Tag Archives: Interpretations

Couldn’t You be Deceived?

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Intellect Worship

The human mind wants control. It brings arguments against Divine revelation. The argument is that you could be deceived if you look to God for Divine revelation. The reality is that there are only two alternatives to Divine revelation. One alternative is the fallen human mind, one’s own or other’s, that is deceitful and desperately wicked. The other alternative is demonic deception. The two alternatives to Divine revelation assure deception. Yet, the problem of Divine revelation is indeed discerning the difference between Divine revelation and these other sources. Both of these sources try to mimic Divine revelation or else to denigrate it.

Regarding Divine revelation, here are some of the arguments that are used by Secularists:

  • Your own mind could be deceiving you.
  • A demon could be deceiving you.
  • You must process that Divine revelation using your own mind. You don’t get it directly.

As far as demons, they are real and they are deceptive—as is the human mind. For that reason, demons and the failings of human intellect are really the same problem. In fact, if Divine revelation depended on human intellect, we would indeed be lost. There would be no scientific progress, because there could be no knowledge at all. However, discernment is not a matter of intellect. It’s the matter of the sovereign impartation of something that is called “faith” to those who acknowledge God when He’s speaking.

To clarify, God defines “faith” for us. It is not conceptual. It’s part of reality. It’s absolute proof. It’s certainty. It is progressive. It gives access into God’s grace, which is the power of God for righteousness. Grace is the free gift of righteousness.

For these reasons, Neither Münchausen’s trilemma nor Descartes’ demon present a problem for Divine revelation. They do present a problem for theological positions that add anything to what God is saying. It’s very easy to make assumptions. Assumptions are often hidden with various smokescreens. Münchausen’s trilemma and Descartes’ demon do present a problem for all Secularists. In fact, as skeptics argue for disbelieving everything or disbelieving God, the skeptic falls prey to both the trilemma and the demon.

A chain of thought is only as strong as its weakest link. An assumption is an unknown that’s treated as a known. Assumptions have no place in a premise. To put them there is irrational.

Divine revelation is ongoing and progressive. God has revealed that if any person thinks he or she knows anything, that person doesn’t know it as it ought to be known. In other words, there is room for correction by the Holy Spirit. The entire issue of Divine revelation isn’t to prove one person right and another person wrong. Divine revelation has much more to do with having a relationship with God than being the one who is correct. In that relationship and in the humility and openness to correction of the human, the Holy Spirit with teach, correct, and lead.

As far as deception is concerned, we can all be deceived. God has promised that if we ask for bread (a type of Christ), God won’t give us a stone (a type of the human intellect). If we ask for a fish (a type of Christ), He won’t give us a serpent (a type of Satan). Yet, we do get confused. If we continue to seek God, He will lead and correct us. When we think that we’ve arrived or we think that we know certain things, we stop seeking Him. We become stiff necked and dogmatic. The Holy Spirit won’t force Himself on anyone, so we get spiritually stuck. We know many things, but we don’t know any of them as we ought. We need to be open to correction.

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Theological Constraints

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God Is Here to Teach

I used to think that God gave us the Bible and sort of an intermittent leading of the Holy Spirit, mostly leading us to try to figure out the Scripture with our human minds. I thought that God was leading me in a greater understanding of His word and leading me to apply this understanding in my life. At that time, I defined “understanding” as a construct of theology. The problem was that it was me applying a theological construct in my life rather than me submitting to the Holy Spirit as He led and taught me moment by moment, bringing Scripture to mind as it applied or reaching me through my conscience and giving me the faith of God which gives me access to God’s grace, then submitting the members of my body to His Anointing so that He does His works through me. Instead, I was trying to think His thoughts, say His words, and do His works by human effort rather than the moving of the Holy Spirit. This resulted in me trying to figure out the Scripture with my fallen human mind and to apply it to my life on a moment-by-moment basis using my fallen human mind. That didn’t work. It frustrated the grace of God.
 
One thing that God has shown me very clearly is that the human mind can’t be trusted. It’s deceitful and desperately wicked. While Christians are supposed to moving from glory to glory, we have not yet arrived at the full completion. I know that every denomination claims to have arrived. One says that they “teach the Word of God in its truth and purity.” Another says that it is the “full gospel.” Yet, God has much more for us all. He says, “Call unto me and I will answer thee and show you great and mighty things which thou knowest not.”
 
Every human mind is in the condition of being deceitful and desperately wicked. Mine is no better than yours. Groups of people of like minds bind together, but that doesn’t make their group-think any better than anyone else’s group-think. If we make a single assumption while interpreting Scripture, we have added to God’s Words. Rather, the Holy Spirit speaks to us through Scripture and through every means of speaking to us that He mentions in Scripture. He will correct us. Yet, we can resist His correction and yet remain Christians. Not only can we, but we do.
 
