HAVE YOU ENDURED TO THE END? I did 41 years ago

"He who endures to the end will be saved." 

This statement by Jesus is recorded in Matthew 10:22; 24:13 and Mark 13:13. Jesus makes a similarly puzzling statement in the parable of the sower in Luke 8:13 in speaking of those who believe for a while and subsequently fall away from believing.

• Did Jesus really mean that enduring to the end was a condition of salvation?
• Was Jesus exaggerating?
• What does it mean to endure to the end?
• Is it possible you are confused about this?

I have met more than a few Christians who stumble into anxiety when they read or hear these words of Jesus. Have you ever had that experience?

I once heard a preacher friend declare boldly in a sermon the meaning of these words. He said you could believe the gospel for thirty years and then stop believing the gospel and prove that you never really believed the gospel. Do you agree with my friend? If you don't agree, why not? Is his boldness too much for you? Is his statement of thirty years too long for you? Do you feel sorry for him that he totally missed the point of Jesus' words? If your experience as a Christian is anything like mine you had a different response. You had a gut feeling that something was wrong with his explanation. You can't put your finger on the issue, but you know something is wrong or at least missing. I responded this way my first 35 years in Christ whenever I heard or read a milder form of my friend's explanation.

The reason for this gut feeling 

John 3:16 declares the simplicity of the truth of the gospel. "For God in this way loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." To believe in Christ results in a person having eternal life and freedom from destruction. Are you persuaded that John 3:16 is true? Are you confident that Christ's work on the cross is all the work you need to enter into Christ and have eternal life? Many non-Christians have told me that personal works as well as Christ's work on the cross was necessary for a person to be right with God forever. Have you heard that? Do those words cheer you or lead you to pity the speaker? It is obvious. If you are a Christian as I am, you know personally and certainly that resting in Christ's death in our place is enough to be at peace with God.

To endure to the end means to believe the gospel. If it doesn't, then either Jesus was confused or he was misquoted. Why then did he describe believing the gospel as enduring to the end? In short, context.

What is the context?

Jesus came into our world at a point of history. He died on the cross at a point in history. He knew he was going to die for the sins of the world to reconcile sinners to God. And he told his disciples he was going to do it. Before creation the Father planned to send the Son to be the savior of the world. (1Peter 1:19f)  This was Jesus' purpose and goal for himself in coming into the world. Isn't this what we Christians say?

Jesus also had a goal and purpose for his disciples and all other people. His purpose for them was for them to join him in his purpose and vision of life. In other words, Jesus wanted to give people a new way of life. He wanted people to be free from the pressure of their sins. He wanted people to boast in God's love revealed in the cross rather than in human performance. We see this clearly in the gospel writings. Did the disciples grasp Jesus' purpose for them? Did they urge Jesus on to the cross so they could receive forgiveness through his blood and receive the promised spirit of God? No. They were worse than clueless. After three years of ministry Jesus mentioned the cross for the first time (Matt. 16:21ff). Peter rebuked Jesus for this. Jesus turned and rebuked Peter in front of the others, declaring the absolute necessity of the cross as the way of following him. Shock and silence followed. Why? Their hope was in their temple and the system of law and sacrifices given by God to Moses over 1000 years earlier. They couldn't imagine why Jesus would talk about dying as a sacrifice for sin. They were blind to their own prophet's clear teaching of a coming new way of forgiveness. They were so confused they couldn't even muster a fumbling question to request Jesus to explain himself.

Again, Jesus' goal and purpose was to get to the cross to free his people from their sins. The disciples' goal and purpose was for him to free them from Roman domination. The four gospels record Jesus winning the hearts of the people though compassion and miracles. But when he turned his teaching to the cross, they sneered and lost interest. His words couldn't break through the hardness of their hearts. People began falling away from following him. His closest followers abandoned him the night before the cross. This is obvious. So what is the big deal?

Our problem is that we are culturally distant from Jesus' context. I easily get tricked to read the events of Jesus' life as if they were lessons to help me know the right things to do. In doing this I miss the story of Jesus' relationship with his close followers, with the multitudes of onlookers and with the leaders of Israel. Ever had my problem?

