Tag Archives: exegesis

Lazy Bible-Reading and Bad Theology

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I am constantly amazed and often shocked by what I hear from many pulpits, choir-stands, and people of God, as they claim to preach, teach, and witness to what the Bible says! Some of the things I hear cause me to stop and even wonder whether or not these people are reading a different book other than the Bible I read.

In 2 Timothy 2:15, the Apostle Paul encouraged his young protégé to make every effort, to be diligent, to spare no expense, to make sure that he was approved of God, accurately and correctly handling the word of truth. This was important in Timothy’s context because at the time, there were so many false doctrines and phony philosophies deceiving people, giving them false hope, and failing faith! The Lord made provisions to prevent this, which is what Paul was talking about in his letter to the Ephesians. Paul said: “Wherefore he saith: When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. . . And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.” In the letter to Timothy and the letter to the Ephesians, Paul stated the importance of correctly handling the word of truth because when the word of truth is not handled correctly, people are vulnerable to being deceived and tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.

And so, with that in mind, I want to talk about lazy Bible-reading and bad theology. Lazy Bible-reading produces bad theology, which in turn produces a biblically deficient faith and a spiritually impotent lifestyle. What is lazy Bible-reading? Lazy Bible-reading is many things, but for our time together today, I am just going to give three definitions and three examples. First of all, lazy Bible-reading is the practice of reading the Bible, but failing to give proper attention to the details of the text. A prime example is found in the popular re-telling of the story of the Prodigal Son. According to the KJV, Jesus said in Luke 15:13: “And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.” The Greek word that is translated as ‘riotous’ is a word that simply means; ‘senseless, or reckless behavior.’ All Jesus said was that the boy was senseless and reckless in his spending. Now, I am using this as an example because most of the time when this story preached, the boy is said to have spent his money on wild parties and women! But where did that idea come from? It didn’t come from Jesus! All Jesus said was that the boy was reckless in his spending! No! It didn’t come from Jesus, but rather it came from the elder brother, who said to his father in verse 30: “But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.” Now, my question is: “How did he know how the boy spent the money?” He wasn’t there! Therefore, his accusation was not fact, but rather an expression of jealousy and resentment. Yet, the words of the elder brother have been so often repeated and applied by preachers as if they were the gospel truth! Lazy Bible-reading does not pay attention to who said what or why they said it!

Another example of lazy Bible-reading is reading a biblical text and forming a conclusion while ignoring or not knowing any the relevant contexts of the text. A prime example of this is seen in the traditional representation of the woman at the well in John 4. The woman has been traditionally portrayed as a woman who jumped in and out of five marriages before she gave up on marriage and decided to just shack-up! But let’s take a look at this woman from the perspective of the confines of her historical and cultural context. Although she was a Samaritan woman, the Samaritans followed the Jewish law, which gave Jewish wives no legal grounds to divorce their husbands. Therefore, since this woman had had five husbands, more than likely, it was not because she had left them, but rather because they had left her, either through divorce and/or death. And speaking of divorce, it was a common practice of that day for men to divorce their wives for something as trivial as burning their meals!

In addition to that, women were severely limited in options to support themselves. An unmarried woman had to depend on support from her father. Married women had to depend on support from their husbands. Widows had to depend on support from their sons, but they had no sons, they went back to their father’s house! Therefore, with these limited options, it is highly unlikely that any woman of that era, even if she legally could, would have taken the gamble of jumping from man to man! No! The most-likely story was that this woman had been rejected and disappointed so much that by the time she met Jesus, she was willing to live with a man without being married, just to survive! Traditionally, we have made this woman out to be a villain, but when we look at her, in the historical cultural context of her time and not in our modern Western context, it is easy to see that she was actually a victim, saved by Jesus; the seventh significant man in her life! But we have traditionally missed the real message of this story because of lazy Bible-reading and as a consequence, we have been preaching bad theology!

So, lazy Bible-reading is reading without paying attention to the details of the text as we have done in the story of the Prodigal Son. Lazy Bible-reading is reading and drawing conclusions, without regarding the relevant contexts of the biblical text as we have done with the woman at the well in John 4. Lazy Bible-reading is also failing to read the complete thought of the biblical text. A prime example of this is our handling of 1 Corinthians 2:9. The Apostle Paul, paraphrasing Isaiah 52:15 and 64:4, wrote: “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” We’ve taken this verse, preached sermons, and written songs, about how eyes haven’t seen, ears have heard, neither has it entered into the hearts of man what great things the Lord has prepared for those that love him!

