God’s Word

I recall many years ago a discussion with a student who was a diehard Calvinist. He and several others were creating some disruption within our ministry by advocating for Calvinism. I told him that our ministry was about promoting Jesus, not a particular theologian or theology. He replied that he only taught the Bible. I reminded him there were many before Calvin and after that were astute biblical scholars who disagreed with Calvin.

I thought of this conversation this morning while participating in a small group Bible study at my church. We were discussing I Thessalonians 2. One thing that stood out to me was this verse: “And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.” (verse 13)

Whose word is it? Paul makes the distinction very clear. He lauded the Thessalonian believers for accepting the Scriptures as belonging to God. It is his Word, not anyone else’s. Like my former student, there are many who are eager to use the Word of God to say what they already believe. They pick out certain passages that seem to support their views and develop a theology or belief system around them. This was done in Paul’s day and continues to be done in ours.

It is so easy for us, mere humans, to approach God’s Word as a tool to promote what we already believe or a belief that resonates with us. I have had many conversations over the years where people are trying to convince me their interpretation is correct regarding salvation, baptism, women in leadership, homosexuality, to name just a few. What I typically have told them, regardless of their position, is that to reach a conclusion on what the Bible teaches on the subject, one must consider the whole of Scripture, not just a few passages. For example, those who say women should have no role in church leadership typically cite Paul’s directives to the Corinthians and Timothy. Yet, often passages such as those referring to Phoebe, Priscilla (Acts 18:24-26; Romans 16:3-5) , and Junia are not taken into account. Another example is regarding baptism. Many argue that baptism has nothing to do with salvation, but typically ignore passages that connect the two (Acts 2:38; I Peter 3:19-21 )

This is not to say that you have to agree with one or another position, but pulling out “proof texts” is the equivalent of making God’s Word actually your word because you are using it in a way that suits what you already believe or want to believe. However, if the Scriptures are truly God’s Word, then we need to approach them with great humility and without an agenda. We need to have hearts which are humble and open to being taught by God through his Word, wherever that may lead us. Instead of deciding what we want to believe and then search for the Scriptures that support that, we should instead read the Scriptures regularly and often and let them guide us into the truth. 

We still won’t always agree with others, but at least we can respect the fact that we are treating the Scriptures as belonging to God rather than just using it merely to support what we already have chosen to believe. 

© Jim Musser 2021 All Scripture references are from the New International Version, 2011.