IS THE BIBLE AN
“OPEN BOOK”?
“I believe
that the Bible can be understood by anyone who can read it. Through personal
reading and self-studying, a person can understand what the Bible says. There
is no mystery in the Bible. You can find yourself the Bible truth.”
THE TEACHINGS OF the Bible doesn’t
agree with the belief that the Bible is an “open book” that anyone can
understand it only through personal reading and self-study. The Bible says:
“Always
learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (II Timothy 3:7,
NKJV)
Why although man “always learning”
(studying and reading) the Holy Scriptures but “never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth”? Apostle Peter answered this question:
“As
also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some
things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their
own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.” (II Peter 3:16,
NKJV)
Apostle Peter explicitly answered
the belief that the Bible is an “open book.” He said, “speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to
understand.” Because of this, Apostle Peter also said, “untaught and unstable people twist to their
own destruction.” The Holy Scriptures
are “hard to understand” which the “untaught people” twist to their own
destruction. Apostle Paul gave explanation why the Bible is “hard to
understand. This is what he said in Romans 16:25:
“Let
us give glory to God! He is able to make you stand firm in your faith,
according to the Good News I preach about Jesus Christ and according to the
revelation of the secret truth which was hidden for long ages in the past.” (Romans
16:25, TEV)
Apostle Paul described it as “secret
truth which hidden for long ages in the past.” Thus, man in his own never able
to come to the knowledge of the truth of the Bible, the secret truth which was
hidden for long ages in the past. The Bible is indeed not an “open book” that
can be understood by simply reading it. To further illustrate this point, let
us see the case of the Ethiopian eunuch:
“The
eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and he was now returning. Seated in
his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah. The
Holy Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go ever and walk along beside the carriage’.
Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah; so he asked,
‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ The man replied, ‘How can I, when
there is no one to instruct me?’ And he begged Philip to come up into the
carriage and sit with him” (Acts 8:27-31, NLT).
In the preceding biblical
passages we see that the eunuch was already reading the book of Isaiah. But,
when asked if he understood what he was reading, his reply was, “How can I,
when there is no one to instruct me?” What does it take to understand the words
of God written in the Bible? The Bible answered this question in Malachi 2:7:
“It
is the duty of priests to teach the true knowledge of God. People should go to
them to learn my will, because they are the messengers of the LORD Almighty.” (TEV)
It is the duty of the messengers
of the Lord God to teach the true knowledge of God. Are there also messengers of
God in the Christian Era?
“Now
all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ,
and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in
Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them,
and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are
ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you
on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.” (II Corinthians 5:18-20, NKJV)
No wonder the eunuch by himself
could not understand the Scriptures without the messenger explaining it to him.
So, Philip taught him the words of God. Remember what the Apostle Peter said, “which are some things hard to understand,
which UNTAUGHT and unstable people TWIST TO THEIR OWN DESTRUCTION.” Thus,
those not sent by God and those not taught by true messengers of God not only
never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, but also they “twist to their
own destruction.”
Therefore, it really doesn’t take
a genius to read and understand the Bible. Rather, it takes a messenger of God
to understand it and to teach us. God’s messengers understand the words of God
written in the Bible because they have been entrusted with God’s words. the
Bible said, “…and has committed to us the
word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ…”
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IGLESIA NI CRISTO
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