TYPE OF STATEMENTS IN THE BIBLE PART 3
IV. STATEMENTS IN WHICH SOMETHING IS EXPRESSED IN ABSOLUTE TERMS BUT IS MEANT TO BE UNDERSTOOD IN RELATIVE TERMS
(1 Sam 15:22 NIV) But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
(1 Sam 15:23 NIV) For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king."
(Psa 51:16 NIV) You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
(Psa 51:17 NIV) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
(Hosea 6:6 NIV) For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
(1 Cor 1:17 NIV) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel??not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
(John 15:16 NIV) You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit??fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
(Deu 5:2 NIV) The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.
(Deu 5:3 NIV) It was not with our fathers that the LORD made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today.
(Jer 7:22 NIV) For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices,
(Jer 7:23 NIV) but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.
(1 Cor 9:9 NIV) For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is concerned?
(1 Cor 9:10 NIV) Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.
(Phil 2:4 NIV) Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
(1 John 3:18 NIV) Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
(1 Pet 3:3 NIV) Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.
(1 Pet 3:4 NIV) Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
(Luke 14:26 NIV) "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters??yes, even his own life??he cannot be my disciple.
(Eph 5:25 NIV) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
Conclusion from above two passages:
A person must so love Jesus Christ that, when his love for other human beings is compared to his love for Christ, his love for other human beings will seem like hate.
(Rom 9:13 NIV) Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
(Exo 16:2 NIV) In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
(Exo 16:8 NIV) Moses also said, "You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD."
(2 Sam 12:7 NIV) Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ’I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
(2 Sam 12:8 NIV) I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.
(2 Sam 12:9 NIV) Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
(2 Sam 12:10 NIV) Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
(2 Sam 12:11 NIV) "This is what the LORD says: ’Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight.
(2 Sam 12:12 NIV) You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’"
(2 Sam 12:13 NIV) Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
(2 Sam 12:14 NIV) But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die."
(Psa 51:4 NIV) Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
(Acts 5:1 NIV) Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.
(Acts 5:2 NIV) With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
(Acts 5:3 NIV) Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?
(Acts 5:4 NIV) Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."
Conclusion from above passages:
The consequences of sin against other people are Anothing@ compared to the consequences of that same sin against God.
(John 7:16 NIV) Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.
(John 7:17 NIV) If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.
V. GENERAL STATEMENTS OR GENERALIZATIONS WHICH DO NOT ENCOMPASS WITHING THEMSELVES THE WHOLE WILL OF GOD CONCERNING THE MATTER UNDER DISCUSSION
We must consider such statements in light of the balances provided by the immediate context of the passage, by the greater context of all of Scripture, and by the whole context of the will of God.
(Exo 20:12 NIV) "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
(Deu 5:33 NIV) Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.
(Deu 11:18 NIV) Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
(Deu 11:19 NIV) Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
(Deu 11:20 NIV) Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,
(Deu 11:21 NIV) so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
(1 Ki 3:14 NIV) And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life."
(Job 5:17 NIV) "Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
(Job 5:18 NIV) For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal.
(Job 5:19 NIV) From six calamities he will rescue you; in seven no harm will befall you.
(Job 5:20 NIV) In famine he will ransom you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword.
(Job 5:21 NIV) You will be protected from the lash of the tongue, and need not fear when destruction comes.
(Job 42:17 NIV) And so he died, old and full of years.
(Prov 3:1 NIV) My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart,
(Prov 3:2 NIV) for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.
(Prov 10:27 NIV) The fear of the LORD adds length to life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.
(Isa 65:17 NIV) "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
(Isa 65:18 NIV) But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.
(Isa 65:19 NIV) I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.
(Isa 65:20 NIV) "Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.
(Isa 65:21 NIV) They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
(Isa 65:22 NIV) No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands.
(Isa 65:23 NIV) They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.
(Isa 65:24 NIV) Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.
(Isa 65:25 NIV) The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the LORD.
(1 Pet 3:8 NIV) Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.
(1 Pet 3:9 NIV) Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
(1 Pet 3:10 NIV) For, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.
(1 Pet 3:11 NIV) He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.
(1 Pet 3:12 NIV) For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."
(1 Pet 3:13 NIV) Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?
(1 Pet 3:14 NIV) But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear ; do not be frightened."
(1 Pet 3:15 NIV) But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
(1 Pet 3:16 NIV) keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
(1 Pet 3:17 NIV) It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
(1 Pet 3:18 NIV) For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,
(James 1:2 NIV) Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
(James 1:3 NIV) because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
(James 1:4 NIV) Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
(James 5:10 NIV) Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
(James 5:11 NIV) As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
(James 5:12 NIV) Above all, my brothers, do not swear??not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned.
(James 5:13 NIV) Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
(James 5:14 NIV) Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
(James 5:15 NIV) And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
(James 5:16 NIV) Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
(James 5:17 NIV) Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
(James 5:18 NIV) Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
(Psa 91:1 NIV) He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
(Psa 91:2 NIV) I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
(Psa 91:3 NIV) Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.
