Suppression of The Truth
Suppression of The Truth
© 2010 www.RevEarlJackson.com
Rom 1:18-19 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. (ESV)
1. The problem of the Christian Atheists.
There is no question that in the context of these verses Paul is pointing out some characteristics of unbelievers. He says that it is the unrighteousness of men which suppresses the truth. This statement has applications to unbelievers directly, and to believers as well. If a believer is suppressing the truth, it is because of unrighteousness within him, the same as it is in overt unbelievers. There is plenty of evidence to show that when believers fail to promote the truth, or suppress it, they are acting just like the unrighteous unbeliever. Rejection of the truth, suppression of the truth, and failure to embrace the truth are all sins of unrighteousness and unbelief. There is a sense in which some believers express unbelief by their failure to embrace the truth. I guess they are Christian atheists. But God puts them together with those he calls “reprobate”. They claim to love God but in fact they deny Him by their unholy rebellion and stubborn refusal to bow before all that He says. “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Tit. 1:16). These people are certainly within the pale of professing Christianity. They are part of the visible church. Most of them are baptized members of some church. They profess Christ, but the fact is, that their doctrines and their viewpoints are influenced by unbelief and unrighteousness, and not by truth. We have allowed them within our churches, based upon the fact that “they profess that they know God” . But the reality is that they don’t know Him at all. So let’s call them “Christian Atheists”, “Christian Reprobates“, or “the Christian Lost”.
The Christian Atheists are a problem, because their atheism is more evident than their Christianity, and they are among us, influencing our churches, teaching in our seminaries, and preaching in our pulpits. True believers express no doubt, disrespect or blasphemy towards God. They maintain the highest attitudes of worshipful adoration for the Lord. They Love Him more than anything or anyone else (Matt. 10:37-38). But these people do not share the same viewpoints, and that is because they are still unbelievers. They are more atheist than Christian. God calls them "wolves in sheep's clothing" (Matt. 7:15).
It is imperative on God’s true people, that we recognize these people, point out the truth to them, urge them to repent and quit suppressing God’s truth, and to single them out for excommunication if they do not repent. Church discipline has been much neglected in our day, because it is unpopular, and we naturally recoil against it, because unpleasant. Not only that it doesn't seem to feed our never ending quest for church growth. But it is high time we get these scoundrels out of our churches. They disgrace the Lord by their unbelief, their false doctrines, and their evangelistic attempts to suppress the truth, “who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth”.
2. The Foundation Standeth Sure
2Ti 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
This verse is in the context of a discussion about “Hymenaeus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred” . Not only were they false teachers, but it says, that they “overthrew the faith of some” (2Tim. 2:18). Even though their particular heresy consisted of false teachings about the resurrection, their examples apply to any form of Christian Atheism. Against this backdrop we are reminded that there is a foundation of God which stands sure, or certain, against all false doctrines and false Christians, and against all suppression of truth.
It is “the foundation of God”. And this is exactly where the problem begins. Because these people are really not Christians, their thinking about God is wrong. He is not the foundation for them. Instead of standing on the true foundation, they have preconceived ideas about what God is, what He can do, and what He does. Everything is conditioned by mans free will, free choice, and religious humanism. These views are all false.
Man’s thoughts about God, are never the basis for truth. The basis for truth is God Himself, and what He says is true. Any disputations with God on any of these matters is simply human viewpoint, which is unbelief. Man is not capable of belief, unless born again. If he is an unbeliever, his viewpoint is all unbelief, even when he is in church. So that when he comes into church, gets baptized and wears his Christian suit of clothes, he is still incapable of expressing belief in the truth. Whatever he believes, is shaded by his atheism. It is not just a case of a doubting Thomas, here, who had a temporary lapse of faith, or a momentary backsliding, but this man has never slidden forward, has never had a moment when he left atheism and embraced truth in Christ. He has never truly believed, because if he had, he would know the truth (Jn. 8:32), love the truth (2Thess. 2:10; Jn. 3:19-21), obey the truth (Rom. 2:8; 1Pet. 1:22), speak and teach the truth (1Tim. 2:7), and judge according to truth (Zech. 8:16; Amos 5:15; Jn. 7:24).
These foundation truth concepts involve at least four things:
1) Recognition that God is truth, and that He defines truth and speaks truth.
2) Recognition that what God has revealed is clear, understandable, substantial and undeniably true.
3) Recognition that the truth is always true, regardless of any human response or understanding of it.
4) Worshipful respect for God and His truth. This involves submission not suppression.
3. The Tools For Suppressing the Truth
The things that I am going to point out here are by no means all of the tools that the Christian Atheist’s use to suppress the truth, trying to justify their unbelief and putting it in Christian clothes, making it acceptable and pious sounding. Please listen carefully, to what people are saying when they reject the truth, or try to cover up what they consider to be objectionable ideas within the truth. These are not just straw men, that I have invented. I have encountered every one of these, repeatedly, in over thirty five years of ministry. I’m calling them cop-outs, because they are simply the inventions of evil minds to disbelieve, rather than bow to the truth.
A. The “God hasn’t shown that to me” cop-out.
I’m putting this one first, because it is based upon an element of truth. The other cop-outs have little truth whatsoever in them. There is a sense in which God has revealed his truth progressively. A person in the Old Testament could legitimately use this argument, because as a point of actual fact, a lot of the New Testament truths had not yet been revealed.
There is another aspect of it recorded in Isaiah. “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isa. 28:9-10) . This is the aspect of the truth which this cop-out is based upon. The idea is that truth (doctrinal understanding) is revealed little by little. We all start out as doctrinal babes, but as God shows us, we learn, grow and develop into doctrinal maturity. This is a wonderful concept, which shows God’s leading and care for his children. He nurtures, weans and develops every one of us who are true believers. But this is the exact point of the heinousness of this cop-out. The person who says this is saying just the opposite of what God says. God say’s that he shows His truth to His children, they see it, grow and develop according to it’s nurture. The Christian Atheist, perverts this, and denies the truth by using his perversion. When you show him something about the truth, where he is inconsistent, unbelieving or teaching something false, he curls up and says: “God hasn’t shown that to me yet” and the necessary conclusion always follows…“so I’m not going to believe it”. The last part is the part that is not usually spoken, but it is the part that shows the unbelief, rebelliousness, and disrespect for God. Even if it is not spoken, it is always intended.
First of all, this is a denial of the fact that God has shown Him it. If it is in the Bible, then God has shown it to him. He may have never read it. He may have skimmed over it, not paying attention to it. He may have felt that it was unimportant. He may have been thinking about something else when he read it. He may have elected to disbelieve it. But none of this is God’s fault. Instead of saying “God has not shown that to me yet”. The proper response is to say, “I never noticed that before, I’ll pray about it, and try to integrate it into my belief system, if that means re-arranging my thoughts about this, then that's what I'll have to do, because I certainly don’t want to disrespect God or His word”. That is vastly different then putting on a disrespectful and arrogant cap and saying: “God has not personally revealed it to me, He has not personally taught me about this, so I’m not going to believe it”!
I recently heard Joyce Meyer (an unauthorized woman preacher), preaching about how we should all believe and obey the word of God. I was actually amazed that she would have the audacity to say that Christians are supposed to believe and obey the word, when she obviously does not do it herself. I asked myself “has she never read the Bible? How can she teach people that they need to believe and obey the word of God in the light of these verses?”
