The Truth Versus Commentary

Commentary: a series of comments, explanations, or annotations.

Relative: something dependent upon external conditions for its specific nature, size, etc. (opposed to absolute).

Absolute: something that is NOT dependent upon external conditions for existence or for its specific nature, size, etc.

I am a black and white kind of person. There is no gray area for me. Depending on the light I have in one area versus another, it might take me a bit to recognize that I’m in a gray area, but once I recognize it, I run from it! You should know that about me.

And I may have mentioned already that I read a lot of Christian books. The older I get, the more “cautiously” I read, remembering always that what the author “says” is not in any way to be compared to what The Word of God “says”. These are two different things, even if the author seems to be agreeing with what the bible says (as in most Christian books I read).

In my black and white way, I see one as Commentary (Relative) and the other as Truth (Absolute). And I believe there is only ONE truth: GOD (and all the He says). What a Christian author says may sound good, but unless it “says” EXACTLY what the Word of God says (in other words, unless the author is quoting the Bible verbatim) then it isn’t Truth. ONLY The Word of God is TRUTH. (Unfortunately, I must qualify that all Bible versions are not equal. Those that are too loosely translated, I won’t even use.)

Now before you think I’ve totally flipped out here, bear with me just a bit longer to see where I am going with this.

The real Truth (God’s Truth) is “absolute”. It is what it is; it is not dependent on anything, for nothing can alter it. It just IS truth.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

God’s Truth is not “relative”, even though the world says that truth is relative. That’s because if they believe in an absolute Truth (God’s Truth) then they cannot continue to do the things they do that are contrary to the TRUTH. They either have to accept Jesus Christ for Who He is, or they have to invent their own version of truth, which they call “relative” truth. In other words: “What I perceive to be true for me, is true. What you perceive to be true for you, is true also. Even if those two things are at opposite ends of the spectrum, relative truth allows anything to be true, depending on how it “feels” according to the person speaking it.” But that is not what the Word of God says:

“I [Jesus] am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6

Commentary then is also “relative”...it is relative to the one who is commenting. All books are commentary in one form or another. Therefore all books (or blogs) are relative. They are not absolute truth.

Let's use this blog as an example of commentary: When we study the bible, we read the Truth and then we comment on it or try to put it in words we more easily understand, or we try to give it practical application. I write what I hope agrees in every way with the bible, but unless I have “quoted” the bible, I am not writing “absolute” Truth, and it should not be taken as absolute Truth. I cannot possibly write or speak absolute truth, only God can. My words do not compare to God’s words. My opinions do not compare to God’s opinions. My thoughts do not compare to Gods thoughts. Why would anyone take my words to be absolute truth? Why would anyone take the scribes’ words to be absolute truth, more important than God’s Word?

I am stressing this the best way I know how, to try to get a point across. And that point is this:

“Prove all things.” I Thessalonians 5:21a

EVERYTHING MUST BE PROVEN BY THE WORD OF GOD. EVERYTHING! Or else we run the risk of doing exactly as the people were doing by following the scribes. We run the risk of letting the “commentary” guide our decisions and our choices, when only the Word of God should guide our decisions and choices. This is why “teachers” or “interpreters” (such as the scribes) have such a huge responsibility in the eyes of God; they are held more highly accountable than anyone who does NOT “teach”.

So why do we read other books and why do we listen to other teachers?

I can speak only for myself. The reason I do is because they stir up my interest in studying the word of God. I enjoy searching scripture to see whether what they are saying is in agreement with the Word of God (something I might have missed or forgotten in my reading of the bible) or whether it is just their opinion or commentary. And sometimes it requires a LOT of Bible study to ascertain whether or not it is in agreement with God’s Word. And other times it requires more than I can comprehend and so I sit it on the back burner for a while. I can tell in those cases that I just don’t have enough light yet, and only the Holy Spirit can give me that. He is my Teacher.

But unless I have ascertained that it agrees with what the Word of God says, I hold it only as an interesting “theory”. Here is an example:

There are many books written about what heaven will be like. But there is really very little in the Bible that tells us what heaven is actually like. We can apply our intelligence and our imagination and come up with ideas of what heaven is like (there are many books on “Heaven”). But in no way do our “commentaries” on heaven, make it more or less than just what the bible says. At the end of the day, all I really KNOW to be TRUE about heaven is the few words the Word of God tells me about it. That much I know is TRUE (and even some of that I have a difficult time comprehending!)

And so if someone asks me what heaven is like I can tell them the TRUTH (whatever the Word says about it), and then I can expound by quoting a book I read recently and say “so and so” thinks it MIGHT be like this. But if I take what “so and so” says and go around saying it is the TRUTH, then I lie, and I run the risk of mis-leading others, for which I also will be held accountable. There is a reason why God says:

“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Matthew 12:36-37 [The same, only more so, holds true for teachers or interpreters or “scribes”of the Word.]

I hope this gives better understanding as to what the scribes have done through the centuries. But God also held accountable the people who chose to believe the scribes OVER the Word of God. For those who “followed” or “believed” the scribes, all that was needed was that they PROVE all that was being said by the Word of God, and they HAD the Word of God. It was the Word of God already written that the scribes were “commenting” on.

This is still the case for us today and so I will reiterate: WE MUST PROVE EVERYTHING AGAINST THE WORD OF GOD! Do not be lax in this.

So, when we find that something does NOT line up with the Word, what do we do with it? We apply the second half of the scripture that says “prove all things”:

“Hold fast that which is good.” I Thessalonians 5:21b

We hold fast (tight) onto what is good, and set aside the rest.

Most of us speak (and write) according to the light that we have received. Just because someone else has more light than I do, does not mean that they are wrong, but I might not “see” it or recognize it as agreeing with the Word yet, because I haven’t received that much light. (That light is given to us by the Holy Spirit whenever we read or hear the Word of God. If you are not in the Word, your light will not grow.) So if we have “proven” something by the Word and find that it doesn’t seem to agree, then we just set it aside. Further down the line, we might return to that subject, and then suddenly, because in the interim we have received more light, we can see where it DOES agree with the Word of God! Because of this, we do not go tar and feather everyone we don’t agree with. And most of that subject matter, while important, is not life threatening…such as what heaven will be like. It’s more important that we know how to GET there, no matter what it will actually be. We all have enough light to be able to comprehend that it’s the place we want to be!

However, there are some, Paul speaks of, who are clearly saying things CONTARY to the Word of God that causes men to be “shipwrecked” from the faith. This is life and death stuff. Their tar and feathering comes by way of turning them over to Satan!

“Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these [faith and a good conscience] and so have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.” I Timothy 1:18-20 (NIV)

Hope this gives a better understanding of what Jesus saw was happening to the people because of the scribes, and why He railed at them as much as He did. Just remember that the scribes (Pharisees, Rabbis, and such) were always with Him. He managed to make sure they stayed close. He did many things that irritated them so greatly (since it went against their traditions, their thinking) that they kept close trying to find enough cause to “convict” Him. That might appear to be their doing, but my “commentary” on that is that it might have been that He was orchestrating that more than they, giving them every opportunity to repent, which is why He spoke so often directly to them...for He loved even the scribes.

And all of that is why this study is taking us into the area of what the scribes believed to be truth; to understand how they arrived at it and why the people followed them, instead of the Word of God. All of which we are just as capable of doing today, if we do not “prove all things”.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at a fascinating example of some of the Jewish traditions that Jesus broke, while at the same time, of course, being perfectly obedient to God.