Rightly Dividing (Interpreting) the Word, Part III
In studying the Koran a reader of AGC … wrote to me that it is good to
know the historical, linguistic and theological context to understand the Koran. I would not disagree with this statement. The same is true of the Holy Scripture. One more thing is important for the understanding of the Holy Scriptures. That is the Holy Spirit. He is the one who wrote it through men of old and His enlightenment is needed to understand it.THE KORAN
Consider a passage of history from the Koran which shows god created the universe in six days.
“It was god who in six days created the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them, and then ascended the throne (1).”
The linguistics of Arabic is beyond my capability. I am confined to English and trust that the translator knew what he was doing when translating from Arabic to English. In the next passage a linguistic difference is found concerning creation versus one solid mass.
“Are the disbelievers unaware that the heavens and the earth were but one solid mass which We tore asunder, and that We made every living thing from water (2)?”
In the first passage it is god, himself, who created. In the second passage it is god with the help of others who tore apart a solid mass which they then used to form the heavens and the earth. Nothing is told of the creation of the solid mass. Did it take six days to make? Did it eternally exist with god? Was it created first? To make the two passages harmonize with each other one would have to say that god first made a solid mass which he and others then broke apart to become the earth, sun, planets, and stars in space. Somewhere in the six days, he made water from which he made living creatures to populate the earth with life. Someone else may come up with a better explanation but the parameters are: six days, one god with helpers, a rock, and all that is created.
Theologically, there is one god. Yet, there are others who are given a god like status; namely Gabriel, Michael, and possibly others. Consider the following passages.
“God has said: ‘You shall not serve two gods, for He is but one God. Fear none but Me’ (3).”
“We created you: will you not believe then in Our power (4)?”
“Say: ‘Whoever is an enemy of Gabriel’ (who has by God’s grace revealed to you (Muhammad) the Koran as a guide and joyful tidings for the faithful, confirming previous scriptures) ‘whoever is an enemy of God, His angles, or His apostles, or of Gabriel or Michael, will surely find that God is the enemy of the unbelievers’(5).”
The term we created means that god alone is not the creator. We tore apart the rock to make earth and heaven means that god did not create by himself.
THE HOLY BIBLE
“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it (6).”
The Holy Scripture has some of the same history in it as the Koran. Creation in six days, but God rested on the seventh day. The Holy Bible starts with the beginning. Before this there was no time or universe. Only God and the angels who were created before the beginning for they sang for joy at the creation and observed what God did (7). In the first chapter of Genesis and the beginning of chapter two God logs a chronicle of His daily activities for seven days (8). He started with nothing to create all that is observed today.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was with out form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters (9).”
When God created heaven He created the space to put the universe in. Today the observable universe is 15 billion light years in radius. This is the space with nothing in it except the earth when God created it in verse one. When the earth was in its raw state in verse two the land mass was under water. Without form meant the water was moving changing the shape of the earth. Void meant that nothing was on the earth yet. The Spirit of God was moving on the face of the waters waiting for the next command of God.
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day (10).”
God defines the term of day to mean an evening and morning which is one rotation of the earth. The source of light must have been fixed to provide the oscillating of night and day. It was on day four that the sun was created (11).
Linguistically there are many helps on understanding the Hebrew. Strong’s Concordance of the Bible is one such help. It has every Hebrew and Greek word in the Bible listed and defined from the original language. The most important word in Genesis chapter one of course is God. God happens to be a plural word. Long before I knew anything about Hebrew I knew God was plural from the English. I knew this from the context in Genesis 1:26 and Genesis 3:22.
“And God said, Let Us make man in our image, after Our likeness: … (11).”
“And the Lord God said, Behold the man is become as one of Us, … (12).”
The Us, Our, and one of Us is not God referring to Himself and the angles but rather the three Persons of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Hebrew word translated God from the Hebrew is Elohim which is a plural word and takes a singular verb. God is still one even though He is plural. Do you find this confusing double talk? Consider this; a husband and wife is one flesh even though they are two individuals. God says so (13).
This plurality of the one God is basic theology and shown else where in scripture and is a basic truth in Christianity. The following passage shows the plurality and oneness.
“Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God (14).”
Notice who is speaking: The Lord the King of Israel. This is God the Father. Also speaking is his redeemer the Lord of hosts. This is God the Son before He took on flesh and was called Jesus.
Together they say “I am”, ”me”, and beside me there is no God.
To understand Holy Scripture requires enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. Louis Sperry Chafer, D.D., Litt.D., Th.D. President and Professor of Systematic Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary writes in the preface to his eight volume work on Systematic Theology:
“No substitute will ever be found for the knowledge of the Word of God. That Word alone deals with things eternal and infinite and it alone has power to convert the soul and to develop a God-honoring spiritual life. There is a limitless yet hidden spiritual content within the Bible which contributes much to its supernatural character. This spiritual content is never discerned by the natural, or unregenerate man (I Cor. 2:14), even though he has attained to the highest degree of learning or ecclesiastical authority. The natural capacities of the human mind do not function in the realm of spiritual things. The divine message is presented “not in the works which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (I Cor. 2:13), and the Spirit has been given to the regenerate that they might “know the things that are freely given to us of God.” When, on the ground of scholarship, unregenerate men have been permitted to dictate to the church what she shall believe, she has descended from her supernatural character to the level of a human institution, and it is safe to conclude that men are unregenerate who deny the only ground upon which a soul may be saved.”
Acquiring the knowledge of the spiritual content of the Bible is a life task. The great preachers who have moved the hearts of men with divine power have been saturated with Bible truths secured through a first-hand, daily study of its text. General facts of human learning may be acquired by the usual means, but spiritual truths are apprehended only as taught to the individual heart by the Spirit (15).”
Perhaps you would like God to teach you by His Spirit. It begins by receiving Jesus as your Savior. You do this by repenting of your sins and receiving Jesus into your heart. A sample payer you can pray is: Lord Jesus Christ forgive me of my sin and come into my heart.
References
1. The Koran, Page 291 Paragraph 32:4
2. The Koran, Page 229 Paragraph 21:28
3. The Koran, Page 190 Paragraph 16:48
4. The Koran, Page 380 Paragraph 56:57
5. The Koran, Page 19 Paragraph 2:98
6. The Holy Bible, Exodus 20:11
7. The Holy Bible, Job 38:4-12
8. The Holy Bible, Genesis 1:1-2:3
9. The Holy Bible, Genesis 1:1,2
10. The Holy Bible, Genesis 1:3,4,5
11. The Holy Bible, Genesis 1:26
12. The Holy Bible, Genesis 3:22
13. The Holy Bible, Genesis 2:22-24; Matthew 19:4-6
14. The Holy Bible, Isaiah 44:6
15. Systematic Theology by Lewis Sperry Chafer, Volume I page vi
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