Every one of us has a worldview, a paradigm. That paradigm is a fake reality. It seems just like real reality. In fact, it seems more real, to us, than real reality. By it, we filter real reality, accepting some things that God is showing us and rejecting others. Worldviews, are conceptual. They are not reality. Part of your worldview and part of my worldview is our concept of Scripture. Related to that is a part of our worldviews that consist of our theologies. Theologies are always conceptual. They are not reality. They seem real, though. Often, theologies seem as if they were Scripture itself. They are not. They are conceptual frameworks that filter what the Holy Spirit can tell us through Scripture. When a brother or sister in Christ says something by the Holy Spirit that conflicts with our inner worldviews, it often seems to us as if they are saying something that conflicts with Scripture. We might even accuse them of saying things that conflict with Scripture when the Holy Ghost has merely challenged our worldviews. This is our plight. Yet, there is hope. Only the Holy Spirit can set us free from our theological frameworks where they conflict with real reality–however, our fallen natures resist Him. This is very similar to what happens to Scientists when they are looking at the Creation. They fill in the blanks from their worldviews. Their assumptions actually come out of their worldviews. However, they add to what God is saying through Creation just as assumptions from theological worldviews can add to what God is saying through Scripture. Peer reviews don’t work for scientists who limit their peers to those who agree with their own scientific theories. In the same way, peer reviews don’t work for Christians who limit their peers to those who agree with their own theological constructs. I have found that the Holy Spirit instructs me that I must hold my own theology loosely enough that the Holy Spirit is able to correct me and teach me. As Jesus said, “You can’t put new wine in old wineskins.”

 

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Sola Scriptura

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The discussion has shifted from when Martin Luther asserted Sola Scriptura. Now, the discussion is not whether Scripture is the authority. The discussion is concerning the scope of that authority and the interpretation of Scripture. Oh, there are some who declare (by unsupported assertion) that the Bible is not authority, but they aren’t credible. Their arguments aren’t rational. Making the matter more difficult, most people don’t realize that interpretation, by its very nature, adds to Scripture. There are three ways to interpret Scripture. Scripture can be interpreted by the human mind. It can be interpreted by demons. It can be interpreted by the Holy Spirit. Thankfully, Jesus promised that no one who asks for the Holy Spirit will receive anything else. God tells us, through Paul’s writings, that we only know in part and that, if we think we know anything, we don’t know as we ought. That means, we need to hold our interpretations loosely enough that the Holy Spirit will be able to correct us.

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Sola Scriptura

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Sola Scriptura: “Scripture alone as authority.” “Scripture alone is the inspired, inerrant Word of God, not the traditions of men or even the Church.”

Some have twisted sola Scriptura to mean that the Scripture is the only way that God speaks. However, Scripture doesn’t say that Scripture is the only way that God speaks. God, speaking through Scripture, tells us that Scripture is not the only way that God speaks. In fact, we can’t know that Scripture alone is the inspired, inerrant Word of God unless God reveals this to us, and God doesn’t specifically say this in Scripture. He says that Scripture cannot be broken. He says that Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Some have implied that this means that Scripture is they only way that a servant of God may be equipped for every good work. That would be to leave Christ out of the matter. In this way, a dedicated Atheist who studies Scripture so he can claim that God doesn’t exist is being equipped for every good work. If Scripture is all that is needed, that would be the result. It’s true that no one can read Scripture or hear it being read without interacting with the living Christ, but rejection is also an interaction. Acknowledgement of the Christ must occur, not just acknowledging that the Bible exists. The Holy Spirit revealed which books belong in the cannon of Scripture and He has revealed that Scripture alone is the inspired, inerrant Word of God, not the traditions of men or even the Church.

Sola Scriptura is one of five solas that Martin Luther received by the Holy Spirit. None of the solas stands on its own. The solas are interdependent. For instance, if we declare that Scripture alone holds the key to knowing certain things, we need to know why Scripture alone holds the key. If Scripture is the foundation, what is the foundation of Scripture. The foundation of Scripture is the Writer of Scripture, the Triune God. He is the One Who wrote Scripture. He is the only One Who can interpret Scripture. He tells us, through Scripture, that Scripture can be falsely interpreted by Satan or by the human mind. It can be twisted.

It seems that every person who has a strongly held opinion about a certain interpretation of Scripture considers his or her opinion to be the right opinion. That person will consider any other interpretation to be a form of twisting Scripture. Some twisting of Scripture is obvious. Often, you end up with two theologians each accusing the other of twisting Scripture. Both of them have added to Scripture through interpretation. Interpretation, by it’s very nature, must add to Scripture.

This is a quote from a theologian:

But the Bible says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17, emphasis added). This means the man of God needs no outside help to mature. The Bible alone is sufficient for faith and practice. By it alone we can know what Jesus desires of us.

Adding to God’s words goes like this: God said A. This means B. B is not A. B is a modified version of A.

In this case, adding to God’s words goes this way. God says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17, emphasis added). This means “The man of God needs no outside help to mature. The Bible alone is sufficient for faith and practice. By it alone we can know what Jesus desires of us.”

Let’s test this. Suppose that a young person is considering two different careers. One is the career as a Java programmer. The other is a career as a Dot Net programmer. Where, in the Bible, do you look for the answer? You aren’t allowed to pray to God for guidance in the issue, remember. Remember what the theologian has said. “By it (the Bible) alone we can know what Jesus desires of us.”

Some people solve this by saying that there are many things God just doesn’t care about. You can do whatever you want. When choosing a wife or husband, there’s no need to ask for guidance. Just read your Bible. Write down the criteria and pick someone who meets the criteria in the Bible. Don’t add to the Bible at all.

Well, the human mind tends to interpret Scripture. It tends to add to Scripture through interpretation. That’s a big part of why we have denominations, divisions, in the Church. My own interpretation appears to be pure Scripture to me. Your own interpretation appears to be pure Scripture to you. You can’t understand how I get my interpretation when your own interpretation is obviously correct. That’s because interpretations are filtered through worldviews. Worldviews appear to be reality. However, worldviews are not reality. They are concept. They are not accurate. Yet, they seem to be reality. Second Corinthians chapter three mentions this problem, referring to a veil through which Scripture is seen.

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