It's easy to assume that teachings heard in church are biblical, but what if that is not always the case? What if, by accepting and passing on unbiblical teachings, we pollute our faith and rob ourselves of joy? Where confusion exists, we can banish it by lifting our gaze to Jesus, who is the exact and full image of God. False teaching draws us away from the revelation of the Father in Jesus, but our Lord was clear that if we have seen him, we have seen the Father. There are many such examples of misleading teaching to choose from, but here are three common misconceptions that can lead to great harm:
1. God makes us sick to teach us something.
In times of sickness and suffering, it can be tempting to search for meaning in our troubles that isn't there. If we can find "a message in the mess", then the mess might seem more tolerable, as it is supposedly serving a higher purpose. We might think it helpful to say this to others who are suffering to lighten their burden, but ultimately, the consequences of this misunderstanding of scripture are too perilous to toy with. The Bible does teach that suffering can foster endurance, character, and hope in a person, but this is an encouragement to face our difficulties with a good attitude rather than to consider God the author of the suffering itself.
If God deals out suffering to teach us something, we would see it in the ministry of Jesus. When healing the sick, did He ever tell someone He wouldn't heal them because the sickness had a purpose? When the ten lepers stood before him, did He say yes to some and turn others away, telling them to find the "message in the mess"? Of course, He didn't. Some will argue that Jesus didn't heal everyone in every situation, which is true, but the Bible is clear that there were times when he was unable to heal or perform miracles because of the attitude of the hearts toward him, rather than because of a choice on His part.
There isn't a single example of Jesus choosing not to heal a person in the Bible, because, put simply, He is, by nature, a healer. Even if we don't see healings poured out in abundance today, Jesus revealed the Father's heart toward us through His ministry, and it is that core truth of His healing nature that we can rejoice in. After all, we will all, one day, stand restored and fully whole before Him.
When we link our own or our loved ones' health issues or sufferings to some kind of divine purpose, we undermine our belief in God's healing nature. We must at all times preserve our clarity about what the love of God does and doesn't look like, or we risk throwing a concealing veil over the face of Jesus.
2. The Lord gives and takes away.
The book of Job is often quoted in verse and in song to announce that the Lord "gives and takes away", including the giving and taking away of life, and that we should choose to accept that and revere Him for it. Doing so might feel like a great act of humility on our part, but is it possible we are actually just honoring ourselves for our admirable reaction to loss while defaming God's goodness?
It is important to understand that Job is one of the most obscure books in the Bible. There are no Jewish idioms in the telling, and zero references to Hebrew culture or Mosaic Law. As we read it, we must understand that Job knew nothing of either the Abrahamic Covenant or the Covenant of Christ that superseded it. This is a complex topic, but there are some helpful books out there that go through Job chapter by chapter to reveal its true message.
Keeping in mind that Jesus is the litmus test of whether our theology is on point or way off, we can test interpretations of Job by looking at Jesus' example. Did He take a single person's life during His ministry? He did not. In fact, the opposite is the case – He gave His life for all of us, because that's who He is. He gives and does not take away.
The Book of James adds helpful clarity to this message:
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:13-17).
3. The Lord promises financial wealth to all believers.
The promises of God under the Old Covenant included physical, earthly promises of physical protection from violent attack, and financial prosperity in the form of healthy crops. Believers sometimes forget two important aspects of context:
1. These are conditional promises that require the Israelites to obey the Hebrew Law to receive them; if they don't, they will be cursed.
2. These promises were made to people of an earthly kingdom, which naturally needed earthly protection, for example, a successful military.
Crucially, we must realize that Jesus did not come to build an earthly kingdom. When Peter cut off the High Priest's servant's ear in Gethsemane, Jesus rebuked him for it and healed the injured man, telling Peter that he could call on his Father to send 12 legions of angels if it helped fulfill the scriptures. When standing before Pilate, he declared that His kingdom is not of this world, or He would have His disciples defend Him by force.
In the Kingdom of Heaven, we inherit what the Old Covenant promises of wealth and physical protection only foreshadowed – deeper, eternal promises of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, and of eternal unity and fellowship with Christ and with each other. While we cling to Old Covenant promises, we risk prohibiting ourselves from inheriting the new. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
That said, 2 Corinthians 9 does promise us abundance, but very much in the context of using that wealth to serve our community rather than to make individuals wealthy in their own right. In the age of individualism, it is easy to forget that God's provision is for all of us, not for personal gain.
Stand firm and stand some more.
One of the most important disciplines we can practice to preserve and deepen our faith is to guard our understanding of God's nature. If we believe Him to be fickle, inconstant, and willing to make us suffer to deliver some inscrutable lesson, our subconscious minds will recoil from him, and our outward behavior will become less loving over time. If, however, we understand and feel in our bones that He is only good, all the time, the Father of Lights in whom there is no shadow of turning, our hearts will be at peace, and our joy will be full.
