Imho, I think, as Christians who uphold the belief that the Bible is the inspired word of God, we should start putting into practice what we believe.
Many times, we evangelicals are more than guilty of throwing out Bible verses to suit our fancy, quite like how one would use Pokémon in a battle. Little or no regard is paid to the surrounding context, and subsequently the application drawn from the text may not be what the text is talking about at all!
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| Pokémon Battle |
If the Bible is truly the word of God, then there is definitely an intended message which is being communicated through the text. If there then is a intended message, then it would not do the text justice to rip sentences out of it to support whatever statements we are making, while disregarding whether our statements are in line with the message of the text or not.
We want to be working out the message from the confines of the context - how it makes sense in the paragraph, the chapter, the whole book, in the testament, across testaments.
Pokémon Theology in Action
Just recently, a friend's sister had fallen ill and an email was sent out to request that we pray for her. As the encouragement poured in, I couldn't help but notice that one of the replies said: "By His stripes, she is healed." (cf. Isa 53:5d)
Healing is needed, and so a verse with the word heal is used. Seems legit. A wild Growlithe appeared! Go, Squirtle! Squirtle used Water Gun! It's super effective!
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Now, stop and consider the immediate context of the verse - v1-3 describes a 'man of sorrows', who in v4-9 is punished on our behalf, and in v10-12 is raised (v10), glorified (v12), and makes justification for many (v11). Already the usage of the verse seems quite out of place.
Taking a closer look at verse 5:
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
This 'man of sorrows' fella is pierced and crushed for our sin, and that brought us peace. His wounds from the piercing and crushing brings us our peace, our healing, our justification. On this side of Biblical history, we know the 'man of sorrows' talked about here is Jesus, who died for our transgressions and iniquities, bringing us to peace with God - the healing we all need. It would be quite obvious now that nowhere in the text does it imply healing from illness, and it would then be erroneous to use that verse to claim healing.
Guess it's not very effective after all!
Guess it's not very effective after all!
