That's Not What I've Been Told.
That’s Not What I’ve Been Told
By: Dr. Danny Purvis
The title of this week’s blog post stems from a common refrain that I have heard…and that I myself have said over the years as it relates to God’s Word. And to tell you the truth…that is a terrible litmus test to use when trying to decipher the Bible. The reason I am even thinking about this is that as I write this, in church for the foreseeable future, we are making our way through the Book of Romans. What does one say about this biblical masterpiece? Even in the Bible, Romans stands alone. It is, arguably, the greatest letter ever written.
This is a position held not only by most Believers, but also among unbelievers. Even in the secular world, Romans is held in high esteem and is considered a brilliant document. In fact, in my English 101 class in college, this letter was included in my textbook which was an anthology….a collection of the greatest writings in human history. It’s prose, its logic, its philosophy is unmatched in all recorded history. It is, by all accounts, a masterpiece. And since that is the case, there are also two very important things we must remember when reading this extraordinary letter.
First, we need to know, if we don’t already, that it is a very, very complex letter. I don’t know if you know this or not, but apart from Acts and his own letters, Paul’s name is only mentioned one other time in the New Testament. Peter name-dropped Paul in 2 Peter 3:16. And what does Peter say about Paul? “15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures”.
Did you catch it? Peter stated that some of Paul’s letters are “hard to understand”. I am thoroughly convinced that Peter had just finished reading Romans when he wrote that line. So, it should make you feel better that even the Apostle Peter had a hard time understanding all of what Paul wrote. Romans is complex. But it is not inaccessible. How do we know that? Well, Jesus Himself told us so. In John 16, just a few hours before He was arrested, Jesus once again told His disciples (well, the 11 that were still there) that He was going to leave them. And then He said something extremely interesting. He said that it was to their advantage that He was leaving them. Why would He say that? I am so glad you asked.
He told them that if He did not leave, then the Holy Spirit would not come. And He also told them that when the Spirit arrived, that He would lead them into “all truth” (John 16:13). Not “some” of the truth. Not 75% of the truth. All of the truth. Even the truths that are hard to understand. Therefore, while it is a very complex letter, for the Believer, the Holy Spirit will give us understanding. Even if it takes a while. So, the fact that it is very complex is the first thing we need to remember.
The second thing we need to remember as we journey through this letter is that it will challenge us. It is a challenging book. In fact, all of Scripture is challenging to us in one way or another. When studying Romans, you will read passages that may challenge things you think you understand about God, salvation, redemption, sin, forgiveness, and righteousness. And that’s a good thing. In fact, it is a very good thing. But too many times we respond to reading these challenging passages with the refrain I started this post with. Too many times we have a tendency to say: “Well, that’s not what I’ve always been told”. To cut to the chase…it does not matter ultimately what we have always been told. It matters what God’s Word actually says. It doesn’t matter what Danny tells you about Romans (or any other book of the Bible for that matter). It matters if what I am telling you actually matches up with Scripture.
And Romans has the tendency to provide challenging passages. How challenging? Well, 500 years ago a young monk decided to study God’s Word more in-depth. When he did, he found something interesting and dismaying. Much of what he was reading in God’s Word did not line up with all that he had been told. It was a conundrum. Would he simply defer to what he had always been told…or would he embrace the Word of God in spite of what he had always been told? That monk? Martin Luther. One of the books he studied? Romans. The result? The Protestant Reformation which changed the trajectory of theology from that point until now.
Please know that this reality is all throughout God’s Word…and not just Romans. But Paul’s letter to the Roman church stands out as one of the most obvious examples. Please do not mishear me. I am not talking about being taught heresy here. The more I study God’s Word, the more I see that not all that “I have been told” completely lined up with Scripture. Again, not that what I had been told was heresy. I would say that a lot of it was incomplete. It wasn’t necessarily wrong (though some of it was), but it came from an incomplete understanding of His Word. Kind of like Apollos.
He is found in Acts 18. He was a Godly man. A great teacher who had “a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures” (Acts 18:24), had been “instructed in the way of the Lord” (Acts 18:25a), and “taught about Jesus accurately” (Acts 18:25b). But he also “knew only the baptism of John” (Acts 18:25c). When Priscilla and Aquila discovered him, they “took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:26). Apollos’ teachings about Jesus weren’t wrong…they were just incomplete. This will happen to us when we read God’s Word. We will see that some of the things we have always been told are incomplete. And that is a good thing. A necessary thing. And sometimes a scary thing. But we always have to ask ourselves: Does my understanding of God come from His Word…or does it come from what I’ve always been told?
I tell folks all the time after I finish teaching/preaching: Do not just take my word for this stuff. Check it out in God’s Word. ALL of His Word. The conclusion should always be: This is what God’s Word says. It should not be: This is what I’ve always been told.