What does end mean?

Here is the big surprise. Jesus said a person must endure to the end to be saved. What does the word end mean? I suspect that you think the word end means something about time running out, like in the end of a class, exam or sporting event. And in this context you think that enduring to the end means believing the gospel until your last breath on earth. True? In English the word end usually means this, but not always. Look on your Bible app for the Greek word translated end. Look closely at the definition given. Do it before you read on and see if you notice where I am going. The Greek word translated as end is telos. At Biblehub.com the definition is given as end-goal or purpose. We occasionally use the English word end to mean purpose or end-goal, but not often.

Thus Jesus said a person needs to endure to the purpose to be saved. What purpose? Jesus' purpose, not his disciples' or yours. Jesus' telos (purpose) was to create a new way of life through his death and resurrection. If you are a Christian you are alive in Christ and no longer dead in sin. You have been adopted into God's family. You are free to live as a righteous child of the king of glory. The hamster wheel of human performance is no longer your identity. Christ is now your life and his sin-bearing love is your new motivation to love others. You have a new song in your heart: "It is finished!" By the way, in Greek these three words are one word, a form of telos. Hmmm... You don't merely have a new label. You have a real experience with God in union with Christ. You are no longer an outsider to God. The moment you believed the gospel you entered into Christ and were in his telos (purpose), you had come home. You endured to the telos (end-goal, purpose) Christ desired for you. Now he is free to be your life and to overflow from you by his spirit to everyone you encounter. All the pressure is on him and he can handle it. I endured to Christ's telos (end-goal, purpose) 41 years ago. How about you?

A Hint from the Westminster Shorter Catechism

Most Christians are unaware of the Westminster Shorter Catechism written in the 1600's. For those who are aware of it, have you considered its first and most famous question as you pondered Jesus' words about enduring to the end?  

Q: What is the Chief end of man?
A: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever. 

What is the chief purpose of man? Man's chief purpose is to glorify God, and to enjoy him always. The first step in glorifying God is to believe the gospel. This means totally abandoning oneself to the work of Christ on the cross. The next step is to maintain focus on Christ's work whatever one's circumstance. Keep boasting in the cross. You can't keep boasting in the cross until you do it for the first time. Have you entered into God's purpose for you, i.e., have you believed the gospel and boasted in the cross in your heart for the first time? If so, you have already endured to the end. Now that you are in the end--in God's purpose for you--why not keep boasting in God's purpose for you? Why get distracted from the cross to boast in human performance? 

The spiritual battle rages. God's way is for us to always boast in Christ's work on the cross. The world continually and intensely pressures us away from the cross to boast in human work. Is enduring to the end about boasting in the cross or about focusing on (boasting in) some human performance as a requirement or an evidence of salvation? Let's be honest. If you don't think you can get tricked away from boasting in the cross, then likely you are far more gullible than you think. Our traditional view of enduring to the end is about boasting in human performance. 


Why endurance?

Why did Jesus say that we needed to experience endurance in order to make it to the telos (to his purpose)? Again use your Bible app on endure.  Biblehub.com says that this word literally means to remain under. Under what? Jesus' disciples objected to Jesus' new teaching about the cross. Jesus didn't give up on them. He kept telling them about the cross. They kept opposing the cross. All the way to the cross they rejected the message of the cross. When Jesus died they despaired as their old hopes were crushed. Something changed when they encountered Jesus after his resurrection. They were now ready to listen to his crazy message. He explained in detail the meaning of his life, death, resurrection and more from all the scriptures. Jesus spoke to them for 40 days, ascended to heaven and then poured out his spirit on them at Pentecost. All but Judas (who had killed himself) remained under Jesus teaching for those 40 days. Sometime in that period the message of the cross broke their blind trust in their temple system and in their own righteousness. They moved their trust to the message of the cross. They believed the gospel. They embraced Jesus' telos. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the message of Christ."  

