Thursday, August 1, 2013

You Won't Get The Bible Immediately

Have there ever been times when you learn a subject at school, you get after one lesson. I wish that was the case for me in a lot of subjects. For many new Christians, they wish they can get the Bible all at once and I am pretty sure many maturing believers feel the same way.

You would think after reading the Bible year after year and hearing great sermons, you would understand it all. Unfortunately, that will not happen due to our fallen nature and the fact God created us an finite creatures. Osmosis does not work either. I think too many student tried that in school before an exam and it did not pay off.

Wayne Grudem wrote about this very subject recently on Mars Hill Church's blog:

The doctrine of the clarity of Scripture has deeply affected my entire life.

Now, how should we understand this doctrine? The doctrine of the clarity of Scripture is easily misunderstood and, I think, commonly misunderstood. Here’s how I understand the clarity of Scripture.

Scripture affirms that it can be understood, but

Not all at once,
Not without effort,
Not without ordinary means,
Not without the reader’s willingness to obey it,
Not without the help of the Holy Spirit,
Not without human misunderstanding, and
Never completely.
Understanding Scripture is a process.

Picture the clarity of Scripture as something of a journey to a distant mountain. We see the mountain clearly from far away, but we will see more detail—and understand more of what we see—as we journey toward the mountain over many months and years. We can see it from the beginning of our Christian lives, and we truly see and understand something about it, but a lifetime of seeking deeper understanding will be repaid with a lifetime of growth in knowledge and wisdom.


Read the entire post here.

Recommended Resources by Wayne Grudem

Systematic Theology

Christian Beliefs

No comments:

Post a Comment

ShareThis