Using The Bible Unbiblically

One of the new words in our modern conversation is the word “hack.” With the rise of computers came the pursuit of getting around systems or using them for purposes unintended by the original creators. An ever present danger today is that your computer will be hacked and your credit card information stolen. But since the term basically means doing something in an unconventional manner, the term can also apply to hacks that are positive. People call these life hacks. These are things like wrapping an AA battery in aluminum foil and you have an instant hand warmer. These are cool and actually helpful many times.

But coming to the issue of Scripture we have a completely different situation. This is God’s holy Word. It is eternal. It holds absolute authority. This is not something you can hack. There is no unconventional way of using it that won’t be treating it in a vain manner. Yet, this is the very thing that Christians do all the time.

While Satan is the master deceiver who purposefully and subtly twists God’s word, the church is now full of people who end up doing the same thing because of their poor handling of Scripture. They try to use it in a way unintended by God and it thereby becomes impotent for any life change. The most prominent way this is done is through what you can call the encyclopedia method. This is the approach where God’s Word is given out piecemeal. You have a topic, you find a couple verses about it, and you hand them over to a person bidding them Godspeed. It is easy, but it is ineffectual. This shouldn’t be surprising. A nuclear power plant can create massive amounts of energy, but not if it is disassembled and spread out over the country side.

What is it that brings about life transformation? Look what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” What is it that causes transformation? It is beholding glory. Ultimately, this happens at the new birth, when a person’s eyes are opened to “the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:6) But after that happens, where will a Christian daily see glory and be transformed?

It won’t be in a couple verses that speak of not gossiping or the evils of sexual immorality. Glory is found in the full sweep of God’s redemptive story. Looking back at the verse above, Paul wrote 2 Corinthians 3:18 after surveying comparisons and contrasts of the Old Covenant with the New Covenant. It was big picture. People have to be caught up into the majestic message of the gospel. Every book of the bible is another powerful detail that advances the redemption story. Lazy Christianity wants to deal with things quickly and there is nothing quicker than spouting a few verses. But the long haul of making a person complete in Christ (Col. 1:28) is continually speaking of the gospel in the multi-faceted ways it is conveyed from Genesis to Revelation. Glory is found in the gospel, and the gospel is seen fully when a person can see it in every part of the Scripture. This is not quick, but it is transformational.

Since you can’t say everything all the time, single verses do have to be used. I quoted a couple verses in this very blog post. But the goal is to always be connecting those verses to the big picture. You have to connect the evil of sexual immorality or deception or selfishness to the way that God is not undone by them; but has and can sovereignly use such sin, to how God saves from wrath due such sin, to how God grants power to overcome such sin, and finally how there will be ultimate victory from such sin.

The modern digital age is a marvel, no doubt about it. The amount of information that is transferred daily is stunning. Hacks are just ways to manipulate some of that for your own personal desires. That is the very thing people do with the Bible. Their life gets difficult and they come to the Bible for some answers that can straighten things up. For what purpose? So they can continue pursuing their various lusts and pleasures. But lusts and pleasures fade into oblivion when a person sees the glory of a God who has powerfully worked from before creation to satisfy the hearts of a rebellious people on true, purifying majesty. This is the powerful message of the gospel, and it is transforming.