He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 22:37-39 HCSB
We want what we want. We want things customized to suit our needs and desires. We pick our homes we look for things like customized cabinets, closets, and so on. When we travel, we choose hotels by their amenities. When we buy cars, we consider the options offered.
We customize food orders at our favorite restaurants. Let’s face it we like to customize to get just what we want.
We can’t do this with God’s word. We can’t customize our relationship with Jesus by picking and choosing what commandments we will obey. We can’t pick those we like and omit those we don’t. We can’t twist or “customize” God’s word to make it say what we want it to say.
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, His response was today’s Scripture passage. God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses as a set of rules for us to live by. Numerous other Scripture passages serve as a set of instructions on how to have a good marriage, how to raise children, how to handle relationships at work and the list goes on and on.
The term hermeneutics refers to the interpretation specifically of the Bible as we are using it here today. When we study the Bible in an attempt to get a deeper understanding of its meaning, we have two ways to go about it. If you guessed the right way and the wrong way, you guessed correctly.
The right way is using exegesis. This means we read the text in Scripture through the lens of the original context to determine its meaning or intent. Studying its context is very important.
The wrong way to study the Bible is using eisegesis. When we study the Bible using eisegesis, we study it with a preconceived notion, and we read that into the text.
For example, let’s use Romans 8:28 which says, “All things work for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”
If I read it and allow the text itself to determine what it means. It tells me God will work all things out for the good no matter how bad they may seem, but it’s a conditional promise. It’s not for everyone. God will do His part if we do our part.
God commands us to love Him with all our hearts, all our soul, and all our mind. If we love God in this way, we will want to do what He calls us to do. We will have a servant’s heart and want to serve Him.
So, if we love the Lord with all we’ve got and serve Him, He will work all things out for our good.
If you read this verse believing that God works all things out for the good of everyone, you miss its interpretation altogether. That’s not what it says.
We live in a world, where many people are twisting God’s word to fit their particular situation. They twist it to try to justify their sin. We even find churches and pastors who manipulate the Scriptures to tell us our sin is okay. But it’s not.
We get into some dangerous territory when we attempt to make God’s word fit our way of living.
I encourage you to study your Bible exegetically. Get a good study Bible. Check different commentaries. Attend Bible studies so you can get a good understanding of God’s word. Attend a good Bible-teaching church where you can attend Sunday School and the pastor speaks the truth from God’s word.
The Bible has numerous passages that tell us not to be deceived. If we don’t study God’s word and get a good understanding of what it says and means, we are easily deceived.
We cannot customize God’s word to fit how we live, but we must customize how we live to line up with God’s word.
Have a great day!
.