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The Bible is Clear!

The Bible Clearly Says, absolutely nothing. It’s plain difficult.

Scripture is hard to understand, but suggesting that to a Christian is met with a confident reply of ease of truth. It speaks to us, we often say. This confidence could be misplaced, however.

Consider the following points:

• Absolam was speared in the heart three times before they killed him. How does one survive being speared in the heart three times before they have to kill him?
• Why does Jesus’ first miracle account have six jugs of water that turn to wine instead of 5 or 8 or 12? Would it surprise you to know it could not be any other way and follow God’s pattern?
• Why does God create birds and the sea monster on the same creation day?
• Why does Ezekiel’s temple have three names at each gate? Why are they the specific names over those gates?
• While we are thinking about Ezekiel, what do the directions mean if the eastern gate is the only one to keep everyone out but one?
• How does Adam, well, mankind, name every bird and beast in one day?

The issue is that the authors of the Bible wrote it in a way to keep its secrets until the right time. Convincing someone the Bible is intentionally confusing is just as difficult as convincing someone to change political parties. That, however, is what I set out to do here.

Let’s consider the relevant text to understand what the Bible clearly says:

1. Jesus explains to the adulterous woman that she is saved and that He will not condemn her; there is nobody else to condemn her. Essentially, nobody is qualified to condemn her since everyone fell equally. They are not culpable, and she is not accountable because they did not know the rules. God does not hold us accountable if we do not know the rules, which we don’t.
2. We need to learn the rules of the game of creation. I get scores of circular and flowery answers when I ask others how Jesus fulfilled the law, but there is no chapter and verse provided. What gives Jesus the right to die for us instead of just saying, you are forgiven? Why can’t God say, you’re all good without His son literally dying on the cross? The truth is we don’t know the rules, and Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:5 that one must compete according to the rules to win.
3. The Nephilim knew the rules, at least some of them. There was to be a crossing over of kinds, but they did not know the initial rule: not to eat of the tree of knowledge. God fixed that by flooding the ungodly (2 Peter 2:5). Notice that the godly were not flooded; hence the sons of god would maintain awareness. God also shared His first regret recorded in the Bible, which was the creation of man. God mercifully limited man’s life to 120 years to remedy this in Genesis 6:6.
4. The builders of the Tower of Babel also understood how things would work, but they also went too quickly. If they accomplished their mission, nothing would be impossible for them, according to Genesis 11:6. Matthew 17:20 and Luke 1:37 uses this same language.. The former says nothing will be impossible for ‘you,’ and the latter says nothing will be impossible for God. The implication is a powerful resurrected body, but one must be completely rebuilt before being lifted to greatness. To remedy this hasty construction, God shuffled the languages and cast the people to various parts of the world. Genesis 11:6-9 says some significant things. God shuffled the languages, scattered the people, and called it babel because of it. God was intent on confusing us and keeping the truth from us.
5. Jesus only taught in parables, which is vital to discern from only speaking in parables. This is important to notice. Therefore, Jesus was mysterious at best in how He dealt with people. In one breath, Jesus says not to divorce and in another, to forgive. Interestingly, this is the same word with substantially the same meaning of separation or letting loose. Luke 9:49-50 records Jesus telling people not to follow the rules as it is merciful. James and John were surprised to learn there is a ‘kind’ of people allowed to cast out demons. They are opposite from James and John, as indicated in Luke 9:55. That is when Jesus informs them they are not aware of the kind of people they are. Parabolic teaching is, by nature, confusing. There is nothing straightforward, and Jesus is teaching His disciples, not others. The Pharisees remained unaware of the truth until it was time for them to learn.
6. Isaiah 6:9-11 tells us we will see and not perceive. We will hear but not understand. Then, we save ourselves when we manage to turn. Isaiah reveals the purpose of confusing his audience is to destroy all of the cities in verse 11. Destruction turns out to be a good thing, especially here. Jesus accomplishes His stated goal of division (Luke 12:51), so the house would fall (Luke 11:17). This fulfills this requirement from Isaiah 6:11. Jesus does exactly what Isaiah said would happen through the use of parables.
7. Jeremiah 8:8 tells us not to think we are wise by thinking we understand the lying pen of the scribe. We are not to easily understand it.
8. We find more meaning in this confusion in Paul’s teaching in the New Testament. In his first letter to the Corinthians, we see a really peculiar text. Paul said in 1 Cor 1:17 that he spoke in riddles, so he did not void the cross. In other words, Paul would cause the cross to fail if he spoke clearly. So, what is the cross that it could fail because of speech? This is an important consideration, but the point is things need to be clarified. Paul wrote to keep a secret, not to divulge how everything worked.
9. Paul said he spoke as though he were insane in 2 Cor 11:23 (NASB). He is saying this because his audience does not understand him. A standard hermeneutic suggests we understand things based on how the writer’s audience would understand them. I’m afraid I can’t agree at all because of comments like this from Paul. Not only did he write in riddles, but he wrote so boisterously that he sounded like a madman or a lunatic. We will miss the point of things if we sweep this under the rug.
10. Peter tells us a day to the Lord is like a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8). If this is the case, why would Peter not just use a thousand years in other places? Although it is not universal, it is commonly accepted that Peter was one of the primary sources for the Gospels, especially Mark. If this were the case, Peter would have told Mark the truth. Was Peter telling us a deeply hidden secret? Perhaps he told us to apply this math to all days according to Jesus, His ministry, or even the creation days. If so, and we are two thousand years after Jesus’ ministry, does this mean the millennial reign will begin soon or has already begun? I’m not sure I have enough confidence to suggest that. It makes a lot more sense, considering Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega and must disappear so the enemy would have nothing in Him (John 14:30).
11. Paul tells us in 1 Cor 9:9-10 that oxen aren’t oxen, but people. If this is the case, which it is, then where does the line stop in the kind of animals people are? There is a talking donkey and the Lamb of God, after all. The Bible references animals as people in Leviticus, among other places. Then Jeremiah tells us that the seed of the house of Judah and Israel will blend with the seed of the beast (Jeremiah 31:27).
12. Colossians 2:2 tells us that God’s mystery is Christ Himself. How can this be a mystery if we have a personal relationship with Christ? The issue with the mysteries in Scripture is that we cannot know. The cross of Christ is void, if we did. We must be blind, and that is the idea. The Bible uses the word ‘blind’ approximately 480 times and a variant of ‘covering eyes’ another 37 times.

