Anonymous Asks (292)

“Why are there so many Christian interpretations?”

Knowledge is fundamentally divisive. The moment any of us determines to “get to the bottom” of this or that subject, he begins to depart from the popular narrative about it. One possibility is that he gets labeled a conspiracy theorist and marginalized by society. Another is that he becomes an expert and people start turning to him for advice.

Any exposure to increased information, true or false, creates divisions.

Knowledge = Division

This is one reason politicians are so desperate to control the popular narrative, whether through their lapdog media, censorship, internet policing or public shaming: knowledge divides. Freedom of information may lead to public disagreement over your climate change initiatives and fewer people lining up for your vaccines or voting for Justin Trudeau. The holy grail of governments everywhere is the single, unquestioned, universally accepted storyline about everything.

Bible study increases knowledge, so it has exactly the same effect. The serious Bible student may be a wingnut or a deep theologian who helps many people, but his efforts to understand the meaning of scripture for himself take him off the beaten path and separate him from his peers. Each effort to learn more about what scripture really teaches creates the potential for a new interpretation, right or wrong.

My point is that the divisiveness of increased information is not a feature unique to religious studies. It is true in every area of knowledge: in science, economics, medicine, politics, art, music or anything else. In business, the mantra for years has been that diversity is a strength, and that listening to a variety of opinions will make your business that much more successful. It ain’t true, but nobody complains about diversity in the boardroom the way they complain about diversity from the platforms of churches.

All Truth

When the Lord Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would guide his apostles into all truth, his promise came with no ironclad guarantee that everyone who heard or read what the apostles taught would understand it the same way or pass it on in unmodified form. Understanding in any area is a process. That is why we talk about learning curves. Truth is not dispensed in a moment in time like a flash of lightning, but arrived at by comparing scripture with scripture, praying, meditating, consulting with others, eliminating false interpretations, going down rabbit trails then backing up and going down others. It’s a laborious, time-consuming process, and it should come as no surprise that we all do it at a different pace.

If 100 people set out to walk to the West Coast from Boston, unless they stay together and move at the pace of the slowest among them, they will all arrive at different times, not to mention with different stories about how they got there and what happened along the way. Health, strength, good judgment, knowledge of the territory, unforeseen circumstances and any combination of other factors will quickly separate them from one another as they travel. They are all heading for the same destination, but the further away that destination is, the farther apart they may be from one another at any given point along the way. And all this assumes they start at the same place at the same time, which is never the case with any two Christians whose stories we might compare.

Christlikeness is not a walk down the block to the corner store. For most of us it’s a life-long journey, with plenty of missteps in the process.

Feature, Not Bug

Amazingly, this is not a bug but a feature. Paul writes, “There must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.” Bad doctrine leads to bad practice. It doesn’t work out in the real world. Bad doctrine leads to inconsistent thinking. It doesn’t work out in your head. Even the most obstinate among us eventually realize this and move on. This is the nature of learning. It involves a lot of trial and error. If not, what we’re listening to is probably just propaganda, not truth.

The good news is the Bible anticipates a variety of interpretations in circulation at any given time. The New Testament teaches us to expect weeds among the wheat, false prophets and teachers, “super-apostles” who are not super at all, and good men who need to have the way of God explained to them more accurately. If there are those who rightly handle the word of truth, there will be those who don’t.

The Word of God

Hebrews says, “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” How do we know when we are hearing the true word of God? Well, look hard at the outcome, at what any given teaching produces and how it plays out in the real world.

It may not be obvious today, but it will be one day soon.