“Here a little, there a little”
Back to The Bible's Difficult Scriptures Explained!
No single scripture can be used to establish doctrine. We must take all the scriptures on a given subject and weigh them in order to grasp the overall doctrine. There is great value in gathering all the scriptures on a single subject, as we are instructed to do in Isaiah 28.
We previously mentioned that renowned scholars such as James Moffatt and Adam Clark could study the Bible for a lifetime and still not understand the truth. Those called to the truth realize that, without God’s Spirit leading them, the door to scriptural understanding is shut.
We also covered how Christ used parables to hide the real meaning from the world. This principle applies to understanding of the entire Bible.
The Bible is written in a way that defies understanding on the physical level. With this in mind, read Isaiah 28:9-10: “Whom shall He teach knowledge? And whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.”
We must diligently examine verses throughout the Bible to gain knowledge and understand doctrine. This requires being led by God’s Spirit.
Continue in Isaiah 28:1-29 “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom He said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear” (Isa 28:11-12). These verses show an intentional hiding of the meaning by God (as if it were a foreign language). But they also show a willful rejection of the truth: “they would not hear.”
Isa 28:13 continues, and reiterates, “But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.”
Again, we see the unmistakable hiding of the meaning to those not called now.
The next example shows the need to draw from precept upon precept and line upon line. It shows that verses people call contradictory actually supplement each other. This is the case with what was written on the stake where Christ was crucified.
Let’s read four different verses that critics say are contradictions. We will find them to be otherwise.
Matthew 27:37: “And set up over His head His accusation written, this is Jesus the king of the Jews.”
Mark 15:26: “And the superscription of His accusation was written over, the king of the Jews.”
Luke 23:38: “And a superscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, this is the king of the Jews.”
John 19:19: “And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews.”
Together, these verses show that Pilate did the writing, and that three versions were written in three different languages.
These four contributions from four different authors give us a complete account of what was written. Rather than these four scriptures contradicting each other, as we assemble the “precept upon precept and line upon line,” we can see the full picture—“this is Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews.”
By comparing the four gospels, one can see how these accounts work in harmony to present a complete understanding.
Rule #8: The Bible Interprets Itself