There is a disease that continues to plague the African church in the name of false doctrine. Speaking from experience, I know how bad doctrine can make you a slave of something that is not true. There are many reasons for that of-course, but one such is that correct Bible interpretation is never taken seriously, especially by those in the teaching ministry. My concern though, is to those who are willing to learn these things; those who are, as Paul put it, “vessels of honor, sanctified and useful for the master” – so that they can rightly divide the Word of truth.
Scripture with Scripture
There is no better way to interpret the Bible than the Bible itself. This is what is called interpreting Scripture with Scripture or as the good Apostle put it, “comparing spiritual things with spiritual things (1 Cor 2:13)”. All this is built upon the fact that no verse or book is an alien on itself, rather all the teachings are connected to one another to produce one unified, clear message called the Word of God. Anything that is not clear in one passage of the Bible is made clear by the other one like it. Therefore, creating a doctrine with only one verse is equally perilous. Verses that seem to oppose each other must be brought side by side and studied in comparison with the rest of Scripture. No verse must be jumped and no doctrine must be more favored, but there must be a balanced understanding of everything. In that way, we discover that there is neither contradiction nor confusion with God. Rather, His Word is one unity of truth.
Covenant
Scripture is divided into two covenants; the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. It is a costly mistake to take any verse in the Old Testament and apply it to the people today without any consideration of the covenant that it was written under. I can use an example of some brethren who ignorantly open their mouths and say, “The Bible says suffer not a witch to live” or some who loudly declare, “Cursed are you for stealing tithe”. Then we ask, what covenant? Was that written in the context of the Old Covenant of the Law or the New Covenant of grace in our Lord Jesus? Therefore, take great care of how you interpret the Old Testament, otherwise, you will be guilty of enslaving the people back to the Law and away from the grace of Christ (Gal 5:4). However, all that does not mean that we must reject the Old Testament (Covenant), Instead, we must all learn to read the Old Testament with the eyes of the New Testament (Covenant) – that is, we compare the doctrines of the covenant of old in light of what Christ has done for us under the New. How is that?
Allegory
An allegory is simply a story, an event, or a person that indirectly represents or is a symbol of another in the future. Bible allegory is when a certain event, physical object, person or story is a symbol of a greater spiritual truth. Parables are obvious examples of allegory. In the first part of this article, I did highlight that we must look for Christ in every verse. In a sense, I meant that there are many objects, people and stories in Scripture that represent a particular spiritual truth about our Lord and what He has done for us on the Cross. Some are they who see everything in the Bible from an allegoric angle, while that is not wrong on its own, I must point out the danger of over-allegorizing Scripture in ignorance of the plain meaning as intended by the original authors.
Screaming where the Bible screams and whispering where it whispers
Screaming is a natural alarm that we use in the face of danger. It is to call for immediate attention from anyone close by. On the opposite, there is something called a whisper, which is more of a quiet mutter that is not open for public consumption. In the same way, when studying your Bible, take note of the things that it emphasizes much, take that seriously and also emphasize it even when you are given a chance to share the Word with others. At the same time, there are some issues that the Bible is almost silent to talk about. So must we say less if nothing at all about such matters. How sad is it that many who call themselves preachers today spend much of the people’s time bubbling about things that the Scriptures place little attention on, while they leave the eternal matters such as the salvation of souls unattended to?
No prophet is bigger than the Bible!
In Africa, “anointed man of God” is a phrase that is used to describe a certain church leader who is somehow viewed as above any authority – even the authority of Scripture itself. Hence these individuals proudly think they have a right to twist, ignore and even overrule Scripture based on their supposed “private dealings with God”. My duty is to warn you about such individuals and to go on to remind you that no prophet is bigger than Scripture. As Paul reminded us that not even angels have authority to supplant the everlasting Gospel, what more of mere human beings? Everyone who claims to speak for God – be it a supposed prophetic message – must speak under the authority of the Sacred Text. This means we all have a right to judge, compare and test everyone in light of what is written. Those who contradict the tried and tested Written Word must be warned before being rejected as false prophets. May the Lord bless His people. Amen.
Sinothi Ncube
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