The religious world seems convinced that we can't understand the Bible alike. This is one of the excuses given for the denominational division. It also is the reason some give for not obeying the gospel. They say "How can I know what God wants? Everybody interprets the Bible so differently."

We must admit that the existence of literally thousands of different "churches," all teaching different plans of salvation, ways to approach God, worship modes, doctrines, and forms of organization and leadership, is strong evidence that most people don't know what the Bible teaches, don't understand it, or simply choose to reject it.

But what does the conclusion that we can't understand the Bible alike say about God and His word? Does it not put on God the ultimate blame for the religious confusion and division that exists in the world?

Consider the implications. If God created us and gave us cognitive, or thinking, powers, and then gave us the Bible as a revelation of His will, but we can't understand His message, then God must not be as intelligent, all-knowing, and capable as we've thought.

If the Bible is intended to show us how to be saved from sin, and we are incapable of understanding the message, God’s communication skills must have failed. Is that conclusion logical or acceptable?

What the Bible Says

Let's look at what the Bible has to say about itself; or rather, at what God has to say about His revelation. Let's contrast His words to what men say about His words.

The apostle Paul, God’s inspired messenger, wrote in the first century, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Of God's word, Jesus himself declared, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth." (John 17:17) It seems impossible that a truthful God could teach 10, or 100, or 1,000 different things on one subject, with many of those different things in total conflict. Truth doesn't oppose itself or conflict. In 1 Corinthians 14:33, we read: "For God is not the author of confusion."

So, when men declare that they will believe what they want to believe, and you and I can believe what we want to believe, and we'll all get to heaven, that's confusion and not God's truth. If God's truth is singular, and if men understand that truth, they will understand it alike.

If I understand what God says about murder, lying, and adultery, and you understand what God says about these things, we'll understand alike.

If you and I understand what God says about repentance, confession, and baptism, we'll understand alike. Now, one or both of us might misunderstand, and one or both of us might not know God's truth, but if we understand, we understand alike.

Disagreements and divisions arise when one or both of us misunderstands, or simply rejects, what the Bible says. The fault lies with us, not with God's word.

False Teaching Leads Men to Blame God

John Calvin, the Reformation-era teacher, taught falsely that the sin of Adam and Eve has so badly tainted man's nature that he cannot understand God's word unless God's Spirit miraculously illuminates him.

The Catholic Church teaches that the "clergy" can understand the Bible, but that the "laity" cannot. Therefore, they conclude, the clergy must interpret for the laity. This is why Catholics are not encouraged to read and study their Bibles. At one time, they were actually forbidden to do so, and the Bible was not translated into common languages. Many Protestants appear to have also adopted this concept. For direction, they depend on their clergymen, not on God's word. On this point, both Calvinism and Catholicism are wrong. God said than men can understand the Bible.

Look again at what Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:3-4: "... how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) . . ." The inspired apostle said we can understand. The scriptures are often referred to as a "revelation." That word itself means to "uncover, lay open what has been hidden, to disclose or make known." It is, in fact, the opposite of a mystery.

Paul declared, in Romans 16:25-26, that what once had been a mystery is now a revelation made manifest in the Scriptures. To say we cannot know or understand God's word is to call God and his apostle liars.

Luke opened his gospel by telling Theophilus that he was writing so that he could know of a certainty about Jesus and his work (Luke 1:1-4).

John said he wrote his gospel so that men "might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:30-31)

Many men in the Bible are said to have known the truth. In 1 Timothy 4:1-3, Paul contrasted unbelievers with "those who believe and know the truth."

Hebrews 10:26 warned about abandoning the truth after "we have received the knowledge of the truth."

Rather than being unable to understand the Bible alike, the greater problem is understanding it and then rejecting its truths. Peter wrote, "For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to his own vomit, and a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire." (2 Peter 2:20-22)

If We Can't Understand the Bible, We Can't Be Saved

Jesus declared, "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Therefore, if we can't understand the truth, we can't be freed from sin. That is, we can't be saved.

The words of Jesus will judge us. John 12:48 declares the words of Jesus: "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that J have spoken will judge him in the last day."

Real Reasons Men Don't Understand

We've seen that men and women can understand the Bible. There remains the question of why they don't. Several reasons are obvious.

1. Prejudice is one reason. Prejudice involves making up one's mind before ascertaining the facts, or unreasonably holding onto a belief after the facts show the belief to be wrong. It is a mental gymnastic that defies reason, knowledge, and experience.

   Basing our judgments about what the Bible means on what our parents said, or on what we believed in the past, is prejudice, if we are unwilling to look at the text and discover its true meaning. Confronted with clear Bible teaching, some folks say, "I don't care what it says, I know what I believe." This is prejudice.

2. Another reason for not understanding is a lack of desire to understand, or an obstinate refusal to obey and submit to God's will. This may be another special form of prejudice.

3. Willful ignorance keeps people from understanding the Bible. Some folks just don't want to know. 2 Peter 3:5 speaks of folks who dismiss God's impending judgment by "willfully forgetting" past judgments, such as the flood of Noah's day.

   Observe that each of these three reasons for not understanding the Bible is based in man's attitude, and not in God's inability to reveal the truth.

4. Another cause is blatant infidelity. This isn't actually a lack of understanding. Rather, it is a lack of willingness to believe. One can understand and still not believe. Infidels (unbelievers) readily argue with what Peter, Paul, or even Jesus had to say. When trapped by their unbelief, they cavalierly declare that we can't all understand the Bible alike.

5. A fifth factor is an unwillingness to be confined to what God said. Sometimes the Bible doesn't speak to certain issues, or elaborate on some details. At this point, men must come to grips with the silence of the Scriptures. When they don't, they tend to speculate or personally legislate. Speculations not laid out in Scripture lead to differences of opinion, dissension, and division over meaning.

   God warned us not to add to, or subtract from, His word (Revelation 22:18-19). He told us not to go beyond what is written (1 Corinthians 4:6). And 2 John 9 clarifies the implications associated with not being satisfied with God's declarations. "Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son."

   Human opinions are at the heart of division and our failure to understand the Bible alike. God's word is completely adequate without our opinions, as 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and 2 Peter 1:3-4 make quite clear.

Understanding Is Possible, and So Is Unity

Unity of faith is achievable. In fact, if we all understand the Bible alike, and believe what we understand, our individual faiths will be identical. The apostle Paul, writing to the divided church at Corinth, pleaded, "that you all speak the same things, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment."

Before Jesus went to the cross, He prayed, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me." Jesus said this unity of belief would be a sign that God had sent Him. The converse is also true. When men teach hundreds of conflicting doctrines, it demonstrates they are not following the One whom God sent. When people assert that we can't understand the Bible alike, they make a bold and blasphemous accusation that God is at fault, and that He has failed.

The truth is, we can understand God's revelation. And if we understand what God said, we'll understand alike.