I HAD A PROBLEM RECONCILING BIBLE VERSES!
By Alex J. Rhowuniong
But, now, I am free. "Free, indeed!" the Bible puts it.
Let me explain. I used to never be able to figure out why in the world would the Bible seem to say one thing in one place, and then turn around and seemingly say the exact opposite in another place.
In the book of Exodus in chapter 20 verse 8; Moses, the author of Exodus, said this:
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Now, many Christians around the world will tell you, this law is not valid anymore. Meaning, it has been put out, cut out, or taken out of the 10 Commandments.
In other words, we do NOT have to remember or keep holy the Sabbath day (the seventh day) anymore.
One of the Scriptures used to prove such teaching is found in the book of Colossians in the New Testament of the Bible, chapter 2, verses 16 and 17. They say this:
Colossians 2:16 says, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days."
The other texts, Colossians 2:17, says: "Which are a shadow of things to come (talking about meat, drink, holyday, new moon and sabbath days); but the body is of Christ."
But if we go all the way to the book of James, also in the NT towards the end of it, this is what James says in verse 10 of chapter 2:
James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
This Scripture says if I break one of the 10 Commandments, then I am guilty of breaking ALL of them.
So if you look at all of the Scriptures we've shared so far, it would seem this is a total contradiction in both the NT and the Old. One text is arguing against the other.
And this is exactly what I mean when I said I used to never be able to reconcile one bible teaching against the other. Never!
Until I did two things:
(1) Read the bible for myself everyday, and
(2) Came across something incredible!
I'll share that in a minute. But, first, I am now a free man!
"Free indeed!" the Bible says in John 8:36.
John 8:36
"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed!"
Jesus himself said to His followers a few verses back in the book of John chapter 8, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31, 32).
This liberating TRUTH that has set me free, and planted my feet on the path to being a free man forever … from sin, from errors and from all the confusion and lies of the enemy.
But it was these texts in verses 10 and 13 in the 28th chapter of the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament of the Bible that became the master key, in the hand of faith, used by the Holy Spirit on my heart one fateful morning.
They read:
Isaiah 28:10 “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
Isa 28:13 “But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.”
Now, on the first pass, nothing registered. Second reading, still nothing. Over and over, I read the first text. Still nothing. But then I prayed. And when I did, the Holy Spirit revealed just a glint!
It was a tiny, tiny, glint... But in due time, it quickly became a blazing bonfire!
Please take another look at these verses (10, 13) one more time. And then take a look at the previous verse (9). In verse 9, you'll see Isaiah asking: Whom will the Lord teach knowledge to? And to whom will he make to understand doctrine?
Then, in the same verse (v9), he answered his own questions for us: “Those that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.”
Here is a rendering of the text from the King James Version of the Bible: Isaiah 28:9 “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts."
Now, when I first saw this I thought to my self, “Huh? What is weaning and milk and breasts got to do with trying to go to heaven, or trying to study the Scripture and learning more about God?”
Then I realized that only by heeding the very advice of Isaiah in chapter 28, verses 9 and 10… can I begin to understand things a little. And perhaps the more I repeat that process the more I will finally learn.
What advice was that?
Well, Isaiah 28:10 says, again: “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little."
This seems to say, I NEEDED to compare Scripture with Scripture ("precept upon precept, line upon line"). And so I went to Deuteronomy 19:15 and found this:
Deuteronomy 19:15
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
This means I needed to find one more or two more (witnesses) verses of the Bible to establish truth. In this instance, I needed one more scripture or scriptures to compare with.
And out of these two or more texts (or witnesses), the teachings of God should finally become clear... as only the Bible teaches.
Again, I went to my concordance (sometimes, it's at the end of your Bible, like the glossary section), to find one more scripture (or witness), heeding the counsel of Isaiah 28:10.
In a few minutes, I settled on Mat 18:16.
"But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established," the text said.
I was not satisfied. I wanted to have more than three witnesses. I figured the more witnesses on the stand, so to speak, the more airtight the Bible truth will become.