While at university I heard the gospel clearly for the first time. I strongly opposed it. Since I liked the Christians I joined their activities. I subjected myself to their words of the cross at Bible study, prayer meetings, church and more. I wanted some excuse to leave their company as the message bothered me. But I endured (remained under) the message of the cross for months until finally the message broke my self-righteous pride and I trusted in Christ as all my righteousness. Catch that? I remained under the hearing of the gospel until I had Isaiah's experience of seeing myself as a ruined sinner, embracing Christ and being purified by God. 

My father-in-law endured to Christ's telos (purpose) a few days before he died at 89. He had heard the good news in church all his life. He learned the right answers in Sunday school. He married a pastor's daughter. He used to tell me that others were wrong to trust in their good works for salvation and that Christ's work was enough. Whenever I made it personal for him as to why God should let him into heaven, he never mentioned the work of Christ and always told me of various good things he had done. But when he told my wife that he was ready to die because he knew that he was a good person, she told him that he was a sinner like everyone else. For three hours she reasoned with him about sin, righteousness and judgment. This broke his confidence in his own righteousness and he entered into Christ. He lived as a Christian in Christ's telos for a few days before going to glory. He had remained under the hearing of the gospel for over 80 years before the message broke through. 

Much has simplified and clarified in my reading of the gospels after stumbling onto a simple double question. Did Jesus say this before or after the cross and does it matter? Very few of Jesus' recorded words were spoken after the cross. Nearly all were spoken to God's dear lost sheep under the Mosaic law--the Old Covenant. It matters that Jesus spoke his words before the cross. Nearly all his words were spoken in anticipation of the cross, which is the door into Pentecost, which is the celebration of Christ and his work as all our life. We don't anticipate the cross and Pentecost. We look back to them. 

Pentecost is God's telos come to earth. He anticipated us sharing in his life. He delights for us to share in his purpose. His purpose for us is to be satisfied with his goodness (Jeremiah 31:14) and to have peace because he has done all our work for us (Isaiah 26:12). The way into this satisfaction is to remain under the hearing (as long as it takes) of the message of the cross--Christ's flawlessness and substitution. The message of the cross needs to be preached if lost people are to remain under the hearing of this message. The message of the cross applies to all aspects of my life and yours. Let's preach the cross continually, boldly and joyfully, first to ourselves, and then to a dying world until we go to glory. Christ is all of life for all people.

HOLINESS AND WORLDLINESS - WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

Holiness simply means to be set apart or to be different. Different from what? Different from the world. Both holiness and worldliness are about focus. Worldliness is about focusing on imperfect human effort. Holiness is different in that it is about focusing on perfection which is embodied only in Jesus. Jesus is enough for all of life.

Holiness is about the experience of being aware that Jesus is enough--that both 1) his perfection is the only good measuring stick and 2) his death is the only good resolution for the problem of human failure. This easily and naturally applies to all human relationships in all circumstances. Life flows freely from a heart while it is satisfied with goodness. A satisfied heart doesn't struggle, but rather responds to others as valuable people. This is what it means to be human.

Worldliness is the distortion of what it means to be human. It is a focus that doesn't see the whole picture of life, that only perfection is good. Life becomes a check list of good and bad thoughts and actions. I doubt that  you appreciate people seeing you as part of their check list. No one does, but there is no other way to function when perfection is not in view. Goodness is shattered and the only way forward is to try to pick up the pieces one by one. Trying mocks doing, mocks our humanity, and mocks goodness. It bears the ugly fruit of the works of the flesh (Gal 5:19-21). Worldliness denies goodness as a real experience.

Humans live only in the current moment. Therefore, in the current moment we either see life as a check list of ideals (kindness, patience, self-control, love) to strive for, or as perfect goodness to experience now. As you notice human behavior, do you occasionally get distracted into forgetting the big picture that goodness includes perfection, or do you always maintain awareness that only perfection is good? Where is your focus? You can't do perfection, nor can anybody around you. But Jesus did, and his life flows out of you when you simply focus on His goodness (His perfection and His sacrifice for sin). Trying is like a hamster wheel. Only the hamster thinks he is getting somewhere.