-Dr. Danny Purvis
By: Dr. Danny Purvis
The title of this week’s blog post stems from a common refrain that I have heard…and that I myself have said over the years as it relates to God’s Word. And to tell you the truth…that is a terrible litmus test to use when trying to decipher the Bible. The reason I am even thinking about this is that as I write this, in church for the foreseeable future, we are making our way through the Book of Romans. What does one say about this biblical masterpiece? Even in the Bible, Romans stands alone. It is, arguably, the greatest letter ever written.
This is a position held not only by most Believers, but also among unbelievers. Even in the secular world, Romans is held in high esteem and is considered a brilliant document. In fact, in my English 101 class in college, this letter was included in my textbook which was an anthology….a collection of the greatest writings in human history. It’s prose, its logic, its philosophy is unmatched in all recorded history. It is, by all accounts, a masterpiece. And since that is the case, there are also two very important things we must remember when reading this extraordinary letter.
First, we need to know, if we don’t already, that it is a very, very complex letter. I don’t know if you know this or not, but apart from Acts and his own letters, Paul’s name is only mentioned one other time in the New Testament. Peter name-dropped Paul in 2 Peter 3:16. And what does Peter say about Paul? “15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures”.
Did you catch it? Peter stated that some of Paul’s letters are “hard to understand”. I am thoroughly convinced that Peter had just finished reading Romans when he wrote that line. So, it should make you feel better that even the Apostle Peter had a hard time understanding all of what Paul wrote. Romans is complex. But it is not inaccessible. How do we know that? Well, Jesus Himself told us so. In John 16, just a few hours before He was arrested, Jesus once again told His disciples (well, the 11 that were still there) that He was going to leave them. And then He said something extremely interesting. He said that it was to their advantage that He was leaving them. Why would He say that? I am so glad you asked.
He told them that if He did not leave, then the Holy Spirit would not come. And He also told them that when the Spirit arrived, that He would lead them into “all truth” (John 16:13). Not “some” of the truth. Not 75% of the truth. All of the truth. Even the truths that are hard to understand. Therefore, while it is a very complex letter, for the Believer, the Holy Spirit will give us understanding. Even if it takes a while. So, the fact that it is very complex is the first thing we need to remember.
The second thing we need to remember as we journey through this letter is that it will challenge us. It is a challenging book. In fact, all of Scripture is challenging to us in one way or another. When studying Romans, you will read passages that may challenge things you think you understand about God, salvation, redemption, sin, forgiveness, and righteousness. And that’s a good thing. In fact, it is a very good thing. But too many times we respond to reading these challenging passages with the refrain I started this post with. Too many times we have a tendency to say: “Well, that’s not what I’ve always been told”. To cut to the chase…it does not matter ultimately what we have always been told. It matters what God’s Word actually says. It doesn’t matter what Danny tells you about Romans (or any other book of the Bible for that matter). It matters if what I am telling you actually matches up with Scripture.
And Romans has the tendency to provide challenging passages. How challenging? Well, 500 years ago a young monk decided to study God’s Word more in-depth. When he did, he found something interesting and dismaying. Much of what he was reading in God’s Word did not line up with all that he had been told. It was a conundrum. Would he simply defer to what he had always been told…or would he embrace the Word of God in spite of what he had always been told? That monk? Martin Luther. One of the books he studied? Romans. The result? The Protestant Reformation which changed the trajectory of theology from that point until now.
Please know that this reality is all throughout God’s Word…and not just Romans. But Paul’s letter to the Roman church stands out as one of the most obvious examples. Please do not mishear me. I am not talking about being taught heresy here. The more I study God’s Word, the more I see that not all that “I have been told” completely lined up with Scripture. Again, not that what I had been told was heresy. I would say that a lot of it was incomplete. It wasn’t necessarily wrong (though some of it was), but it came from an incomplete understanding of His Word. Kind of like Apollos.
He is found in Acts 18. He was a Godly man. A great teacher who had “a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures” (Acts 18:24), had been “instructed in the way of the Lord” (Acts 18:25a), and “taught about Jesus accurately” (Acts 18:25b). But he also “knew only the baptism of John” (Acts 18:25c). When Priscilla and Aquila discovered him, they “took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:26). Apollos’ teachings about Jesus weren’t wrong…they were just incomplete. This will happen to us when we read God’s Word. We will see that some of the things we have always been told are incomplete. And that is a good thing. A necessary thing. And sometimes a scary thing. But we always have to ask ourselves: Does my understanding of God come from His Word…or does it come from what I’ve always been told?
I tell folks all the time after I finish teaching/preaching: Do not just take my word for this stuff. Check it out in God’s Word. ALL of His Word. The conclusion should always be: This is what God’s Word says. It should not be: This is what I’ve always been told.
-Dr. Danny Purvis
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