Why Did God Allow Confusing Bible Verses?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Matthew 28:19, Matthew 13:10, Matthew 13:11-17, Colossians 2:9, John 14

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--why-did-god-allow-confusing-bible-verses
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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that's an important question and I would say in general we talk about principles of interpreting scripture if we would use sound principles that would eliminate a lot of confusion make a lot of things clear to us and I've written a book called Understanding God's word so many things can be cleared up if we would study the proper um interpretation and use of scripture if we would go back to the culture and the history and the Biblical context some things that might might seem confusing or difficult uh become a lot easier to understand however there are some things that are difficult um in fact the Apostle Peter said in second Peter that some of Paul's writings were difficult to understand and so the question remains why would God allow that and you brought up the example that I've used of Matthew 28:19 baptizing the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit and when we dig into this statement in its own context comparing it to other gospel accounts and then looking at the Epistles and certainly the book of Acts we find consistently the Apostolic Church interpret this to mean to invoke the name of Jesus Christ and I I discuss that extensively in my little book in the name of Jesus you have a great podcast episode on that as well that's right but that does raise the question some have asked well why didn't why did Jesus even give Matthew 28:19 because it seems just to muddy the waters when if he hadn't said that at all or if it would have just said in the name of Jesus Christ we would never have that question well actually the disciples had the same question I would like to go to Matthew chap 13 and verse 10 so using the new King James Matthew 13:10 and the disciples came and said to him why do you speak to them in Parables so they were having that same problem during this Earthly Ministry why are you saying Parables when you know we're having a hard time understanding and so I would regard Matthew 28:19 in fact one of our Pioneers Frank ubert called it a parabolic statement it's not a parable but it does have some of the nature of a parabolic statement and the simple answer is this if you think about a parable a parable is a true- to life story that illustrates a central truth so it has a two-fold purpose first of all a parable reveals truth to those who are seeking it so when you re you everybody likes to hear a story and everybody perks up with somebody's preaching or teaching and going through a bunch of points when you tell a story or an illustration everybody's attention is immediately goes to that because it that just brings it home so a parable has a way of revealing truth because it makes it concrete so you remember that story and when you remember that story you remember the main point so if you had to remember what was the main point of a sermon a year ago you probably couldn't but if you remember the story now you remember the main point of that sermon on the other hand a the a parable will dis um maybe you could say hide truth or disguise truth from those who are not sincerely seeking it so go think of Jesus time or even today somebody hearing a message they just get into the story it's entertaining it's interesting it's enlightening but they're not really hungry for God so they just listen to the story it's a good story they don't ponder it they don't apply it to their lives and so that's the end of it because the point is never or may not be expressly stated so therefore because it's just a story they treat it as just a story they never really ask why the story and so they miss the deeper significance so a parable or I would now say a parabolic statement has the quality of revealing truth to those who are seeking it but at the same time uh disguising truth or hiding Truth for those who are not sincerely seeking it and that seems to be exactly Jesus answer because in uh Matthew 13:11 he answered said to them because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them that's the other people listening it has not been given for whoever has to him more will be given he will have abundance but whoever does not have even what he has will be taken away therefore I speak to them in Parables because seeing they do not see hearing they do not hear nor they do they understand and in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled which says hearing you will hear and shall not understand seeing you will see and not perceive for the hearts of this people have grown dull their ears are heart of hearing their eyes they have closed lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears lest they should understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them but blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear for assuredly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desire to see what you see and did not see it to hear what you hear and did not hear it so he says you know this people they're not really spiritually sensitive and so I tell them a parable that has the truth embedded in it but if they're not spiritually sensitive they'll just never get the point but those that are sensitive they'll think about this story and now that story will be embedded in their minds and their hearts and they will remember it for the rest of their lives and so maybe that's the case when you study Matthew 28:19 and you compare it to the book of Acts it does create a problem why did Jesus say baptize in the name singular Father Son and Holy Spirit and if he meant to just to utter three names of three persons well first of all there's no teaching of three persons to this point in scripture so that's confusing second of all the reader goes and sees what the apostles did apparently they didn't obey him so it it becomes a a problem it forces you to say okay why did they not seeming obey and then you come to the conclusion well they really did so that means the name of Jesus is the name of the father's Son and Holy Spirit well how can that be then you get to Colossians 2:9 in Jesus dwells all the fullness of the godhead B you realize oh because Father Son and Holy Spirit is all in Jesus so now you come to an understanding of the Oneness of God there aren't three different persons in the godhead but there's one true God fully revealed in Jesus Christ Jesus is the son of God and as he himself said in John 14 when you've seen me you've seen the father so the father is revealed in the human life of Jesus Christ and also in John 14 Jesus said I'll send my spirit so when you receive the Holy Spirit you're not receiving a different Spirit you receive the same spirit that was in Jesus you're receiving Jesus in your heart so when you go through that study although it may be difficult and arduous at the end of it you understand the fullness of the godhead is in Jesus Christ you understand who the father Son and Holy Spirit really is and the name of Jesus encompasses it all and there's power in the name of Jesus and so now you have faith for deliverance for healing the washing away of sins everything you need is in Jesus Christ so you would never get to that point perhaps if you weren't forced to reconcile these statements so maybe as a teacher I might say boy I wish that wasn't in there cuz because it' be so much easier just to convince people but then I have to say wait a minute if that was God's intention actually maybe some students are put off by it but that's kind of like the Civ that God uses the test that God uses and then yet when I lead students through that process and they really get it well now they're convinced for life of the Oneness of God they know who Jesus is it changes their whole life so I think we have to submit well it may be difficult but it's difficult for a reason and the reason is to force us to study to pray to compare scripture with scripture to dig it out and develop a comprehensive understanding of what God really wants us to know