Not Every Difference Is a Disagreement With God

The rain is pouring tonight.

And here I sit, listening to it fall against the tin roof, thinking about something I’ve been studying in God’s Word.

It all started with something my pastor said.

Not something that made me angry or caused me to question his faith. Just something he shared from Scripture that made me stop and think.

I had understood that particular subject a little differently.

And rather than simply deciding that my understanding was right and his was wrong, I wanted to know what God’s Word actually said.

So I started studying.

I went back through the Scriptures, searching passages in both the Old and New Testaments. I compared what was written, considered the context, and tried to understand how the different passages fit together.

And after spending time in that study, I came away with something I hadn’t necessarily expected.

Just because my pastor and I understand a particular passage differently doesn’t automatically mean that one of us is wrong.

Now, before somebody misunderstands what I’m saying, let me explain.

I’m not suggesting that Scripture can mean whatever we want it to mean.

I’m not saying that two contradictory teachings must both be true.

And I’m certainly not suggesting that we should change God’s Word to make it fit whatever we already believe.

God’s Word is truth.

Jesus said:

“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

John 17:17 (KJV)

That truth doesn’t change simply because you or I have a different opinion about it.

But our understanding of that truth can be incomplete.

And that’s where I found myself tonight.

There are things God has made very clear in Scripture. We don’t have the liberty to explain those things away because they make us uncomfortable or challenge what we’ve always believed.

But there are also matters where God has revealed certain truths without giving us every detail we might wish to know.

We can study those passages carefully. We can compare Scripture with Scripture. We can consider what other faithful students of God’s Word have understood.

And sometimes, after all that studying, we still have questions.

Paul wrote:

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV)

Now, Paul was speaking within a larger discussion about spiritual gifts, love, and the difference between our present knowledge and the fullness that is yet to come.

But those words reminded me of something important.

We do not know everything God knows.

We know what He has chosen to reveal to us.

And sometimes we have to be willing to say, “I don’t know.”

That’s not a lack of faith.

Sometimes it’s simply an acknowledgment that we are students of a God whose wisdom is greater than our own.

Moses told Israel:

“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

Deuteronomy 29:29 (KJV)

That verse really speaks to what I’ve been thinking about.

There are secret things that belong to God.

And there are revealed things that He has given us.

Our responsibility is not to invent answers for the things He hasn’t revealed. Our responsibility is to believe, understand, and obey what He has.

And when we encounter something difficult, we’re supposed to seek wisdom.

James tells us:

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

James 1:5 (KJV)

So why should a difference in understanding immediately become an argument?

Why should I assume that because my pastor sees something differently, he must be wrong?

And why should he—or anyone else—assume the same about me?

Wouldn’t it be better to open our Bibles together?

To ask questions?

To consider the context?

To search the Scriptures?

To pray for understanding?

And when the evidence is clear, to be humble enough to correct our interpretation?

That’s something else I’ve been thinking about.

We should never become so attached to our own interpretation that we refuse to let Scripture correct us.

It doesn’t matter whether the interpretation came from a pastor, a Bible teacher, a theologian, or from our own personal study.

None of us stands above God’s Word.

The Bereans were commended because they received the message eagerly and searched the Scriptures daily to determine whether what they were hearing was true (Acts 17:11).

That’s the attitude I want to have.

I want to respect my pastor.

I want to listen carefully when he teaches.

I want to learn from the people God places in my life.

But above all, I want to remain faithful to what God has written.

And I hope that when my understanding differs from another believer’s, my first response will be to study rather than argue.

Because the purpose of studying Scripture isn’t to prove that I’m smarter than somebody else.

It isn’t to win a debate.

And it certainly isn’t to find a verse that supports something I’ve already decided to believe.

The purpose is to know God, understand His Word, and live according to His truth.

As I sit here tonight, listening to the rain, I realize something else.

I may never know every answer to every question I have about Scripture during this lifetime.

And that’s all right.

It doesn’t mean I should stop studying.

It means I should keep studying with humility.

Keep asking questions.

Keep comparing Scripture with Scripture.

Keep praying for wisdom.

And keep remembering that the Lord knows what I do not.

Perhaps tomorrow I’ll discover another passage that helps me understand tonight’s question a little better.

Or perhaps this is one of those matters where I’ll have to wait until the Lord reveals more than I presently understand.

Either way, I don’t need to manufacture certainty where God hasn’t given it.

I need to be faithful to the truth He has already placed before me.

So tonight, I’m not sitting here thinking about how I can prove my pastor wrong.

I’m sitting here thankful that something he said encouraged me to dig deeper into God’s Word.

And that, my friend, is a good thing.

Because whether we agree on every difficult passage or not, we should both desire the same thing.

Not that my interpretation wins. Not that his interpretation wins. But that God’s Word remains the authority over us both.

Here’s the question I’ll leave with you tonight:

When someone understands Scripture differently than I do, am I more interested in proving them wrong, or in allowing God to teach me what is right?

Until the rain falls again…

Grace and peace,

A Porch Believer