In If the Bible were a blog I wrote, “The fact is that throughout history most people have misunderstood most of the message most of the time! ” Sometimes I look back at things I’ve written and a part of me is scandalized by my own thoughts. But that’s part of why I write: to get out in the open what is hidden in my head and see what it looks like.  Or as my friend Oliver says, “How can I know what I think until I hear what I’ve said?”

As I’ve thought about this some more I’ve realized that it is largely true that we only “see in part” the full meaning of the text.  With the exception of the Pentecost event recorded in Acts 2, God’s Word has come to every tribe and tongue and nation first in a foreign tongue. After it was accepted then it was translated.

For the last month I’ve been teaching New Testament to Mozambican Bible college students.  They are sincere.  They love the Lord.  But often times they just don’t get it!  Why does Peter say that for the Lord a day is like a thousand years? Their answer: because in Hell time passes very slowly. Why does Jesus tell his followers to go the extra mile?  Absolutely no clue. Some of the problems are more difficult.  Why does Paul say we are justified by faith alone while James say, “A person is justified by what he does and not faith alone?” Why is the lady with ten coins so upset about losing one? The questions go on and on.

But it’s not just third-world believers who are lacking the full picture of what the Bible is about.  The more I study, the more I realize that I don’t understand a lot of what’s in the Bible.  Why is it so hard to understand? Why does it spend so much time talking about things that I don’t care about? And why do I feel so guilty when I find myself not interested in what I’m reading in the Bible?

Can we really truthfully assert that the Bible is sufficient in itself when proper exegesis and hermeneutics require at the minimum a study Bible stuffed with notes and complex computer programs designed to help us get to the bottom of the “real” meaning?

As I talked these kinds of things over with my wife I recalled the words of Jesus: “Unless you become like a little child…” His call to us was to trust him even when we don’t have the answers.  I’m glad he didn’t call me to understand it all before I get my ticket to enter the pearly gates.  How terrible it would be if God’s requirement was “If you don’t get it, you don’t get in.” Instead it looks like lack of knowledge won’t keep us out, just lack of faith.