“I Can’t Serve a God Who …” (Part 2)
by Micky Galloway
Last week Chris Simmons introduced a series of articles with this title suggesting that there are a number of erroneous doctrinal positions that, if true, render God as a biased, unreliable, fallible, limited being. If any of these be true, then I could not in good conscience serve a God like that! Chris said he could not serve a god, “Who couldn’t reveal an enduring will and who couldn’t anticipate the needs of mankind in future …” As we continue that theme, please consider:
I can’t serve a god who could not or would not make His will known in such a way as to be universally understood. John Calvin (1509 - 1564), a French Reformation-era teacher, taught falsely that the sin of Adam and Eve has so badly tainted man’s nature that he cannot understand God’s word unless God’s Spirit miraculously illuminates him. The Catholic Church teaches that the “clergy” can understand the Bible, but the “laity” cannot. Therefore, they conclude, the clergy must interpret for the laity. On this point, both Calvinism and Catholicism are wrong.
The religious world in general seems convinced that we can’t understand the Bible, much less understand it alike. This is one of the excuses given for denominational divisions. It is also the reason some give for not obeying the gospel. They say “How can I know what God wants? Everybody interprets the Bible so differently.” Consider the implications of such reasoning. If God created us and gave us cognitive, or thinking, powers, and then gave us the Bible as a revelation of His will that we cannot understand, then God must NOT be as intelligent, all-knowing, and capable as we have thought. If He could give us a revelation that we could understand, but would not, then He must NOT be the loving, merciful God we have thought. Either way, we blame God and excuse ourselves!
God’s word teaches otherwise! Read it and understand!
John 8:31-32, “Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed him, If ye abide in my word, (then) are ye truly my disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Ephesians 3:3-4, “… that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote before in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ.”
Ephesians 5:17, “Wherefore be ye not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
Luke 1:3-4, “It seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus; that thou mightest know the certainty concerning the things wherein thou wast instructed.” The gospel of Luke is written so that one might know with certainty about Jesus and his work.
John 20:30-31, “Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name.”
Paul contrasted unbelievers with those “who believe and know the truth” (I Timothy 4:1-3). The Hebrew writer warned, “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26-27).
II Peter 1:12, “Wherefore I shall be ready always to put you in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and are established in the truth which is with (you).”
II Peter 2:20-22, “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first. For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them. It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire.”
If the Bible can be understood and understood alike, why then, is it so misunderstood? Several reasons are obvious. Prejudice, lack of interest, willful ignorance, unwillingness to be restrained by the Scriptures, will all rob us of a correct understanding. The last recorded words of Paul in the book of Acts are quoted from Isaiah 6:9-10. Apparently, this is a response to those who rejected his persuasive words about Jesus. There is no other Old Testament passage quoted in the New Testament as many times as this one (cf. Matthew 13:14; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; John 12:40 and Acts 28:26). Acts 28:25-27, “And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Spirit through Isaiah the prophet unto your fathers, saying, Go thou unto this people, and say, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest, haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them.” One cannot understand when this condition prevails (Note: John 12:39).
Sadly, not everyone wants to understand truth! Paul wrote, “and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (II Thessalonians 2:10-12).
Was truth given to be read and understood? YES, we can understand God’s revelation. If we understand WHAT God said, WE WILL understand it alike!