YOU CAN PROVE ANYTHING BY THE BIBLE
Have you ever heard someone say, "You can prove
anything by the Bible?" That is true if you have no respect for the
integrity of the text or for the rules of interpretation. For example, if you
take a passage out of its context or if you define a word like you want it to
mean, you can make the Bible teach whatever you want it to teach. I remember a
silly illustration N. B. Hardeman, president of
The Apostle Peter was concerned about certain teachers in
his day who had the attitude I am discussing with you, that is, they tried to
use the Bible to prove their own ideas. They were reading into the scriptures
their own thoughts and preferences. In his second letter, Peter has an extended
discussion of the Lord’s second coming. He encouraged his readers:
"Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent
that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account
that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother
Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you; as also
in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things
hard to be understood, which they who are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they
do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction" (2 Pet. 3:
14-16).
Peter does not identify the unlearned and unstable men who
were wresting the scriptures, but all of us should be aware of the enormous
damage such teachers do to the cause of Christ. The word "wrest" is a
translation of the Greek strebloo which means to twist or
to torture or to pervert. In fact, most modern versions render the word
"twist." Paul uses a different word in his letter to the churches of
We know such teachers existed in the first century, but
surely there are no such teachers in our generation. Would to God that were
true! Tragically, there are many teachers who pervert the word of God to
further their own personal or denominational agendas. Do I believe that all of
the men who twist the scriptures are dishonest? I have no authority to judge
other men's motives. I do not know if they are honest. But honesty is not a
test of truth. Our only standard of sound doctrine is the word of almighty God.
We must examine every teaching by that divine standard. I shall furnish you
with some examples of men who have twisted the scriptures.
Dr. John MacArthur, Jr. is one of my favorite authors. Some
of his books are among the most useful I have in my study. But Dr. MacArthur is
a Calvinist and has twisted some scriptures to maintain his Calvinism. In his
book, Forgiveness: The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness (Wheaton:
Crossway Books, 1998), Dr. MacArthur quotes the question the Jews asked Peter
on the day of Pentecost, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" He
says Peter commanded the believing Jews: "Repent and trust Christ."
That is not what the Apostle Peter urged the Jews to do. He said: "Repent,
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).
Dr. MacArthur does mention the dramatic results of Peter's sermon. "Then
they who gladly received the word were baptized, and the same day there were
added unto them about three thousand souls" (p. 50).
Did you know that Martin Luther added the word
"alone" in Paul's letter to the Romans? Paul wrote: "Therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law"
(Rom. 3:28). Luther added the German word allein ("alone")
to the word "faith." In his commentary on The Interpretation of
St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans (Minneapolis: Augsburg
Publishing House, 1934), Dr. R. C. H. Lenski, a prominent Lutheran scholar, has
written: "As to Luther's little word 'alone' it may interest you to know
that it antedates Luther and is in this sense Roman" (p. 272). Is Dr.
Lenski arguing that we have right to add to the word of God because some of the
ancient theologians did?
There are some serious problems with Luther's adding the
word "alone," regardless of which ancient theologians added the word
to the sacred text. The Bible specifically condemns those who add to the word
(Rev. 22:18). If Luther were right in adding the word "alone" to the
word "faith," we would have a flat contradiction between Paul's
letter to the Romans and the epistle of James. Let me challenge you to
harmonize Luther's view with that of James. "Even so faith, if it has not
works, is dead, being alone" (Jas. 2: 17). The verbs in this verse are all
present tense. When we take into consideration the tenses of the verbs, the
verse reads as follows: "Even so faith, if it keeps on not having works,
keeps on being dead, because it is continually alone." Charles Williams
renders the verse: "So faith by itself, if it has no works to back it up,
is dead." James adds: "You see then how that by works a man is
justified, and not by faith alone ... For as the body without the spirit is
dead, so faith without works is dead also" (Jas. 2:24, 26). Incidentally,
Luther had some real problems with the book of James. He called it a "right
strawy epistle."
John Hagee seems to delight in taking verses out of their
contexts or leaving off a word or incorrectly defining a word. In his book, Jerusalem
Countdown: A Warning to the World (
The great prophet Isaiah predicted: "And a Redeemer
shall come to
In his latest book, In Defense of Israel: The Bible's
Mandate for Supporting the Jewish State (Lake Mary, FL:
FrontLine, 2007), John Hagee relates what he told a Jewish audience: "The
room was electrified as we pronounced the verdict of the one who promised never
to slumber or sleep as he watches over Israel: the chosen people of God are
alive and well" (p. 195). There is not even the slightest doubt the nation
of
The prosperity gospel preachers are notorious for
stretching biblical passages to justify their greed for wealth. I could give
you dozens of examples, but I shall furnish you just one. The
There are numerous errors in Creflo Dollar's views, as any
careful Bible student can easily discern. For example, how much gold,
frankincense and myrrh did the wise men bring to Jesus? Was it an ounce or a
pound or a wagon load? And it borders on insulting for Creflo Dollar to affirm
that Jesus had so much money he had to have an accountant to keep track of his
money. One verse from the book of Luke shows how Creflo Dollar perverts the
scripture to justify his plea for wealth. Luke, a Greek physician, recorded
these words from the Lord himself: "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the
air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head" (Lk.
