This is an Hard Saying

John 6:60
Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?

We know that every word of Scripture is given by inspiration of God:

2 Timothy 3:16,17
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Matthew 5:18
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

So, the Bible is all important. It is the very Word of God itself. Creation alone shews every man God’s eternal power and Godhead, so that all of us are without excuse for not approaching Him to find out more about Him:

Romans 1:20
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse....

But if we want to know anything further about God, we must come to the Bible. This is God’s infallible Word to men. This is the full revelation of what God has chosen to shew us. In fact, it’s the only window we have on spiritual things. All the information we need - all that pertains to life and godliness - is in here. Everything else we may think we know about God is mere conjecture. If it’s not in this book, we must acknowledge our ignorance. 

There are plenty of other books, sermons, teachers and churches around, all purporting to give us insight into the things of God. The Christian can feel inundated with such material. Some of this can be useful, but one thing they will all have in common is that they are all the fallible words of fallible men. They can, and do, contain mistakes. But as long as we stick to the Bible, we can be confident of its trustworthiness. We may go wrong reading it, but that will always be our problem, never the Bible’s.

But, you may say, the Bible is very difficult to understand. And we should expect it to be. Peter acknowledged the writings of the apostle Paul were “hard”:

2 Peter 3:15-16
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.

But just because some parts are “hard,” that shouldn’t put us off reading it. 

The Bible is no ordinary book. The Bible is God’s Word to men. It is our daily spiritual food, and should be used as such. It is to last us a lifetime, and we’ll never be able to plumb the depths of it. We could read the same passage a thousand times, and the Lord will always reveal something new in it for us every time. The Bible is alive:

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

There are going to be many things that we won’t understand, but we shouldn’t be worried about that. We must concentrate on the passages that we can understand: 

Matthew 5:44
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.

Romans 12:21
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Ephesians 4:28
Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

A child can understand these principles. Start here. Work on these in fear and trembling. Then later on, as we gradually get to understand more, we can expand our repertoire. Peter calls us to start with the milk first, things we can easily grasp. Then we will grow healthily:

1 Peter 2:2
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

But we don’t stick to drinking milk all our lives. We eventually ought to go on to the meat:

Hebrews 5:12-14
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

But, many Bible passages have different interpretations, only one of which must be correct. But which one? Not only do we need the Bible, but we also need the Holy Spirit within us to interpret it correctly. The Scriptures and the Holy Spirit are the two witnesses God has given us, and we need both:

Revelation 11:3-4
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

Acts 5:32
And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

I once knew an old lady who didn’t believe in hell, and she was adamant that the Holy Spirit had told her that. I am just as adamant the Holy Spirit has told me otherwise. One of us has to be wrong. How do we deal with a situation like this? We just have to go along with what we’re convinced of as individuals at any one time, right or wrong, until the Holy Spirit convicts us differently by leading us into the truth. And that means accepting the probability that we are always going to be wrong somewhere, and being willing to change as we later grow in our understanding of the Scriptures.

We all....

2 Peter 3:18
....grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ....

So, not only does that mean there will be differences of opinion between fellow Christians, but we’ll also find differences between what we used to believe and what we believe now. God quite often allows His people to embrace wrong teaching for a time, before they come to understand the truth a little better. Some things we thought we understood in the past, we now realise were hopelessly wrong, and we now believe something altogether different. What fools we were. But God knows what He is doing with us in letting us grow in this way. We must be humbled by this. Let us always be aware:

1 Corinthians 8:1-2
....Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.

But things get more complicated still. God, in His inscrutable wisdom, seems to have, in the Scriptures, used certain words and phrases which can be so easily misunderstood. Why didn’t He use plainer language? Let’s look at a few examples:

