If we read our Bibles often enough, we probably come across
something from time to time that challenges our understanding of God. We may
find that God’s idea of love, judgment, longsuffering, or sovereignty isn’t
exactly what we thought it was.
I have a good friend whose company and hospitality I enjoy.
But when we are discussing the Bible, he often gets hung up on something he
doesn’t understand. It’s not that the concepts themselves aren’t clear to him,
but he doesn’t understand how God could do something or command something that
goes against my friend’s conception of God. He has developed ideas about what
it means for God to be loving, just, longsuffering, and sovereign, and he gives
these ideas so much weight that when something in God’s word challenges his
ideas, he questions God’s word. He wonders whether this part of scripture was
recorded accurately, whether God has changed since this this was recorded, or
whether the original has become irretrievably lost in transmission.
According to Christ, our belief must be uncritical: “Blessed
are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” We disqualify ourselves by
critiquing the word of God: “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the
kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." Our reasoning is not
trustworthy: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine
own understanding.” Acknowledging God’s authority is the prerequisite of all
wisdom: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of
the holy is understanding.”
Submitting his own understanding to God’s revelation has
been a problem for mankind from the beginning. Eve had an authoritative word of
God, and she believed it only as long as it seemed rational to her. When she found a
novel idea that seemed more reasonable than God’s word, she traded the very
source of truth for her own understanding. She showed that she had already been her own autonomous authority, believing God only when it suited her.