1Ti 2:12-14 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
1Co 14:34-35 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
1Ti 3:1-2 This is a true saying, If a man (not a woman) desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife ( the twice married Meyer's cannot qualify as a husband).
How can Joyce Meyer’s read these verses and yet claim to be called to preach the Bible? It is impossible for God to call a woman to be a preacher according to these verses. She must be saying something like: “God has not showed that to me, therefore I don’t believe it”. Or perhaps she is saying: “That doesn’t apply to me, because I’m a para-church ministry, and not a church ministry” (well her website say's she is a church, and has tax exempt status as a church). What she should be saying is: “God’s words include commandments to “Let your women keep silence”, and “I suffer not a woman to teach” ,and since His word says that, He has shown it to me, and He knows what He’s talking about, so now I’m going to humble myself and obey what he says, quit running my personal business of apostate preaching, quit pretending that God has called me to the ministry, pray about what He clearly says, and start submitting to the truth, and showing other women preachers how they need to do the same thing, and give up their phony ministries as well, and start living godly and holy lives as becometh "women of godliness”. That's what she needs to say if she believes what she preaches, that Christians should believe and obey the Bible. You’ll never see that happen of course, because pride is a powerful snare, disobedience is a gluttonous monster, and the devil is an unrelenting taskmaster. And it is always pride that rejects the truth. It is always pride that comes up with a different, improved version of the truth, rather than submitting to the simple and plain realities that God has revealed. It is always pride that says “God hasn’t shown that to me”.
B. The “That’s Not Really Important” cop-out.
Perhaps Joyce Meyer and the other apostate women’s lib preachers like her, are saying this instead of the first cop-out above. They reason “I’ll ignore all these verses because they are really not all that important in the grand scheme of things. There’s a lot more important things, than whether or not women can be ordained to the ministry, things like getting the lost saved, preaching the Love of Christ, taking care of social injustices, teaching the main tenants of the faith, feeding the hungry, taking care of orphans etc This sound so nice and pious, “Look at me, I’m concerned about the really important stuff, while these other nincompoops over here are dilly dallying around with stuff that doesn’t really matter”. But it is a horrendous cop-out of unbelief, rebelliousness, disrespect for the word of God, and it is a slap in God’s own face.
When anyone speaks like this, He or she is saying that God is an idiot. God included a bunch of stuff in His Bible which is not really important after all. God does not know what He’s talking about. If He knew what He was doing, He would have included only the things that are really important to the way that we define “important things” to be. How disrespectful and blasphemous this viewpoint is. They make it sound so, noble and pious, and it is a shear expression of unbelief. If they believed in God, they would know that He is always and only perfect in His wisdom and knowledge of all things. He is absolutely coherent in all of His speech to mankind. If He included it in His Revelation, then it is certainly something that He meant to reveal, and as such, it is fully important, just like everything else he reveals. God is not an incoherent babbling idiot, who wrote stuff that doesn’t matter. This is nothing more than blasphemy. This cop-out will never be heard on the lips of a true believer. OF COURSE IT’S IMPORTANT…GOD SAID IT!
C. The “Various Levels of Truth” cop-out.
This is closely linked to the second cop-out. It is commonly referred to as Graded Absolutism. God has different grades of truth….something like the way we grade maple syrup, or other commodities which come in various qualities…grade A, B, C, and D. When someone says in point B (above), that "this truth is not as important as that truth", he is indicating his belief in this notion that not all truth is equal in quality, or in demands that it has on us. God has A grade and B grade truths, and the A grade take top priority, and has demand over the inferior truths. He chooses to respect the A grade truth and this makes him free to reject the D grade truths. This is nothing but a tool to self-justifying unbelief.
Graded absolutism is usually in play when people say things like “Committing murder is far worse than stealing or lying”. Or, “It’s more important to believe in the doctrine of the atonement, then to believe in predestination”. Or, “A Holy God could never create sin” (This is simply saying “the doctrine of holiness is more important than the doctrine of sovereignty in God). Or, “A loving God would never throw any of his creatures into hell (Saying that love is more important than righteousness in God).
The word of God, is not a dozen of eggs! There is no Grade A and Grade B truths. All truth is one truth. There are no things that are more important than other things. They are all equally important, because they came from the perfect source of God, and he did not give us less than perfect truth. All the commands are equally important, all the promises, all the prophecies, all the doctrines, histories, teachings etc. Don’t let anyone pervert your mind here.
There is a false saying plastered over the doors to churches everywhere, and on websites, and pulpits all across our land. It supposedly goes back to Augustine, but it is wrong none the less. Perhaps you’ve seen or heard it. “ In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” Think about this false message, sounding ever so pious, but which is totally disrespectful to God. It is categorically stating that there are essential truths, and there are non-essential truths, but the only thing that is really important is Love. None of these statements are the least bit true. They make a mockery of truth. Love is not the only important thing. Truth and Love are joined at the hip (2Jn. 1:3). There is no love without truth (1Jn. 3:18; 2Jn. 1:1). There are no truths which are “non-essential”. If there were, then it would have to be spelled out “this is more important than that”. There would have to be lists somewhere, or people somewhere who were appointed by God as God’s weights and measures department, who’s function would be to point out which truths are essential and which ones are non-essential. Actually the Catholics have taken up this idea literally, and have a college of cardinals and a Pope to tell them what to think. If you believe this saying of Augustine, then you should belong to the Catholic church and let the Pope decipher the graded absolutes for you, and tell you what are essentials and what are non-essentials. But this is certainly not Christian doctrine. It is not correct thinking, nor is it glorifying to God in the least. To say something that God has given to us is non-essential is simply to slap Him in the face. It’s blasphemy. It’s unbelief. But it is not Christianity. This slogan needs to be banished from all Christian institutions, it is repulsive, misleading blasphemy that cheapens God and His Amazing Truth. Be gone!
God has given no inferior truths. God has given no non-essential doctrines. Some truths are not better than others. They are all the same, and they all deserve the same respect, because they all came from the same Infinite, All-knowing and Wise source. False and unnecessary distinctions between truths, are creations of the unbelieving minds of men, and are not from God or the Holy Spirit who authored the Bible. All truths are one, and they coalesce like the many facets of one great diamond…which we call “the Word of God”. This is why the Bible is called by that name. It is “The word of God” because it is one word, one truth, a singular revelation of the mind of God to man. Get the idea of levels of truth, grades of doctrines, and different distinctions of importance out of your head, or you will never understand the Bible and honor God in your belief system.
D. The “Finite Brain” cop-out.
This is one that we hear over and over again, and it is quite simple. “Nobody can understand that, because we all have finite brains.” This statement, is an excuse unbelievers use for rejecting truths that they simply don’t want to believe, and it is a simple attempt to self-justify unbelief in the heart.
It is true that men are finite creatures, and have finite brains. But God knows mans mental capacities better than any finite human, and if He considered the truth important enough to put it in the Bible, which is his full-disclosure to finite brains, then this excuse is just a cop-out. God did not write concepts in the Bible that finite brains cannot comprehend. God is not, nor has He ever been an incoherent idiot. He knew who he was writing to, and He knew how to speak to a fallen and finite world. He knew the limitations of every brain in the world, and he knew how to speak so as to be understood. Give Him at least some credit here. God is not retarded. Do you think that God is stupid? He made your brain. He ought to know what it is capable of receiving. It is you who are stupid, and who are trying to run away from the truth, claiming that you are incapable of receiving it. That is a great insult to God, and a paltry excuse for disbelieving.