Luke 22:19
And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

The bread in the Lord’s Supper is a symbol of the body of Christ, which all believers partake of in remembrance of Him. But Roman Catholics interpret this passage altogether differently. To them, this is not speaking to every believer, but only the twelve disciples, who in turn, by apostolic succession, institute it among all their priests. Christ says to the priests: “Do this in remembrance of me: Break a piece of bread, say this is Christ’s body, and then give it to the people.” We find that ridiculous because we’re used to the way we understand this. But if this is what the people are taught by their church, and they know nothing else, we can see how easily they can think the way they do. Especially when they also read:

John 6:53-56
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

There we are, you see. The bread and wine in the “Mass” really does turn into the body and blood of Christ. So, is the Roman Catholic interpretation correct? Of course not. This passage isn’t even talking about the Lord’s Supper. The “eating” and “drinking” Christ’s flesh and blood refers to eating and drinking spiritually, and not in any physical way. It certainly does not condone a mindless, superstitious practice. If we have the Holy Spirit guiding us, He will lead us to that correct interpretation. But we can easily see how people without the Holy Spirit can come to a totally wrong idea.

Or how about this:

1 Corinthians 15:29
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?

One phrase, “baptised for the dead,” confirms Mormons in their idea that they can posthumously, retrospectively baptise their ancestors and bring them into the kingdom of God, long after they have died. But it can’t mean that because that wouldn’t tally with any other part of Scripture:

Luke 16:26
And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

But taking the phrase “baptised for the dead” on its own out of context, without any guidance from the Holy Spirit, we can easily see how they come to their conclusions.

Or how about this:

Mark 16:17-18
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

All sorts of people really believe they are able to do these things today, for themselves, but we’re told:

Deuteronomy 6:16
Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God.

These signs were performed by the apostles for a time after Christ’s ascension, and that’s to whom Christ is directly speaking about these things. But surely it could have been made a bit clearer that it no longer applies to us today, couldn’t it?

Or how about this verse:

Revelation 14:12
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Some Christians use this verse to try to tell us that there are two different ways to get to heaven, one by being born a Jew (i.e. those who “keep the commandments of God”) and one for those who become born-again Christians (i.e. those who have “the faith of Jesus”). But no man, whether Jew or Gentile, can “keep the commandments of God,” unless he has had a new heart put within him by the Lord, and thereby received “the faith of Jesus.” To “keep the commandments of God” was never a means of salvation, because we can't:

Romans 3:20-23
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

But why not make this clearer in the text? Why do so many Christians today think that the Jews en masse will get to heaven without Christ?

In these examples, and many more, we see that it is so easy to misunderstand what the passages actually mean, and come to wrong conclusions. If I was composing Scripture (which, God forbid, I’m not), I would want to change such passages, in order to make them a lot clearer to the reader. But God chose the words He chose. God never makes mistakes. The words of Scripture are exactly the words He wants to use. It almost seems as if He is wanting people to misunderstand. The Bible tells us the solemn truth that:

2 Thessalonians 2:11,12
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The Lord wants us to genuinely seek Him, not blindly follow men and movements, who easily trip up over the stumbling blocks God has put in the Bible and get it wrong. Rather, if we have a question, we should ask of Christ personally, for ourselves, and He will always, through His Holy Spirit, show us the true way:

Jeremiah 29:13
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Matthew 7:7,8
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Many people have found hard sayings in the Lord’s teaching, and given up on following Him altogether:

John 6:60
Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?

John 6:66
From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

These obviously never had the Holy Spirit to guide them. They just gave up, because they couldn’t understand things for themselves. Many people can’t understand the Trinity - something which to our tiny minds is incomprehensible anyway - so they become Jehovah’s Witnesses, and embrace something they can understand instead.

The Lord has deliberately written His word in such a way that we have to think through it. But we should always think through it prayerfully, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and He will always lead us into the truth. We should never blindly accept whatever people or churches tell us, or whatever first comes into our heads.

1 John 2:27
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

The Scripture is like a word fitly spoken:

Proverbs 25:11
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

And our job is to harvest the apples of gold.