Division In The Body

Regarding the Bible, does every passage have one intended meaning? Yes. Is there one absolute truth? Yes.

However, we, as mere humans, interpret all input, period. To deny that is a lie. We interpret what we read, hear, feel, think, and so on, through the lens of our own experiences, cultural background, prior understanding of words and ideas, assumptions made beforehand about the input, etc.

That interpretation, that we all do whether we admit it or not, includes the reading of scripture. Some claim that you can do a "pure literal reading" of scripture. You cannot. You bring baggage into it. Many people claim to just "read the text" and that it has been illuminated by the Holy Spirit, yet across those many people, they do not come to the same conclusions on a myriad of points. That is because we often make a mistake thinking that our own understanding is actually the Holy Spirit's intent. When we go there, we of course think we are absolutely right, and everyone else who doesn't agree is, therefore, wrong.

Look at the different opinions about end times. Pre-trib this and post-trib that. At least four major categories if I remember regarding the timing of the rapture and the reign of Christ. People brought baggage with them to come up with those different views as well. Again, they cannot all be right. They may all be wrong, but they cannot all be right.

So what is to be done about it? Well, we can try to learn to do better exegesis and also recognize how our prejudice's and assumptions are influencing our reading of the Bible. That takes some dedication and a measure of humility. But, even doing that as best and prayerfully as we can, in the end, many will still disagree on many things -- each thinking he is right and others are not. Maybe not on all points, but on some.

Hence, division. Disagreements are fine, but when we take them personally, they become points of contention. We argue and then split over non-essential issues. To be clear, I'm not talking about splits because a group intentionally twists the Word of God for their own agenda, or groups led by wolves who want to fleece God's flock, or any such thing. I'm talking about splits between genuine followers of Jesus Christ over things that, while possibly interesting, have no bearing on who Jesus is or what he did for us on the cross -- such as the age of the earth, mode of baptism, the sovereignty of God versus man's choice in salvation, church structure, etc. We can all think what we want about these things, but they have nothing to do with Christ crucified, coming to him in faith, or being transformed by him.

Division in the body is not a "I hold the absolute truth of the Bible and you don't" issue, despite those who really do think they hold the absolute truth of the Bible and everyone else is off in the weeds. No, much division comes from the honest differences of opinion of godly, but flawed, people each seeking to keep to what God's Word says -- people that, while divided on minor issues, can remain united in their faith in their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and treat each other with, above all, love.

Grace and Peace