Handling the Hard Passages of the Bible (pt. 1)

When it comes to interpreting the Bible accurately there is no one that I trust more than Dr. Abner Chou.  Abner Chou is first and foremost a devoted follower of Christ and a committed churchman.  He is also a first-rate scholar who has been uniquely gifted by God.  When it comes to the Biblical languages (Hebrew/Greek), hermeneutics, and exegesis Dr. Chou is the man.

Abner's latest book, The Hermeneutics of the Biblical Writers: Learning to Interpret Scripture from the Prophets and Apostles, is a must read.  Pastor John MacArthur told me a while ago that I needed to purchase another book Dr. Chou edited, because "Abner's chapter alone is worth the price of the book."  That resource is titled, What Happened in the Garden?: The Reality and Ramifications of the Creation and Fall of Man.

Dr. Chou has agreed to serve as my academic adviser for my forthcoming doctoral dissertation on "Proclaiming John's Gospel For All It's Worth."  But today at PTL I want to post an article Chou wrote on "handling the hard passages of Scripture."  This is part one of two.  Tolle Lege

We all get embarrassed sometimes. Whether it be by a messy house, a family member, or a quirky habit. To try and diffuse our embarrassment, we do things like stuffing our messes in a closet when company is on the way, or cropping the offending family member out of our profile pictures. We want to hide these embarrassing things because we believe they would make us seem to be less than we are.

We can have the same mentality about handling the hard passages or doctrines in Scripture. People like to argue about six-day creation, election, or certain laws in the Old Testament. They say they are contradictory or morally objectionable. How could God do that?

Unfortunately, we treat these hard passages just like the things that embarrass us. We often want to diffuse the situation and do some so-called “damage control.” Just like with a quirky habit or a messy house, the reason we do this is because we believe those questions are beneath us.

However, that should not be. All of God’s Word is profitable and it is authoritative truth. It stands above us and convicts us, not the other way around (Heb 4:13). We need a better way to think through these “difficult” issues.

Before thinking through various examples, we need to think through some fundamental issues about these texts. That will give us some important perspective in handling these texts well.

HARD PASSAGES ARE GOOD

First, we need to have the right goal in dealing with these “hard” passages. We do not want to merely show that a doctrine is not that bad. We can’t have an attitude like, “eat your vegetables because they’re healthy for you even though they’re disgusting.” We don’t want to say, “Well, this doctrine is good for you even though I think it’s terrible.” We want to say with all confidence, “this is a good doctrine.” We want to demonstrate that, like all of Scripture, these “hard” passages are beautiful and necessary. We have nothing to be ashamed about in the Scripture.

The Danger of Avoiding Difficult Texts and Doctrines

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When is the last time you heard a really thorough sermon on hell/eternal perdition (Luke 16:19-31, Rev. 20:11-15); marriage, divorce and remarriage (Matthew 19); biblical church discipline (1 Corinthians 5/Mt. 18:15-17); Divine reprobation (Romans 9-10); the Titus 2 mandate (esp. Titus 2:5); the wonder of God's sovereign/unconditional election (Ephesians 1); or the high cost of genuine discipleship (Luke 9:23-27; 14:25-35)?  For some of you its been a long time.




Even among American evangelical churches controversial passages/doctrines (like the sample list above) seem to be neglected with increasing frequency.  To make matters worse quite a few ministries that teach the Scriptures faithfully do not apply the Scriptures consistently (application is often where the rubber really meets the road in the local church).  Am I willing to apply the Scriptures even when it is going to cost me/us something? (Be it your reputation is slandered in the community; disgruntled members church hop to another ministry that will "do church" the way they want it done; your church budget decreases; etc, etc). In reading the pastoral epistles carefully it is crystal clear that Biblical ministry is not for the weak of faith (see Acts 16:13; 2 Timothy 2-3; Joshua 1:8-9)!

How does this slide happen?  It often takes place when verse-by-verse preaching is abandoned as the main diet of the church.  One of the chief dangers about thematic and topical preaching (or "surfacey exposition") is that preachers are able to skip around and avoid passages of Scripture that are deemed too controversial or just not 'applicable' to modern man (contra 2 Timothy 3:15-4:5; Acts 20:20-28).   More and more preachers cater their messages/worship services to the desires of the masses (note 2 Timothy 3:15-4:1-5).  In too many instances size and money is apparently more important than biblical depth and Christian maturity (contra Col. 1:28-29; Eph 4:11-16; Heb. 5:12-14).  

Mark Dever highlights one of the reasons why this approach to ministry (though subtle) is so dangerous.  Avoiding the doctrine of hell (or any other biblical doctrine) is just one step away from denying it altogether.