"Did God really say...?"

Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it (Deuteronomy 4:2).

Many people think that Christian churches are pretty much interchangeable; when they think of Methodists, Lutherans or the United Church of Christ, the main difference they see is in the different styles of worship. Presbyterians don’t worship like Baptists; Catholic church services are quite different from those of Episcopalians.

But there is more to these differences than the choice of hymnbooks. The reason that there are so many branches of Christianity has to do with what they teach. Each church body reveres the Bible, but each one reads that Bible in a different way.

The problem is that we are all corrupted by sin. Sin distorts everything about us. Sin makes us desire things that are unhealthy; sin wants us to put our needs ahead of all other considerations. Sin taints our emotions and clouds our reasoning. And so when we read the Bible, we read it through the fog of sin. Because sin impairs our minds, we struggle to understand God’s clear and perfect message to us. According to Paul, this will be a problem until Christ summons us to join Him in eternity: Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Because all human beings struggle to correctly understand God’s word, Jesus’ teaching came like a breath of fresh air. Matthew tells us, When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law (Matthew 7:28-29). Only the Son of God is pure and without sin; only the Son of God can explain Holy Scripture and always get it perfectly right.

God knows how hard it is for us to see through the fog of sin. That is why He sent His Son to teach us. That is why He sends the Holy Spirit to deliver faith and understanding through the inspired Word. But God also gave us clear instructions regarding the use of the Bible. Through Moses, God told His people Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it. And John, moved by the Spirit of God, set down these words in the last chapter of the Bible: I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book (Revelation 22:18-19).

God tells is in both the Old Testament and the New that we are to accept His Bible as it is—we are neither to add to nor subtract from it. And yet, many Christians are tempted to do just that—add to or subtract from God’s word. Why is that?

The problem, of course, is sin. We love to hear a sermon where that sinner in the next pew gets nailed to the wall, but when the pastor talks about a sin that I enjoy, things are different. I get uncomfortable. I might even get offended. How dare he say that!

We know that God’s word must be obeyed, but sometimes we grumble that He demands too much of us. We are rightfully scared of angering God, but there are some sins so dear to our hearts that we can’t imagine giving them up. And so our sinful minds start looking—looking for wiggle room. We play a game that Satan taught Eve in the Garden of Eden: "Did God really say...?"

This game is played in one of two ways. One way was practiced by the Pharisees. In God’s Law, the seventh day of the week was to be set aside for the Lord—working was not allowed. But the experts in the Law wanted more detail; eventually, they calculated how many steps a person could walk on the Sabbath before walking became work. Does this sound like splitting hairs? It is—but it was an attempt to find wiggle room in God’s Law. In other words, how much work can I get away with on the Sabbath day before God gets mad at me for working?

Some modern Christian churches play this same game—they add carefully-designed rules to the Bible to create wiggle room. Some church bodies claim that Jesus said things to His disciples that were not written down in the Bible, but have been passed down through the years by word of mouth; in other words, the leaders of the church have information the rest of us do not. Other churches claim to have been visited by prophets or angels, who have brought new information because the Bible is not God’s complete and final message to us. All this in spite of the fact that God warns us not to add to His word.

The other way this game is played is by asking the following question: does the Bible contain God’s word, or is it God’s word? There is an important difference between the two. If the Bible is God’s word, then we have to believe that everything in it comes from God. But if the Bible only contains God’s word, then it can also contain something else as well—human teachings which we can safely ignore.

Many modern Christian churches play this game. Some will say that you can’t read the Bible literally—it’s only about ideas and principles, not facts. Others claim that the Bible was a product of its time and place, and parts of it are irrelevant to our modern world. Some believe that the Bible has been secretly rewritten over the years, attributing to Jesus words He did not say and miracles He did not do, all in an effort to make Jesus appear more wonderful to the people in the pew. The bottom line is this—parts of the Bible just can’t be believed. All this in spite of the fact that God warns us not to subtract anything from His word.

We are sinners; we want wiggle room when it comes to the Bible because, frankly, sometimes the Bible says things it is tough to hear. Jesus faced this very same response in His ministry among us; when He told the people that He was the living Bread which comes down from heaven, St. John records: On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you?" (John 6:60-61) And the result? A few verses later we are told, From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. Paul predicted this same problem for the Church in the future: the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

God tells us that the Bible is His Word and must be taken seriously; Paul wrote, All Scripture comes from the mouth of God and is useful for teaching, confronting falsehood, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). We ignore it or twist it’s meaning at our peril. And yet there is such a strong temptation to do so. Consider the following examples:

Many church bodies ordain women to serve as clergy; yet what do they say about First Corinthians chapter 14 and First Timothy chapter 2? Many churches practice open communion, but what about First Corinthians chapter 10, or Romans chapter 16? More and more churches are tolerant of divorce on demand, ignoring Matthew chapter 5 and Malachi chapter 2. Less and less churches oppose the teaching of evolution, in spite of Genesis chapter 1 and Exodus chapter 20. Some churches no longer identify homosexual activity as sinful, in spite of Leviticus chapter 18 and Romans chapter 1.

Where does this all lead? There are Christian churches in this country that make a horrifying claim—you do not need to know Jesus to get into heaven. Some say that since Jesus died to pay for all sins, you are forgiven even if you don’t ask Jesus for mercy. Some claim that if you have never heard of Jesus, but still live a life of love and service like Jesus did, God will let you into heaven. But can you enter heaven without knowing Jesus? In John chapter 14 our Lord says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. In Acts chapter 4, Peter says the following about Jesus: Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. Can you enter heaven without Jesus, so long as you live a life that is pleasing to God? Romans chapter 3 states, There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. And Ephesians chapter 2 says, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.

Playing "did God really say?" is a dangerous game. Playing it got Adam and Eve kicked out of paradise and condemned to death. Playing it has led some Christian churches to claim that you don’t need to be friends with Jesus in order to enter heaven.

Maybe you think this doesn’t really affect you. But suppose you are at a funeral for someone whom you loved deeply. Do you want to hear the pastor say, "I’m not sure where your loved one is now"? Do you want to be told that you might never see that person again, that we just can’t be sure what happens after death? Or do you want to have confidence in the words of First Corinthians chapter 15: Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." If you can’t be sure of these words, what comfort can you find in a church funeral?

Or suppose that you are weighed down by regret over stupid things you’ve said and done; you feel trapped in a cage of your mistakes, and can’t see anything but more darkness in your future. Do you want to hear a sermon that says, "it’s all up to you! The only way you can be sure of happiness is to take charge of your life and change it for the better"? Or do you want to believe the words of Matthew chapter 11: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Do you crave for the hope found in Luke chapter 5, where Jesus says: Friend, your sins are forgiven. If you can’t be sure of these words, what is there to keep you from committing suicide?

Every church needs to pledge itself to obeying God’s command—we do not want to add to God’s word, nor do we want to subtract from it. This means that we have to listen to some hard teachings, and simply submit to our Lord in humbleness. When the Bible speaks of God as both Three and One, we do not assume that the Bible is wrong, nor do we try to explain it away—we simply put our faith in the One God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The the Bible IS God’s Word, complete as given. There is security in knowing that everything we need is there, and we don’t have to use our faulty human reasoning to decide which parts are real and which parts apply to us. We study the Bible to understand it, but we don’t ignore the parts we dislike, nor do we embellish it to suit our preferences. We submit to God’s Word out of love and trust, instead of twisting it to make it easy or 'Politically Correct'. That is the hallmark of a truly Christian church.