GNATS AND CAMELS AND BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION
Let’s start off with a thought question. Think about this:
Agree or Disagree: Some parts of the Bible are more important than others.
Be careful. I’m not asking this question:
Agree or Disagree: Some parts of the Bible are unimportant.
At first, we might react negatively to the first statement. But I think that happens because we confuse the first question with the second one. No human being has the right to say that part of the Bible is unimportant. It may not be interesting to us, it may not be relevant to topics we are discussing, but we cannot say that it’s not important.
Yet, it’s important to see that not every passage of scripture is as important as every other passage. For example, look at these two passages:
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 11:12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah.
I think that it’s obvious that a passage that tells us about the identity of our Creator is more important than a passage that contains a genealogy.
OK, here’s another one:
Agree or Disagree: Some commandments in the Bible are more important than others.
Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
This one is easy because Jesus said that some matters of the law were more important than others. So it’s obvious that some commandments are more important than others. We mustn’t forget that the other commandments are important, for Jesus says you should have done the one without neglecting the other. But we should focus on the camels not on the gnats.
So our task, as children of God who want to do what God wants, our task is to learn to determine what things are more important than others.
Some might say that this is easy, that we follow the commands in the New Testament, not those in the Old Testament. I don’t fully agree with that statement, because I know that the Bible of the early church was the Old Testament and that when Paul tells Timothy that all scripture is inspired and is useful for teaching, he’s talking directly about the Old Testament, the scriptures that Timothy had known from his youth. However, we do have to admit that the direct teaching for the church is contained in the New Testament, so when I look for commands to be obeyed, I look first to the New Testament. But even then, we have to learn to distinguish the camels from the gnats. Take this command, for instance:
II Tim. 4:13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.
Does anyone here think that we need to make a trip to Troas to get Paul’s belongings? Of course not. That’s an easy one. But they’re not all that easy. How do we know what are the weightier matters, how do we know which are the commandments that are most important?
One thing that helps me is to look at the frequency with which the Bible talks about something. The New Testament contains the teaching of the apostles. It shows us what they talked about when they taught the young Christians in the early church. That’s one reason that I have no problem in taking a strong stand on baptism. Do you realize that almost every writer in the New Testament makes a direct reference to baptism? Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter and Paul all make direct references to baptism. It’s not a side issue; it’s something that the Bible talks about consistently. It’s a camel.
In the same way, I’m not too worried about the subject of women having to wear veils in church. It’s only mentioned in one passage, in I Corinthians, and seems to be addressing a specific situation in the Corinthian church. Within the totality of the New Testament teaching, it’s a gnat. It’s certainly no camel.
There’s also another way to find some of the truly important topics. And this way is much easier. We can find some of the things that are of first importance because the Bible itself tells us they are more important! Just as Jesus said that justice, mercy and faithfulness are the more important matters of the law, in the same way the Bible identifies other things that are important for us. Let’s look at two areas:
(1) Most important commandments. This is an obviously important area. What are the most important commands for us? Let’s let Jesus tell us.
Mark 12:28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
Mark 12:29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Jesus says that the most important commandments have to do with love: love for God and love for our neighbor. And just so that we understand that, the apostles repeated the same message. Look at what Paul said in Romans 13:
Rom. 13:9 The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Paul says that love is the fulfillment of the law. And look at what John says:
1John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Love is definitely a camel. It’s how we know if we are of God or not. We can keep all the rules and regulations that we want, but if we don’t do it in love it’s all pretty meaningless. It’s worthless. We talked last Sunday morning about the ten lepers that were healed by Jesus. 9 of them did exactly what the Law commanded and did exactly what Jesus told them to do. But they didn’t come back and thank Jesus, and that was the RIGHT thing to do. They had the rules, but not the love.
If we truly love God, we will do what he wants. Everything else will fall into place. And if we truly love our neighbor, if we truly love our brothers, we won’t do anything to hurt them. We will put their interests before our own. You want to get rid of the doctrinal problems in the church, of the bickering and the divisions? Love is the answer.
So if we want to know which are the most important commands, we have it pretty clearly: Love God. Love your neighbor.
Let’s look at another area.
(2) Things of first importance. Let’s read what Paul says in I Corinthians 15.
1Cor. 15:1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
1Cor. 15:3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
What did Paul identify as the things of first importance? The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus and our relationship to Him. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Our most important job is to preach Jesus. Not the church. Not doctrine. Jesus. And not just Jesus. Jesus as Savior and Lord, Jesus crucified, buried and raised from the dead. That’s what has to be at the forefront of what we teach. Let people say, “That must be the church of Christ because they’re always talking about Christ.” Then it won’t matter what it says on the sign out front. People will know whose church we are.
Recognize that in the Bible, some things are more important than others. Here’s where you start. These are the basics. We work out the details from here, but if we don’t have these right, nothing else will work. We’ll strain out gnats and swallow camels.
We need to love God. With all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
We have to love our neighbor. As ourselves.
And we have to respond to the Lord’s gospel.
If you haven’t put your faith in the saving acts of Jesus, let me show you how. Let me show you how to connect to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Let’s look at what Paul said in Romans 6:
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
We identify ourselves with the death, burial and resurrection in our baptism. Does this mean that baptism saves us by itself? Of course not. Is baptism a work that helps us earn our salvation? No. Baptism is not a work. It’s one of the most passive things you’ll ever do in your life. Is baptism all that matters? No. We just saw that you can’t be God’s if you don’t love your brother. Lack of love can negate all the benefits that baptism brings. Yet, in the whole plan of God, baptism is definitely a camel.
(Invitation)
