Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

All of us have heard claims about things the “Bible says” that we do not find in the Bible. Some of these claims are just plain false, while others are likewise untrue but have the advantage of being humorous. The character of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof was constantly spouting things that supposedly “the good book says,” which were comically indicative of a man of faith who was not biblically literate:

Tevye:
As the good book says, when a poor man eats a chicken, one of them is sick.

Mendel:
Where does the book say that?

Tevye:
Well, it doesn’t say that exactly, but somewhere there is something about a chicken.

In another exchange, Tevye managed to name Biblical characters and quoted Biblical phrases but didn’t seem to be able to match the quote to the correct persons:

Tevye:
As Abraham said, “I am a stranger in a strange land…”

Rabbi’s Son:
Moses said that.

Tevye:
Ah. Well, as King David said, “I am slow of speech, and slow of tongue.”

Rabbi’s Son:
That was also Moses.

Tevye:
For a man who was slow of speech he talked a lot.

Quite funny, yet Tevye’s conclusion was false because the passages were taken out of their rightful context. It also demonstrates the ease with which someone may think they have biblical knowledge when they do not.

In our lives, we’ve sometimes heard such things as “The Bible says ‘God helps those who help themselves.’” This may have been said so often it seems like it must be in there somewhere. But, as hard as it may be to believe, it is actually nowhere to be found in the text of the Bible. In fact, the Scriptures teach the opposite. God cares for those who are not capable of helping themselves, which, as it happens, is all of us. Another popular text is, “God will never give you more than you can bear.” Again, we just don’t find it in God’s holy writ. The closest text maybe 1 Corinthians 10:13. As it happens, in context, the Apostle Paul is writing about temptation and sexual immorality, not difficulties in general. It will help if we back up from verse thirteen to the beginning of the chapter to get the meaning.

In 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, the Apostle Paul cites the Nation of Israel, who had been “baptized into Moses,” as examples of the engagement of the people of God in idolatry and sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 10:7-8) as well as the resulting judgment (1 Corinthians 10:9-10). Paul applies this to the Corinthians because some in the church there were engaging in idolatry and sexual immorality. He recited this history as examples and warnings and pointed out that this course of action didn’t work out so well for The Nation of Israel – and won’t work out well for them either:

Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12)

There were many idols to be worshiped and temple prostitutes enticing the Corinthian believers to partake, but Paul doesn’t leave the believers with no resources to combat the temptations that were all around them in Corinth. He wrote:

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.  (1 Corinthians 10:13-14)

Notice that Paul does not say God will remove the temptation – God would have to eliminate the city to do that – nor the desire fueled by the temptation. The tools He provides are fleeing and escaping temptation, which He strengthens us to do. Paul gives young Timothy the same counsel:

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. (2 Timothy 2:22)

The lack of understanding of the text misleads beleaguered believers. Progressives and those who advocate for the free practice of sexual immorality set up a false defense for these practices, asserting that since God doesn’t remove the desire and temptation, He must be okay with people fulfilling their forbidden desire. They are unwilling to recognize or admit God’s provision of the believer’s ability to escape temptation rather than submitting to it. As it turns out, God is not okay with and doesn’t allow or encourage homosexuality, fornication, or other forms of sexual immorality or idolatry. His instructions are actually pretty clear in these cases – RUN!

Some misunderstand or misuse the Scripture, which says, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13). Of course, that text is in there all right, but again, the context is important. The Apostle Paul penned these words while he was in prison. He wasn’t saying he had the God-given ability to break down the bars and escape. He was not even complaining about his situation but explains how his experiences of suffering brought him to a very different conclusion than arrived at by those lifting the passage out of context:

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. (emphasis ours) I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. (Philippians 4:11-12a)

After laying out the various very difficult circumstances he had gone through in his life, he shared the “secret” of his contentment:

In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:12b-13)

He can do all of these things, both easy and difficult, having plenty and hunger through Christ Who gives him the strength to be content. Paul’s focus was on Christ, not his circumstances. After sharing his secret, he encourages the Philippians with:

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

Was it always easy for Paul to apply this truth in his own life? No. In 2 Corinthians, Paul points out that he had struggled greatly and, at times, had even felt like giving up:

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. (2 Corinthians 1:8-9a)

His situation sounds pretty bleak. How did he get beyond his grievous personal struggles? What was his way out? The answer is not a what but Who. Paul pointed to his “way out” in Philippians and makes it even clearer here in 2 Corinthians:

But that [the above suffering they underwent] was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. (2 Corinthians 1:9b-10)

The reason for the overwhelming distress was to make them rely on God, not on themselves. Paul revisits this again in 2 Corinthians 12:7- 10, where Paul had asked God to remove an unspecified “thorn in the flesh,” which God nevertheless allowed to remain to prevent Paul from becoming conceited and to glorify God:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (1 Corinthians 12:9-10)

Often Scripture is misused, twisted, distorted, and taken out of context with the result that much of the Body of Christ is damaged and distracted from Christ, their only true source of strength. Some are leaving the faith (deconstructing) because they are rejecting a false view of God’s deliverance. How many of us are weak in the face of trials and/or temptations? Pretty much all of us! The person who has been taught and believes that we will have the power in ourselves to overcome all trials in our own strength is bound to be horribly disillusioned. We must rely on God’s strength to give us contentment and have complete reliance on God in the face of trials. The false view should be rejected and replaced with the biblical view.

Why do Christians embrace the Enneagram, New Apostolic Reformation, Contemplative Prayer, and sundry other false teachings and mystical practices? They have little sound understanding of the word of God. The Bible isn’t a mystical book but a spiritual book, and the main things we need to know and understand are plain and understandable. As the late Dr. Norman Geisler would often say, “The main things are the plain things, and the plain things are the main things.”

Oh, for a life of ease and immense personal power! However lovely that may sound, most of us won’t find those things to rely on in our life’s journey. In this life, we will sometimes face very difficult temptations, and from those, we are told not to consider our options but to RUN! We may also face some awful circumstances we cannot change and cannot run from, which will call for seeking contentment in the Lord’s grace. This is the life of faith, to which Christians are called.Ω

© 2024, Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc. All rights reserved. Excerpts and links may be used if full and clear credit is given with specific direction to the original content.