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The Bible: Too Complicated?
by Dave Brown (dbrown@cs.ua.edu)
Here is a favorite argument used by those who
would have us all ignorant of Bible truth: “The Bible is just too
complicated to understand.” This line of reasoning has no doubt had an
effect on people’s thinking. After all, if it is too complicated to
understand, why even try? And most do not.
The complexity of the Bible is an interesting
subject. On the one hand, the myth that the Bible is too complex to understand
is destroyed by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:3-4: “... by revelation he made
known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye
read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ).” On the other
hand, the Bible is not trivial. The Apostle Peter said that Paul wrote some
things “hard to be understood” (2 Peter 3:16).
It is not difficult to reconcile these two
passages. Peter did not say that all things were hard to be understood.
We can be safe in concluding that parts of God’s word are quite simple (2
Corinthians 11:3), while others are much more challenging. The milk of the
word is a term used by both the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 3:2) and the
Hebrews writer (Hebrews 5:12). Milk is easily digested by the babe in Christ;
meat requires more maturity for its discernment.
There is a lesson here for both the weak and
the strong. To the babe in Christ: God expects us to render obedience in all
things that we understand to be His will (Hebrews 5:9). It is our job, not just
to believe that He exists, but to also “diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
Growth is an essential part of the life of the Christian, and this requires the
addition of knowledge (2 Peter 1:5-8). To those who freely feed upon the meat
of God’s word, it should be recognized that you never “arrive.” Indeed, it was
those who had the most knowledge of God’s word who were the recipients of the
harshest rebuke from our Savior (see Matthew 23).
The
fact that the Bible cannot be totally mastered is further evidence that its
author was none other than God. And the simplicity of its first principles
further adds to this evidence. The Bible is the most efficient book ever
written, guiding us to every possible good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17) while containing
absolutely no useless information (Matthew 4:4). There is a reason that most
people cannot understand God’s word, but it has nothing to do with intellectual
ability (Matthew 11:25, 13:10-17).