Verify Podcast

Several times, I’ve heard people joke about emulating David and Solomon in the bible, who both had several wives and concubines in their lifetimes. They say that if those bible characters were allowed to, then it’s ok for us today. I have also met some professing Christians, for whom this is not a joke at all; who have argued quite seriously and passionately in favour of polygamy for Christians today.  Now here’s the thing. The Bible contains stories about so many things including human sacrifice, slave trade, homosexuality, incest and so on. Because all these are mentioned in the Bible, does it make them acceptable practices for Christians today? Now, the bible says in 2 Tim 3:16 that all of scripture is useful. All things mentioned in the bible are useful in one way or the other, and there are lessons to be learnt from every bit of scripture. However, some of the accounts in the bible are descriptive. This means that they simply narrate an event. Other portions of scripture are prescriptive, indicative of instruction, and some portions are both descriptive and prescriptive. In order to understand the bible effectively, we must recognise that descriptive texts are not always prescriptive. To differentiate between the two, we must always read scripture in context, make comparisons with other related scripture, and use scripture to interpret scripture, with God’s help. In subsequent episodes, I will mention some examples of prescriptive and descriptive texts, but for today, I pray that God will fill us with a desire, not just to read the word of truth, but to study, rightly divide and correctly handle it, in Jesus name, Amen. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/isioma-dogo/message