This is also a false humility. "Look at us Christians, we have paltry little pea brains, and we cannot possibly comprehend what God has said to us. God must be a moron Himself since He has tried unsuccessfully to speak to us morons. He might as well have been speaking into the void, because no finite brains can possible receive it. And if I cannot receive it, because I am a moron, then you cannot possibly receive it, because you are a moron too." Doesn’t this make Christianity appear desirable to the world?…a bunch of morons running around calling one another morons, and pointing out how God himself is a moron also! That really makes Christianity look good, doesn’t it? This false humility is nothing more than blasphemy and prideful suppression of the truth. If these people were truly humble, they would shut up and learn the truth. They would fall on their knees in repentance and quit degrading God.
E. The “Mysteries and Secret Things” cop-out.
This is similar to the “finite brain” cop-out, but in that the unbeliever is justifying his rejection of the truth based on the size of his brain, here he is basing it on the nature of the truth itself. If there is something he chooses to disbelieve or suppress, he simple lumps it into the broad category of “Mystery”. What the Bible clearly tells us is not mystery, but revelation. But these people have chosen to disbelieve the revelation calling it a mystery. They have a personalized definition, that a “Mystery is anything cloaked or hidden so that man cannot understand it.”
Not only is this not the Biblical definition of a mystery, it is not even a concept that is taught anywhere in the Bible. Supposedly this is based on a verse in Deuteronomy.
Deu 29:29 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.
So here’s their reasoning. See, here it says, that the secret things belong unto the Lord. That means they are mysteries and we cannot receive them. They conveniently ignore the rest of the verse which plainly says “But those things which are revealed belong to us!” That means, that in the Bible (“the things that are revealed”), there are no secret things!
This completely agrees with the words of Christ to believers, when he says three times that “it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God” (Matt. 13:11; Mark 4:11; Lk. 8:10). He is not saying that believers will not be able to know the mysteries. He is saying exactly the opposite. Believers do know the mysteries. Paul said that he “understood all mysteries” (1Cor. 13:2), He said that ministers are “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1Cor. 4:1). This seems like enough to eliminate this mystery cop-out.
Perhaps the clearest passage to debunk this cop-out is in First Corinthians.
1Co 2:7-10 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
Paul speaks about a hidden mystery here. None of the princes of this world (intellectuals) knew it. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has this mystery ever entered into the heart of man. But Paul says “God has revealed it unto us by His Spirit”. So the mystery is not a mystery any longer, because it has been revealed by the Spirit who “searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God”. So, the argument is here made by Paul, that there are no more mysteries, concerning the deep things of God, because the Holy Spirit has revealed them all.
Paul closes the Epistle to the Romans while talking about the very same thing. “According to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith” (Rom. 16:25-26). It is clear that the mysteries, kept secret since the beginning of the world, have been made known. That means that there are no more mysteries in the Bible. It is a completed revelation. In Ephesians he says: “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will” (Eph. 1:9) . Once again…Mystery revealed! Read Eph. 3:4-10 in connection with this. Or How about Col. 1: 26-27? “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
To say that ,as believers, we are hopelessly bound by mysteries and secrets, is to deny the plain truth of revelation. It is a cop-out, plain and simple, a man made delusion, an invention to justify unbelief. It needs to be banished from the church. It dishonors God and His word. It is simply blasphemy.
F. The “Apparent Contradictions” cop-out.
This is one of the most destructive and most prevalent cop-outs in the church today. This does more to trash the reputation of Christ and his followers than perhaps any other thing that I can think of. It is often clocked in fancy theological terms and jargon, but it simple says: "There are contradictions in the Bible". They know that this is a blasphemous doctrine, so they try to disguise what they are saying by choosing not so offensive buzzwords. They speak of “antinomies“, “tension” between passages, “opposition”, “opposing doctrines”, “paradoxes”, “internal conflicts”, “internal tensions“ “diverse polarities”, or “apparent contradictions”, (They use the word “apparent” to try to cover themselves from the accusation of blasphemy. The word “apparent” in their mind softens the idea of contradictions in the Bible).
An example of this form of unbelief would be the statement that “the Sovereignty of God and the Free will of man is an unresolved tension in the Bible”. In other words, this means that these doctrines contradict each other, so if you hold to both of them, you are believing contradictions by faith. Doesn’t that sound noble? Rather than dealing with what the Bible actually says, that man has no free-will, and that God is universally Sovereign, they would prefer to believe in contradictions in the Bible. Needless to say, such contradictions are actually their own man made inventions, which are used to self-justify their rampant unbelief. Because they refuse to believe the truth, they suppress it using this insidious cop-out. If they were honest they would speak the truth. They would say: “Scripture is perfect. It is perfectly coherent and perfectly non-contradictory. If anything in it appears contradictory to you, it is because you are stupid, and cannot see it’s perfection. There is something wrong with you, not something wrong with the Bible. Believers respect the Bible, and the perfect God who wrote it. To say there are contradictions, is not an option for us Christians, because we believe in Him, and His book of perfect harmony. The contradictions are in your brain, not in God’s word of truth". That's what they would say, if they were honest.
Anytime you hear someone talking about tensions, polarities and the like, your ears should perk up, and you should immediately know that they are rejecting the truth, justifying their unbelief and prideful resistance, and that they are actively suppressing the truth. Run from these people and their blasphemies, and don’t look back! Get out of there. Move to a different state or country. You don't want to listen to these bad boys. They mean you only harm. There are no contradictions in the perfect word of God, don’t let any deceiver tell you otherwise. The contradictions are in their own brains, because they refuse to believe the truth, and they refuse to bring their thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” ( 2Cor. 10:5) .
G. The “We must not Go where the Bible does not Go” cop-out.
Many of these cop-outs are in fact based upon truth. It is true that we should not go beyond the bounds of the truth. This includes adding or taking away from the scriptures. The problem comes, when people arbitrarily use this as a cover-up and a way to squash the truth. It is simple, they just accuse us of going beyond the scriptures.
This is often used by Arminians when they speak of Calvinists. They assume an air of noble piety and simply accuse the Calvinists of going beyond what the scriptures teach. They do nothing to prove their accusation, they simply assume the accusative posture. Because the Calvinist believes in absolute predestination, and they don’t, the Calvinist have overstepped the bounds of scripture.
This ploy is used on many different doctrines, as an easy way to reject them. If you speak about God’s Absolute Sovereignty, they accuse you of overstepping the bounds of scripture. If you talk about total depravity, they accuse you of going beyond the Bible. If you speak about, Particular Atonement, Irresistible Grace, Effectual Calling, the fact that there are no gaps in prophecy, or that the church is in the Old Testament, or that the New Covenant has superseded the Old Covenant, or that the True Israel is God’s elect people in all ages, or many other doctrines, they simply dismiss you with one wag of their pious hands. You are a heretic, they say, because you have gone beyond the bounds of the scripture.
