Why the Bible is sometimes obscure

Why are some things in the Bible confusing? Are spiritual gifts still given to Christians or were they only for believers in New Testament times? Does God choose who will be saved? Is physical baptism necessary? Will the rapture take Christians out of harm’s way? 

It’s now obvious that sins committed after baptism can be forgiven and Black people haven’t been cursed by God, but both were once taught as unquestionable Bible doctrines. Why didn’t the Holy Spirit make it plain so that there was no misunderstanding?  And as for homosexuality, divorce, euthanasia and evolution…Why doesn’t the Holy Spirit give us clarity about these issues, too? 

A fuller translation

There are two main reasons. Firstly, we have only half-translated the Bible. The words of the original Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew texts have been translated very well on the whole – but that’s only half the task: we also need to translate idioms. Imagine how an ancient Jew would interpret modern idioms such as: ‘Dungeons and Dragons’, ‘dog whistling’, ‘raising the roof’, or ‘wicked buffalo wings’. 

Hebrew has many idioms. The word ‘face’, for example, can mean multiple things. ‘Turning your face’ to someone means attending to or taking note of what they say. ‘Lifting a face’ means showing someone favour or a desire to grant their request. This transforms our understanding of passages like Aaron’s blessing in Numbers 6:25-26 where the Lord turns his face to shine upon you and lifts his face upon you to give you peace. We do translate a few idioms – for example, I don’t know any Bibles that translate 2 Kings 23:26 literally as: “The Lord turned not from the great heat of his nose which heated his nose.” (Look it up!) 

We must also translate cultures. We don’t need Christian women to wear hats today because we understand that Paul gave this instruction because prostitutes were recognised by their uncovered hair. We no longer tell women to be silent in Bible studies because we now know why it was necessary. In Paul’s time, synagogue teaching took place in a room called the Androne (‘men’s room’) and, although Paul let women listen to his teaching, he could only push attitudes so far. We don’t execute criminals for all the crimes God listed to Moses, because this was a necessity in ancient cultures when there were no prisons. People lived in tents and buildings made of dried-mud bricks – easily escapable with teeth, nails and patience; stone buildings were costly and reserved for rulers and gods.

If the Bible says little about things that we think are important, we shouldn’t conclude that God is negligent

Tragic consequences can arise if we don’t take idioms and culture into account. In parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) a wife is called the ‘left hand’ of her husband, rather like we might refer to our spouse as “my other half”. This causes problems when reading Jesus’ words: “When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3). The plain meaning for believers in DRC is that wives should not know about household finances. So Christian men don’t let their wives have any control over money – an often disastrous situation. 

Understanding the Bible’s idioms and culture is essential if we are to understand its true meaning, but it’s a solvable problem. William Tyndale wanted a ploughboy to be able to read the Bible – and he succeeded. Today, we have study Bibles, commentaries and books on Bible background. We need to do some work to aid our understanding, but much less than the ploughboy had to expend – and he thought it was worth it to read God’s word. 

Clear to the core

The second reason that some things in the Bible aren’t made plain is that they aren’t part of God’s core message. They are incidental to the good news that can transform us from rebellious sinners into forgiven sinners who are following him. 

The Bible tells us about many things, including long-dead religions and kings. These are interesting to ancient historians but incidental to the central message. For example, until the 20th century, the mention of Hittites in the Bible was widely regarded as fictional. But in 1947, a bilingual hieroglyphics inscription revealed the ancient empire of Hittites had existed. Why didn’t the Holy Spirit make this clear to previous generations? Because it didn’t matter; it wasn’t the main message.

We might wish the Bible said more about historical details, theological issues or certain lifestyles, but if it says little about things that we think are important, we shouldn’t conclude that God is negligent. History and geology are undoubtedly significant, but they are not crucial for our salvation. To discover more about those subjects, God has given us the tools and minds to find answers in his creation – not in the Bible. 

Distracted by division

Why are we so fascinated by topics that the Bible mentions, but tells us tantalisingly little about? Why do we get distracted with irrelevant details we don’t yet understand? Why do we let these split the Church and muddy the message? Perhaps it is our God-given curiosity – like our desire to study the intricate patterns on species of butterflies. But in that case, would differences lead to arguments and divisions? More likely, it is our natural tendency to form tribes, gangs or cliques. We want reasons why ‘others’ are wrong, so we divide into conservatives and progressives, Protestant and Catholic, or Reformed Baptist Evangelical Young Earthers and Reformed Baptist Evangelical Climate Activists…

I suspect the devil nudges us towards these irrelevancies like a foreign influencer in elections. He magnifies our differences and drives us to frame our view in the most inflammatory language. While we bicker over things that are unclear in the Bible, we aren’t spreading the message that it is clear about: say sorry to God and accept his Spirit’s help to transform you.