Restoring Apostolic Faith

One of the most dangerous phrases in modern Christianity may be:

“The Bible clearly says…”

Sometimes it does.

Many times, however, what follows is not Scripture itself, but someone’s interpretation of Scripture.

There is a difference.

Scripture is inspired.

Our interpretations are not.

That distinction matters.

For nearly two thousand years, faithful Christians have debated difficult topics such as baptism, salvation, spiritual gifts, eschatology, the intermediate state, election, and church authority. Men and women far more educated than most of us—fluent in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—have disagreed on these subjects while still affirming the lordship of Christ.

Yet somehow, modern readers often approach an English translation and conclude:

“The Bible clearly says…”

No. More often than not:

“I believe this text means…”

That is a far more humble—and usually more accurate—statement.

Proof-Texting Is Not Exegesis

Many doctrines are built not upon careful study of entire books, historical settings, literary genres, or covenant contexts, but upon isolated verses removed from their original audience and purpose.

A verse is quoted.

A conclusion is asserted.

And suddenly an entire theology is built upon a sentence that may never have intended to address the question being asked.

This is not exegesis.

It is proof-texting.

The question is never merely:

“What does this verse say?”

The better questions are:

• Who wrote it?
• To whom was it written?
• Why was it written?
• What problem was being addressed?
• How would the original audience have understood it?
• How does it fit within the broader message of Scripture?

Context is not reading four verses before and after.

Context is historical, literary, grammatical, covenantal, and canonical.

When Hermeneutics Are Ignored

Recently I encountered someone who used Ezekiel 3 as evidence for ecstatic or unintelligible speech.

The irony is striking.

Yes, the text contains language that sounds foreign or unintelligible.

But the entire point of the passage is not to establish a doctrine of spiritual speech. The prophet is being commissioned to speak to Israel, and God contrasts Israel with foreign nations whose languages would naturally be unintelligible to him.

Without understanding the historical setting and literary purpose of the passage, one can make almost any verse say almost anything.

A text out of context may become a pretext.

Likewise, I have encountered claims that we are already living in the new heavens and new earth because believers become “new creatures” in Christ, or because Jesus spoke of heaven and earth passing away in relation to first-century events.

Such conclusions often confuse metaphorical, covenantal, personal, and cosmic categories.

The fact that believers experience spiritual renewal does not necessarily mean the final restoration of creation described by the prophets and Revelation has already arrived.

The existence of death, mourning, sin, and corruption should give us pause before declaring the age to come fully realized.

Faithful Christians Must Learn to Say “I Could Be Wrong”

Strong convictions are good.

Arrogance is not.

There is a profound difference between saying:

“This is what Scripture teaches.”

and

“After studying Scripture, I believe this is the best interpretation.”

The first often closes discussion.

The second invites examination.

The Bereans were praised not because they accepted claims blindly, but because they examined the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

Christian maturity is not measured by how loudly we proclaim certainty.

It is measured by our willingness to submit our conclusions to Scripture, context, history, and correction.

Scripture Is Infallible.

We are not.

God’s Word is perfect.

Our understanding of it is often imperfect.

That reality should not drive us to skepticism.

It should drive us to humility.

The goal of Bible study is not to make Scripture, or others agree with us.

It is to allow Scripture to transform us—even when it overturns ideas we once held with absolute confidence.

After all, if every doctrine we possess conveniently confirms everything we already believed, perhaps we have not been listening carefully enough.