Do you have an "open" Bible?

Do you have a Bible that is open to different interpretations? Do you think that God has ever spoken to anyone with different interpretations in mind? In Nehemiah’s time, Ezra the priest read the law to the people and they were able to commonly understand it. Nehemiah 8:12 says, “And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.” If they could understand the law of God given by Moses, why would the law of God given by Christ be any different?

Are the rules of sports open to different interpretations? Would we “agree to disagree” over what constitutes an “out” in baseball? Is a doctor’s prescription open to different interpretations? If you were prescribed a medication for your infection, would that be open to different interpretations? Why do we insist on different interpretations with the word of God? Paul said, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ … that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10).

If the word of God is open to different interpretations, then the Bible is relative and subjective. How could the scriptures be wrested or twisted to destruction if the scriptures are not absolute in their meaning (2 Peter 3:16)? Why have an admonition to rightly divide the word of truth if truth is subjective (2 Timothy 2:15)? Is the Bible open to conflicting, contradicting interpretations? Romans 3:4 sums up the answer well: “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar.”

Kyle Campbell