The true evil here, is not that we have gone beyond the bounds of scripture, but that they have not come anywhere near the bounds of scripture. They use this cop-out to keep themselves from investigating many legitimate things, that the scriptures definitely teach. They feel no obligation to believe these things, because they have dumped all this stuff into an imaginary category called “the unapproachable bounds of scripture”. They simply refuse to go there, not because they have any proof that to go there is going beyond what the scriptures teach, but because they think they know everything that the scriptures teach. If anyone disagrees with them they are be heretics, because they have obviously gone beyond the bounds of the knowable, since they know everything. This reasoning is ridiculous, and it is nothing more than unbelief. All Christians are free to go wherever the Bible goes, and if you have not gone there, then you have no right to flippantly dismiss those who have. Your sense of superiority belies your real, evil purpose, to squash the truth and suppress it in unrighteousness. Get out of your self-righteous tower, and Go where God commands you to go, and search out all the unsearchable riches in Christ Jesus (Rom. 11:33; Eph. 3:8). To do less than this is nothing more than unbelief, Christian atheism.
H. The “That doesn’t Apply to Us” cop-out.
This is a dangerous one, because there are indeed many truths in the Bible that do not necessarily apply to us. If I preach that we should all practice water-walking, because Peter was commanded to step out of the boat, I would certainly have many drownings on my hands, and would be preaching false doctrine. So yes, there are doctrines and truths in the Bible that do not have direct reference to us. But there are also clear criteria whereby we can know what applies to us and what doesn’t. For instance, if God is speaking to a particular person, or group of people, we cannot include ourselves unless we are that person, or part of that defined group. We have to find out if we are included or not. This is a basic law of hermeneutics. Am I included or not?
I am often accused of doing this very thing (applying things that don't apply to us), because I apply the promises and prophecies given to Israel, and to Abraham’s seed, to the church. I do this because there are plenty of verses which say, that the church is the true Israel, and the church is Abrahams seed, and that we are joint heirs with Christ, and that as a believer I am a true Jew. (See my article on Why the Nation of Israel is not the Chosen People of God). The Bible clearly tells me that I am part of that group. People often apply this cop-out as a simple and quick way to dismiss, the truth…pooh-pooh it away in one breath, saying “Those things don’t apply to us”. They do apply, if we are included in that group called “Israel”. So my point is this, there are rules for determining if certain things apply to us or not, and one of them is simply to ask: “Are we included in the group being addressed?” This requires determining the facts in the case. So it does not suffice to simply say, no we aren’t, without investigating to see if we are or aren’t.
Another abuse of this truth, turning it into a cop-out, is found with reference to the homosexual perverts in Romans One. The liberals simply pooh-pooh it off saying, “oh that doesn’t apply today. Science has shown that people are born homosexuals. It’s a genetic thing, so whatever the Bible says in Romans One simply does not apply to us today. We should love the homosexuals, and accept them into our churches, and marry them as long as they are committing to remain as faithful monogamous couples. They can’t control who they love. Love is of God. Let’s invite them to become pastors in our churches”. Here is a case where they have arbitrarily excluded the modern homosexuals from the scriptural portion which accurately describe and assesses the nature of their sin, by simply saying “That doesn’t apply”. They have not asked the question of does it apply?, are modern homosexuals included in the group being discussed? because they simply don’t want it to apply. There are rules to determine if certain things apply to us or not, and one of them is “Am I included in the group being talked about, or talked to?” The passage is speaking about “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” (v. 18). So it is unrighteous and ungodly men that God is speaking about here. What gives you the right to exclude yourself, if God includes you? What right do we have, or basis from scripture, do we have to say, that modern day Homosexuals are excluded from applying Romans One to themselves? We have no right or warrant to be so flippant and irreverent in our handling of scripture. To simply say “It doesn’t apply” is not a correct answer. You have to show why it doesn’t apply. Point out some rule of exegesis to substantiate your conclusion. You have to investigate and substantiate, before you can say “It doesn’t apply”. Prove it, or you are simply suppressing the truth in unbelief.
I. The “Irrelevant Verses” cop-out.
Sometimes I believe that this cop-out is made quite unintentionally, but that doesn’t negate the fact that it is still a cop out. Here’s how it works. A person simply refuses to believe a certain doctrine or truth. So he scours the Bible, not with the idea of learning the truth, but with the idea of finding verses to refute it. What he always ends up with are bunches of verses that are irrelevant to the doctrines being discussed.
I have had people quote numerous times the words “whosoever will may come”, when they are trying to prove that the doctrine of free-will means that anybody can believe, whenever they want to believe, as an act of their own volition. In their mind this proves free-will and disproves Sovereign Grace.
The only verse even close to this is:
Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
The Calvinist agrees with everything in this verse, but the verse says absolutely nothing relevant to the discussion of free will. It does not discuss why someone who is thirsty may come? It does not discuss how a person is brought to will, or to decide, to drink from the water of life in the first place? It contains nothing that indicates when he will decide, or how he will will himself to drink. It is a verse which is simply irrelevant to the discussion. It is relevant to other discussions and doctrines, but it simply says nothing about free will.
Vincent Cheung, in discussing this concept, calls these sorts of misapplications of verses, irrelevant assumptions, and gives a wonderful illustration which I will share.
I can say, "Whoever becomes a fish can breath under water." The statement is true, but it does not mean that a person can become a fish anytime he wishes. In fact, any inference about one's ability is strictly invalid, since the statement contains no information about ability except for the fish's ability to breath under water. Whether or not it is possible for a person to become a fish, one can infer nothing about it from the statement itself, but it only informs us as to what would happen to a person who turns into a fish.
Moreover, even if it is possible for a person to become a fish, the statement says nothing about how this is possible, or whether it is within the person's own power to do so. God is certainly able to turn a
man into a fish, but a man "cannot make even one hair white or black" (Matthew 5:36). A statement like the one that I have made tells us nothing about a person's ability, but information about ability must be obtained elsewhere.
Whenever we are talking about something that is impossible with man – such as for a man to turn himself into a fish – it means that it will either never happen, or God must make it happen by his omnipotence. (Mystery and Blasphemy, Vincent Cheung 2007, page 48)
Whosoever will may come. Whosoever becomes a fish can breath under water. See the relation? Nobody disputes this, so it is irrelevant to the discussion. It simply does not speak about free will.
Almost without exception when unbelievers are summoning verses to their aid, trying to bolster an unscriptural notion, or protect a cherished region of unbelief, they will present verse after verse which have absolutely nothing to do with the doctrine or truth at hand. This is because the scriptures are amazingly coherent and consistent within themselves, and it is actually impossible to bring up verses that contradict the truth. The best that can be garnered by these unbelievers seeking to bolster their unbelief’s, are verses which are irrelevant to the truth being resisted. When they quote you one of these verses simple ask: “So what does that have to do with this? I’m not trying to be flippant or anything, I’m simply trying to understand how that relates to this?” In most cases they cannot show any connection at all between their proof texts and the doctrines at hand. That’s because the Bible is consistent, and because all truth is one truth, and because the truth is coherent, meaningful and clear as crystal.
Don’t be bungled or deceived by these cop-outs. The truth belongs to those who believe, and is suppressed by those who don’t. So by all means Believe! Believe all the truth, with all your might, all the time, and in the face of all kinds of unbelievers. Never buy their cop-outs, and cover-ups, and deceptions.