Note: In a recent sermon (listen here) in Hebrews 10, I explained how the world is all about trying and how trying is a lie. The sermon visual aid (white board photo) can be seen here by scrolling down to Hebrews#35.

SIN NO MORE: THE SURPRISING PROMISE OF MERITED FORGIVENESS

The Context 

The Gospel of John opens with a prologue that teases at what John is going to reveal about the ministry of Jesus. That prologue hints at some big surprises, one of which is the declaration in verse 17, "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." This reveals a clear contrast between Moses and Christ--Moses was a law giver but Christ a grace giver. If you read the Gospel of John closely looking for commands by Jesus, you will notice that only a very few--maybe just three--sound like Moses giving law. But why those three if Jesus is no law giver at all as Martin Luther declared boldly in his commentary on Galatians 2:20? How could there be even one if Jesus is truly not a law giver? Two of those three bothered me for 30+ years as I sought vainly to understand what Jesus meant by His words. These two are Jesus' identical words to the man He had earlier healed by the pool of Siloam (John 5) and to the woman caught in adultery (John 8).

Those two people were marginalized by their society. The man had lain in his sickness unable to walk for 38 years. The woman had been caught in adultery. They likely hadn't participated much in religious life at the temple. They were clearly not part of the religious establishment which Jesus was in continuous conflict with as portrayed by John. Jesus often criticized that establishment for compromising the perfection of the law. Let's keep that in mind as we untangle the story about the man.

The Man at the Pool of Siloam

As Jesus passed by the Pool of Siloam, he saw the man lying there and asked if he desired to be healed. What an obvious question! Of course the man wanted to be healed. He wanted it so much that all he could do was to pour out to Jesus his frustration about what he saw to be the real problem. His great longing for healing had always been thwarted by a lack of help. No one had ever been available to help him into the pool when the time of healing had arrived. Another person had always gotten the healing before he could grab it. Did Jesus criticize him for his lack of joy at the healing of others? No. Jesus simply pointed him away from his traditional hope of healing in the pool and toward Jesus' own authority to heal. He commanded the man to get up, pick up his mat, and walk. The man was immediately healed and obeyed Jesus fully. The religious leaders saw the man and pointed him to their version of the law, telling him that to carry his mat on the Sabbath was against the law. He replied simply that the man who had healed him had told him both to walk and to carry his mat. 

But later in that day, Jesus found the man in the temple area, commanded him to pay attention to his physical healing, and gave the Moses-like command, "sin no more, lest something worse happen to you." Why did Jesus command that? In the Greek there is no wiggle room, as I could find no textual variant to explain it away. Since the phrase is in the imperative form and singular tense, it implies that Jesus really did command this one man to sin no more; it wasn't just a suggestion and it wasn't stated to the onlookers. What do we do with that? Check a commentary. Don't be surprised to read that the man's illness was caused by a specific sin, and that Jesus was informing the man that God was very serious about the man stopping that one sin. If the man didn't stop that one sin then God would bring a worse circumstance into his life to get him to take that sin seriously. If the standard of not sinning is perfection in thought, word, and deed, then how could Jesus have really tied the man's freedom from judgment to his perfection on one point of stopping sin? In my Mormon culture such commands are freely and frequently given with the purpose to get the hearer to try harder to do what is right and not sin. Perfection is never the expectation. Trying, not doing, is the standard. Does God really judge by the standard of trying as my religious culture teaches? Also, Jesus and James seem to give little room for performance with God to be isolated into individual topics. "He who keeps the whole law and stumbles in one point is guilty of all." -James 2:10

Discovering My Biases

Some commentators indicate that Jesus was telling the man that there was something far worse than his serious physical illness had ever been, and that that worse thing was to be cast out by God on judgment day. Certainly it is true that hell is worse than any physical suffering. And certainly it is true that the healed man should attend to that matter. If this view is true how does it connect to the text? It is rather easy to read general truth into any text. It is also easy to look back in time and criticize others for not seeing what we see, not realizing that we all are at least somewhat a product of our culture. Sometimes such criticism is valid, but I suggest that sometimes it prideful. In the last several years I have been realizing more and more how faulty and biased my own reading of the Bible has been as a result of not noticing significant aspects of context or my cultural bias. My mind is riddled with faulty thinking and I wish to remedy that situation as much as possible with honesty, rapidity, and help from all others. I am now in an intense process of discovery seeking to notice and untangle my own false biases. 

