I recently drew this illustration in discussion of problems in the church today. You see, all too often we have painted the Bible as a simple story book. It has become shallow, surface readings and quick interpretations. We have forgotten about context, culture and we certainly have no clue how to exegete. We have gone into the sea of Biblical truth up to our waist, and assumed that the whole expanse of Biblical truth is only waist deep.
In reality, we need to become equipped. Like a scuba diver learns the equipment and is trained how to go deeper than any weekend shoreline splasher could dream of going. They dive deep into the depths, seeing and exploring things that he previously never dreamed existed.
We must learn how to ask the right questions. What is this passage saying to the original audience? What do the words mean in this culture, what is really being said here? What does this mean in the context of the rest of the scripture, how does this change my life? Why did God choose to have this passage in the Bible, why do I need to know these things which seem so insignificant? What do i need to do in light of what I am learning?
As we begin to pour ourselves into scripture and really get into the depths, we will learn greater and more valuable lessons each time. We must spend time with other learners who are taking the same journey and learn to really get down into the deep water to find the pearls in the depths.
But alas, you can study the Bible until you are blue in the face and yet in the end how do you know your interpretation is correct. Why does the Lutheran interpretation differ significantly from that of the Baptists and they from the AOG? They claim the same Bible and the same Holy Spirit. In the final analysis, the issue facing all Protestantism, is that it attempts to interpret the Holy Scriptures outside of the the tradition that produced those same Holy Scriptures. Therefore they come up with as many interpretations as there are interpreters, and thus they have produced 23,000 or more competing denominations, unified only in their belief that the original unified one Church no longer exists in any knowable form. In essence each Protestant produces his own tradition or adopts the tradition of another and then uses this tradition to view the Holy Scriptures. Look at the first 1,000 years of Church history and you will find only one Church, with one tradition which has been delivered to the Apostles of the Church, by the God-Man, Jesus Christ. This very same Apostolic tradition has then preserved in the Church unchanged for 2,000 years. No I am not talking about the Roman Catholic church, who rebelled against the Church in the year 1054...read about the Great Schism.
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