Do Not Subtract

Do Not Subtract

“If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city…” (Revelation 22:19).

Adding to the words of the Bible is a serious problem, but one which is primarily limited to those who operate on the fringes of, or outside orthodox Christianity. By far a more pervasive problem which affects every Christian, to some extent, is taking away from the words of the Bible.

Now I know, very few will actually draw a line across a section of the Bible or tear whole pages from the Book, but what most of us do amounts to the same thing. I have very few Christians who do not ignore various sections of the Bible or who do not turn a blind eye to one, or more, doctrines. Most of the time it is not because we have not come across, or do not understand, that particular Scripture. No, we delete those sections of the Word that do not please us.

Teachers and preachers are as good at this as anyone else. Just talk to a teacher who does not believe in water baptism or the gifts of the Spirit or any of the other “controversial” subjects and watch how he dances around the scriptures that are plain and simple on the subject. That does not mean we all understand everything about the Bible, but the honest thing to do is to admit that the Scriptures say what they do even though we don’t understand how or why. There are many verses I do not fully understand but it does not give me the right to ignore them or remove them from the rest of the Scriptures. The Apostle Peter had some problems understanding some of Paul’s teachings, but Peter still acknowledged that what Paul wrote was indeed Scripture: “Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you… some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.” (1Peter 3:16)

Our minds have a wonderful capacity to ignore those truths that we don’t like and sometimes that is a valuable coping mechanism, but often, it will land us in trouble. How many times do we not push the thought of some unpleasant task from our minds? Sometimes when I write a difficult task on my to-do list and then check the list during the day, my eye will actually not even see that task on the list! We all know that that does not make the problem go away. The drunk who tries to drown his sorrows, may escape for a while, but the next day the issues are still there, but they are compounded by his hangover and other consequences of his overindulgence.

But we do exactly the same with the Bible! There are things in God’s Word that require some action on our part but we ignore them because we do not want to do what we know we should. Think for instance about the person who reads about water baptism, or the need for repentance, or restitution, or forgiveness etc. Isn’t it amazing how, when the Holy Spirit confronts us with some issue, almost every second verse of the Bible speaks to that issue! Yet, when we read, our eyes somehow glaze over when we get to that part! This is subtracting from the Word as much as the person who changes his doctrine by ignoring the verses that don’t suit his version of the Truth!

In modern society we have this strange notion that when we add to the truth, that is lying but when we subtract from the truth, then that is nothing! But both are falsehood. Withholding information or adding to the information, whether in a court of law or in relationships or in our reading of the Bible, both are equally abominable in the sight of the Lord. He expects us to believe and to speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Consider for example the message of the Gospel. If we were to “forget” or ignore the fact that Jesus rose from the dead in the Gospel story, does that not change the message considerably? Thus the omission of any part of the Truth results in the Truth being substantially altered to become a lie. Without accepting, believing and obeying the whole of the Word we are in as much error as the Mormon who adds his own writings to the Bible!

We live amongst a generation of people who have stripped the Bible of any reference to God’s holiness, wrath, judgment and perfection. The parts of the scriptures that require that we live holy, separate and wholly committed lives have been expunged from modern Bibles. That the Lord requires obedience to His whole Word and will call us to give an account before His judgment throne is no longer believed. Basically the Word has been stripped down to a few nice verses that speak about grace, blessing and prosperity – the rest is no longer part of the twenty first century Bible.

In countering the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus said “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4). Yes, His Word gives life, but it is His whole word that is life-giving, not just the nice parts! Just consider baking a cake and omitting one ingredient – the salt. It is such a small ingredient and it does not even taste as good as the sugar, yet it’s omission makes a world of difference! Thus those small and possibly unpleasant parts of the Word make a huge difference to our spiritual life!

That is why, in the great commission, Jesus commanded the disciples to be “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). Preachers who do not teach all things are not fulfilling the great commission and therefore cannot claim the consequent promise that He will be with us, even to the end of the age. Paul was able to say to the Ephesians with confidence that he had “not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). And in 2Timothy 3:16, 17 he says: “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 complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” Just as a child cannot become mature and strong by only eating candy, we will not be complete and will never come to maturity without the whole of the Word.

Have you been ignoring some parts of the Bible? Over and over the Lord commands His people “to observe carefully all His commandments” (Deuteronomy 28:1). By obeying His whole Word, you will be assured of His whole blessing. Do your leaders preach and teach the whole counsel of God? If not, your church and your spiritual life will be deficient and impoverished.

Anton Bosch

anton@ifcb.net

3310 W Magnolia Blvd

Burbank, CA, 91505

Tel 818 846 5520