(Psa 91:4 NIV) He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
(Psa 91:5 NIV) You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
(Psa 91:6 NIV) nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
(Psa 91:7 NIV) A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
(Psa 91:8 NIV) You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
(Psa 91:9 NIV) If you make the Most High your dwelling?? even the LORD, who is my refuge??
(Psa 91:10 NIV) then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.
(Psa 91:11 NIV) For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
(Psa 91:12 NIV) they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
(Psa 91:13 NIV) You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
(Psa 91:14 NIV) "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
(Psa 91:15 NIV) He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
(Psa 91:16 NIV) With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."
(Mat 20:1 NIV) "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard.
(Mat 20:2 NIV) He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
(Mat 20:3 NIV) "About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.
(Mat 20:4 NIV) He told them, ’You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’
(Mat 20:5 NIV) So they went. "He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing.
(Mat 20:6 NIV) About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ’Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
(Mat 20:7 NIV) "’Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. "He said to them, ’You also go and work in my vineyard.’
(Mat 20:8 NIV) "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ’Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
(Mat 20:9 NIV) "The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.
(Mat 20:10 NIV) So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.
(Mat 20:11 NIV) When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.
(Mat 20:12 NIV) ’These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ’and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
(Mat 20:13 NIV) "But he answered one of them, ’Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?
(Mat 20:14 NIV) Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you.
(Mat 20:15 NIV) Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
(Mat 20:16 NIV) "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."
(Mat 7:1 NIV) "Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
(Mat 7:2 NIV) For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
(Mat 7:3 NIV) "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
(Mat 7:4 NIV) How can you say to your brother, ’Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?
(Mat 7:5 NIV) You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
(Mat 7:6 NIV) "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
VI. PROVERBS, WHICH ARE OFTEN GENERALIZATIONS AND THEREFORE A PARTICULAR TYPE OF THE FIFTH KIND OF STATEMENT
(Prov 18:22 NIV) He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.
(Prov 22:16 NIV) He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich??both come to poverty.
(Prov 23:14 NIV) Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death.
VII. STATEMENTS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE WRITTEN UNDER DIVINE INSPIRATION
We must recognize that not all people have the same experiences. The fact that my experience is not identical to that of a particular Biblical writer does not mean that the Scriptures are invalidated by my different experience.
(Psa 37:25 NIV) I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.
VIII. POETIC STATEMENTS WHICH EMPHASIZE ONE ASPECT OF A SITUATION, OR WHICH EXPRESS THINGS IN A FIGURE OF SPEECH WHICH IS NOT TO BE UNDERSTOOD LITERALLY, OR WHICH EXPRESS THINGS WITH DELIBERATE HYPERBOLE
(Psa 73:2 NIV) But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.
(Psa 73:3 NIV) For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
(Psa 73:4 NIV) They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.
(Psa 73:5 NIV) They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.
(Psa 73:6 NIV) Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.
(Psa 73:7 NIV) From their callous hearts comes iniquity ; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.
(Psa 73:8 NIV) They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression.
(Psa 73:9 NIV) Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.
(Psa 73:10 NIV) Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.
(Psa 73:11 NIV) They say, "How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?"
(Psa 73:12 NIV) This is what the wicked are like?? always carefree, they increase in wealth.
(Psa 73:13 NIV) Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
(Psa 73:14 NIV) All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning.
(Psa 73:15 NIV) If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed your children.
(Psa 73:1 NIV) A psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
(Psa 73:16 NIV) When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me
(Psa 73:17 NIV) till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.
(Psa 73:18 NIV) Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin.
(Psa 73:19 NIV) How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!
(Psa 73:20 NIV) As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.
(Psa 73:21 NIV) When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
(Psa 73:22 NIV) I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.
(Psa 73:23 NIV) Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
(Psa 73:24 NIV) You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
(Psa 73:25 NIV) Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
(Psa 73:26 NIV) My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
(Psa 73:27 NIV) Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
(Psa 73:28 NIV) But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.
IX. PROSE STATEMENTS WHICH CONTAIN POETIC EXPRESSIONS SIMILAR TO THOSE IN SECTION VIII ABOVE
(Mat 5:27 NIV) "You have heard that it was said, ’Do not commit adultery.’
(Mat 5:28 NIV) But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
(Mat 5:29 NIV) If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
(Mat 5:30 NIV) And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
X. THEOLOGICALLY ABSOLUTE STATEMENTS WHICH IN THEMSELVES DO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE WHOLE WILL OF GOD CONCERNING THE MATTER UNDER DISCUSSION
(Rom 10:9 NIV) That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
(Acts 16:31 NIV) They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved??you and your household."
(Acts 2:21 NIV) And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
(Acts 2:38 NIV) Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
(Acts 2:39 NIV) The promise is for you and your children and for all who are
far off??for all whom the Lord our God will call."
How do you understand Acts 16:31? According to your understanding, what type of statement is it? How else can this verse be understood?
