Day 3: Textual Temptation

What we do with Scriptures matters.  The Bible can either be a tool that brings life, or left in the wrong hands it can bring chaos, disorder, and destruction.  How do we do the former without falling prey to the latter.  First, we must understand there are some textual temptations.  Interpretation can be a tricky process.  Being aware of the ways in which this process can be corrupted is key to avoiding certain mistakes.  There are three common temptations that we can fall prey to when reading the Bible.  We must be aware of these temptations and how quickly they can creep into our lives.

Temptation #1:  Making it into something it’s not.
Too often when we head to the text of Scripture, we go looking for something.   We want it to tell us something.  Optimally, we would really like it to tell us what we are already thinking.  Stop right there, you know it’s true.  Too often we want the Bible to simply validate what we are feeling or what we already believe.  In fact, we can become so committed to “our interpretation” of the Bible that we will exercise great flexibility or even outright corruption to make it say something it really doesn’t.  How do I know when this is happening?  Is my interpretation purely self-serving?  If it is…you’ve probably broken trust with God, refusing the spiritual nutrients He offers through the text, and provided yourself your own meal from the Bible.

What’s the remedy?  Humility and trust are essential components of good biblical interpretation.  The story of God is often disruptive.  It doesn’t often pander to self-interest.  Instead, it often calls us to die to self-interest and focus more on our love for God and for others.  It’s not without its comforting and affirming moments, however, those moments are mixed with conviction and challenge.  We must wait on God to give us what we need when we need it instead of making it into something that it’s not.

Temptation #2:  A Tool to Show-Off
Let me say this first off, “You will not be saved by how much you know but by WHO you know.”  This is huge.  We have a propensity toward pride and arrogance.  We also have a tendency to believe that the more I know the better or more impressive that makes me.  I’ve met lots of Christians through the years who are eager to tell or show others just how much they know about the Bible or how much of the Bible they have memorized.  It’s almost as if Biblical literacy gives them some form of status.  When this happens, the Bible becomes an end in of itself.  How much we know quickly trumps how well we know the One about which the Bible is written.  Often left completely off the table is how much what we know transforms us (go back to yesterday if you’ve forgotten this point).  Pompous arrogance and spiritual elitism are the order of the day.

The remedy of this temptation is responsibility.  When we take the journey into Scripture, we’ve been entrusted with the most amazing story of God’s power, love, grace, and redemption known to man.  God has entrusted us, not for the purposes of inflaming out egos, but to carry its message out into the world.  We do this first through the transformed lives we live, lives shaped by the character of Christ.  Second, we respond to this responsibility by offering what we learn and discover in the Word to the benefit, the building up, and the blessing of others.  Learning Scripture isn’t about standing over others with knowledge, but coming underneath others and lifting them up through the wisdom of the Scriptures.

Temptation #3:  When it gives us power over others.
The Bible in the wrong hands can destroy others.  I know, I know I said that above.  What do I mean?  Throughout history, and more personally, sometimes in our homes, the Bible is used as a tool in the hands of the powerful.  Our knowledge of the text laid aside our role or position in the church or in our home can turn the Bible into a tool to manipulate, control, guilt, or bind people.  We use various (and often disconnected) verses to tell those weaker, more vulnerable, and less protected than we are what they need to be doing and how they need to be doing it.  There are more instances of this than we’d care to admit.  Often, men use the Bible to put their women “in their place.”  There have been times when people “spiritual power trip” in their homes or in church and demand that people cower under their authority.  A little Bible knowledge can make a person in to a dominating jerk.

The remedy for this temptation is kenosis.  That’s a Greek word if you didn’t know it.  The word literally means to be “emptied out or poured out.”  One of the best examples of this word happens in Philippians 2.  Read verses 1-8.  What did you see there?  It’s hard to have the same attitude which was also in Jesus while attempting to maintain a posture of controlling power.  Only as we divest ourselves of power and take up the towel of servanthood are we prepared to grapple with Scripture in a faithful manner.  

Wait that sounds familiar…
Today I want you to take some time to read Luke 3 through 4:13 (Don’t get lost in the who’s daddy is who’s daddy – genealogy section).  I want you to read these passages in light of what you’ve just learned.  There are some powerful correlations here.

1.) How does John the Baptist’s sermon correlate with the power of disruption?  Do you think his speech was catering to self-interest?  What might the response of the listeners have been?
2.) What do you think about Jesus’ baptism?  Think about the power of true God affirmation.
3.) Look at temptations of Jesus and ask yourself, “How do His temptations correlate with the temptations we mentioned above?  How did Jesus fend off those temptations?”