Omniscient: “Knowing all things.” Given this definition, I believe that this adjective is reserved for only one being…God. No one on earth past, present, or future can “know all things.” They just can’t. Having said that I want to address this idea many of us have that we must have the answer to every Biblical question that arises. I submit to you that unless you are “omniscient” you can not know every answer that the Bible presents questions for. You just can’t. I struggle with this. Because I am a pastor and Bible teacher, people will often come to me looking for answers to questions they have concerning what the Bible says about certain things or what a particular verse may mean. My pride and humanness want to give them an answer, even if I don’t really know or understand it myself. I am learning more and more to simply say: “That’s a good question, let’s see if we can figure it out together.”
It’s safe to say, that there are many topics in the Bible, and many verses that do not have a straight forward answer to the questions they present. And because of that, it takes time and study to figure it out. Also, there may be somethings that are left intentionally difficult to understand. It is entirely possible to spend your whole life studying the Bible and still not see the full truth of its text. Let me explain.
During the time of Jesus’ ministry there were two major sects of Judaism, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Both groups devoted themselves to knowing the scripture and the Law. They spent their entire lives studying it, teaching it, living it. They would memorize large sections if not all the Old Testament scripture. They knew it forward and backward. No one was more knowledgeable than they were in what the Old Testament said. Yet, when a group of Sadducees asked Jesus whose wife a woman would be who had been married to seven different brothers because each brother had died Jesus answered: …”You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29) What? How could they not understand the Scriptures when they had spent their entire lives learning it. Knowing and understanding the Scriptures was all they wanted to do and we have Jesus telling them they are mistaken, they have erred, they were wrong, they were deceived. What a blow to their egos.
Then you have the Pharisees. Again, a group of men who devoted their lives to studying, understanding, and teaching the Scriptures. They should have understood all that the Old Testament taught and pointed to about the Messiah. But somehow, when Jesus appeared on the scene they never recognized him as the Messiah they were looking for. Why? Because they had a “presupposition” about what the Messiah would be, how he would act, and what he would do and Jesus didn’t meet any of their criteria. Because of that, they missed seeing the truth of the Scripture they so diligently studied and learned.
Here’s my point…you can study the Bible your entire life, and still not know all that it presents. I recently read a devotional that encouraged the reader to pray this prayer each time before reading the Bible:
“God, give me wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Let any knowledge I gain serve to help me love You and others more, and not puff me up. Help me to see something new about You I’ve never seen before. Correct any lies I believe about You or anything I misunderstand and direct my steps according to your Word.” (Tara-Leigh Cobble; www.thebiblerecap.com)
What a humble and thoughtful approach to reading and studying God’s Word. You can’t know it all. No one can and if someone tells you that they fully understand what the Bible teaches about creation, end times, the unseen spiritual world, demons, or a host of other topics; my advice: “Proceed with great caution!” I’ve known people like this…I was like this. But here’s the deal, none of these things are easily understood, none are crystal clear. In fact, some are intentionally vague (i.e. Revelation) and many have multiple ways of approaching them. My encouragement to you is to be open to other ideas that are consistent with Scripture. Accept that there are other possibilities in the interpretation of Bible verses. God’s Word is “alive.” It will forever live, and it will forever affect people differently. I am confident that when we ask God to help us in our understanding, He will.
Well said.