Is the Bible Just about Law?

Several years ago my mother told me about a preacher who delivered a good biblical lesson which concluded with a plea to think and make personal application. He had left the application open-ended making each person responsible. The stay-at-home mom would have a different application than the doctor or the widow; different also than the application to the salesman or the school teacher.

Afterward a friend of my mom snorted, “Why can’t he just tell us what to do? It would be a lot easier if we knew the rules. I could do that.” Many would agree. There is something comfortable in a packaged set of rules. It’s neat and tidy. It’s brief and simple. It is not flawed like a command lacking precise definition such as: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

OOPS! Back up. Those were the words of Jesus drawn from the Law of Moses!

It is true, a packaged law code may sound simple, brief, and tidy. Yet it strikes against the two most important commands uttered by God in which the application is open-ended. Jesus commented on the two Great Commands saying:

On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets. 

 —Matthew 22:40 (NASB95)

In the Hebrew Scriptures ‘The Law’ was not simply the law code known as Law of Moses. It was the entire Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. ‘The Prophets’ included the historical books (Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings), as well as all the books of prophecy. So, Jesus was saying that God’s revelation, up to His point in time, depended on the two Great Commands. All scripture revolved around and was connected to the commands to love God and to love one’s neighbor which both had open-ended application.

We can thank a Jewish lawyer for pointing out the gray area, “Who is my neighbor?” Yet, Jesus gave an answer in the Parable of the Good Samaritan that showed that the lawyer had asked the wrong question. (Luke 10)

The statement from my mom’s friend suggested the same kind of thinking as the lawyer. On the surface it sounds good, “Just define the rules and we can follow.” “Give me a precise definition of ‘neighbor’ and I will comply.” And yet, that is the wrong approach.

Too often, people have reduced the Bible to a set of rules and tried to push those rules on others. As a result, many people have lost interest in the Bible.

In the late 1800’s there was a shift in biblical scholarship. Instead of the inspired Word of God many saw the Bible as mere ancient literature. The literary approach might have partly been a reaction to a legal approach, but it gave way to the view that truth is largely dependent upon history and culture. Based on the trend of modern biblical interpretation many 'Christian' groups have effectively stamped the word ‘Obsolete’ on the cover of the Bible.

However, the Bible still claims to be the inspired revelation of God. The Bible claims to be relevant in giving life answers regardless of location, time, cultural background, history or politics. So, one must either embrace the Bible in its entirety or reject the whole book. There is no middle ground.

The study and application of the Bible can be challenging. Not every question in life is answered directly, not every issue resolved by a single verse. However, if we are going to be true disciples of Jesus, we must devote ourselves to His Word. We will be wise to approach the Bible with a proper attitude and with a patient, thinking mind.


Mark Stinnett

July 27, 2025

Outsmarting God

Kareem, a foreign student in a doctoral program, was my teacher in an advanced college math class. He and I occasionally spoke before class. Topics included mathematics, his home country, religion, God, and the Bible. Upon arriving early to class one day, Kareem casually approached my desk and said with a grin, “You know, I can prove that God does not exist.”

I quickly responded, “And I would expect that you can also prove that God DOES exist.”

His eyes lit up and he fired back, “So what does that tell you about God!?”

“He is not subject to human proof,” I said (glad not to have embarrassed myself).

Kareem seemed quite satisfied with the whole exchange knowing that his ‘proof’ was simply based on human logic. It was his purpose was to show the absurdity of using math and human logic to attempt to prove or disprove God. Yet, that has not stopped many from deceiving the naïve and unsuspecting.

Recall Satan’s attempt to deceive Jesus with the first temptation:

If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.

—Matthew 4:3

Who said that turning stones into bread proved one to be the Son of God? Satan made a logical connection where none existed. Deceiver.

Recall how some Jews plotted against Jesus. They asked whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. If Jesus answered, “Yes,” then he would be siding with the Roman government and turn the people against him. Yet, to answer, “No,” would be to position himself against Rome. Testers.

A modern-day writer posed a series of difficult-to-answer questions about a controversial issue. His questions were meant to tear down teachings from the past and usher in greater enlightenment. Though the questions might have been challenging, they did not change the simple text of Scripture. Questioner.

A popular writer posed the question, “What if Mary was not a virgin.” He went on to talk about translation issues in Old Testament prophecy and whether the prophecy really meant that the Messiah would be born of a virgin. Matthew plainly indicated that the virgin birth fulfilled that prophecy. Yet the writer wondered with doubt whether the Jews expected a virgin birth and how that might affect the way people look at Scripture. Doubter.

The deceiver, tester, questioner, and doubter all have one thing in common: They are scoffers who have little regard for God’s word. Through their wordcraft they create clouds of doubt where none exist.

Through human reasoning some think they have out-witted God to create ‘gray areas’ in His word that do not exist. They have confused clear teachings regarding sin and righteousness in order to justify their ideas. Do not be fooled! Just because a person can ask tough questions, create doubt, rationalize, and/or make straightforward teachings fuzzy does not make that individual a good teacher. He spreads seeds of doubt so that people question God’s word and God Himself. He does not love the truth but only himself.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and

   do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him, 

   and He will make your paths straight.

