Here I start this third article under the above title “Who is responsible,” for you knowing the word of God? Just here, I will quote the words of Dave Miller found in “Reason and Revelation,” (August, 2020 – Vol. 40 – No. 8); he wrote: “He (God, frw) has made available to mankind, and He expects every person to use mental faculties and cognitive powers to understand that truth, (The word of God, frw). It is clear, that God gave his words to mankind and he expects us to study, to learn, and to know it!
God has made both the Old Testament and the New Testament very clear, and that the responsibility for knowing his word rests upon us! In the Old Testament, Isaiah wrote: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isa. 1:18). The Hebrew word here for “let us reason together,” is most interesting. It is the Hebrew: “yakach” and means: “reciprocally to argue; causatively to decide” (Strong). The word “reciprocally” refers to God and man; as this is seen by Isaiah’s use of the pronoun “us,” as in God and man are to come together in the word of God. If it were the word of man, it would be no higher than man! However, Paul made it clear, that God reasons with man in the “scripture,” as Paul to Timothy: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). Here let us notice one word, the word “profitable,” which is the Greek, “ophelimos,” and means: “serviceable, that is, advantageous” (Strong). The word of God, the “scripture,” is to our “advantage,” to our being pleasing and acceptable; but only if we know it and do it! Paul followed with: “That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (verse 17). The word “that” is of interest here, but so often we just read over it. It is the Greek, “hina,” and has this meaning: “in order that (denoting the purpose or the result)” (Strong). So, what is the “purpose” that God gave to humankind, the “scripture? It was so that man, has the ability to be “perfect” which is the Greek, “artios” and means: “complete;” “complete” to the point, that man is “throughly furnished;” which means: “figuratively to equip fully” (the Greek, “exartizo”), (Strong). The word of God is the only, as in it stands alone among books, with the ability to make man “complete!” But,, it does not help us, any of us, or all of us together, if we do not search it; as Paul wrote; “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (Tim. 2:15). Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote what is required of man, all of us, “approved unto God” and “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.” Do you desire to be such a person, as to be “approved unto God and a workman that has no reason to be “ashamed” while standing before God?
Here once more I quote the words of Dave Miller: “We must use our God-given rationality to think clearly, accurately, and logically in our treatment of Scripture, as well as in sorting out the daily affairs of life.” (Reason and Revelation). Are you still ready to put the responsibility on someone else? No, God will not allow such! Here you stand alone, it is your responsibility, and you are not allowed to shift it to anyone else! Even if everyone one else has failed you; in that they could not answer your questions! Do you remember the words of Moses: “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut. 29:29)? As you try to reach an answer for “this and that,” you are not allowed to dwell in the “secret things” that “belong unto the LORD!” No, your responsibility belongs in “those things which are revealed, as they “belong unto us!”
Being lazy, until willing to search what God has revealed, will not stand on the day of judgment! No, we will not be able to plead that our parents did not teach us; neither will we be able to point the finger at our teachers and their failure to teach us how to logically reason; finally, God will not look at us through the failures of our professor and say, “Well, they could not answer my questions!” Why did you not study until you found for yourself, the answers to your own question?
Here I will conclude this three part series with the words of Dave Miller once more: “Sadly, many people dwell on matters that cannot be fully known, while they neglect those things for which they will be held responsible in eternity.”
My friends, it will be you, that stands before God; as Paul wrote: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10).
Frank R. Williams