For they [false teachers] mouth empty, boastful words …
Summary: People do not like to appear stupid. To avoid this, rather than admit that we do not know, we sometimes make up answers. Guesses that move us closer to the truth can be helpful. People who present their guesses as truth are not being helpful.
In this passage, Peter points to two more clues that help us recognize a false teacher. Their words are “empty” and “boastful.” (The King James version translates this phrase as “great swelling words of vanity.”)
What does this mean?
I recently heard a story about a teacher who wanted to explain this passage of Scripture:
“Another disciple said to him, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus told him, ‘Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’” (Matthew 8: 21-22)
He began by saying that the disciple in the story was really asking to wait until he came into his inheritance before he followed Jesus. The teacher explained that the “father” in the story was not even dead yet. He felt this made Jesus’ answer seem more reasonable because he thought Jesus was chastising the man about putting money ahead of being a disciple.
In telling this story, the so-called “teacher” does three things:
1. He casts doubt on the text. (It does not mean what it says.)
2. He adds information that is not in the text. (What it meant to say was…)
3. He makes himself appear important by being the source of additional information that “explains” the Bible’s words. (I have special knowledge…)
Do you find it helpful when someone adds to the Bible? Where do you put your confidence if the interpretation relies on someone else? What happens to your confidence in your ability to understand the Bible?
For me, when I hear someone adding to Scripture this way, I feel like they are saying that the Bible is incomplete. It feels like I am being told that (A) I am not smart enough to understand the Bible on my own, and (B) I need special knowledge that only comes from the teacher.
In a very subtle way, such teachings are boastful. They make the teacher seem more important than the biblical text. But is the teacher right? Is this “special knowledge” needed to understand the text?
In Genesis 2 and 3, we read the story of Adam and Eve eating from the forbidden tree. We see God and the serpent both talking about death. God says that Adam and Eve will die if they eat from the tree (Genesis 2: 16-17), but the serpent claims they will not die (Genesis 3: 4). We see that after eating from the tree they are still alive physically, but their relationship with God is dead.
In John 3, we find Jesus talking with Nicodemus. He is explaining that people need to be “born again” (John 3:3). In verse 5, Jesus explains that we need to be born of the Spirit. The implication is that people who are not born of the Spirit are still dead.
If we remember these two passages, what Jesus says in Matthew 8: 21-22 makes perfect sense. “Let the dead bury their own dead” sounds like we should leave the spiritually dead to attend to the physically dead and instead focus on what is eternally important.
When we look at the Bible this way, God’s Word explains God’s Word. The authority for understanding the text rests completely with God, not man. We can be confident that we can understand God’s Word without depending on someone’s “special knowledge.”
So what do you think? Is it helpful to explain things we do not understand by making up stories to fill in the gaps? Is it boastful to claim that your answer is right when it adds confusion instead of clarity?
Application: Trust God’s Word. God knows what he is doing.
Food for Thought: If we do not understand something in the Bible, what should we do?
Note – Minor edits were made for clarity after initial publication. – JE
Ask God for the wisdom,..prayer would probably be first and foremost,..
Be honest and humbly admit that I am not sure of the text at hand,..
Know that God will explain things to me through His Word,..
That’s about all I got,..keep smiling and have a great day!
Thank you, John!
Good to hear from you. I’ve missed you!
This is a very good lesson today and the example you gave from Matthew 8: 21-22 is really going to stick in my mind. It reminds me a lot of military service, where regulation abound, but few actually take the time to read them. People would misquote, misconstrue, or add to them and it gets folks in trouble. I found it best to always go to the source myself and ask others for their references. If I didn’t know where to look, there were always subject matter experts that could point me in the right direction of the reference. So I think that is a good rule of thumb if I do not understand something in the Bible. Definitely I should pray. I also have a concordance in my Bible and there are reference materials that point me to scripture on specific subjects. I can also ask a “SME” for help, but keeping in mind today’s point; the foundation should be in scripture, and not conjecture or a “educated guess.”