© 2010 www.RevEarlJackson.com
Rom 1:18-19 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. (ESV)
1. The problem of the Christian Atheists.
There is no question that in the context of these verses Paul is pointing out some characteristics of unbelievers. He says that it is the unrighteousness of men which suppresses the truth. This statement has applications to unbelievers directly, and to believers as well. If a believer is suppressing the truth, it is because of unrighteousness within him, the same as it is in overt unbelievers. There is plenty of evidence to show that when believers fail to promote the truth, or suppress it, they are acting just like the unrighteous unbeliever. Rejection of the truth, suppression of the truth, and failure to embrace the truth are all sins of unrighteousness and unbelief. There is a sense in which some believers express unbelief by their failure to embrace the truth. I guess they are Christian atheists. But God puts them together with those he calls “reprobate”. They claim to love God but in fact they deny Him by their unholy rebellion and stubborn refusal to bow before all that He says. “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Tit. 1:16). These people are certainly within the pale of professing Christianity. They are part of the visible church. Most of them are baptized members of some church. They profess Christ, but the fact is, that their doctrines and their viewpoints are influenced by unbelief and unrighteousness, and not by truth. We have allowed them within our churches, based upon the fact that “they profess that they know God” . But the reality is that they don’t know Him at all. So let’s call them “Christian Atheists”, “Christian Reprobates“, or “the Christian Lost”.
The Christian Atheists are a problem, because their atheism is more evident than their Christianity, and they are among us, influencing our churches, teaching in our seminaries, and preaching in our pulpits. True believers express no doubt, disrespect or blasphemy towards God. They maintain the highest attitudes of worshipful adoration for the Lord. They Love Him more than anything or anyone else (Matt. 10:37-38). But these people do not share the same viewpoints, and that is because they are still unbelievers. They are more atheist than Christian. God calls them "wolves in sheep's clothing" (Matt. 7:15).
It is imperative on God’s true people, that we recognize these people, point out the truth to them, urge them to repent and quit suppressing God’s truth, and to single them out for excommunication if they do not repent. Church discipline has been much neglected in our day, because it is unpopular, and we naturally recoil against it, because unpleasant. Not only that it doesn't seem to feed our never ending quest for church growth. But it is high time we get these scoundrels out of our churches. They disgrace the Lord by their unbelief, their false doctrines, and their evangelistic attempts to suppress the truth, “who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth”.
2. The Foundation Standeth Sure
2Ti 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
This verse is in the context of a discussion about “Hymenaeus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred” . Not only were they false teachers, but it says, that they “overthrew the faith of some” (2Tim. 2:18). Even though their particular heresy consisted of false teachings about the resurrection, their examples apply to any form of Christian Atheism. Against this backdrop we are reminded that there is a foundation of God which stands sure, or certain, against all false doctrines and false Christians, and against all suppression of truth.
It is “the foundation of God”. And this is exactly where the problem begins. Because these people are really not Christians, their thinking about God is wrong. He is not the foundation for them. Instead of standing on the true foundation, they have preconceived ideas about what God is, what He can do, and what He does. Everything is conditioned by mans free will, free choice, and religious humanism. These views are all false.
Man’s thoughts about God, are never the basis for truth. The basis for truth is God Himself, and what He says is true. Any disputations with God on any of these matters is simply human viewpoint, which is unbelief. Man is not capable of belief, unless born again. If he is an unbeliever, his viewpoint is all unbelief, even when he is in church. So that when he comes into church, gets baptized and wears his Christian suit of clothes, he is still incapable of expressing belief in the truth. Whatever he believes, is shaded by his atheism. It is not just a case of a doubting Thomas, here, who had a temporary lapse of faith, or a momentary backsliding, but this man has never slidden forward, has never had a moment when he left atheism and embraced truth in Christ. He has never truly believed, because if he had, he would know the truth (Jn. 8:32), love the truth (2Thess. 2:10; Jn. 3:19-21), obey the truth (Rom. 2:8; 1Pet. 1:22), speak and teach the truth (1Tim. 2:7), and judge according to truth (Zech. 8:16; Amos 5:15; Jn. 7:24).
These foundation truth concepts involve at least four things:
1) Recognition that God is truth, and that He defines truth and speaks truth.
2) Recognition that what God has revealed is clear, understandable, substantial and undeniably true.
3) Recognition that the truth is always true, regardless of any human response or understanding of it.
4) Worshipful respect for God and His truth. This involves submission not suppression.
3. The Tools For Suppressing the Truth
The things that I am going to point out here are by no means all of the tools that the Christian Atheist’s use to suppress the truth, trying to justify their unbelief and putting it in Christian clothes, making it acceptable and pious sounding. Please listen carefully, to what people are saying when they reject the truth, or try to cover up what they consider to be objectionable ideas within the truth. These are not just straw men, that I have invented. I have encountered every one of these, repeatedly, in over thirty five years of ministry. I’m calling them cop-outs, because they are simply the inventions of evil minds to disbelieve, rather than bow to the truth.
A. The “God hasn’t shown that to me” cop-out.
I’m putting this one first, because it is based upon an element of truth. The other cop-outs have little truth whatsoever in them. There is a sense in which God has revealed his truth progressively. A person in the Old Testament could legitimately use this argument, because as a point of actual fact, a lot of the New Testament truths had not yet been revealed.
There is another aspect of it recorded in Isaiah. “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isa. 28:9-10) . This is the aspect of the truth which this cop-out is based upon. The idea is that truth (doctrinal understanding) is revealed little by little. We all start out as doctrinal babes, but as God shows us, we learn, grow and develop into doctrinal maturity. This is a wonderful concept, which shows God’s leading and care for his children. He nurtures, weans and develops every one of us who are true believers. But this is the exact point of the heinousness of this cop-out. The person who says this is saying just the opposite of what God says. God say’s that he shows His truth to His children, they see it, grow and develop according to it’s nurture. The Christian Atheist, perverts this, and denies the truth by using his perversion. When you show him something about the truth, where he is inconsistent, unbelieving or teaching something false, he curls up and says: “God hasn’t shown that to me yet” and the necessary conclusion always follows…“so I’m not going to believe it”. The last part is the part that is not usually spoken, but it is the part that shows the unbelief, rebelliousness, and disrespect for God. Even if it is not spoken, it is always intended.
First of all, this is a denial of the fact that God has shown Him it. If it is in the Bible, then God has shown it to him. He may have never read it. He may have skimmed over it, not paying attention to it. He may have felt that it was unimportant. He may have been thinking about something else when he read it. He may have elected to disbelieve it. But none of this is God’s fault. Instead of saying “God has not shown that to me yet”. The proper response is to say, “I never noticed that before, I’ll pray about it, and try to integrate it into my belief system, if that means re-arranging my thoughts about this, then that's what I'll have to do, because I certainly don’t want to disrespect God or His word”. That is vastly different then putting on a disrespectful and arrogant cap and saying: “God has not personally revealed it to me, He has not personally taught me about this, so I’m not going to believe it”!
I recently heard Joyce Meyer (an unauthorized woman preacher), preaching about how we should all believe and obey the word of God. I was actually amazed that she would have the audacity to say that Christians are supposed to believe and obey the word, when she obviously does not do it herself. I asked myself “has she never read the Bible? How can she teach people that they need to believe and obey the word of God in the light of these verses?”