Do not be wise in your own eyes;

Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

—Proverbs 3:5-7

Mark Stinnett

July 20, 2025

Validating Scripture

Several years ago I sat in a Bible class on the book of Proverbs and then later a class on the book of Ecclesiastes. Both are categorized as books of wisdom. As much as I loved these writings, I was sorely disappointed with the presentation of each teacher.

I did not object to the stories the teachers told that related to the text. Many were great illustrations. However, the stories were not given as illustrations of the truths found in scripture, they were offered to validate what was written.

Think for a moment…

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

—2 Timothy 3:16 (NASB)

But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

—2 Peter 1:20-21 (NASB)

We accept that the Bible is the inspired word of God. That means that ultimately, even though written by the hand of men, using the style, language and vocabulary of men, the Bible was authored by God through the Holy Spirit.

We may have questions about the inspiration of the Bible, yet we do not wonder if it is God’s word. For that reason we must adopt and maintain an attitude of reverence toward the word of God. We really should imagine in our minds that God is speaking to us through the many writers of scripture.

Now, back to the classes on Proverbs and Ecclesiastes…
The personal stories were offered to validate the things written in scripture. Does that seem backwards to you? It is one thing to use an illustration to clarify a difficult proverb. It is quite another thing to evaluate the truth of the proverb on the basis of one’s life experience.

God did not speak to mankind and then ask, "What do you think about that; do you think it's true?" We must not take the word of God and then compare it our own understanding of the sum total of human experience and knowledge. Remember…

In the beginning...God.

God is the starting point of man’s existence. He is the backdrop against which we must discover ourselves and find meaning. His word is the standard by which we evaluate our lives.

Applied to the wisdom of the Proverbs, we must accept the truth of God’s word and then evaluate our own life experiences. It is the truth of God’s word that validates my life, not the other way around. If my personal experiences are necessary to validate God’s word, then ‘I’ have become the standard by which truth is known and understood. We should use human experiences only to illustrate and perhaps to help explain the existing truth of God’s word.

Do not be wise in your own eyes;

Fear the Lord and turn from evil.

—Proverbs 3:7 (NASB)

We need to be a people who listen to God’s word. We need to accept it at face value. We need to adjust our lives to conform to God’s word, not make it conform to our lives.

Mark Stinnett

July 13, 2025

Modern-Day Israel: Prophecy Fulfilled??

You may have heard about or seen the 2024 epic film, as it is billed, called “I Am Israel.” The marketing material emphasizes fulfillment of a prophecy from Ezekiel 36:8 that says, “My children are coming home.” The idea is that ancient promises have finally seen fulfillment in the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. 

 So, is modern-day Israel God’s chosen nation?

The question is important. If modern-day Israel is God’s chosen nation, then there must be two paths of fellowship with God: one through Moses (The Law of Moses) and one through Jesus Christ.

What does the Bible say?

First, the prophecy from Ezekiel was written when the Israelites, more specifically, the Israelites from the tribe of Judah, were taken captive by the nation of Babylon. The prophecy contained a threefold message:

• The reason for their capture: unfaithfulness to God through idolatry;
• God will judge the nations who mocked His people; and
• God will restore His people to the Promised Land.

Those prophesies were fulfilled a few years after they were spoken. God’s people were released from captivity and returned to Jerusalem in Judea in 536 B.C. The restoration of the Jews to Jerusalem is recorded in the Old Testament book of Ezra. So, Ezekiel’s prophecy has not been left unfulfilled until our day.

Another significant prophecy is found in Jeremiah 31:31-34 in which God promised to make a new covenant. It would be different from the covenant He had made with Israel at the time of Moses. Under the first (old) covenant, children were born into the covenant but did not know anything about God until taught. In contrast, under the new covenant, a person would first learn about God and then, if he/she chose, would enter into a covenant relationship with God. Entrance into the new covenant would be on the basis of God’s forgiveness of sins, not physical birth.

Jesus looked forward to the new covenant at His last Passover meal with His disciples. He presented a cup of ‘the fruit of the vine’ as representation of “My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” (Mark 14:24) Jesus was referring to His sacrificial death in which His blood was to be shed to inaugurate the new covenant as prophesied by Jeremiah.

Later, the writer of the book of Hebrews stated that the first covenant was made obsolete by the new covenant. So, by the time of the writing of Hebrews, the new covenant had been established and was in effect.

The Apostle Peter wrote to Christians, those who believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God and promised Messiah:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession….

—1 Peter 2:9

Earlier, he referred to the same people as a “spiritual house.” So, the new covenant was of a spiritual nature. The “holy nation” of God was not, and is not, a physical nation, but rather, a spiritual nation.

The covenant relationship God once had with the physical nation of Israel ended because the people broke their covenant with Him and in doing so released Him from His obligation to the covenant. Even if today’s Israel were to return to all the practices taught in the Law of Moses, they would not enjoy a covenant relationship with God. The old covenant is obsolete. 

However, today’s Israel and the Jews of today can once again come into a covenant relationship with God, but only through a faith response to Jesus Christ. Anyone who wishes to be a part of the kingdom of God must be born again, born of the Spirit , born into a spiritual kingdom. (John 3:3-8)

Mark Stinnett

July 6, 2025