Turn to the Word--Everything Else is Just Opinion

As part of our training to protect ourselves as believers, I am sharing what I have learned the hard way about a trend in Christian books. Learn from my mistake or don’t, but turn to the Word for the sake of your faith.

In 1522 a Christian by the goofy name of Ulrich Zwingli wrote The Clarity and Certainty of God’s Word. In this work he—ironically—made a keen observation that took me years to discover on my own: ‘I gave myself overmuch to human teaching . . . and when I undertook to devote myself entirely to the Scriptures I was always prevented by philosophy and theology. But eventually I came to the point where, led by the Word and Spirit of God, I saw the need to set aside all these things and to learn the doctrine of God direct from His own Word.’

His point—as relevant today as it was almost five centuries ago—is that our understanding of God and of His Word cannot be improved through the study of other works.

Those works—and there are hundreds of them—are written on the premise that the Bible cannot be understood on its own, that you cannot understand it on your own. This thought process is the exact same tactic the Roman Catholic Church employed for centuries to keep believers in the dark about what the Word of God truly says. The Church decided that only it possessed the authority and the capability to properly ‘interpret’ scripture.

Don’t fall for this recycled gambit.

Hebrews 11:3-4 provides this warning: ‘But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted (away) from a complete and pure devotion to Christ. For if a person comes and preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you had not received, or a different gospel, which you had not accepted, you put up with it splendidly!’ Here Paul warns against outside influences.

Beware especially of the books that include this phrase in their synopsis: ‘This work will unlock the word of God in a fresh and powerful way.’

A fresh way? What does that mean? It means a new interpretation of the Bible! It means a fresh look at the Bible according to this or that author.

Like our friend with the funny name, I spent years reading various Christian books to improve my knowledge of God and His Word. I’d finish a 'fresh' eye-opening work like Urban Jesus and then go about with a new understanding of who my God was, thinking I’d gained insight into His nature.

But then I’d read another Christian book and it would confuse me because the information—though also fresh—differed slightly from the last book, presenting to me slightly different truths about Jesus. After perusing eight or nine of these types, I was totally discombobulated. “Who is Jesus?” I screamed at the heavens. (Not really, but you get the picture.)

The point is this: We don’t need a fresh look at the Bible. The lure of turning to extra-biblical resources to improve our comprehension of God’s Word is a trap, a dangerous habit to fall into. Don’t get me wrong, fundamentally correct teachings about God and His will can be found in some Christian books, like gems among the ore of false views and distorted philosophies. But that’s the point; even the most reverent works are prone to providing some false declarations based on faulty premises, minor deviations from the inerrant Word of God. Most are flavored by inherited worldviews and tainted by denominational bias. By developing a habit of augmenting our Biblical knowledge with extra-biblical resources, we fall into the trap of blindly believing some false teachings.

This reliance on extra-biblical teaching has become a phenomenon; fresh new ways of understanding the Bible make for best sellers and, going along with the times, our teachers and pastors have even taken to preaching from some of these books.

One day in a church I used to attend the pastor opened up one of these extra-biblical books (in this case 3 Free Sins, a clever, devious little troll) and taught out of this book instead of the Bible! I got up and walked out, and never returned.

'All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work’ (2 Timothy 3:16-17). You see, the Bible (alone) equips us and completes our spiritual training. Turn to the Bible; everything else is just opinion. (Yes, I see the irony in making this statement, and I'm totally cool with it, because if you have learned from this post, you will turn to the Word and not take my word as gospel--which would be another dose of irony).