Recently, my great nephew was scarfing down a glass of apple juice while trying to convince his mother he wasn’t feeling well enough to go to school the next day. His mother was not buying his excuses. All of a sudden he told her that he couldn’t taste the apple flavor in his apple juice. Then he said, “I’m not kidding. I really can’t taste apple.” His grandfather asked him where he got the apple juice, and he said it came from his grandparents’ refrigerator. His grandfather began to laugh. He said, “It’s no wonder you can’t taste the apple. It’s not apple; it’s white grape juice!” We all had a good laugh about the mistake, and our mischievous great nephew decided he would not win the battle of staying home from school.
This incident reminds me of how we sometimes treat Scripture. Do you ever read a passage from Scripture and think you know what it means only to discover, with further study, that you have misapplied, misunderstood, or misinterpreted the passage? I think that has happened to all of us.
Even though the white grape juice looked like apple juice, it wasn’t apple juice. In the same way, many are guilty of using a verse of Scripture to prove a point without studying the passage within the context. Some also want to use a series of verses to apply a certain belief or to disprove a belief, again without looking at the context. Here is an extreme example of how such a practice might give a very wrong conclusion. Speaking of Judas, “…(Judas) went and hanged himself” (Matthew 27:5 ESV). “You go, and do likewise” (Luke 10:37). “Jesus said to him, ‘What you are going to do, do quickly’” (John 13:27).
Jesus is certainly not telling us to hang ourselves like Judas did. This simply shows how dangerous it can be to pull Scriptures from different places without understanding what is really being taught.
Parables are an example of this kind of application of Scripture. Jesus used many parables to teach. He told His disciples, “And he said to them, ‘to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables.’” (Mark 4:11). We can’t read into parables things that are not taught. We can’t answer certain questions because answers do not exist. We can’t apply principles that are laid out for us. Sometimes we have to say, “I just don’t know.”
I often have questions from my 4th and 5th grade Bible class about why God did certain things or why things happen the way they do. Often the answer has to be, “We don’t know.”
In my article last week, I wrote about the kings being commanded to copy the Law of Moses and read it all the days of their lives. Surely, God expects the same of us. Reading and studying the Scriptures will instruct us on what our behavior should be, how we can be obedient to God, and how to love and serve our fellowman. Reading and studying daily will help prevent us from thinking we have the truth and finding out we have been deceived.
Sandra Oliver