It is a mistake to assume that EVERYTHING contained in the Bible is commended, approved or supported by the Bible. The whole Bible is true (John 17:17), but it does records some lies.
For example, Satan’s lie is recorded in Genesis 3, “Then the serpent said to the woman, “YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5, cf. Gen 2:15-17).
John 8:44 says of the devil, “…He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because THERE IS NO TRUTH IN HIM. When he speaks a lie, he speaks FROM HIS OWN RESOURCES, for HE IS A LIAR and THE FATHER OF IT.” So, Satan and his lies are recorded in a Book of Truth (the Bible). Similarly, Rahab’s lie is recorded in Joshua 2.
Joshua 2:4-6 (NKJV)
4 Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5 And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.” 6 (But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.)
The Bible, being inspired of God, would ACCURATELY and TRUTHFULLY record the lies and errors of men. But this does not mean the Bible APPROVES of their lies and errors.
The truth of Scripture is found in what it REVEALS, not in everything it RECORDS. Do not mistake RECORD for REVELATION. The Bible records SEVERAL THINGS it does not approve of, not to give them support, but to show its disapproval and condemnation of such acts.
Without understanding this distinction, we may easily conclude that the Bible encourages sexual immorality, simply because it RECORDS David’s sin with Bathsheba (in 2 Sam 11:4). We may also WRONGLY conclude that the Bible promotes polygamy because it RECORDS Solomon’s (in 1 Kings 11:3). Or further still, we may even conclude that the Bible affirms atheism because it QUOTES the fool as saying “there is no God” (in Ps 14:1).
What is right is not right simply because the Bible RECORDS it. It is right because the Bible REVEALS it. Learn to distinguish between Biblical REVELATION and Biblical RECORD.
© Josh Banks Ministries. 2023.
