You can believe in the inspiration and even inerrancy of God’s Word, but because your subjective interpretation doesn’t center on the author’s (and Author’s) intention, but on what seems right to you and the secular or church culture, the Bible isn’t really your authority. You don’t let it correct your thinking but walk away with an interpretation which conveniently supports your comfortable beliefs.

I’ve been spending some time in Psalm 1 recently and have been reminded just how important delighting and meditating on God’s Word is. Here’s how the CSB renders it (note the use of “happy” in verse one for the Hebrew asher, often translated “blessed”):

1 How happy is the one who does not
walk in the advice of the wicked
or stand in the pathway with sinners
or sit in the company of mockers!
2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction,
and he meditates on it day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams
that bears its fruit in its season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
4 The wicked are not like this;
instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

In order to delight and meditate on the law of the Lord, we must understand correctly what Scripture actually says. As people respond to my books, ask questions, and state opinions through emails and social media, I’m struck with how many say they believe the Bible, but their interpretations are so out of line with credible biblical meanings that their profession of confidence in Scripture becomes meaningless, and even dangerous. Not only is this happening more frequently today, it’s also being accepted as normal.

Historically, theological liberals denied Scripture, and everyone knew where they stood. But today many so-called evangelicals affirm their belief in Scripture, while attributing meanings to biblical texts that in fact deny what Scripture really says. Hence they “believe every word of the Bible” while actually embracing (and teaching) beliefs that utterly contradict it.

I’m not talking about mere differences within the sphere of orthodoxy, such as the debates between Calvinists and Arminians, or various interpretations for some of the most difficult problem passages or intramural squabbles about spiritual gifts or ordinances or church polity. I’m talking about people believing and confidently affirming that Scripture says what no one in the history of the church ever believed it says—or some people did say it but were easily recognized as heretics. (Universalism is just one example among many, though an important one.)

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