Good morning, Chris.
Thank you! Excellent comment. I like the illustration of the military rules. In my experience with civilian government rules and regulations, finding answers can be an overwhelming challenge. Bureaucrats have arcane ways of describing things and numbering rule sections. Sorting through that stuff can be mind-bending! Yet, once mastered, the rules and regs become a foundation for building on and a bulwark of defense against misunderstandings.
PS —
I am guessing that “SME” is a “subject matter expert.” Am I correct?
lol, you you got it! 🙂
First thing that came to mind was prayer like everyone else who knows to pray in everything. Then seek like those above.
Thank you, Mr. T!
Prayer is very important. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we have to figure this out on our own. James 1:5 comes to mind:
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.“
Jeff,
I’ve heard the same teaching on the Matthew passage. I suppose I always understood that situation to be something commonly found when studying historically, and a possiblity for why Jesus said what He said. I’ve never really studied history outside of scripture, so I can’t say for sure that was simply my understanding of this teaching.
But I also suppose that this brings another question. If a historical context seems to say something completely different than what scripture literally says, what do you do?
Assuming the best intentions of our teachers in regards to Matthew 8:21-22
Jesus is either saying don’t wait to follow until you have your earthly inheritance. Which seems to go well with other pages concerning money, but not with the literal text at hand.
Or Jesus is saying that the Spiritually alive should not wait to follow until after the dead are buried. Which seems odd, but still accounts for the literal text. Does God ever say anything like this elsewhere in scripture?
I personally don’t feel comfortable with either interpretation. I know Jesus’ teaching isn’t about comfort, but I don’t think I’m ready to say “Jesus taught ____ in Matthew 8:21” with any confidence.
I guess I’m with John and Chris. Pray, admit I don’t get this one, keep checking this against other passages in the Bible. It’s also wise not to base our understanding on one odd passage, God usually repeats ideas. (Like Jeff’s example of the two definitions of death)
A –
Thank you! I appreciate the way that you have approached today’s question. So what do we do with historical context?
I am glad to share my thoughts on this with the caveat that they are just my thoughts. Okay? 🙂
The problem with historical context is that history is almost always second-hand information. There is no living person you can go to (outside of going to God in prayer) that actually knows what happened more than a lifetime ago. That limits our living knowledge to about a hundred years.
Beyond living knowledge, we have to rely on written documents. Take the example of our country’s Constitution and Declaration of Independence. How many people in our country agree on what the words mean at this point? Our country is barely 250 years old, and people are already arguing about what our founding fathers meant when they wrote this letter or that document.
As we move further back in history, the potential for disagreement or misunderstanding increases exponentially. We can dig up evidence of this or that, but as to what it means or how it was used, we have to guess. I use the word “guess” literally, because we cannot know.
I grant that there are different types of guesses. There are educated guesses and wild guesses. When it comes to historical artifacts, I have seen both types applied.
Now, when it comes to historical artifacts, the Bible is a bit different for a couple of reasons.
First and foremost, the Bible is God’s message to us. If we believe in God and believe the Bible is God’s Word, then the Bible takes on a unique status. It no longer is a historical artifact, it is a real-time message from God.
Second, the Bible is tied to two specific groups of people. The OT is the history of the Jewish people. They still exist, and as such, they provide a continuous living link to the history represented in the Bible. When it comes to understanding the OT, the Jews are a wonderful resource for information.
The second group are the Christ-followers. Christians, as a group, are less cohesive than the Jews, but still have a common bond in the New Testament. This leads us to the third point.
Third, the Bible is undoubtedly the most studied document on the planet. The two faith groups associated with the Bible provide unprecedented fact-checking and verification of the texts.
These three reasons are why I think the Bible is a unique document.
So how do we put this all together?
It is my personal view that understanding the Bible requires submitting to the Bible as a book that is exactly what God wants it to be. This means that when we come to Scripture, we approach it not from a human perspective, but as a child. We come to learn from God.
