The Gift of Prophecy

Passages Difficult to Understand

Another characteristic of Scripture is that in some cases we confront passages whose meaning is not clear or in which the theology expressed in them raises questions in our minds for which we do not have final answers. ⁷¹ Divine inspiration does not mean that everything revealed will be easily understood. In fact, it assumes that in some cases we will not fully apprehend the content and meaning of divine actions. The Bible itself recognizes this element of its nature. Peter wrote concerning the writings of Paul, “His letters contain some things that are hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16, NIV). Hence, it is important to use proper hermeneutical principles in the study of the Bible. But the truth is that in some cases we are unable to answer all the questions that a passage raises. Let me use as an example God’s order to the Israelites to destroy the Canaanites (Ex. 23:32, 33; 34:11-16; Deut. 2:34; 7:1-5; 20:16-18). GOP 100.3

We know that such a command was not arbitrary. The Lord granted them a time of probation (Gen. 15:13-16), but they had corrupted themselves beyond the point of repair (Deut. 9:5). They were to experience God’s judgment against sin and corruption. But there are at least two elements in the legislation that challenges our thinking. First, God was going to use the Israelites to destroy them (Deut. 7:2). It may have been God’s intention to destroy those nations Himself, but the fact remains that He finally used the Israelites. Second, in a limited number of cases the total extermination included women and children (Deut. 2:34; 3:6; 20:16-18). Any Christian exegete will acknowledge that this issue is a difficult one. How, then, do we handle it? Although there are several ways of interpreting the passages, we recognize that it is difficult to provide a final answer for the questions raised by the texts. ⁷² We could also eliminate some options. GOP 101.1

From our understanding of the nature of the Bible, we would reject the suggestion that what we have here is not divinely inspired or that it is describing the natural result of human ethnic hatred and national pride. The fact that we do not fully understand the passages does not exclude divine inspiration. As a matter of fact, the text itself clearly states that God gave those specific orders to the Israelites. We can also eliminate any attempt to argue that the God of the Old Testament was not as loving as the God of the New Testament. The unity of Scripture argues against that. The God of both testaments is a God of love, mercy, and justice. GOP 101.2

Then what do we do with a passage whose content appears to create theological difficulties? After excluding some inappropriate options, we should work on the basis of what we know. In this case we specifically know what the Bible teaches about God. We may not be able to understand all the ramifications of His command, but knowing that He is by nature a loving God we can trust that what He commanded was determined by that love. We also know that He is righteous and just, and therefore we can trust Him even though at the present time we may not clearly understand all His actions. In the future we will recognize that all His judgments are just and righteous. This larger biblical picture of God should be used in the discussion of a subject like the one under consideration. The point we are trying to make is that when studying passages that do not lend themselves to a clear interpretation, we do not need to question the fact that it was inspired by God. The limits of our knowledge should not be used to define what is or is not inspired in the Word of God. GOP 101.3