“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”
Having just finished reading Ecclesiastes and having read the first four chapters of Song of Solomon,, I can say that there are things in the Bible that can be difficult to understand, especially for new Christians. For what it's worth, my advice to new Christians has been to read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and get Jesus down real good, then read Hebrews to get the New Testament perspective on the Old Testament. I think, for example, that Leviticus would be very difficult for a new Christian to understand without having the New Testament perspective. However, we need to remember that the Lord provided a good resource to help all Christians understand the Bible -namely, the Holy Spirit. I have read it through numerous times, at least once a year for the last thirty or so years, and without the Spirit's guidance the Bible would still be a mystery to me. I am one of those narrow-minded Christians who believes that a person who does not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, cannot fathom the great truths of the Bible. Why? They do not have the Holy Spirit to help them. Years ago, I read that one of Madelyn Murray Ohair's sons read the Bible through in one night and rejected it outright. In the first place, if he read it through in one night, he could not have understood it. In the second place, if he started reading the Bible from the perspective of an unbeliever, he had already rejected the Bible before he read one word of it. That's why there are so many misunderstandings among the unbelieving populace about us. They do not understand why we put so much emphasis on the Bible, and take its word over the almighty "popular opinions." If you didn't know Jesus, you would be puzzled too. As Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church: "The man (or woman) without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14, NIV) We should not read this in a spirit of self-righteousness. It should be humbling for us to realize that because of our belief in Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we can understand God’s word. That answers the question about why the Bible is difficult to understand for an unbeliever. A believer, even a new one, has the Holy Spirit to help him or her understand the Bible. No one will ever understand the entire Bible, but everyone who believes can understand what they need to understand under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Frankly, there are things in the Bible that I put question marks by, not because I doubt what is recorded, but because I just simply cannot understand that particular text. I remember that when I was a young preacher I would answer people’s questions about the Bible whether I knew what it meant or not. As I have matured in age, and in faith, I confess that there are some things in the Bible that I just do not understand. The good thing is that I do not have to understand a particular verse of scripture for it to be true. As the old hymn, “When the Morning Comes,” tells us: “We will understand it better by and by…” Meanwhile, just keep reading God’s word and rejoice in the truth that it reveals. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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