Winding this up:

The Bible clearly says nothing at all. Most of us have ill-gotten confidence in our own interpretation, but God uses that to help us.

In the end, we must understand the creation account in more detail. If not, we will fail to understand why God created us blind. When we discover why we are here in the first place, we also gain clarity to understand biblical texts. We are not to eat from the tree of knowledge, but we do. This can be restated as learning the difference between those who are saved and those who are not. This sounds like Christianity, through and through. God, however, makes sure we do not falter in His plan. Ezekiel 8 and 12 do a good job explaining how one may scratch his way through the wall of understanding, but that veil is thick. One must work to be persistent enough for God to give him bread at midnight. Think of the disciples in the boat waking Jesus as He slept to calm the storm of life.

Jesus was to remain asleep and away until the right time. Unfortunately, the disciples did not have enough faith. Jesus, however, was able to calm the storm of their night. Of course, it’s not a weather pattern, but a storm of spiritual unease. Jesus would teach the truth to the people in the sea, like sea monsters and fish. At that time, Jesus would calm them, to their astonishment, as He calms the storm.

One last comment on difficult understanding comes from James 3:2. James says we are all false teachers except the one who can wield the whole body. That is what Jesus is doing in the case of the boat. So, while I claim fallibility, I offer one more plausible understanding of the Bible. This must also have errors, however, because I’m not perfect.