Page 52 - Bibliology - Textbook w videos short

3. Must we sell everything we have and give it to the poor in order to inherit eternal life (Luke 18:18-
22)?

4. Did the mountains and the hills really break into song and the trees clap their hands (Isaiah 55:12)?

5. Did God hold out his hands literally to an obstinate people (Isaiah 65)? Does God have hands?

6. Would the moon literally turn to blood before the Day of the Lord (Joel 2:31)? Aren’t such statements
about actual worldly judgments by God that are expressed in poetic or astronomical language rather
than literal language?

7. When God judged Babylon, an event in actual history, did the stars and sun stop giving their light
(Isaiah 13:10) and the heavens literally tremble (Isaiah 13:13)? Given this passage and numerous others
like it in the Bible (for example, Isaiah 24:23; Ezekiel 32:7; Amos 5:20, 8:9; Zephaniah 1:15) what do you
think of Matthew 24:29?

8. Do we have a literal talking snake—scales and all—in Genesis 3? (See Revelation 20:2 for some help
on this one.) Is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:9) a literal tree? (There may
differences of opinion here.) Are the Tigris and Euphrates rivers mentioned in Genesis literal rivers? Is it
reasonable for literal and non-literal language to appear in the same context?

Questionable passages

There are a few basic principles to dealing with difficult passages in the Bible.

First, we must believe that the Bible itself contains no contradictions whatsoever. If
there is any question about interpreting a section of Scripture, it can be called a
difficult passage but not a contradictory passage.

Second, in dealing with difficult passages, we should study it in conjunction with other passages before
we can arrive at any conclusion. No difficult passage can be in conflict with the teachings contained in
other parts of the Bible. When God wrote the Bible, He did not write one portion without regard for the
other portions. It is totally consistent. So if one interprets a passage and find the interpretation in
conflict with other passages of Scripture, his interpretation is invalid.

Sometimes we find passages that just don’t make sense. In such case we have to believe them at face
value. We should not doubt God’s Word simply because our little minds cannot follow the thought or
because of our prejudice or lack of reason.

For example, the Bible makes it very clear that a person must respond to the Gospel by faith to be
saved. It also says God is not willing that any should perish, but that every person should come to
repentance. Yet, the Bible also says that before the foundation of the world God elected people to be
saved according to His foreknowledge. One aspect involves the free will of man; the other the
sovereignty of God. We may not be able to put both of those thoughts together to become totally
consistent, but needless to say, both are true.

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