Can the Bible be understood by the common man?
Question:
Have you heard of Eli Soriano? What do you think about his teachings?
Answer:
I looked briefly at Eli Soriano's website. I'm afraid I didn't get far because there was a statement on the first page that I knew to be contrary to God's Word.
"The Bible contains many things hard to understand. Such understanding cannot be had by just anyone; it is a gift of God. Only the wise appointed by God to understand can have that understanding, and that understanding may lead many to be purified – in the last days. These wise men given understanding to lead many to righteousness shall be very visible – as the stars. And they can be tried if they are true through testing what they preach. Their understanding of the things of God shall prove them to be the wise men mentioned in the Bible."
Yes, there are hard passages in the Bible, Peter said so. "Consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation--as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures" (II Peter 3:15-16). Notice that Peter said, "some things," not "many things." Still, nowhere does God claim that you need a special gift to understand the Bible. In fact, God commands the opposite. "Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is" (Ephesians 5:17). God doesn't command man to do something that he is unable to do.
Hard passages mean you have to work harder and dig deeper to gain a good understanding of what is said. Others, who have walked the path before you, can point you to things that you might not have thought about, but it still requires effort on your part to learn. "Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness" (II Timothy 2:14-16).
The position taken by this man is one of pride. It is not a godly position.