9:58). Did Paul know about Christ's great riches? If he did, why did he tell
the Corinthians: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that,
though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his
poverty might be rich" (2 Cor. 8:9)?
The health and wealth preachers remind me of the false
teachers the Apostle Peter discussed. "Through covetousness shall they
with feigned (or well-turned) words, make merchandise of you: whose judgment
now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not.... (They)
have forsaken the right way, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam
the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness" (2 Pet. 2:3,
15). Creflo Dollar and other prosperity preachers are good examples of those
who try to "prove anything by the Bible."
While I am speaking with you about money, there is another
aspect of wealth I need to discuss briefly. Some liberal theologians and some
radical academics promote what they call "distributive justice." They
argue that Christians are not following the instructions of Jesus who commands
all of us to give our possessions to the poor. Some even go so far as to argue
that the government should evenly distribute the wealth of the nation. But if
the government takes money it has no legitimate reason to have, is that not
stealing? John Bartlett's book, Familiar Quotations (Boston:
Little, Brown Company, 1955), quotes President Grover Cleveland as saying:
"When more of the people's sustenance is exacted through the form of
taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of Government and
expenses of its economical administration, such exaction becomes ruthless
extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of a free
Government" (p. 689).
What did Jesus say about selling all we have and giving it
to the poor? Matthew tells of a man who came to Jesus with a question:
"Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may inherit eternal
life?" Jesus urged him to keep the commandments. He told Jesus he had been
keeping the commandments from his childhood. He then asked: "What lack I
yet?" Jesus instructed the young man: "If you will be perfect (or
full grown), go and sell that you have, and give it to the poor, and you shall
have treasure in heaven." Matthew says the young man went away sorrowfully
"for he had great possessions" (Mt. 19:16-22). It is not being honest
with the text to apply what Jesus told the rich young man to every human being
on earth. Is it not obvious that the young man was trusting in his riches
rather than in the living God? When a man worships his earthly possessions, he
would do well to get rid of them. Besides, if all Christians sold their
possessions, who would support them?
Dave Hunt and James White conducted a written debate on
Calvinism. The debate was published in a book with the title, Debating
Calvinism: Five Points, Two Views (Sisters, OR: Multnomah
Publishers, 2004). James White, a radical Calvinist, believes in unconditional
election. He quotes these words from Paul's sermon to the citizens in Antioch
of Pisidia: "And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and
glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life
believed" (Acts 13:48). Wayne Jackson's outstanding commentary on The
Acts of the Apostles: From Jerusalem to Rome (Stockton, CA:
Christian Courier Publications, 2005) says concerning the expression, "as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed": "Those who believed
were those who determined for themselves that they had been offered and would
accept, God's gift of eternal life. The verb 'believed' does not mean merely
that they mentally assented; rather, it asserts that they obeyed the
truth" (p. 162). Clarke's Commentary (Nashville:
Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, n. d.), by the Methodist scholar, Adam Clarke,
affirms: "This text has been pitifully misunderstood Many suppose that it
means that those in that assembly who were fore-ordained, or predestinated
by God's decree, to eternal life, believed under the influence of that
decree." The language does not allow for foreordination or predestination
of any kind (volume 5, p. 790).
If the Calvinists' interpretation of this verse were
correct, it would create some insurmountable difficulties for the biblical
text. For example, if men and women are foreordained or predestined to eternal
life, why would they need to hear the gospel? If they are predestined to
eternal life, it would make no difference if they never heard the gospel. If
they are not predestined to eternal life, all the preaching in the world could
not save them. And yet Christ commanded his apostles: "Go therefore and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you: and, lo, I am with you all the way, even to the end of the
age" (Mt. 28:19-20). If people are already predestined to eternal life,
why would they have to observe all the things the Lord had commanded?
If men are unconditionally elected, does it make sense for
the Lord to say: "Come unto me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest" (Mt. 11:28)? In the very last chapter of the last book
of the New Testament, Jesus challenged all people. "And the Spirit and the
bride say, Come... And let him who is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him
take of the water of life freely" (Rev. 22:17). One word in this verse
completely refutes the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. That one word is "whosoever."
You may remember an old hymn that said: "'Whosoever' surely meaneth
me." That unquestionably is the teaching of God's word.
I urge every person in my audience today to approach the
study of scripture with an open mind and with godly reverence. Should we not
make an effort to learn exactly what the Bible teaches rather than imposing on
the scriptures what we believe they ought to teach? Perverting the word of God
will bring the curses of God on our heads.
Winford Claiborne
The International Gospel Hour