Home>
Ministries>
The Pastor Nathaniel's Blog>
The Pastor's Blog Archives>
Pastor's Blog Archives. 2020>
Pastor's Blog October 15, 2020
"What To Do With Doubt II"
{Scroll over scripture reference to read the scripture or reference.
What is the Bible for? This may seem like a silly question, but I think it is absolutely important for us to consider. Many Christians act as if the Bible's purpose is primarily for knowledge: reading and studying Scripture is mostly for gaining information about God, how to live, and what subjects are most important to know in this life so we can prepare for the next one. But our friend Ellen helps us understand that this approach to the Bible usually ends with a focus on our intellectual ability rather than God.
In "Steps to Christ," Ellen describes the attitude of those who ultimately reject the Bible as God's inspired word: "because they cannot fathom all its [the Bible's] mysteries, the skeptic and infidel reject God's word" (76; 1977 edition); "men feel impatient and defeated if they cannot explain every portion of Scripture to their satisfaction....They feel that their unaided human wisdom is sufficient to enable them to comprehend the Scripture, and failing to do this, they virtually deny its authority" (77).
The unfortunate reality is that most people, including those who believe in Jesus, primarily seek to know the Bible in order to know God on THEIR terms - in short, to reduce God to something they can understand and treat him like another subject of study (76-77). This approach, however, merely limits God in our own eyes: "God would no longer be supreme" if God is compared to the supposed supremacy of human reason (77).
But Ellen highlights the true focus of the Bible: "the plan of redemption is laid open to us, so that every soul may see the steps he is to take in repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, in order to be saved in God's appointed way" (76); "to all eternity men may be ever searching, ever learning, and yet never exhaust the treasures of His wisdom, His goodness, and His power"; "we can attain to an understanding of God's word only through the illumination of that Spirit by which the word was given," because only the Holy Spirit knows and searches the deep things of God (77).
So what is the Bible for? The Bible is not primarily for accumulating and learning information, even information about God. Instead, the Bible is primarily for getting to know God - coming to know the living God as he reveals himself to us in his living word.
(*) Steps to Christ, Chapter 12— What to Do with Doubt, 1977 edition
God Bless.
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
