In 2 Timothy 3:16 the apostle Paul says
something about the purpose of the Bible:
“All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correction, for training in uprightness.”
Actually,
to be precise, when Paul wrote this he was referring to what we know as the Old
Testament. But what he says applies just
as much to the New Testament too.
The
Bible as a filter
One good way of thinking about the Bible is as a
filter.
As we live our lives, we are constantly
bombarded by ideas of all sorts. There
are ideas that are common in the cultures we live in. And, as Christians, there are ideas that are
held by the Christian circles we are part of.
If we imagine all these ideas coming down a big
pipe towards us, the Bible can be pictured as a filter that allows some ideas
through and keeps others out.
Importantly, however, we need to be proactive in
letting Scripture work in this way. The
Bible’s work of filtration doesn’t just happen automatically. Instead, we will often need to weigh things
up, to spend some time thinking about whether various ideas fit with biblical
teaching.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:21 Paul tells his readers:
“Test everything; hold on to what is good.”
Using the Bible as a filter really just means to
do what Paul instructs in this verse. It
means to make it a habit to think about the values of things in the light of
Scripture and to reject anything that doesn’t pass the test.
Using the values of mainstream Western culture
as a filter
Sadly, there are many professing Christians who
get things the wrong way round. Instead
of using the Bible as a filter, they use something else to filter out parts of
biblical teaching.
To begin with, there are those who use the
values of mainstream Western culture as a filter.
For example, the Bible has a lot to say about
sexual issues and gender roles. And what
it teaches on these topics often sharply contradicts mainstream views in modern
Western culture.
Instead of using the Bible as a filter to block
out harmful ideas in areas like these, there are many who block out biblical
teaching when it doesn’t fit with Western values.
However, one of the main reasons God has given
us the Bible is so that the biases and mistakes of cultural ideas can be
filtered out. In moral issues, every
culture gets some things right and some things wrong in God’s sight. Scripture is essential for determining
whether various ideas fit with His will.
Many professing Christians today think they know
better than the Bible, whereas in reality they have been deceived.
Using denominational beliefs as a filter
There are also many who go wrong by using
denominational traditions to filter out biblical teaching.
No two denominations of the church agree on
everything of importance as regards Christian doctrine and practice. I would suggest that anyone who thinks there
is a denomination that has got it all right is being very naive. Instead, each denomination has strengths and
weaknesses when compared to others.
That is not to say that overall no denomination
is better than any other. Some are much
more in line with the will of God than others are. But the idea that any denomination avoids all
significant mistakes is very unrealistic.
There are, sadly, many Christians who never stop
to question the beliefs of their denomination.
Instead of using the Bible as a filter to hold denominational ideas up
to scrutiny, they do the opposite. Parts
of Scripture that contradict, or at least fit awkwardly with, the views of a
certain denomination are often just brushed aside.
Again, one of the main reasons God has given us
Scripture is so that mistakes in Christian doctrine or practice can be
corrected. If we refuse to allow our
denominational ideas to be challenged by carefully examining them in the light
of biblical teaching, we are not using the Bible as we should.
Avoiding idolatry
Whenever we use something else to filter out
biblical teaching, we are guilty of idolatry.
We have set up a man-made system of deciding what to accept and reject
that is vastly inferior to the one God has provided. At best this will cause problems, at worst it
will lead to disaster.
Instead, what we need to do is humbly accept the
filter that God has provided, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. And we need to actively use this filter by
constantly weighing things up.
See also:
