God is not telling any of us to do these kinds of things with his word. He has already told all of us in His word that we must not alter or add to it (Rev 22:18-19). The Bible is the sufficient word of God. He has spoken. We pastors need to stop using the pulpit to hypnotize and mesmerize our audience with our supposed private, privileged phone conversations with heaven. These kinds of things are unsound teachings which titans of the faith throughout church history did not affirm. Our generation needs to turn back to exegetical accuracy and historical fidelity by turning away from these things.

Over the past few weeks noise has arisen over the recent Christmas Eve service preached by pastor Perry Noble. Among other things, he performed a sweeping edit of the ten commandments in Exodus 20 during the sermon.

His justification for doing so was three-fold. God spoke to him, telling him to preach a message in which he edited each of the commandments, then he received affirmation from fellow-staff to do so, and a Jewish friend told him that there is no word in Hebrew for, “command.” The claim is made that instead of “Ten Commandments that you have to keep…they’re actually ten promises that you can receive when you say, ‘Yes,’ to Jesus.”

So, for example, the first commandment, which says, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exod 20:3), is better understood as, “You do not have to live in constant disappointment anymore.” As a sidenote, the commandments are not promises to which we say, “Yes,” but standards by which we are shown to be condemned so that we would see and sorrow over our inability to render ourselves acceptable to holy God, repent, and embrace the Person and finished work of Jesus Christ for acceptable righteousness.

So, the errors here are significant. First, this is a remarkable edit and jumbling of Scripture (which others have sufficiently addressed). But there are some other issues which merit consideration, especially for those of us who stand behind a pulpit each week.

One issue here is the sacredness of the pulpit. By pulpit, I do not mean a physical stand which sits in a church, but the spiritual act of preaching the Bible. Biblical preaching is to be a sacred endeavor, because of the sacredness both of the office of pastor and the task of preaching. Further, the sacredness is not ourselves, but the God we represent, the God for whom we speak, and the word of God from which we preach. In that sense the pulpit carries with it a sacredness.

Consequently, here are some considerations for the sacredness of the Christian pulpit:

1. The pulpit is too sacred of a place to be making edits on the word of God.

The church of the living God is “the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15). A pillar serves one function: to continually sit there and lift up something without altering or wavering. Preaching, then, is instituted by God to do just that. The pulpit serves as that unwavering truth-pillar through submitted and surrendered expositional preaching.

When we come at Scripture with the red pencil, or in any other way, we risk functioning, not as the pillar, but the editor of the truth. At that point, we are no longer a pillar. We are more like a self-appointed sculptor.

God has summoned preachers to the pulpit for one task: not to edit his word, but exposit it; not to alter the truth, but announce it (cf. 2 Tim 4:2).

Now, some might comment here, “OK, what’s the major deal? It’s just a few minor edits. Several other helpful things were said.” God’s desire for the pulpit is to do something more helpful than say some helpful things now and then, but that, on every occasion, we accurately exposit Scripture without revision or edit (cf. 2 Tim 2:15).

If we are revising his word then, by default, we are opening the door to several hazards.

First, we open the door to the idea that Scripture is insufficient. If it needs such revisions, then it is lacking.

Second, we open the door to the idea that God has not completely spoken. If the Lord is telling us to edit the ten commandments, then, perhaps, he will tell us to do the same with other portions of Scripture. Perhaps more verses are needed in Exodus or elsewhere. Perhaps a 67^thbook is needed.

Third, and similarly, perhaps God needs us to upgrade his word. If that’s the case, hopefully we have some means by which we can determine the what and how of doing so.

Fourth, when we edit God’s word, we influence people away from Spirit-filling and Sprit-leading. The more we expose people to correctly-interpreted Scripture, the more we are used to set them up for the true power of the Holy Spirit (cf. Col 3:16, Eph 5:18). Thus, revising Scripture subjects people to something other than the power of his filling and leading. God’s words are spirit and life (John 6:63); words of eternal life (John 6:68). Our words are not. Especially not our words used to supplant God’s. And adjudicating this is not by numbers or decisions, but faithfulness to the word.

Fifth, we open the door to putting Scripture on the judgment seat. Editing Scripture fundamentally is an act of sitting in judgment over Scripture when the opposite should be the case.

Finally, if we use the pulpit as a time for scriptural revision, then we are lowering the authority of God and elevating our own. Sola scriptura veers more towards interdum scriptura.

If we are still wondering what the big deal is, let’s recall God’s concluding words for humanity:

“I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book” (Rev 22:18-19).

2. The pulpit is too sacred of a place for personal agenda.

These kinds of approaches to exposition venture away from biblical preaching and towards personal ranting. I, personally, have ventured into this error at times. As preachers, we have to be self-controlled in this area. Our task is far too sacred.

From the methods of many contemporary pastors, one might suppose that the pulpit is about agenda-enthronement. But this is not why God qualifies men for pastoring and ordains them for preaching. If we’re not careful, the whole package; the audience (perhaps a big one), the popularity, the accolades, the spotlight; it can become about us. It’s alluring. We lasso those moments on stage for the little Mr. Rant-and-Rave inside us. He’s always looking for the opportunity. But its best for him to be mortified, not enthroned.

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