2.1 Complexity and Contradiction

2.1 Complexity and Contradiction
© 2017 Christ Revealed Bible Institute

Paul used the phrase, “the simplicity of the gospel.” The gospel message is clear in its simplicity regarding calling on the name of the Lord and entering into a relationship with God through the blood of Jesus. The gospel message of our precious union with the Lord Jesus by the cross is also simple and clear.

The Bible as a whole, however, is an entirely different matter. In fact, if viewed as one book, the Bible may be the most complicated book possessed by mankind. The innumerable sects and schisms found in Christianity are, to a large extent, a reflection of the extreme lack of clarity in the Bible, that is, verses that say a variety of opposing things.

“Easy Explanations.” One of the greatest disservices done to students of the Bible is the insistence that the large contradictions in the Bible are easily explained. The problem with that insistence is that the “easy explanation” will always be the doctrinal position of the sect of the teacher, who will also explain how those who read the Bible differently are “deceived.”

I can use verses to prove that God loves you; I can use verses to prove that God hates you. I can use verses to prove that you must choose Christ; I can use verses to prove that God already decided whether you will choose Christ or not. All accusations of heresy do little more than pit one set of verses against another set of verses.

The Work of Theologians. From the second century of the church on, theologians have worked feverishly to solve the problems of the Bible. And the reasons they have done that are two-fold. First, theological explanations are required to resolve all the contradictions in a complicated Bible, and second, when untrained “lay persons” read the Bible, they run off with all kinds of “wild” ideas. For this reason, when Augustine wrote his defining text of On Christian Doctrine in the late AD 300’s, he explained that the only safe way for anyone to read the Bible was first to be grounded in correct Christian definitions of God, man, Christ, and salvation BEFORE they read one word.

Verses as Attack Weapons. You see, when two groups of Christians discover differing sets of verses on the same topic, they attack each other as deceived heretics and on a tribal basis. No one stops to realize that God, in fact, says both, or that both positions might be true together inside a paradigm in which neither tribe is living.

Let me give you an example, both of these are Bible verses. (A.) Choose you this day whom you will serve – or – (B.) you did not choose Me, but I chose you. Christians in Tribe A have actually killed Christians in Tribe B, and vice versa, simply out of anger against the others’ choosing to believe the “wrong” verse.

God Talks Too Much. There are a number of human reasons for the complexities and contradictions of the Bible and there is one large God reason for it. The God reason is that God talks too much, and He never stops talking. God speaks the universe into existence and sustains all things by words. God speaks through donkeys, through stones, and through the night sky. God talks and talks because God-talking is Jesus and God loves Jesus continuously. And just as God is an incredibly complex Being who will surprise us with new understandings of Himself every morning forever, so the Bible reflects the complexity and paradox of God.

Differing Speakers and Contexts. The problem on the human side is the wide range of Bible writers and speakers over centuries.  And each speaker or writer in the Bible had his or her own story. Some wrote in quiet peace, but many wrote in the press of great difficulty.

Paul wrote all of his letters within a fifteen-year time frame during which he traveled all around, was stoned, whipped, shipwrecked, and thrown in prison, more than once, etc.  Paul’s writing came out of a whirlwind of difficult events and out of a passionate and fiery soul. It is clear that Paul wrote Galatians on the spur of the moment and in anger, but Romans, written a couple of months later, demonstrates careful and quiet thought.

Paul Contending with James and Peter. As we look closely, we see that, of the New Testament writers, James was the first to write, in AD 42. James had no knowledge of Paul’s gospel when he wrote his letter. And Paul, writing Galatians in late AD 57, dismissed James and his ideas as inconsequential. In fact the thing that made Paul so angry was that he was plagued constantly as he shared his gospel by Christian Pharisees sent by James to check up on him and to set Paul’s converts straight on the “true” gospel. And Paul faced down Peter before the entire church of Antioch as being publicly false regarding the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul Contradicting Himself. Yet even among Paul’s several letters are stark contradictions. Over and over, if you preach on one verse from Paul as the truth, you will find yourself X-ing out of your Bible other verses from Paul. Or, if you are one who likes those “other” verses from Paul, you will be X-ing out of your Bible Paul’s verses that are preached on by the first.

Here’s the thing. Reading Sproul only might lead you to believe that there is a simple explanation of “the Bible” and that Sproul has that explanation. Yet I can show you, over and over, clear and explicit Bible verses that have no place at all in any of Sproul’s thinking. But all of this is not even close to the worst of it.

Bible Verses as Satanic Temptation. When Satan speaks, he mostly uses Bible verses. Before the serpent spoke in the garden, God had spoken eight specific things to Adam and Eve. The serpent used three of those eight words from God in his speech. When the devil tempted Jesus, he used Bible verses from critical Scriptures to lure Jesus into not trusting in the Father. And when unclean spirits followed behind Jesus proclaiming, “You are the Christ, the Son of God,” Jesus silenced them. True words coming through evil lips cannot impart the truth.

So much ruin, so much pain, so many destroyed lives, so many wars, so much bloodshed, have all come out of Bible verses.

No Answer for Opposing Verses. Now, you might think that I think that I am the one who has figured out the Bible. I have not; in fact, as I shared, I do not try to do such a thing. Of truth, often when I am writing about the glorious truths of God in one verse, I am well aware in the back of my mind of other verses in the Bible that do oppose what I am saying. And sometimes, I have no answer for those opposing verses.

In fact, there are New Testament verses that I am unable to promote. Here is one: Obey those who have the rule over you (Hebrews 13). In certain situations, this is God’s counsel, but Christian history will show you more lives than you can count destroyed by the evil one out from this one verse.

Who Is Correct? Sproul would leave you thinking that the “contradictions” of the Bible can be explained by wrongful interpretations. I receive R.C. Sproul as a brother in Christ in the same way that Jesus receives me. Yet if his method of interpreting the Bible were “correct,” I would never again open my Bible. Who, then, is “correct?”

I want to give you an understanding that is very important for your life in God. You will never find the right answer unless you first ask the right question. “Who, then, is correct” is the WRONG question. Any attempt to answer it will always lead to the wrong answer.

We Find What We Seek. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life (John 5:39-40).

All sects and divisions, all disagreement in doctrine, all wars in the church, all proclamations of “heresy,” come only inside the realm of those who “search the Scriptures,” convinced that if they figure out the Scriptures, they will have their hands on life. Look at what it is they “find,” including Sproul. They have found exactly what they seek.

I am simply overwhelmed at how few Christians find the Lord Jesus Christ in Person as they expound on “the Bible”; it’s because they are not looking for Him.