Commentary and Bibles?

Have you ever found yourself at a Christian Book store, searching through the isles trying to find that perfect Bible in which you can just delve into and learn and build an intimate relationship with God? You walk through the doors and you are bombarded with big flashy signs of best selling Christian authors’ with books about how to get that relationship you always wanted, how to become a millionaire God’s way, or the Idiots guide through the Bible. You have to walk past all these books till you make your journey towards the back of the store to where you find that ever so dwindling section of Bibles. Now that you found the Bibles you are just sitting there searching through each one curious as which one is better than the other; wondering why there are so many different translations; what translation is the best; and then you start thinking you are in over your head; maybe I need one of those idiot guides to the Bible first before I get into the Word… Oh wait here I found the perfect Bible; it’s a study Bible and it has commentary that explains everything for me. It is like an idiots guide to the Bible in the Bible itself; PERFECT!

Now I am not trying to make fun of anyone, nor am I putting anyone down that has a Study Bible; it is one of the first Bibles I started out with and there are some that have handy geographical references in them. The problem I have found with Commentary Bibles is a lot of mans thoughts get brought into God’s word and I have even seen some that completely contradict the Bible.
I don’t know if people are familiar with what a page out of a commentary bible looks like but here is an example:

This is what the average page looks like half of it is scripture and then the other half is a man’s interpretation of what the scripture is saying. The definition of commentary is “The expression of opinions or explanations about an event or situation.”

So is commentary good or bad? We can look at scripture to see.

Deut 4:1-6 – God gave Israel statutes and judgments to perform so that they may take possession of the land in which God had given them. In vs. 2 He tells them “ You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you”,  those who held fast to the LORD God also staid alive.  Verse 6 is neat too because it shows that by keeping the statutes and judgments (just as the Lord spoke them; not adding or removing anything) it was their wisdom and understanding.

Deut 12:32 “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it”

If you ever read about Moses it is really neat because the Lord would speak to him and then Moses would go and speak to the people word for word what God told him too. None of Moses’ thoughts were intertwined with what God wanted him to speak to the people.

Proverb 30:6 “Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar”

Ecclesiastes 3:14 “I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him”

In Matthew 24:35 Christ says “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” so Christ’s word will never pass away, it will remain forever, we are not to add to it nor take away from it, but are to fear God.

Revelation 22:18-19 “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; (19) and if anyone takes away from the words of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book”

So is commentary adding to the Bible? I believe people need to make that judgment call on their own. I also believe people need to give themselves more credit than they do about their ability to understand the Bible. It is a mystery however; the neat thing about it if you are truly seeking after the Lord He will open your heart to act on the scripture. We can see an example of this in Acts 16:14 with Lydia. She was a worshipper of God and was listening and the Lord opened her heart to respond to things spoken by Paul. So God knows those that are truly seeking after Him and He will not disappoint. The Bible is written at the reading level of a 12 year old, it’s not a hard book to read; however, to really understand it you need to go to the Author of the Book. Just like any book out there to get what the author really meant its best to get the answers from the source.

2 Tim 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

2 Peter 1:20 “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, (21) for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

So I will end on this.

When you pick up your Bible next time to read; I encourage everyone to earnestly pray to God that His Holy Spirit would guide you into all truth and reveal His word to you. Start going to God for the answers and you will see the Bible like you have never seen it before. And remember this verse:

1 Peter 2:2 “Like newborn babies long for the pure (unadulterated) milk of the word, so that by it you may grow unto salvation”

Conquering Sin

So Steve brought out some interesting things in the Milk and Honey post and a scripture that he so kindly allowed me to expound on. John 8:34 Jesus is talking here and says “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. This scripture is cut and dry, there are only two people in the world; those that are slaves to sin and those that aren’t and in this context they are called sons.

So now arises the question, how are we set free from being a slave to sin? The answer lies within my favorite scripture (which is why Steve saved if for me). If you want to open up your Bible to Romans 6 and take some time and read the entire chapter, it is only 23 verses but those 23 verses are jam packed with answers.

Paul starts out with a rhetorical question to the believers in Rome “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” 

Interesting concept right, continue on in sin so God’s grace is glorified? There is a phrase for that today, its called “come as you are”. Ask yourself one question; what was the first thing Christ preached when He started His ministry? I will give you a clue; come as you are isn't in the Bible.  Here are the scriptures of how Jesus started preaching. Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”.  Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”.

Repent in the Greek is translated Meta-nous it’s a compound word simply put it means “change your mind”. Coming as you are does not equal changing your mind, it means the opposite; it means I’m fine where I am at, even if I partake in drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, sensuality, strife, and jealousy; I’m only human God understands... Jesus was very clear about those that do not repent it is in Luke 13:3. We as people have two options; change our mind and do things God’s way or perish. There is no plan C its life or death that’s how serious it gets.

You can see this in Paul’s response to his own rhetorical question in verse 2 of Romans 6. “May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”

So this brings us back to our original topic; how are we freed from sin? Paul is speaking to a group of believers that have already been freed from sin it says in 2 that they died to sin.  How do you die to sin though?

If you continue on reading it answers that question. “or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death”

So this group of believers that had died to sin, died to it by being baptized into the name of Jesus Christ. In Acts 4:12 it says “for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved”  Baptism has to be done in the name of Jesus Christ, you can’t be baptized into a church or anything else because there is no other name that can save you.

There is a list of promises if you keep on reading through Romans 6 that all follow baptism.

1)      Become united with Christ in the likeness of His death

2)      Also be of His resurrection

3)      Our body of sin is done away with

4)      You are no longer a slave to sin

5)      Have the ability to live with Christ

6)      We are alive to God in Christ Jesus

7)      Enslaved to God (in which we derive our benefit resulting in sanctification and eternal life.)

There are more things that come through baptism that are listed in other scriptures like in Acts 2:38 we receive the Holy Spirit when we repent and are baptized.

Our main focus however is how to be set free from sin. As Steve brought out before, Israel could not serve God in Egypt because they were under bondage and Egypt was the pleasures of sin. So put two and two together they were slaves to sin. Nothing has changed since then; people can not genuinely serve God while they are still slaves to sin, they have to act on what the scripture says.  When Christ said “repent and believe the gospel” believe actually derives from an Anglo Saxon word that means “by life” it is more than just “knowing it is real or exists” it means LIVE IT. So now put that into what Christ said, “Repent and make the gospel your life.” Has a bigger impact I think.

So if you have struggles overcoming your flesh and you are ready to stop fulfilling the lusts of your flesh there is an answer and it works. The Bible is truth and I believe Romans 6 says it better itself than I could ever explain it. There is a neat scripture in Isaiah 43:2 it says “when you pass through the waters, I will be with you.” Christ meets you under the water when you take that step of faith to be baptized into His name and He gives you the victory and sets you free from sin. Praise the Lord!

 Like always if you ever have any questions feel free to ask and if you are thinking about getting baptized feel free to write and we will try and answer any questions you may have about it in greater detail.

Until next time, keep those Bibles open and searching the scripture through.