So, I went back to my concordance and found 2 Corinthians 13:1.
In it Paul said: "This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established."
So there you have it. All texts we've been looking at boil things down to this: "In the 'mouths' of two or more witnesses, a Bible teaching will be established."
In other words, from two or more texts God's teaching will be revealed in the Bible... or from two or more writers, two or more books of the bible.
So, when I was trying next to understand verse 9 of chapter 28 of Isaiah; right away, I used this very principle of comparing Scripture with Scripture.
Quickly, over in 1 Corinthians; I found Paul talking about similar things. And they helped in trying to understand what Isaiah is saying in chapter 28, verse 9.
The first place I went to was, 1 Corinthians chapter three and reading verses 1 and 2:
1 “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 “I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.”
I wasn’t sure I understood clearly, so I went and got another version of the Bible (another Bible translation) that made it easier for me to understand… The Contemporary English Version.
And when I looked at the same texts (1 Cor 3:1, 2) in this Contemporary English Version of the Bible... my eyes opened up:
1 “My friends, you are acting like the people of this world. That’s why I could not speak to you as spiritual people. You are like babies as far as your faith in Christ is concerned.
2 "So I had to treat you like babies and feed you milk. You could not take solid food, and you still cannot, because you are not yet spiritual.”
In Isaiah 28, God told me to look up more than one verse to find out about what the bible teaching is exactly regarding a topic. So, I continued to look for another text in Scripture… or maybe two more, just to be sure this is the true teaching of the Bible.
I found Peter’s teaching in 1 Peter 2:2... “As newborn babe, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.”
Quickly, I turned to my CEV bible and flipped pages:
“Be like newborn babies who are thirsty for the pure spiritual milk that will help you grow and be saved.”
A short while later, I was back with Paul. And, this time, he is speaking out of the book of Hebrew 5:12, 13, 14:
12 “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
13 “For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
14 “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
Finally, I bounced back onto my CEV to look again at Heb 5:12-14.
12 “By now you should have been teachers, but once again you need to be taught the simplest things about what God has said. You need milk instead of solid food.
13 "People who live on milk are like babies who don’t really know what is right.
14 "Solid food is for mature people who have been trained to know right from wrong."
And that training, God further says in the Holy Word is nothing more than simple Bible studying (2 Timothy 2:15).
I was so excited. It was like a light bulb just turned on in my head. I was smiling to myself the whole time. I could not help it.
I wanted to tell someone, but there was no one to tell. This was like 4 a.m. in the morning. Everyone was sleeping, including my wife inside our house.
I knelt down and prayed: “Thank you Lord Jesus for your Bible… your word of truth!
Then, I got up. Flipped more pages until I was back at Isaiah 28, stopping at verse 9 again.
“So,” I thought, “by Isaiah answering his own questions saying: ‘Those that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts;’ he is simply saying those are the people who are now able to study God’s word on their own… without the need of a bible teacher.
God made it clear through Paul in the New Testament that the children of God drinking milk refers to those who are new in the faith…who are just born-again (those who have just gotten baptized into the truth)… who require a bible teacher to teach them. In essence, to feed them the words of God… just like a mother feeding her baby.
Praise God!
With a new way of seeing things in the Bible now, I went back to studying.
I looked, once more, at Isaiah 28 verses 10 and 13. And when I looked, I realized that because I had already dealt with Deuteronomy 19:15 and Matthew 18:16, these texts in Isaiah 28 became a little easier to follow.
Isa 28:10 “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
Isa_28:13 “But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.”
Again, I was impressed that in order to understand verses 10 and 13, I must look at the preceding verses, like verse 9, especially, again where through the prophet God asked two questions and answered his own questions.
Isaiah again said: "Whom will the Lord teach knowledge to? And to whom will he make to understand doctrine?"
Then Isaiah himself also answered saying, “Those that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.”
Remembering what Paul said, I thought, “Ok… so it’s people that are stronger in their bible study that the Lord wants to teach and make them understand about his doctrines. They are the ones that will go on to learn more.”
