Thought from today’s Bible reading from Luke 10-11; John 10:22-42.
When Jesus declared His oneness with the Father – thus affirming His deity – the Jews wanted to stone Him to death (John 10:30-31). They believed Jesus was guilty of blasphemy when He made such a claim. The problem, though, was not with Jesus’ words, but with their understanding of the Scriptures.
“Jesus answered them, ‘I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?’ The Jews answered Him, ‘For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Has it not been written in your Law, “I said, you are gods”? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, “You are blaspheming,” because I said, “I am the Son of God”? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.’” (John 10:32-38).
Given the evidence they had, there was no reason why these Jews, if they were honest, should have rejected Christ. Yet, after Jesus said this, they tried “again to seize Him” (John 10:39).
The problem was that their thinking did not harmonize with the truth. When confronted with this reality, they chose to hold onto their own version of the truth, even though it contradicted the Scripture.
The word of God does not contradict itself. It is the truth (John 17:17; Psalm 119:160); and truth always harmonizes with itself. If one of our beliefs or practices does not harmonize with the plain teachings of Scripture, we must understand that we are wrong and the word of God is right (cf. Romans 3:4).
It is possible to twist certain passages (2 Peter 3:16) and interpret them to mean any number of things. But if we do this, we will inevitably find other passages that do not harmonize with our view. We must not try to shape the truth to fit our beliefs, then reject any passages that we cannot make fit our ideas. Instead, we must conform our thinking to the truth – the whole truth – that is found in God’s word.
Tomorrow’s reading: Luke 12-13
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
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