Question Marks in My Bible

Introduction

The overall message of the Bible, and our Faith, is capable of being understood by anyone, at any normal level of human intelligence. The simplicity of the gospel is clear: repentance and baptism come after a belief in the Lord Jesus, his sacrifice, and his future return to set up his Kingdom on earth. However, the fact that the central message is quite clear is the beginning, not the end. As the writer to the Hebrews says “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection” (Heb 6:1). The process of seeking any sort of perfection, of understanding the totality of the Truth included in the pages of the Bible, is an essentially never ending task. So I will describe one method I use to help me in my attempts to gain a deeper understanding of my faith.

If you open the pages of the Bible I normally use, you will find it is littered with question marks. Particularly in the New Testament, and the Prophets in the Old Testament, they appear on most pages. Sometimes they are old, sometimes new, but I find that as soon as I find the answer to the problem posed, others have mysteriously arrived. Quite commonly, as I am doing the Daily Readings, listen­ing to addresses, or participating in any sort of Bible Study, the text, the speaker, or my internal ruminations give rise to a question as to what the text means. So I put a question mark there, to remind me to think about the text in the future, and hopefully come up with an answer. (Sometimes other question marks are added to a note prompted by a statement of a speaker: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1Thess 5:21).

One example

Many times, the question is simply about what the text means. So opening my Bible at random, there was one by the margin of the text:

“This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;” (1Tim 1:18).

My note concerned the prophecies — what were there? Where are these prophecies recorded? How do they lead to Timothy waging a good warfare?

My marginal references point to 1 Timothy 4:14, where we read, “Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.” There was also a reference to Hebrews 7:18, “For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before…”. So I turned to the NIV, where we read:

“Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight,” (Brethren George Booker and Troy Haltom, in their commentary on this passage, suggest a reading of “in keeping with the inspired words which pointed to you”.)

So it seems probable, from the rendering of the NIV, that one possible answer to the question mark was that the prophecies referred to were those that pointed to Timothy as being suitable for the ministry. And the laying on of hands, performed by the council of elders, was a form of their association and confirmation of the Spirit guided work. This mission was apparently foretold by prophecy, but I can­not think of any passage that tells us of this prophecy concerning Timothy. One might refer to Acts 13:1-3:

“Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy [Spirit] said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.”

So we have here perhaps a similar passage, where through the Holy Spirit certain prophets and teachers were instructed to prophesy, and selected Paul and Barn­abas for the work. It must, therefore, have been on a similar unrecorded occasion where similar prophecies were made of Timothy, with which the Elders associated themselves. I could, of course, also continue with a consideration of who were the Elders in this case, or the precise significance of this particular laying on of hands, but that is another question mark.

So, as is normal, I can answer some of the questions implied by my question mark, but not all. I am pretty sure the prophecies were concerning Timothy, and the gifts he was given though the Holy Spirit. These lead to his success in his spiritual warfare. But I am uncertain when they were given, by whom, and exactly how the Elders were involved.

Purpose of reading the Bible

I am not sure I will ever answer all the questions in my Bible, but certainly I con­sider it helps in my feeble attempts to understand the whole message of the Bible. I must, however, stress that adding these question marks is not primarily to help me in my comprehension of the meaning of these particular passages. The main purpose of my practice is to help me consider and reflect on the main purpose of the studying the Bible. It is not to understand the background, the history, or the subtleties present in the original texts. It is to help me in my walk to the Kingdom, and to help others in their walk. It is all too easy, especially in the well-known passages in the New Testament, to let the words and phrases wash over us as com­forting, familiar sounds. To have the words hardly enter our consciousness, never mind our consciences. Think of the phrase in the Lord’s Prayer “lead us not into temptation.” Perhaps on another occasion I will expand on my thoughts on this topic, but how can we truly reconcile these words with those of James 1:13, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man”. So why are we instructed to pray to God that He not lead us into temptation, when we are told elsewhere He never does so?

The objective in reading the Bible is not merely to read the text, not simply to un­derstand the words, but to let the message contained therein let us be conformed to the example of our Lord Jesus, that in the end we might be transformed to be like him.

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Phil 3:20-21NIV).

We cannot do this by merely reading the words. We need to first read with un­derstanding. Then we need to consider how these words can help us more closely pattern our lives on that of Jesus. They can do this in many ways: either by example, by warning, by encouragement, by direction, by understanding the message, by appreciating the purpose of the words. We often use these words:

“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” (2Tim 3:16-17).

We tend to focus on the “inspiration” phrase, but the more important message of the passage is the purpose of the words of Scripture. They ought to fill our hearts, as well as our minds.

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph 3:17-19).