The alternative is to approach it as an adult, and in my experience adults feel the need to explain things. The problem here is that our knowledge is limited in two ways.
First, we are limited historically, as discussed above. What we “know” is very limited. What we can guess is unlimited, but beyond our life experience is only a guess.
Second, we are limited spiritually. We are tiny tiny bugs on a big planet in an infinitely large universe. Our perspective is always going to be limited to a bug’s tiny perspective. What we know of the spiritual realm is extremely limited. (This is a whole discussion in itself…)
Given that we are limited in so many ways, it seems unlikely that we can, on our own, confidently assert that “this means that” or “that means this.”
All of this leads to one more point and then I will wrap this up.
If we, as humans, assert that one of our guesses is a “fact,” then we have slipped a straw brick into the foundation of our thinking. Having used one straw brick, the temptation is to build on that foundation with another assertion. This, too, is another straw brick. Soon, we have an edifice of straw, and the people who built it are running around pointing to it as if it were something solid. (This reminds me a bit of God’s rant against false prophets in Ezekiel 13)
For my part, I am very suspicious of human teachings that are not grounded in the Bible’s own internal logic. I grant you that the Bible’s logic is counter-intuitive. God’s view is not man’s view. (1 Corinthians 2:11, Hebrews 4:12)
The fact that we have so many Christian denominations testifies against us. Divisions are based on arguments built on straw bricks. Digging down to the solid rock of Jesus requires getting rid of the straw. That is extremely hard to do.
At the end of the day, I am with you. To paraphrase the old hymn, “Trust and Obey,” Read and pray, there is no other way.
This question is very important. I have also heard of teachers tell a person who was the primary care taker for their aging parent tell them to stop and let the dead bury their dead. Forsake your needy aging parent and let the dead bury the dead. Is that what Jesus meant.? That may be the result of letting the spiritually dead bury the dead.
I also believe context, including historical context, is important for a myriad of reasons.
So I guess I am on the opposing side of this chain today.
But that is ok. I will pray about it.
And I love you all.
Much peace to everyone.
Rich,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts here today. It doesn’t matter which end of the chain you are on, I know your heart and it is always in the right place! 🙂
You have presented another take on the Matthew passage that is interesting. It sounds like someone has argued that this means they don’t have to take care of an aging parent. Hmmm… As an “aging parent” myself, I have some skin in the game on this one.
Also, as to context, I hope that I am not perceived as arguing against it. Context is important. The points I have made today are all grounded in the assumption that God’s Word is the primary context for God’s Word. Historical context has value, but any value that it offers is conditional. There are too many unknowns to use historical context as the primary lens for examining the Bible.
So, as an “aging parent” who agrees with you that context is important, I wonder what the context of the thinking is for arguing Jesus wants us to abandon our parents.
In my mind, the primary context for the entire Bible is Matthew 22:37-40; love God above all else and your neighbor as yourself. At the very least, a parent falls into the category of a neighbor, and at the best, a parent is part of yourself. So there is no valid argument to abandon, or not love them.
Your example reminds me of what Jesus said about the Pharisees:
“Jesus replied, ‘And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, “Honor your father and mother” and “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.” But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is “devoted to God,” they are not to “honor their father or mother” with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.’” (Matthew 15: 3-6)
I hope I have understood your point properly and that my response here makes sense. If not, please feel free to straighten me out! As far as I am concerned it sounds like we are both arguing for the same thing. 🙂
Thanks brother. Just to be clear, I was not suggesting that you were making that point. And I agree with everything you have here in response.
I simply think that we probably use historical context more often than we realize. For example, this Sunday in my message we have Jesus walking along the border of Galilee and Samaria. Galille is a region that was Jewish and Samaria was Samaritan. How do we know this? How do we know what the boundaries were? How do we know about the hatred between Jew and Samaritan? Some is in the bible – Ezra/Nehemiah give the background where the hatred started. John 4: 9 tells us that Jews do not associate with Samraitans. But much of what we know (also true with Luke’s missionary journey’s) is from archeaology and historical narrative.