If Jesus knew exactly what He was talking about--and I suggest that He always knew exactly what He was talking about, was never confused, always chose His words carefully, and that the Spirit and apostles communicated them all clearly--then Jesus was communicating something for the man to understand. What in the context helps us discover Jesus' intended meaning? Probably all readers would agree that this is a true story of Jesus speaking to a real man. That man certainly neither spoke English nor was Chinese in culture. We all would agree with this, and so why do I mention such trivialities? Until recently I unwittingly had been reading this story, and likely many others, in a way that gave insufficient value to context and was in some fashion blaming God for not communicating clearly. The difference is that now I realize that my lack of clarity is all my fault and so am scouring context for clues to get past my confusion. In this story my lack of context is revealed by something that bothered me for years. I wondered that since it is undeniable that the man had already sinned in his life before meeting Jesus, and if he obeyed Jesus and never sinned again, he would still have to deal with his past sins. Jesus' words seemed to me to imply that the man's past sins would be overlooked if he stopped sinning. I had zero confidence the man could do what Jesus commanded, but if he had been able to succeed, how could his past sins be overlooked? Do you see my confusion? Do you see what I missed?

The Promise Embedded in The Context

My problem is sometimes a lack of seeing a single point clearly, but more commonly I would guess that now my problem is primarily that I have unwittingly connected the dots in an artificial way, different from the author's intent, and thus am hindered in my understanding. I need to erase my connections and look for the connections that the context makes. Here are some simple points (dots) of context. Notice your own connections. Jesus healed the sick man in Jerusalem. It seems safe to assume that the man was Jewish. This healing took place before the crucifixion and therefore this Jewish man was under the Old Covenant and not under the New Covenant. This means that the man was not living under the covenant of grace but rather under the covenant of law with its promises of blessing based on obedience to law and cursing based on disobedience to the law. How do you think the man was doing in his obedience so far in life? I suggest that one of my big errors was to read the words of Jesus as if they applied equally in all time and were not rooted in the context of Israel under law and in anticipation of the death of the Messiah that would soon free Israel from law by giving Israel a new covenant of grace at Pentecost. This all was still in the future at the time of this healing. Jesus hadn't died yet, and in the Gospel of John Jesus doesn't speak of His death until chapter six (See Matthew 16:21, Mark 8:31, Luke 9:22). If Jesus hadn't yet mentioned his coming death, what was He expecting the man to trust as he sought to stop sinning?

A significant point in my lack of understanding context related to Jesus as the Good Shepherd. A shepherd's job is to watch over the sheep and lead them to fresh pastures. But what is that image meant to tell us about Jesus? Jesus was sent by God to be the Good Shepherd. He said that He was sent exclusively to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24). He came to the lost sheep of Israel who were grazing in the field of the Old Covenant. They were well contented with that pasture and its religious system of obedience to law and religious duties as the way to be right with God. The temple worship was elaborate and was the center of that confidence. He came to His own to win their trust. His desire was that once He had won their trust, He would lead them from the old pasture to a fresh pasture of the New Covenant--leading them from law to grace. When He arrived the crowds thronged to Him as He healed their sick and cast out demons, and as He taught about the goodness of the law in its true honor in perfection. The leaders refused from the beginning to believe in Him, and murderous thoughts took root in their hearts. But the crowds grew and grew. And He even persuaded many of the leaders to join the crowd of His followers, at least secretly. Then one day He surprised everyone and began to speak about both His death at the hands of the leaders and of that death somehow being a source of life for those who followed Him. The beloved teacher suddenly lost His hearing. Peter rebuked Him. The crowds left Him. People still flocked to Him for healing and compassion, but they fell away from believing Him because his new message of His death for sinners was distasteful. Likely they wondered: "Why would He talk like that as the temple was the right way to deal with sin?" Jesus sought to break their confidence in their religious system of righteousness based on law keeping, but they resisted with all their might. So Jesus went alone to the new pasture--though He wasn't really alone for the Father was with Him (John 16:32), leading His lamb to the place of sacrifice.