Mmmm. Nice! Now, on to the next challenge.
When I came to verses 10 and 13 again, I had to stop. I needed to look up the word “precept” in the dictionary before I continued.
I went to my American Heritage and smiled: “Precept—n. A rule or principle imposing a standard of actions or conduct.”
Armed, I pick up my bible again, and looked.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
Then I picked up my pencil and note pad, and rewrote the whole thing:
For principle must be upon principle, principle upon principle; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.
When I stopped and read it again, it was a little more easier.
Then I went to my concordance and found this:
2Ti 3:7 "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
Immediately, I found my “Aha!” moment: “This is research! The Lord is telling me I have to do research.”
In other words, I must put one rule or principle, one thought, one line, one verse against another in order to find his true teachings ... to see that Bible explains itself!
Just like we have been doing for the past few minutes. This was an incredible truth I had "stumbled" upon.
Wow!
"No wonder many have started their own religions, claiming they still believe the same Jesus Christ!" I thought.
Finally, verse 13 ended with… “here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.”
Now, here a little simply means things are scattered… I have to find bits of them and bring them together (or piece them together), just like we have done to the books of Hebrew, Isaiah, Peter, etc., scattered throughout the Bible which have now helped us to a little clearer.
Taking a little from Peter, from Paul and adding to Isaiah… we have arrived at a meaning that God wants us to understand.
What about the part of falling backward and being broken and snared?
Again, the Bible has answers.
Using the same principle, I had just found in Isaiah 28, I went to work. And gladly found this in the book of Matthew chapter 21 verse 42 to 44. It says…
42 Jesus saith unto them, “Did ye never read in the scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner’: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?
43 “Therefore say I unto you, ‘The
kingdom of God shall be taken from you,
and given to a nation bringing forth the
fruits thereof.
44 “‘And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.’”
So, quite simply they are saying... with Jesus the word of God, the corner stone, if you stumble (and fall backward) on Him during your study of Bible truths… if your understanding becomes clearer... that’s a very good thing!
Because you will be broken, snared and taken… or changed into His likeness. In other words, if I in my sinful ways fall onto Jesus, the stone, I will be broken. My sinful ways, old sinful habits, will be broken. And I will be taken or snared by Him and His ways.
I will have become saved!
Paul puts it this way:
2 Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Galatians 2:20 puts it this way: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
Mat 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
But, Jesus warned: “Whosoever” doesn’t listen to the word of God and believe, He (the word of God will come again) and “shall fall (on that person, and) grind him to powder.”
Like the stone in Daniel 2 that crashes onto the toes of the statue and shattered it to bits (Daniel 2:34, 35).
34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
When I finally looked up. I had felt like some weight just slipped off my back.
I felt lighter. I felt freer… and it seemed like a whole new world of possibilities in the Bible just opened up in front of me.
Shortly after, I found out that Jesus, through Matthew, John and Paul, supported this same teaching He impressed upon the Old Testament writers, Moses and Isaiah…
…A wonderful topic for our next discussion next time.
Before we go, please tell me … is this pretty clear to you? Did you follow along pretty well?
If so, that means you realize now that the only way to understand the Bible is by researching the teachings of the Bible in the Bible, right?
Comparing what one person or one book in the Bible is saying against another, right?
Many people (most of the times, our spiritual leaders) have taught us many things from the Bible. But sometimes they leave you scratching your head, especially when you come across other teachings in the Scripture that seem contrary to what these people are teaching, and continue to teach, right?
Our study today shows us we don’t have to continue believing something confusing just because our spiritual leaders said we must.
Instead, we need to be like the Bereans (praised by Paul), reading our own Bible when our leaders are teaching us; checking their teachings against the word of God... making sure they are teaching us truths direct from the Bible.
Jesus taught us through Paul that everybody in this world must study the Bible for himself or herself (2 Tim 2:15).
And my prayer is that... you are. God bless you, friend!