IGNORANCE

IGNORANCE

“And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” 2 Pet. 3:15-16

Peter begins to discuss why we need gifted teachers, comparing scripture with scripture to see what it really means, a life-long joyous experience to search the scriptures daily. Peter here acknowledges Paul's stance he took in Gal. 2:11-14 to not deviate from doctrinal truth in the face of those which Peter gave into. Peter here gives special reference to the writings of Paul, he says, "in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction" (2 Pet. 3:15-16). Instead of "unlearned," Weymouth has "ill-taught," and the American Standard Version has "ignorant." Evidently this particular ignorance is somehow connected with teaching, or the lack of it. And it is a fact that large and important areas of the Word of God are comparatively unknown to many people because they are either given no place in the pulpit or wrongly taught. As a result, other parts of Scripture are wrested or "tortured" to the destruction of men's souls.

                But ignorance may also be something deliberate, a path upon which men set their feet with willful intent. Peter describes certain scoffers of the last days as men who "willingly are ignorant" of things they should have known. And it is a matter of significant interest that the object of this deliberate ignorance is eschatological in nature, having to do with the question of the promise of the Lord's second coming (cf. 2 Pet. 3:1-5). Furthermore, the revelation to which these "scoffers" deliberately shut their eyes is found for the most part in the Old Testament (2 Pet. 3:5, 6, 10). The remedy for such ignorance, of course, is to receive and read the whole Word of God with an open mind under the guidance of the Spirit of God.

For a Christian, the written Word of God, correctly interpreted, must be the starting point for arriving at valid conclusions in every significant realm of meaning. If the God-honored and time-honored method of grammatical-historical ("normal") interpretation of the Bible is valid, then biblical statements of history and doctrine cannot be twisted at the whim of the interpreter. Even during the apostolic era this practice was all too prevalent, and was denounced by the apostle Peter in powerful terms: "our beloved brother Paul "... wrote to you ... in all his letters.. . in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:15-16). It should be especially noted that Peter considered such distorting of Scripture as leading "to their own destruction!' This is especially true of Genesis, the foundational book of the Bible, including its oft-twisted first eleven chapters. The careful student of God's Word knows full well that he must stand before the judgment throne of Christ to be judged for the way he has handled Scripture (Rom. 14:10, 12; 1 Cor. 3:10-15; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 22:18-19). A Christian may be excused for his ignorance of the details of astrophysics, geology, microbiology, or genetics-for in this age of specialization, no one can know everything about his own field, to say nothing of all other significant branches of science. But he will not be excused for his willful ignorance of God's revealed Word:

And he [Jesus] answered and said, "Have you not read. ..?" (Matt. 19:4). And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read ...?” (Matt. 21:16).

There is, in fact, simply no way for the human mind to grasp the power of God: "'To whom then will you liken Me that I should be his equal?' says the Holy One.... "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa. 40:25; 55:9).

This enormously significant truth concerning God is seriously compromised if not destroyed when passages are made more "reasonable" and "scientifically credible," and thus accommodated to man's finite, naturalistic level of thinking. To twist the Scripture is to distort God's message to us. What the apostle Peter said concerning Paul's letters is surely applicable to the opening chapters of the Bible, ". . . in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:16). You cannot distort and twist a mere man's book to destruction, this is the only book God ever wrote, the Bible, and if you twist this Book, deny this Book, eternal destruction is your destiny. How we handle God's eternal Word is desperately important business.

                These uniformatarian scientists have not denied God, but they have denied God's Word is dependable guideline to world history, to science, and to prophecy. And that they have set themselves up as their own authorities on how and to what extent the Bible must be understood. Therefore the things that you cannot see are denied by these men. For instance, the creation of the world, Adam and Eve, their fall and descend with the resulting curse, the great flood of Noah's day, Noah's Ark, the judgment at Babel, the supernatural events that occurred in the ministry of Christ and His apostles as well as the birth of the Church at Pentecost, and as you see here the complex events which shall accompany the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ to this world. Angelic beings of today are also denied, invisible to the eye of man, never seen by any telescope and therefore denied, as well as the Triune blessed God of the scriptures. To impericism nothing is really real unless you can see, hear, taste, smell, and touch with the 5 senses. You need to be able to analyze it with a laboratory situation to determine its authenticity so they twist and abandon scripture.