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.
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.
ANSWERING HARD PASSAGES IS NOT ABOUT WINNING
Second, we need to remember that learning to handle “hard”
passages is notabout winning debates. You can lose a debate and be right.
Sometimes debates are determined by who can yell the loudest, speak the fastest,
think quickest, rattle off a bunch of arguments, and execute the greatest
rhetorical tactics.
Well, when you lose a debate on those grounds, you
didn’t lose based on content, you lost a debate based on strategy. That doesn’t
prove that you’re right or wrong. Conversely, you can win a debate and lose
your witness. If you win a debate with cheap tactics, you might have won the
argument but you lost the cause. Winning the argument and dishonoring Christ is
a loss. Answering the hard questions is about witness, not just about winning a
debate.
STUDYING HARD PASSAGES TAKES TIME AND EFFORT
Third, we need to understand is that the hard questions
require patience. In debates, people often don’t want to take the necessary
time to understand the issue at hand. One way to respond is to slow them down
and say, “Hey, I think what you’ve asked is a really great question and I want
to work through that with you, but that might take some time. I’m willing to
put in the time to work through this with you. Are you willing to do the same?”
We need to remind ourselves about this as well. We need to
invest time and effort into grappling with these passages. As soon as we start
to talk about learning and studying, inevitably, somebody will raise Deuteronomy 29:29 and
the “secret things.” Can’t we just say that and be done with it? But there’s
another phrase in Deuteronomy 29:29, “But the things revealed belong to you and your children to know and
to do.” This passage is not a cop out to study. Yes, ultimately there are
limits of how much we are going to know because we only know what God reveals.
But we are responsible to know what He does reveal. We need to make sure we
think through what God has said to the very depth He has established.
HANDLING HARD PASSAGES MATTERS
When we encounter a difficult passage or doctrine, our goal
is not to do damage control or even to win a debate. Rather, it is
understanding the text as best we can. In the end, we will have to admit that
we have limits and that glorifies God (Prov 25:2). At the same
time, we want to put in the hard work to get as close as we can to hitting that
limit of knowing all that God has revealed. Then, we will see that what we
thought was “hard” is actually beautiful. And that brings tremendous glory to
God.