Similarly, just yesterday I was reading from Titus. Paul quotes from an extra biblical source saying “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, and lazy gluttons.” We are pretty sure from history that this was the Cretan poet Epimenides. Is it ok to mention that this is likely the poet and what we can learn from that – or is it not trustworthy because it is not Scripture? Jude quoted from an extra biblical source that we can identify from history. So did the writer of Kings and Chronicles. The point being that historical context can help us. I absolutely agree that we need to be careful and that we cannot say anything with the certainty that Scripture gives us. But it can help us in certain situations to understand the historical, cultural backdrop. We certainly gain much from history in understanding the story of the woman at the well in John 4.
In fact, I was looking at we know from history on how far a leper had to be from a healthy person. Leviticus does not tell us, but there are rabbinnical sources that are consistent is saying it would be the equivalent of about 50 yards. We acnnt say that as Scripture, but it does maybe shed light on further understanding.
I think historical context is important, is not to be treated as Scripture, and must be taken with a modicum of salt – I used salt just for you 🙂
But yes, I agree with your general sentiments and am just wanting to give a shout out to the historical context. It is not a criticism – just a rant.
Thanks for putting up with me.
Thank you, Rich.
I agree that our knowledge of the Bible should be salted with the background of historical knowledge. It does help and I often use it myself.
I have appreciated this thread today because it has opened my eyes to some aspects of God’s Word that I had not seen before. There is an internal logic that is very consistent and very alien to our natural flesh. I think knowing this will help me with my own understanding of our Lord and his Word.
Lot of work there Jeff, Good Job!
11-19-2021, 2 Peter 2:18, If we do not understand something in the Bible, what should we do?
Set it up on your “truths to be revealed later “ shelf and one day you will take it down.
As a new believer with zero knowledge of the Bible I entered into an intensive daily study and given very basic instructions.
1.) Read before and after the passage in question to better understand the content or setting and secondly, ask yourself, is my understanding consistent with the teachings of the Bible. Lastly, never add to or take away from what is written in Bible.
2.) Study knowing the Bible is the inspired Word of God, written by men as He instructed.
His truths will be revealed, by the Holy Spirit according in His priorities for each of us, in the order preordained by God. We are fed and prepared what we need to know to be effective in the mission God has predestined for each of us.
Know the Bible is FOOD FOR OUR SPIRITS and foolishness to our flesh. His wisdom must be applied properly.
1 Corinthians 1:27, But God has selected the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has selected the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong.
Truths of the Bible can appear to be contradictions:
Matthew 12:46-50, Who is my Mother and who are my brothers, IS JESUS DENYING HIS FAMILY?
Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters–yes, even his own life–he cannot be My disciple.
Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it.
Luke 22:36, Let him who has no sword buy one.
Matthew 5:39, But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other toward him also.
Ron,
Thank you for the encouragement. I appreciate the “Two Rules” you were given about staying focused on God’s Word.
Your list of “apparent contradictions” is interesting. I just finished reading the book “Believing is Seeing” by Michael Guillen, PhD. In it he notes that one thing that makes the Bible believable for him is that its ability to hold apparent contradictions together and have them both be true mirrors what we see in science. It is a good read if you are interested.
Good read lead, thank you!
Don’t believe they are contradictions myself, but in reality they are a small sample of many Paradoxes found in the Bible. Kind of like that multicolored cube we used to see so many young people solving in seconds while older guys like me would simply pass on.
They do both express 2 views of the same truth, the Holy Spirit will open as necessary.
Okay. I stand corrected: Paradoxes.
(What do you call two doctors walking down the street?)
🙂
:-), :-), 🙂
Wow. It’s nice to see Christians “argue” like Christians. In the end nobody really won except Jesus, but nobody losses. Great job getting them started A. All great comments. In all things pray and love covers a multitude of sins.