The Plain Meaning

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to know what we believe and why.  It is also important that we walk according to what we know through God's word.  Because we are finite and flawed it is reasonable that the scripture will expose areas of sin, unbelief and misunderstandings we have.  An ongoing challenge of the Christian experience is to humble ourselves and submit to God as He reveals Himself to us and opens our understanding.  As we mature in faith and our understanding grows, we learn to view and interpret scriptures in the light of other scriptures.  Verses which were problematic and confusing are more illuminated by the power of the Holy Spirit and harmonise with others.

It will never do for a child of God to ascribe blindly to a statement of faith or belief system of a sect without carefully considering the theology in light of scripture.  We should not defer to a party line when we have not examined the biblical evidence ourselves.  And when there are scriptures read in context that seem to contradict our views, it is wise to consider other scriptures and a wide array of perspectives with interpretations old and new before we jump to conclusions--or worse yet, in our ignorance assume we understand it perfectly ourselves and there can be no other possible interpretation.

In a study of Hebrews I recently began I came across something I had not noticed before.  Apparently the warnings in Hebrews are a bit of a "thing" among those who hold strongly to reformed theology.  Many books have been penned to explain how these warnings fit with their established beliefs.  One wrote, "How do we reconcile our theology with what appears to many to be the plain meaning of these passages, that believers can lose their faith?"  It is a dangerous position to adopt, that we must seek to avoid the plain meaning of a passage to justify our beliefs.  Of course the scope of this issue goes far beyond the warnings in Hebrews and the Pandora's box of implications that may undermine core beliefs of some.  If the Bible contradicts our beliefs, isn't it sensible our beliefs need to be revised accordingly?

The core beliefs of the revelation of the triune God, the infallibility of His word, the deity of Jesus Christ, and the way of salvation through the Gospel are all foundational truths of followers of Jesus Christ.  On what are sometimes called secondary issues there is room for different beliefs and practices in the Body of Christ, and they ought not to be cause for contention or division.  There is no room, however, for us to explain away the plain meaning of scriptures to maintain our beliefs.  At times I have found the plain meaning of scripture reveals I have been plain wrong.  It is one thing to be concerned about erroneous beliefs of others, but more important for us to ensure our theology is sound and we walk uprightly according to it.