1Ti 2:12-14 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
1Co 14:34-35 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
1Ti 3:1-2 This is a true saying, If a man (not a woman) desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife ( the twice married Meyer's cannot qualify as a husband).
How can Joyce Meyer’s read these verses and yet claim to be called to preach the Bible? It is impossible for God to call a woman to be a preacher according to these verses. She must be saying something like: “God has not showed that to me, therefore I don’t believe it”. Or perhaps she is saying: “That doesn’t apply to me, because I’m a para-church ministry, and not a church ministry” (well her website say's she is a church, and has tax exempt status as a church). What she should be saying is: “God’s words include commandments to “Let your women keep silence”, and “I suffer not a woman to teach” ,and since His word says that, He has shown it to me, and He knows what He’s talking about, so now I’m going to humble myself and obey what he says, quit running my personal business of apostate preaching, quit pretending that God has called me to the ministry, pray about what He clearly says, and start submitting to the truth, and showing other women preachers how they need to do the same thing, and give up their phony ministries as well, and start living godly and holy lives as becometh "women of godliness”. That's what she needs to say if she believes what she preaches, that Christians should believe and obey the Bible. You’ll never see that happen of course, because pride is a powerful snare, disobedience is a gluttonous monster, and the devil is an unrelenting taskmaster. And it is always pride that rejects the truth. It is always pride that comes up with a different, improved version of the truth, rather than submitting to the simple and plain realities that God has revealed. It is always pride that says “God hasn’t shown that to me”.
B. The “That’s Not Really Important” cop-out.
Perhaps Joyce Meyer and the other apostate women’s lib preachers like her, are saying this instead of the first cop-out above. They reason “I’ll ignore all these verses because they are really not all that important in the grand scheme of things. There’s a lot more important things, than whether or not women can be ordained to the ministry, things like getting the lost saved, preaching the Love of Christ, taking care of social injustices, teaching the main tenants of the faith, feeding the hungry, taking care of orphans etc This sound so nice and pious, “Look at me, I’m concerned about the really important stuff, while these other nincompoops over here are dilly dallying around with stuff that doesn’t really matter”. But it is a horrendous cop-out of unbelief, rebelliousness, disrespect for the word of God, and it is a slap in God’s own face.
When anyone speaks like this, He or she is saying that God is an idiot. God included a bunch of stuff in His Bible which is not really important after all. God does not know what He’s talking about. If He knew what He was doing, He would have included only the things that are really important to the way that we define “important things” to be. How disrespectful and blasphemous this viewpoint is. They make it sound so, noble and pious, and it is a shear expression of unbelief. If they believed in God, they would know that He is always and only perfect in His wisdom and knowledge of all things. He is absolutely coherent in all of His speech to mankind. If He included it in His Revelation, then it is certainly something that He meant to reveal, and as such, it is fully important, just like everything else he reveals. God is not an incoherent babbling idiot, who wrote stuff that doesn’t matter. This is nothing more than blasphemy. This cop-out will never be heard on the lips of a true believer. OF COURSE IT’S IMPORTANT…GOD SAID IT!
C. The “Various Levels of Truth” cop-out.
This is closely linked to the second cop-out. It is commonly referred to as Graded Absolutism. God has different grades of truth….something like the way we grade maple syrup, or other commodities which come in various qualities…grade A, B, C, and D. When someone says in point B (above), that "this truth is not as important as that truth", he is indicating his belief in this notion that not all truth is equal in quality, or in demands that it has on us. God has A grade and B grade truths, and the A grade take top priority, and has demand over the inferior truths. He chooses to respect the A grade truth and this makes him free to reject the D grade truths. This is nothing but a tool to self-justifying unbelief.
Graded absolutism is usually in play when people say things like “Committing murder is far worse than stealing or lying”. Or, “It’s more important to believe in the doctrine of the atonement, then to believe in predestination”. Or, “A Holy God could never create sin” (This is simply saying “the doctrine of holiness is more important than the doctrine of sovereignty in God). Or, “A loving God would never throw any of his creatures into hell (Saying that love is more important than righteousness in God).
The word of God, is not a dozen of eggs! There is no Grade A and Grade B truths. All truth is one truth. There are no things that are more important than other things. They are all equally important, because they came from the perfect source of God, and he did not give us less than perfect truth. All the commands are equally important, all the promises, all the prophecies, all the doctrines, histories, teachings etc. Don’t let anyone pervert your mind here.
There is a false saying plastered over the doors to churches everywhere, and on websites, and pulpits all across our land. It supposedly goes back to Augustine, but it is wrong none the less. Perhaps you’ve seen or heard it. “ In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” Think about this false message, sounding ever so pious, but which is totally disrespectful to God. It is categorically stating that there are essential truths, and there are non-essential truths, but the only thing that is really important is Love. None of these statements are the least bit true. They make a mockery of truth. Love is not the only important thing. Truth and Love are joined at the hip (2Jn. 1:3). There is no love without truth (1Jn. 3:18; 2Jn. 1:1). There are no truths which are “non-essential”. If there were, then it would have to be spelled out “this is more important than that”. There would have to be lists somewhere, or people somewhere who were appointed by God as God’s weights and measures department, who’s function would be to point out which truths are essential and which ones are non-essential. Actually the Catholics have taken up this idea literally, and have a college of cardinals and a Pope to tell them what to think. If you believe this saying of Augustine, then you should belong to the Catholic church and let the Pope decipher the graded absolutes for you, and tell you what are essentials and what are non-essentials. But this is certainly not Christian doctrine. It is not correct thinking, nor is it glorifying to God in the least. To say something that God has given to us is non-essential is simply to slap Him in the face. It’s blasphemy. It’s unbelief. But it is not Christianity. This slogan needs to be banished from all Christian institutions, it is repulsive, misleading blasphemy that cheapens God and His Amazing Truth. Be gone!
God has given no inferior truths. God has given no non-essential doctrines. Some truths are not better than others. They are all the same, and they all deserve the same respect, because they all came from the same Infinite, All-knowing and Wise source. False and unnecessary distinctions between truths, are creations of the unbelieving minds of men, and are not from God or the Holy Spirit who authored the Bible. All truths are one, and they coalesce like the many facets of one great diamond…which we call “the Word of God”. This is why the Bible is called by that name. It is “The word of God” because it is one word, one truth, a singular revelation of the mind of God to man. Get the idea of levels of truth, grades of doctrines, and different distinctions of importance out of your head, or you will never understand the Bible and honor God in your belief system.
D. The “Finite Brain” cop-out.
This is one that we hear over and over again, and it is quite simple. “Nobody can understand that, because we all have finite brains.” This statement, is an excuse unbelievers use for rejecting truths that they simply don’t want to believe, and it is a simple attempt to self-justify unbelief in the heart.
It is true that men are finite creatures, and have finite brains. But God knows mans mental capacities better than any finite human, and if He considered the truth important enough to put it in the Bible, which is his full-disclosure to finite brains, then this excuse is just a cop-out. God did not write concepts in the Bible that finite brains cannot comprehend. God is not, nor has He ever been an incoherent idiot. He knew who he was writing to, and He knew how to speak to a fallen and finite world. He knew the limitations of every brain in the world, and he knew how to speak so as to be understood. Give Him at least some credit here. God is not retarded. Do you think that God is stupid? He made your brain. He ought to know what it is capable of receiving. It is you who are stupid, and who are trying to run away from the truth, claiming that you are incapable of receiving it. That is a great insult to God, and a paltry excuse for disbelieving.
