  The word ‘perish’ is better translated “cast off restraint”.  The intended meaning of this verse is that when the people do not have God’s Word in their lives the result is that all restraint is cast off.  Without the Word of God in our lives all moral restraint is gone.

You may ask, ‘how do you know that the word vision refers to prophetic revelation?’  One way is simply the definition of the word that is used.  The second way is found in the text.  The second part of the verse says ”but happy is he who keeps the law.”  There is an invisible link between the word vision and the word law.  These two ideas are being contrasted and as a result the truths of each point are related.  On one side you have people who cast off restraint because they do not have any revelation (law) from God, and on the other side you have people who are blessed because they are obedient to the law (Word of God/revelation/vision).  The ESV has the best translation.  It reads, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.”

The way to be blessed and live in agreement with God’s Word is not through having a 5-year plan (vision), its through having more of God’s Word in our lives.  Again, let’s not misuse and abuse Scripture!

Over the next several days I will be taking a look at several different Bible verses that are commonly misused and abused in Baptist circles.  Our goal should always be to understand the Bible in context and hold to its intended meaning not our man-made meaning.

The first verse that I want to look at today is Hebrews 10:25.  It says that we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is.  This verse is commonly used to say that we need to be in church 3 times a week…every time the doors are open.  Pastors use this verse as a proof verse of church attendance.  It is used to guilt people into attending church at every possible opportunity.  I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be faithful to our churches.  I am saying that this verse is not at all teaching that and to use this verse in that way is to misuse and abuse Scripture.

In order to accurately understand the true meaning of this verse you must understand the context.  The book of Hebrews was written to Hebrew Christians…people who had left Judaism in order to follow Christ.  These were true believers in Christ who had left Judaism, in which they had been born and raised, to become followers of Christ…believeing that Jesus was the Messiah. 

As a result of their decision to follow Christ they faced tremendous hostility from their own people.  They were ostracized by their families and received persecution from neighbors.  They were facing real suffering and all of this persecution was a result of their belief in Christ as Savior.

The High Priest was even persecuting them.  He had all Christian Jews automatically banished from the holy places because they were considered unclean.

-          They could not go to the synagogue

-          They could not go to the Temple

-          They could not offer sacrifices

-          They could not communicate with the priests

-          They could not have anything to do with their own people

-          They were cut off from their own society

This was all happening because they believed and clung to the fact that Jesus was the messiah.  They were banished from every sacred thing they had ever known and this was tearing at them.

These Christians had not been saved for very long and were not mature enough to deal with this kind of persecution.  They were in danger of going back to their previous lifestyle…back into the patterns and practices of Judaism.   Many of them were leaving the church (the assembling of themselves) to go back to their previous ritualistic lifestyle.  They were saved, but due to persecution, they still hung on to the habits of the former lives.  They were having difficulty making a clean break …they were in danger of mixing the old with the new.  The writer of Hebrews is trying to get the readers to understand that they have no need to fear persecution….there is no need to go back into their former lifestyles.  The Christ they had committed to is above everything else…He is above the rituals, He is above the sacrifices, He is above the high priest, He is above the law.  He is above everything that their former lives represented.  They had no reason to respond in fear.  They needed to stay committed to Christ in the face of this persecution.

This verse is not teaching about church attendance.  It is teaching that we need to stay true to our faith in the midst of persecution.  We need to resist the urge to return to the sinful lifestyles we lived before committing to Christ.  Let’s not abuse and misuse God’s Word.

At our church we have spent a lot of time talking about the difference in the story of Christmas and the meaning of Christmas. It is easy to get caught up in the commercialism of the season and forget about the story of Christmas. To protect from this negligence many Christians will set out a nativity scene or read the Christmas story before opening their gifts, all in an effort to remember the “reason for the season”. (In reality all it is doing is easing their conscience.)

This, as valiant as an effort as it may be, is still not enough. It is not enough to simply remember the history of Christmas and to think about the story of the shepherds, wise men, Joseph, and Mary. We must take it a step farther and apply the story’s significance to our individual lives. Because of Christmas we have hope, we have salvation, we have forgiveness, we have comfort. Because of Christmas we can see God’s provision, His providence, and His sovereignty.

We often think about Christmas and Easter as two separate events, but in reality they are inseparable. Jesus is the only person ever born with the sole purpose of dying. And through that death we have all the things mentioned above. That is the meaning of Christmas.

The story of Christmas is memorable and enjoyable, but the meaning of Christmas is life-changing. Which is your focus?