If you find that you’re questioning the Bible, does it mean you lack faith?
It depends on what you mean by questioning. We shouldn’t approach God’s word as critics—it’s the word of God that judges us. We stand beneath it. We come before the Lord God. He speaks to us through his word. So we need to let the word of God do its work.
But we’re called as Christians to study the Scriptures and examine them in one sense. In Acts 17:10, the Bereans “received the word with all eagerness.” That’s how you want to receive God’s word. We receive with eagerness and not as a critic. We shouldn’t think, “I don’t know that I want to embrace this or that doctrine.” You may not want to embrace some teachings and you may not understand some. Yet we submit to the word of God because it’s God himself who speaks to us through the Scriptures.
So the Jews at Berea received the word with all eagerness, and that’s what you want to do. But listen to what it says next. The Bereans were “examining the Scripture daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). They were questioning—not to reject the Bible or be critical but so that they might understand.
If that’s what you’re doing, if you’re opening up the word of God and thinking about the doctrines that you’ve heard about and you’re wanting to grow and understand, then you’re doing something “noble” (Acts 17:11). But if you’re approaching the Scriptures as a critic, saying, “Well, I don’t know if I want to embrace that. I’m going to reject that,” then you’re putting yourself over the word of God instead of submitting to it. There needs to be a change. In that situation, we’re called to repent. We need to submit to what the word of God teaches us. We need to embrace it.
It may be that there are difficult doctrines that we have a hard time understanding. I mean, Peter says that Paul, in his writings, says all sorts of difficult things (2 Pet. 3:16). But you need to continue to grow in the word of God and ask those hard questions. You need to be in a good church where you’re being cared for by a pastor that’s able to walk with you through some of these things.
Continue to search the scriptures and submit to them. As you do, you’ll experience the grace of God more and more in your life.
This article is part of our Frequently Asked Questions series. Listen to Pastor Adriel answer this question on Core Radio here.
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