This is also a false humility. "Look at us Christians, we have paltry little pea brains, and we cannot possibly comprehend what God has said to us. God must be a moron Himself since He has tried unsuccessfully to speak to us morons. He might as well have been speaking into the void, because no finite brains can possible receive it. And if I cannot receive it, because I am a moron, then you cannot possibly receive it, because you are a moron too." Doesn’t this make Christianity appear desirable to the world?…a bunch of morons running around calling one another morons, and pointing out how God himself is a moron also! That really makes Christianity look good, doesn’t it? This false humility is nothing more than blasphemy and prideful suppression of the truth. If these people were truly humble, they would shut up and learn the truth. They would fall on their knees in repentance and quit degrading God.
E. The “Mysteries and Secret Things” cop-out.
This is similar to the “finite brain” cop-out, but in that the unbeliever is justifying his rejection of the truth based on the size of his brain, here he is basing it on the nature of the truth itself. If there is something he chooses to disbelieve or suppress, he simple lumps it into the broad category of “Mystery”. What the Bible clearly tells us is not mystery, but revelation. But these people have chosen to disbelieve the revelation calling it a mystery. They have a personalized definition, that a “Mystery is anything cloaked or hidden so that man cannot understand it.”
Not only is this not the Biblical definition of a mystery, it is not even a concept that is taught anywhere in the Bible. Supposedly this is based on a verse in Deuteronomy.
Deu 29:29 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.
So here’s their reasoning. See, here it says, that the secret things belong unto the Lord. That means they are mysteries and we cannot receive them. They conveniently ignore the rest of the verse which plainly says “But those things which are revealed belong to us!” That means, that in the Bible (“the things that are revealed”), there are no secret things!
This completely agrees with the words of Christ to believers, when he says three times that “it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God” (Matt. 13:11; Mark 4:11; Lk. 8:10). He is not saying that believers will not be able to know the mysteries. He is saying exactly the opposite. Believers do know the mysteries. Paul said that he “understood all mysteries” (1Cor. 13:2), He said that ministers are “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1Cor. 4:1). This seems like enough to eliminate this mystery cop-out.
Perhaps the clearest passage to debunk this cop-out is in First Corinthians.
1Co 2:7-10 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
Paul speaks about a hidden mystery here. None of the princes of this world (intellectuals) knew it. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has this mystery ever entered into the heart of man. But Paul says “God has revealed it unto us by His Spirit”. So the mystery is not a mystery any longer, because it has been revealed by the Spirit who “searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God”. So, the argument is here made by Paul, that there are no more mysteries, concerning the deep things of God, because the Holy Spirit has revealed them all.
Paul closes the Epistle to the Romans while talking about the very same thing. “According to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith” (Rom. 16:25-26). It is clear that the mysteries, kept secret since the beginning of the world, have been made known. That means that there are no more mysteries in the Bible. It is a completed revelation. In Ephesians he says: “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will” (Eph. 1:9) . Once again…Mystery revealed! Read Eph. 3:4-10 in connection with this. Or How about Col. 1: 26-27? “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
To say that ,as believers, we are hopelessly bound by mysteries and secrets, is to deny the plain truth of revelation. It is a cop-out, plain and simple, a man made delusion, an invention to justify unbelief. It needs to be banished from the church. It dishonors God and His word. It is simply blasphemy.
F. The “Apparent Contradictions” cop-out.
This is one of the most destructive and most prevalent cop-outs in the church today. This does more to trash the reputation of Christ and his followers than perhaps any other thing that I can think of. It is often clocked in fancy theological terms and jargon, but it simple says: "There are contradictions in the Bible". They know that this is a blasphemous doctrine, so they try to disguise what they are saying by choosing not so offensive buzzwords. They speak of “antinomies“, “tension” between passages, “opposition”, “opposing doctrines”, “paradoxes”, “internal conflicts”, “internal tensions“ “diverse polarities”, or “apparent contradictions”, (They use the word “apparent” to try to cover themselves from the accusation of blasphemy. The word “apparent” in their mind softens the idea of contradictions in the Bible).
An example of this form of unbelief would be the statement that “the Sovereignty of God and the Free will of man is an unresolved tension in the Bible”. In other words, this means that these doctrines contradict each other, so if you hold to both of them, you are believing contradictions by faith. Doesn’t that sound noble? Rather than dealing with what the Bible actually says, that man has no free-will, and that God is universally Sovereign, they would prefer to believe in contradictions in the Bible. Needless to say, such contradictions are actually their own man made inventions, which are used to self-justify their rampant unbelief. Because they refuse to believe the truth, they suppress it using this insidious cop-out. If they were honest they would speak the truth. They would say: “Scripture is perfect. It is perfectly coherent and perfectly non-contradictory. If anything in it appears contradictory to you, it is because you are stupid, and cannot see it’s perfection. There is something wrong with you, not something wrong with the Bible. Believers respect the Bible, and the perfect God who wrote it. To say there are contradictions, is not an option for us Christians, because we believe in Him, and His book of perfect harmony. The contradictions are in your brain, not in God’s word of truth". That's what they would say, if they were honest.
Anytime you hear someone talking about tensions, polarities and the like, your ears should perk up, and you should immediately know that they are rejecting the truth, justifying their unbelief and prideful resistance, and that they are actively suppressing the truth. Run from these people and their blasphemies, and don’t look back! Get out of there. Move to a different state or country. You don't want to listen to these bad boys. They mean you only harm. There are no contradictions in the perfect word of God, don’t let any deceiver tell you otherwise. The contradictions are in their own brains, because they refuse to believe the truth, and they refuse to bring their thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” ( 2Cor. 10:5) .
G. The “We must not Go where the Bible does not Go” cop-out.
Many of these cop-outs are in fact based upon truth. It is true that we should not go beyond the bounds of the truth. This includes adding or taking away from the scriptures. The problem comes, when people arbitrarily use this as a cover-up and a way to squash the truth. It is simple, they just accuse us of going beyond the scriptures.
This is often used by Arminians when they speak of Calvinists. They assume an air of noble piety and simply accuse the Calvinists of going beyond what the scriptures teach. They do nothing to prove their accusation, they simply assume the accusative posture. Because the Calvinist believes in absolute predestination, and they don’t, the Calvinist have overstepped the bounds of scripture.
This ploy is used on many different doctrines, as an easy way to reject them. If you speak about God’s Absolute Sovereignty, they accuse you of overstepping the bounds of scripture. If you talk about total depravity, they accuse you of going beyond the Bible. If you speak about, Particular Atonement, Irresistible Grace, Effectual Calling, the fact that there are no gaps in prophecy, or that the church is in the Old Testament, or that the New Covenant has superseded the Old Covenant, or that the True Israel is God’s elect people in all ages, or many other doctrines, they simply dismiss you with one wag of their pious hands. You are a heretic, they say, because you have gone beyond the bounds of the scripture.
