Difficult Scripture

Two weeks ago we discussed how to help someone who is wanting to know what book of the Bible they should read, last week we discussed topics and how to have a topical study. Today, I am wanting to bring to light a challenge that you will discover no matter if you choose a book study or topical study. This challenge is the dreaded “Difficult Scripture.” This is a term that has been tossed around by some when the scripture is discussing something that is convicting for us, goes against the culture, is unpopular, and even at times just outside of our cultural understanding. Unfortunately weak scholars, teachers, and others will skip these verses or read them so quickly that you might think you are at an auction. Others will say things like, “We really don’t know what this means, so I would tell each of you to look inside and come to your own conclusion.” Well scripture helps us deal with this challenge and it is why today I thought I would bring this up. No matter if you choose a book or a topic, sooner or later you will come across scripture that will be difficult to understand or apply in our life. But what do we do when we come across this scripture? We need to go to 2 Peter.

2 Peter 3:11-18 “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

Peter brings us to a point of recognizing the difficult scripture. However, there is a process on how we should handle such scripture.

First, Peter reminds us we need to have our heavenly view point. “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,” Peter reminds us we need to be reflective of God in our thoughts and our actions. Not thinking of this world, but on Him. When we do this, we look at scripture in its proper place. Instead of interpreting scripture in the eyes of this world, we examine it as it was designed.

When we do this, we naturally want more of God thus verse 12 is our second principle. “looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!” Some might say this is morbid or grave thinking, but we should look at sin’s corruption and see that the world needs saving which can only come in God’s actions. Jesus, not man, will heal and cleanse the world. These two principles must be recognized if we are ever to understand God’s scripture let alone the difficult passages in the Bible.

The third principle we need to recognize is to understand God’s work is not done. Many people mistaken God’s work for only salvation but that is only the foundation. God wants to do more! He is going to create again! “But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” When we understand this, we can evaluate our own perception to what He is doing. This is important when we read scripture and it feels like it is out of place, unless we are willing to look at the big picture and understand that God is not done. When we do this we finally are able to come to grips with tackling the difficult scripture.

“Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand. which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.”

We need to break this section of scripture down. Examine the words used, “look for these things” what things? The principles we talked about above. Peter uses “diligent” we need to be continually in the word. Acting on the word being peace, spotless and blameless which naturally results in patience from our Lord. Peter identifies Paul as one of the key instruments of God bringing diffficult scripture, but does not leave out the opportunity for the rest of God’s Word to be found difficult based on the location and time of the reader. Peter helps us further understand by making a comparison. Those who are untaught, unstable, and distorted identifies what we need to be doing, we need to be taught, stable, and not distorting the word. For those that remain untaught and unstable are headed for destruction.

We must educate ourselves through the scripture and with God the Holy Spirit as our guide. We need to be stable in carefully taking apart God’s Word and handling it with proper principles of study. Finally we are to allow the scripture to be the scripture and not distort it for our own ideas and agenda. If something in God’s Word is uncomfortable to you, it might be because it is speaking to you about sin in your life. This is why when Pastors and others skip difficult scripture, we are hurting the body of Christ. God’s Word is usable from Genesis to Revelation each and every day.

So no matter what season you are in your life, whether you are reading a book or are doing a topic study; when you come across difficult scripture take a moment and recognize the 2 Peter approach; and make sure your heart and mind are in the right place before you examine God’s Word.

Hold until relieved, our Blessed Hope is coming

JL