Vague And Elusive?

Q

You seem very sure about the doctrines you teach yet I am not as sure. I find the Bible maddeningly vague sometimes, although it is crystal clear about salvation in Christ alone. You don’t seem to see any vagueness in scripture whatsoever, but I find it to be complex, frequently hard to pin down, and elusive. Any thoughts?

A

Early in my life as a believer, my studies of various theological viewpoints led me to the conclusion that the Bible only has one position on each of the major points theologians disagree on. I also learned that you can discover the Bible’s position by finding it’s clearest statements on a particular issue and then interpreting the less clear statements in light of them. So I believe the clearest, plainest statement on any issue will reveal the Lord’s position on that issue.

This works because the Bible, being God’s word, can not contradict itself. Every statement it makes on a subject has to concur with every other statement on that subject. If it didn’t, we wouldn’t know what to believe. Therefore if we find two statements that appear to be contradictory, they have to be talking about different subjects.

Remember, God had the Bible written to help us understand Him. It would defeat His purpose to make it vague, complex, or elusive. If it appears that way, then maybe the problem lies with us, not His Word.