Language, Custom and History

2011-01-15

All who have been to different churches throughout their lives have heard a teacher or preacher use one of the following statements:

For many years, formally and informally, I had studied Biblical languages, culture, customs, and history. These are interesting subjects, to say the least, and I enjoyed doing so. But the focus of this document is to be very frank: none of these things are necessary to study the Bible. Let me be honest even further to the point of stepping on toes: these things are often detrimental to studying the Bible. How are they detrimental? Because when you succumb to commentaries, lexicons, history books, and the like, you place something other than the Bible as the authority in your life. Men and women wrote these other books, but God wrote the Bible.

Biblical Languages

Everyone who has spent any time in church or another Christian educational institution knows that the Bible was first written down in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. There are also old manuscripts in other languages such as Latin. We have many lexicons on these languages to “help” people get to the “real” Bible. However, these lexicons were written by men and women, with hopefully good intentions. Where did they get their meanings of each of the Greek words? Did they read endless documents by brilliant yet unsaved people such as Plato and Aristotle to get the meanings? How do we know they are accurate? I have read books by authors trying to substantiate their claims with Greek etymologies, and I checked my Greek lexicon only to find a different definition that would torpedo their claims. Sometimes lexicons agree, and sometimes they do not. Here are some thoughts from the Bible:

2 Peter 1:20-21: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” Yet knowledge of Hebrew and Greek allows the educated elite to privately interpret the Bible, while the poor and uneducated, who are usually far more spiritual than the religious elite in the Scriptures, are left out wondering what the “real” Bible says.

2 Timothy 3:15-17: “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” But if we do not have access to the “real” Bible in the ancient languages, how will we become “wise unto salvation”? How will we be instructed in righteousness?

Matthew 5:17-19: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” If not even the smallest part of the Law will pass away, would we not be accountable to have access to the full Law and do it? Is it reasonable that every believer everywhere should learn Hebrew and Greek? And going back to the previous discussion, if we were to learn these ancient languages, which of the contradicting lexicons should we use to learn them?

Hebrew and Greek of today’s scholars are similar to what the priests of yesteryear were guilty of, though today it is not as severe: The Bible was in Latin and it was illegal to translate it. The priests had to interpret the Scriptures for the masses. Likewise today, we start believing that we need clergy to interpret the Scriptures for us: If it is not the pastor in the pulpit, it is the scholar who writes the commentary and the lexicon. Because religion is a major business in American society, this mindset that we cannot interpret the Bible for ourselves perpetuates, and more books are written. I do not want to imply that all scholars are evil... far from it. Many scholars have great intentions to further the kingdom of God. But I find it hard to believe that God, who wants to publish his word to the entire world, would limit it to ancient languages that the overwhelming majority of the world does not speak. Consider the following in this respect:

Matthew 10:27: “What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.” God would not limit his word to ancient languages that only the scholars understand if he wants it preached everywhere and in every language.

The Importance of Words

Many may argue that the message or the gist is enough for us. But consider the following:

Matthew 24:35: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Jesus’ words will never pass away, not just the message.

Revelation 22:18-19: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” It sounds that if someone tampers with the words of the prophecy, there are some dire consequences, so the words must be pretty important.

God Can Speak Every Language

Consider the following:

Genesis 11:7-9: “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” God is the originator of all the languages of the world; therefore God knows every language.

Acts 2:4: “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” God spoke a number of different languages through the 120 disciples that were gathered at Pentecost.

God is the origin of language and can speak every language; therefore, he can also preserve his word in other languages. God has preserved the Bible in modern languages, including English. It goes beyond the scope of this essay, but I believe the King James Bible is the version that fits this description. It likewise goes beyond this discussion, but there are other ancient manuscripts that have showed up in the last 200 years or so that are very corrupted, and the vast majority of today’s Bible versions are based off of them.

Culture and History

Many times, people resort to archaeological evidence to understand different parts of the Bible rather than to take it plainly. Once again, do not get me wrong. Many scholars have a good heart when providing information found in other sources regarding culture and history. Some archaeological finds also help unbelievers see the veracity of the Biblical texts. But, like the lexicon, these things are not inspired, and we have a way of supplanting the Bible with others’ commentary. What cultural information is needed to understand the Bible is provided by the Bible itself, since God had the foresight to know that not every Bible reader was going to be from the ancient Near East. Here are some examples:

John 4:9: “Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” There is a parenthetical that Jewish people did not consort with Samaritan people, because otherwise part of the story would be lost, i.e., that Jesus Christ reaches out to all kinds of people no matter their background.

Acts 23:8: “For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.” This information tells us that the religious factions of Judaism in the first century A.D. have different beliefs. It explains why Paul used this information to divide the religious leaders that were interrogating him.

However, we often use alleged information to interpret the Bible for us such as this verse: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24), saying that the eye of the needle is some gate in Jerusalem. Since the eye is some gate, it may be difficult for the camel to get through, but not impossible. The Bible is silent on any such gate. This undermines the truth that Jesus was trying to teach that salvation is impossible without God: “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

Conclusion

People often use culture and language to make the Bible mean what they want it to mean. One can always find a lexicon, commentary, preacher, or some other source to support their interpretation of Scripture. Ancient foreign languages and archaeological data obscure what the Bible is telling us plainly, and is largely responsible for postmodern Christianity which is spreading in some circles today. It is time to put the commentaries and lexicons away, and go to the real teacher, the Holy Ghost, as it is written, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26).