Merited Forgiveness

After clearing my head a little in the Good Shepherd image and the related parable of the soils, I was vainly pondering one day the story of the man at the pool, when a question came to mind. Could these images help resolve the meaning of the command to sin no more? I turned to meditation on Jesus seeking to break the Jews' self-righteous pride so as to lead them from the law to grace, and wondered if a connection might be found in the Old Testament to Jesus' words. It wasn't long before the confusing words of Ezekiel 18 came to mind, as they were similar and familiar. That passage had not made sense to me because I thought it basically declared that any unrighteous person who stops sinning would be forgiven for all past sins. Again, this puzzled me. How can a person's past sins be forgiven just because that person stops sinning? Suddenly I realized that it said that an unrighteous Israelite who stopped sinning had the promise of complete forgiveness. This wasn't a promise to everyone, but rather only to Israelites under law. Suddenly it made sense. For six centuries the Israelites had pretended that they were lawkeepers and so when Ezekiel gave this new promise, the Israelites complained and declared that God's way was not right. I suggest that they were thinking like my Mormon culture which rejects the idea of perfect obedience and says that trying is what God should find acceptable. Read the chapter closely. 

Why did Ezekiel give this promise? In Deuteronomy 5:22-29 is the record of the Israelites at Mount Sinai begging Moses to go to up to God and bring down a list of God's demands. They told Moses to give God their promise that they would hear and do all He required. They wanted this arrangement of law so as to not be destroyed by God's judgment. They sought to flee into merited favor to protect themselves from God's judgment. Bad move. Read the history of Israel before Mount Sinai and notice that it seems that Israel had a relationship with God free from law, where their repeated complaints against God and Moses never resulted in criticism, anger, or judgment from God. Only after they begged for law did judgment fall when they complained or disobeyed. Check it out. I was skeptical when I first heard this and checked it out to disprove it, but couldn't. The Old Testament is the record of 1) Israel pretending that they were keeping the law and 2) God sending the prophets to tell them that they weren't. They hated the prophets' message and killed them. They did admit their ancestors were lawbreakers but wouldn't admit their own lawbreaking. Pride blinded them. God had compassion on them and wanted them to realize that only perfect love is good and that they should honor that standard. Ezekiel's promise clarified Moses' words in Deuteronomy 8:1-3 that life could come by law--clarifying that perfect obedience was the key. This revealed that Israel hated perfect love.

The Surprise

For many centuries the leaders of Israel--the false shepherds--had adulterated the law teaching it in various manageable forms. Jesus was born under law and grew up to be the all-time master teacher of the Mosaic Law. He came not to deny the law but to establish the full honor of it as a reflection of God's character. He did this not only by dying the death all sinners deserve, but also by speaking about it in an honorable way--in its wholeness and perfection. The law was designed to drive every Israelite to a vision of ruin and helplessness before God, exemplified in Isaiah's experience in Isaiah 6.  The leaders of Israel--the false shepherds--had stolen God's honor from the people. They became optimistic about their lawkeeping rather than pessimistic with a sense of spiritual ruin. It was Jesus' delight to restore God's honor, to let the perfection of the law do its work in the heart, that He might welcome them into the celebration of God's delight in goodness, truth, righteousness, and perfect love. God called Ezekiel the son of man 91 times and restrained Ezekiel from speaking anything but His words to the people. But the true Son of Man needed no restraint as His heart was full of the pleasure of the Father. He overflowed with compassion toward the lost sheep of Israel with healing and feeding. 