Now, you might be wondering at this point; “So, what’s the problem?” The problem is this: Verse 9 is not Paul’s complete thought! It’s lazy Bible-reading to stop at verse 9 because Paul wasn’t through talking! Verse 10 starts with a ‘but,’ that makes a contrast to what Paul said in verse 9! Therefore, to get Paul’s complete thought, we need to read verses 9 and 10 together! Paul said: “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. ‘But God’ hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” We preach and sing that we cannot know the things which God has prepared for them that love him, but in the very next verse, Paul said; ‘but God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit!’ We say they cannot be known, but Paul said they ‘can’ be known because God has revealed them to us by his Spirit! Paul wrote in verses 11-16: “For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, ‘that we might understand the things freely given us by God.’ And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” We have completely missed the point because of lazy Bible-reading! Paul’s point was not that eyes haven’t seen, and ears haven’t heard what great things the Lord has prepared for them that love him. Paul’s point was that ‘even though’ eyes haven’t seen, and ears haven’t heard what great things the Lord has prepared for them that love him, those things have been revealed to us by God’s Spirit! We are like the people who listened to Paul Harvey’s commentary back in the day but did not continue to listen after the commercial break to hear the rest of the story! Yes! Not paying attention to the details, disregarding relevant contexts, and not reading the complete thought are all prime examples lazy Bible-reading that often lead to bad theology!

Many times, popular but unbiblical ideas which promote bad theology are birthed because of lazy Bible-reading. A great example of this is the popular belief that God won’t put any more on us than what we are able to bear! This erroneous belief comes from a faulty reading of 1 Corinthians 10:13, which says: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” First of all, note that Paul never said God was the source of the temptation or the trial! The idea that God puts burdens on us is not biblical and it is bad theology! In fact, James 1:13 says: “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.” The point of the text is not that God won’t put on us more than we can bear, but rather whatever is on us, God will not allow it to be more than we can handle because he will help us to endure it!

Lazy Bible-reading is particularly egregious when it causes God to be blamed for what the enemy has done! Because of lazy Bible-reading, when people are killed, some people will say that it was God’s will! But God is not in the business of killing people! God is the Author of life! Jesus said: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Because of lazy Bible-reading, when a Christian dies, many say they have gone home to be with God in Heaven, but the Bible plainly states that God will be with us in our eternal home on the Redeemed Earth! Please Beware! Oh! May God deliver us from lazy Bible-reading and bad theology and help us resolve to correctly handle the word of truth!

The devil IS NOT in Job’s Details!

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Throughout the years I have a adopted a number of colloquialisms to convey thoughts. One of them is: “There’s more than one way to skin a cat!” Meaning: There is more than one way to solve a problem or to deal with an issue. Another one I am quite fond of using is: “The devil is in the details.” That means, the real difference between one meaning or another, is in the finer points that are sometimes overlooked or unknown.

Ironically, when it comes to the Book of Job in the Bible, the last colloquial expression I mentioned is both true and false! In the Book of Job, the devil is in the details, in the sense that there is a fine point in Job that most theologians and Bible scholars know, but they often overlook! What is that fine point? The fine point that is overlooked is the fact that the devil IS NOT in the details of the Book of Job! I know, it sounds confusing, so let me show you what I am talking about.

In the Book of Job, everywhere the term; ‘satan’ occurs, (Job 1:6, 7, 8, 9, 12; 2:1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7) in the Hebrew (the original language in which Job was written), it is preceded by the Hebrew definite article; ‘ha,’ which is equivalent to the English definite article; ‘the.’ In other words, everywhere we encounter the term ‘satan’ in our English translations, it should be more properly rendered; ‘the satan.’ Now you might be asking, “Ok, but what difference does that make?” Well, just as there are rules of grammar in the English language, there are also rules of grammar in the Hebrew language. And one of the rules of grammar that is common to both English and Hebrew is that a proper noun (a name) is ‘never’ preceded by a definite article! If the definite article precedes the noun, then it is understood that the noun is not a name, but rather a title. In other words, according to the rules of grammar (and good theology), the term ‘satan’ in the book of Job, refers not a name, but rather to a title!

The term ‘satan’ is a Hebrew term that is translated into English as ‘adversary.’ Therefore, everywhere the term ‘satan’ is found in Job, instead of using it as a proper noun or name (which it isn’t), it should be translated into English as ‘the adversary.’ For instance, to be consistent and true to the rules of English and Hebrew grammar, Job 1:6, for example, should more properly read: “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD (Yahweh), and the adversary also came among them.”

I have written before about how we sometimes can be confused by the KJV translation, but this is a case in which ‘all’ of the English versions dropped the ball, because the one called ‘satan,’ known as the devil in the New Testament IS NOT the same personality as the adversary presented in the Book of Job! I know, we often use the colloquial: “The devil is in the details.” But in the case of the book of Job in the Old Testament, the devil IS NOT in the details!

If you would like more information, there is a Virtual Bible Study I did on the subject on my You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0usVrckhPMM&t=86s

The Rest of the Story About What Eyes Haven’t Seen!