The true evil here, is not that we have gone beyond the bounds of scripture, but that they have not come anywhere near the bounds of scripture. They use this cop-out to keep themselves from investigating many legitimate things, that the scriptures definitely teach. They feel no obligation to believe these things, because they have dumped all this stuff into an imaginary category called “the unapproachable bounds of scripture”. They simply refuse to go there, not because they have any proof that to go there is going beyond what the scriptures teach, but because they think they know everything that the scriptures teach. If anyone disagrees with them they are be heretics, because they have obviously gone beyond the bounds of the knowable, since they know everything. This reasoning is ridiculous, and it is nothing more than unbelief. All Christians are free to go wherever the Bible goes, and if you have not gone there, then you have no right to flippantly dismiss those who have. Your sense of superiority belies your real, evil purpose, to squash the truth and suppress it in unrighteousness. Get out of your self-righteous tower, and Go where God commands you to go, and search out all the unsearchable riches in Christ Jesus (Rom. 11:33; Eph. 3:8). To do less than this is nothing more than unbelief, Christian atheism.
H. The “That doesn’t Apply to Us” cop-out.
This is a dangerous one, because there are indeed many truths in the Bible that do not necessarily apply to us. If I preach that we should all practice water-walking, because Peter was commanded to step out of the boat, I would certainly have many drownings on my hands, and would be preaching false doctrine. So yes, there are doctrines and truths in the Bible that do not have direct reference to us. But there are also clear criteria whereby we can know what applies to us and what doesn’t. For instance, if God is speaking to a particular person, or group of people, we cannot include ourselves unless we are that person, or part of that defined group. We have to find out if we are included or not. This is a basic law of hermeneutics. Am I included or not?
I am often accused of doing this very thing (applying things that don't apply to us), because I apply the promises and prophecies given to Israel, and to Abraham’s seed, to the church. I do this because there are plenty of verses which say, that the church is the true Israel, and the church is Abrahams seed, and that we are joint heirs with Christ, and that as a believer I am a true Jew. (See my article on Why the Nation of Israel is not the Chosen People of God). The Bible clearly tells me that I am part of that group. People often apply this cop-out as a simple and quick way to dismiss, the truth…pooh-pooh it away in one breath, saying “Those things don’t apply to us”. They do apply, if we are included in that group called “Israel”. So my point is this, there are rules for determining if certain things apply to us or not, and one of them is simply to ask: “Are we included in the group being addressed?” This requires determining the facts in the case. So it does not suffice to simply say, no we aren’t, without investigating to see if we are or aren’t.
Another abuse of this truth, turning it into a cop-out, is found with reference to the homosexual perverts in Romans One. The liberals simply pooh-pooh it off saying, “oh that doesn’t apply today. Science has shown that people are born homosexuals. It’s a genetic thing, so whatever the Bible says in Romans One simply does not apply to us today. We should love the homosexuals, and accept them into our churches, and marry them as long as they are committing to remain as faithful monogamous couples. They can’t control who they love. Love is of God. Let’s invite them to become pastors in our churches”. Here is a case where they have arbitrarily excluded the modern homosexuals from the scriptural portion which accurately describe and assesses the nature of their sin, by simply saying “That doesn’t apply”. They have not asked the question of does it apply?, are modern homosexuals included in the group being discussed? because they simply don’t want it to apply. There are rules to determine if certain things apply to us or not, and one of them is “Am I included in the group being talked about, or talked to?” The passage is speaking about “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” (v. 18). So it is unrighteous and ungodly men that God is speaking about here. What gives you the right to exclude yourself, if God includes you? What right do we have, or basis from scripture, do we have to say, that modern day Homosexuals are excluded from applying Romans One to themselves? We have no right or warrant to be so flippant and irreverent in our handling of scripture. To simply say “It doesn’t apply” is not a correct answer. You have to show why it doesn’t apply. Point out some rule of exegesis to substantiate your conclusion. You have to investigate and substantiate, before you can say “It doesn’t apply”. Prove it, or you are simply suppressing the truth in unbelief.
I. The “Irrelevant Verses” cop-out.
Sometimes I believe that this cop-out is made quite unintentionally, but that doesn’t negate the fact that it is still a cop out. Here’s how it works. A person simply refuses to believe a certain doctrine or truth. So he scours the Bible, not with the idea of learning the truth, but with the idea of finding verses to refute it. What he always ends up with are bunches of verses that are irrelevant to the doctrines being discussed.
I have had people quote numerous times the words “whosoever will may come”, when they are trying to prove that the doctrine of free-will means that anybody can believe, whenever they want to believe, as an act of their own volition. In their mind this proves free-will and disproves Sovereign Grace.
The only verse even close to this is:
Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
The Calvinist agrees with everything in this verse, but the verse says absolutely nothing relevant to the discussion of free will. It does not discuss why someone who is thirsty may come? It does not discuss how a person is brought to will, or to decide, to drink from the water of life in the first place? It contains nothing that indicates when he will decide, or how he will will himself to drink. It is a verse which is simply irrelevant to the discussion. It is relevant to other discussions and doctrines, but it simply says nothing about free will.
Vincent Cheung, in discussing this concept, calls these sorts of misapplications of verses, irrelevant assumptions, and gives a wonderful illustration which I will share.
I can say, "Whoever becomes a fish can breath under water." The statement is true, but it does not mean that a person can become a fish anytime he wishes. In fact, any inference about one's ability is strictly invalid, since the statement contains no information about ability except for the fish's ability to breath under water. Whether or not it is possible for a person to become a fish, one can infer nothing about it from the statement itself, but it only informs us as to what would happen to a person who turns into a fish.
Moreover, even if it is possible for a person to become a fish, the statement says nothing about how this is possible, or whether it is within the person's own power to do so. God is certainly able to turn a
man into a fish, but a man "cannot make even one hair white or black" (Matthew 5:36). A statement like the one that I have made tells us nothing about a person's ability, but information about ability must be obtained elsewhere.
Whenever we are talking about something that is impossible with man – such as for a man to turn himself into a fish – it means that it will either never happen, or God must make it happen by his omnipotence. (Mystery and Blasphemy, Vincent Cheung 2007, page 48)
Whosoever will may come. Whosoever becomes a fish can breath under water. See the relation? Nobody disputes this, so it is irrelevant to the discussion. It simply does not speak about free will.
Almost without exception when unbelievers are summoning verses to their aid, trying to bolster an unscriptural notion, or protect a cherished region of unbelief, they will present verse after verse which have absolutely nothing to do with the doctrine or truth at hand. This is because the scriptures are amazingly coherent and consistent within themselves, and it is actually impossible to bring up verses that contradict the truth. The best that can be garnered by these unbelievers seeking to bolster their unbelief’s, are verses which are irrelevant to the truth being resisted. When they quote you one of these verses simple ask: “So what does that have to do with this? I’m not trying to be flippant or anything, I’m simply trying to understand how that relates to this?” In most cases they cannot show any connection at all between their proof texts and the doctrines at hand. That’s because the Bible is consistent, and because all truth is one truth, and because the truth is coherent, meaningful and clear as crystal.
Don’t be bungled or deceived by these cop-outs. The truth belongs to those who believe, and is suppressed by those who don’t. So by all means Believe! Believe all the truth, with all your might, all the time, and in the face of all kinds of unbelievers. Never buy their cop-outs, and cover-ups, and deceptions.
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