But His real passion was to win the hearts of the people back to the Father, back to perfect love as a true reflection of God, as perfect love as the only good way to see and live life. And so He spoke to the healed man the promise of Ezekiel that to be righteous before God and not accountable for past sins, an Israelite must stop all sins.

What did Jesus expect the man's response to be? If the man took Jesus at His word, he would have had to change his mind, to resist the cultural pressure to manageable standards of law, and embrace that only perfect obedience would please God. Such a thought would have brought him to his knees seeing himself as a spiritual beggar--spiritually ruined--and would have prepared him for Isaiah's experience. I suggest that Jesus spoke with a smile His words--the command of the law--to the healed man, "Go and sin no more lest something worse happen to you." I commonly say similar things with a smile to Mormons. When they catch that I really mean that God requires flawless perfection, they stop smiling and cry out something like, "If you really have to be perfect then you might as well give up." I then smile big and tell them that that is the point--that the door into a right relationship with God is perfect love--either you do it all or Jesus does it all for you and you rest in His finished work.

This is the message that I suggest Jesus meant for the healed Israelite man to get--the surprise of spiritual ruin through the mindset that only perfect obedience counts with God and that God Himself will provide a lamb. Glad welcome with God results from such a realization. 

There is application in this beautiful story, but we need to read it as if we are looking in a window into a world before Jesus' first mention of His coming death--into the world of Israel under law.

CONFUSING BIBLE PASSAGES—Is God Confused?

Have you ever read a Bible passage that seemed to be confusing? What was your response? Did you think or say something like, "I wish the Bible was more clear in it's explanations," or "I wish the Bible were not so confusing," or "I wish that God had written this out more clearly," or "It is obvious that there are paradoxes in the Bible." Can you relate to these statements?

I suggest that there is another way to approach confusion about the Bible. Notice it in the following passages.

"To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight,to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth—Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." -Proverbs 1:1-7

"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter." -Proverbs 25:2

"Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us." -Psalm 78:1-3

Do you see the other approach? The Bible is not like a chemistry textbook. It is full of the wisdom of God, the true knowledge of God, the moral understanding of who God is—all set in the historical context of God revealing Himself to self-focused, dull, conceited, self-righteous, foolish people whom He loves. He wants the foolish to become wise and He honors as His dear children those who fear Him and enter the narrow gate into His way of wisdom. Entry is conversion—a beautiful transformative beginning—but it is only the beginning of a life of discovery and experience of the richness, beauty, and multifaceted goodness of God. Life is not a quiz and the Bible is not a handbook for proper behavior to avoid God's anger. The Bible is a history of the revelation of God's goodness. God created us to live in light of His goodness. Our proper behavior flows naturally out of how deeply we perceive our weakness and moral failure in light of His great sin-bearing love. "He who is forgiven much loves much." Love is full of surprises—all is not known at first. A riddle is meant to draw us in to discover more of God's goodness, and has clear meaning for one who has once untied its knot. 

Thus the other approach is to declare that God had spoken clearly and ALL the confusion is in my understanding—God is a good communicator but I am a poor listener. Oh how much foolishness we Christians still have and need to sweep out of our minds. Do you have the courage to embrace this way of thinking? "Riddles of the wise" God calls them. Do you have the patience to read the Bible seeking to overcome your confusion (and human confusion generally) by noticing the keys that unlock the riddles?

It is sad and ironic that readers commonly (usually? nearly always?) blame God for the confusion. Why not blame self? Blame-shifting is the all too frequent human response of insecurity. No wonder we lack clarity and argue so much about the Bible. Let's seek to unlock the riddles together rather that beating each other over the head with them.

Coming soon will be monthly articles on untying Bible knots. One Riddle is so significant that it will get a separate monthly article on it and its surprises. That riddle is the parable of the sower. It has caused many a Christian to waver in assurance of salvation. If God is full of grace and truth why would that happen? Could it be that we are reading it upside down?