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PLEASE UNDERSTAND! When I post about common exegetical missteps, it is not an attempt to embarrass anybody or to project the idea that I am smarter than others! I love the LORD and I love HIS WORD! I believe we ought to spare no expense or effort to make sure that when we quote the Bible, we quote it accurately and correctly! After all, it is the word of God, therefore, when we say what the Bible says, we’re saying what God says or the principles, ideas, commands, and intentions God wants to convey. Consequently, when we misrepresent what the Bible says, we misrepresent the words, thoughts, intentions, and commands of God, which is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly!

So with that mind, here’s another one we so commonly and frequently mess up! We preach it, we quote it, and we sing it! What is it? It’s 1 Corinthians 2:9, which says: “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 is the Apostle Paul’s adaptation of Isaiah 64:4. So, this is actually what Paul said and Paul is quoting the Old Testament, so what’s the problem?

Do you remember the radio commentator; Paul Harvey? He was famous for the way he reported his stories. Harvey would introduce a story, but before he concluded the story, he would go to a commercial break. When he came back from the commercial break, he would say; “And now, the rest of the story.” The problem with 1 Corinthians 2:9 is that it is not the complete thought the Apostle Paul was trying to convey! When we quote 1 Corinthians 2:9 and quit, we misrepresent Paul because we leave before giving him the opportunity to tell the rest of the story!

So, here’s the rest of the story! In 1 Corinthians 2:9 Paul says; “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” But wait a minute! Paul IS NOT THROUGH TALKING! In the very next verse, Paul says: “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. . . “ What has God revealed to us by His Spirit? The things which God has prepared for them that love Him!Paul said one thing in verse 9, but he cancels it out in verse 10 and the following verses! Eyes haven’t seen, ears haven’t heard, neither has it entered into the hearts of men what great things God has prepared for those who love Him, BUT GOD HAS REVEALED THEM TO US THROUGH HIS SPIRIT! That’s the complete thought!

So, when we quote verse 9 and run off without reading the rest of the story, and proclaim verse 9 as the Gospel truth, we are actually lying and are misrepresenting the intention of the text! We are saying God hasn’t revealed what Paul said God has revealed! To get the full picture, we need to at least read to verse 12! This is what that looks like;

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”

Wow! Do you see that? We preach and sing that God ‘has not revealed’ and ‘we can’t know’ when the Bible actually says, ‘God has revealed’ and ‘we can know!’ The sermons and the songs sound good! But nevertheless, they are not theologically sound! How did this happen? It happened because we didn’t read the rest of the story!

God Won’t Put On You More Than You Can Bear?

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How many times have you heard your pastor, some preacher, your favorite evangelist, or heard a song say: “The Bible says: ‘God won’t put no more on you/us than you/we are able to bear!” How did you feel when you heard that? Well, you should have felt like something’s not quite right! Why? Because the Bible DOESN’T SAY THAT, and GOD DOESN’T OPERATE LIKE THAT!


Even before discussing what the Bible actually says, let’s consider the implications of that widely believed, yet false premise. What kind of God would ‘put something on you,’ and then offer to relieve your burdens, only after you pray for relief? That’s a sick and sadistic god! Definitely NOT THE GOD revealed in the Bible! If you actually believed in a god like that, you would have some sort of resentment, even if it was only subconscious! One of the reasons the world rejects our faith is because so many of us who profess faith misrepresent faith by making statements that sound good but make no sound theological sense, such as the statement of this discussion!


Now, here’s what the Bible actually says: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 KJV.


Now, let’s break the verse down: The Greek word for ‘temptation’ in the verse is a word defined as; ‘a test, an enticement to do evil, adversity, or affliction.’ The phrase: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man,” means whatever you are going through IS NOT a unique situation! You’re not the only one, others have and are going through what you are going through! What you think is unique to you is actually quite common to everybody!


God is faithful and God will not suffer (allow) you to be tempted/tried/afflicted/burdened above/beyond what you are able, but with whatever you’re going through, God will provide a way for you to escape so that you may be able to bear/handle it.


Now notice, Paul did not say the temptation/trial/affliction came from God! James said in James 1:13: “Let no man say when he is tempted (same Greek word Paul used in our verse), ‘I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted he any man.” Wow! James actually said, we are not to say what we’ve been saying because God doesn’t roll (operate) like that!


The gist of the matter is this: Whatever trials, afflictions, burdens or adversities we face; GOD DIDN’T PUT THEM ON US! And James tells us not to say that! But the GOOD NEWS is that God is faithful, in that God will not allow whatever we’re going through to be more than we are able to bear! Paul said, God will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape. In other words, the answer is in the question, within whatever you’re going through is your relief, and there is a blessing within your burden!


When we say, “God won’t put no more on us than we are able to bear,” we misrepresent the character and nature of God. God is not the source of our burdens, sin is! We live in a sin-cursed and fallen world. But when we encounter the various burdens and afflictions that everyone encounters and goes through, we (believers) can rely upon a faithful God who will not allow whatever we’re going through to be more than we are able to handle!
The real message is this: If God allowed you to come it, (or it to come to you), God will help you through it! Whatever your burdens may be, what the enemy has designed for your defeat, God wants to use for your good! Don’t curse the darkness, just light a candle because we serve a God who is able to turn our stumbling-blocks into stepping-stones!

Half-Truths, Incomplete Stories and Bad Theology

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When you go to court to testify or to be sworn-in as a witness, you are asked to solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth! Some years ago, the popular columnist; Paul Harvey would tell news and special-interest stories. The stories were always good and interesting, but the one thing that distinguished the show was the fact that Harvey would only tell half of the story before having a commercial break! After the commercial break, he would then tell the rest of the story!

Much of what I am hearing today in the church-world, in personal conversations, in ‘gospel’ music, and in social media reminds me of the court-room and the Paul Harvey shows: People are promoting ‘half-truths’ as the whole truth and are not waiting until after the commercial breaks to hear the rest of the story! As a result, there is a lot of bad theology being offered that is actually detrimental to wholesome spiritual development and true biblical faith!

Let me give you a few examples: Many are familiar with or have heard of Romans 8:28, which says: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (NKJ). Taken by itself, this verse seems to simply imply that if I love God and are called according to His purpose, everything that happens to me; the good, the bad and the ugly, is working together for good! That sounds fine, but the question that begs to be asked that most people don’t ask is: What is good? Well, Paul actually answers that question in the very next verse, where he continues his thought by saying: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29 NKJ). The complete thought is that all things (the good, the bad, and the ugly) work together for good to those who love God (and by the way, according to Jesus in John 14:21-24; to love God is to obey God!) and the ‘good’ is that they might be conformed to the image of Jesus! In other words, in the life of the one who loves God, all things are working together for the purpose of shaping and molding that person to be like Jesus! Now, the Bible also says that Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). In Genesis, we discover that man was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-28). Therefore, for the believer, everything is working together for the good, and the good is that the believer might be conformed to the image he/she was originally created to be; the image of God! The good is ‘to be like Jesus’ and to be like Jesus is to be like God originally created us to be! So, to only read and seek to apply Romans 8:28 without reading Romans 8:29 is to miss the purpose of all things working together for the good!

Another horrendous example of this same exegetical error is found in the treatment of 1 Corinthians 2:9, where the Apostle Paul wrote: “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” ( KJV). Paul adapted Isaiah 64:4, which says: “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him” ( KJV). Oh! I can’t tell you how many songs I’ve heard or how many sermons I’ve heard, based on this verse, promoting the idea that the things God has prepared for those who love him are unimaginable! But most people would be surprised to know that was NOT the idea Paul was trying to get across! In the next verse; 1 Corinthians 2:10, Paul said: “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (KJV). Do you see that? Do you see how serious this is? When we say, preach, sing, and declare that eyes haven’t seen and ears haven’t heard what great things God has prepared for them that love him, we are NOT telling the truth! Why? Because Paul also said: “But God has revealed them to us by his Spirit!” I think part of the problem is that when most people read the Bible, their understanding is influenced by chapters and verses instead of by thoughts! The original biblical writers did not write using chapters and verses, those were added later on to help us find their thoughts! So, as we read the Bible, we must remember that a verse is not always a complete thought and the end of a chapter doesn’t necessarily mean the complete end of a conversation.

Now, I need you to read carefully at this point because I’m about to address something that is very egregious, but most who are doing it don’t even realize it! The idea of believers having the ability to ‘speak things into existence’ IS NOT BIBLICAL! That’s mystical, New Age, thinking! Let’s look at the ‘one’ verse where this idea comes from. Paul wrote in Romans 4:17: “As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations. He is our father in God ‘s sight, in whom Abraham believed– the God who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist” (CSB17). Note that Paul said that it is God who gives life to the dead! Paul said, it is God who calls things into existence that do not exist! In the Genesis account, the Hebrew word for God’s creative act is ‘bara.’ In all of Scripture, this word is only attributed to God! Only God can create something out of nothing! Man doesn’t have to power to ‘create,’ we only have the power to procreate and recreate! We cannot, nor is there really a need to ‘speak it into existence’ because everything we need is already in existence! We just need to learn how to use faith to bring to bear what God has already created and promised!

There are many more, but these are just a few examples of the many current popular theological ‘boo-boos’ that are being made! Often, these errors are the results of a lack of diligent Bible study and application of logic. Oh! How much more are the words the Apostle Paul wrote to his young protégé; Timothy, applicable to us in this day! “Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth. But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle) talk, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness. And their teaching [will devour; it] will eat its way like cancer or spread like gangrene” (2 Timothy 2:15-17 Amplified Bible).