10 Common Mistakes Made When Reading the Bible Part 3

Answering Mormons Questions by Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson deals with 36 commonly asked questions by your LDS friends and neighbors. It's a great resource for Christians who want to share their faith with friends and loved ones.

Be sure to pick up your copy today at your favorite Christian bookstore. And now, your host for today's Viewpoint on Mormonism. Welcome to this edition of Viewpoint on Mormonism. I'm your host, Bill McKeever, founder and director of Mormonism Research Ministry.

And with me today is Eric Johnson, my colleague at MRM. This week we're looking at an article that Eric has written titled Ten Common Mistakes Latter-day Saints Make When Reading the Bible. And one of the reasons why we wanted to go through these ten points is because it's not all that impossible for professing Christians to make these same mistakes. And we need to be careful not to make these kind of mistakes when we're reading God's Word. Today we're looking at point number five, where Eric writes, Not Recognizing the Audience to Whom the Biblical Author is Writing. Yeah, and by the way, this article can be found on MRM.org slash Ten Common Mistakes.

Ten is one, zero, hyphen, common, hyphen, mistakes. And so you can read the whole article. But I start off this article by saying Christians like to talk about how it is through faith that a person is saved by grace and not through works. We like to refer to Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. But a common verse oftentimes used by many Latter-day Saints to respond to the time when we refer to Ephesians 2 is going to be James 2, 20. And it says in the King James, But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Verse 26 adds, For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

So some Mormons claim that one's efforts are required to be able to get to the celestial glory. And the problem, of course, is James is addressing one problem at that particular time. Paul is addressing another problem. So the audience and the problems affecting those audiences needs to be taken into account. Now, Mark Strauss, a good friend of ours, had something to say about this in his book, How to Read the Bible in Changing Times, and we're looking at pages 35 and 36.

What did Mark say on this? Paul says that a man is saved by faith alone apart from works, Romans 3, 28. James insists that faith without deeds is dead, James 2, 26, so that faith plus works saves you. These differences can be resolved when we recognize that Paul and James are addressing two different situations. Paul writes against legalists who are claiming that a person can earn salvation by doing good works or who perhaps are claiming that salvation has come through the works of the law, such as the hallmarks of Judaism, such as circumcision, dietary laws, and Sabbath observance. James, on the other hand, is writing against those who are abusing the doctrine of free grace by claiming that once you are saved by faith, you can live in any way you want. James rejects such libertarianism and insists that authentic faith will always result in actions so that the two work hand in hand. The key to harmonizing Paul and James is understanding their distinct context. There's that word again, Eric.

Context, context, context, context. But notice here, I find that when a Latter-day Saint often quickly quotes James 2, 20, my response has been for many, many years, and I find it to be quite effective, is, well, how come you didn't quote James 2, 10? Because James 2, 10 speaks of keeping the whole law, and if you don't keep the whole law and you offend it in one point, it's as if you are guilty of violating the entire law. Mormons don't usually cite James 2, 10, but that's the consequence. And some might say, well, isn't James contradicting what Paul is saying? And I would say, no, not at all, because if you look at James 2, 10 and compare it to what Paul writes in Galatians 3, he says this in verse 10, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. So here we find a very clear example where Paul in Galatians 3, 10 is agreeing with what James wrote in James 2, 10.

So they're not in conflict with each other at all. And if we look at all the writings that Paul puts out, we see very clearly that he is emphasizing sanctification throughout. I mean, he talks about in Galatians 5, he talks about the acts of the sinful nature are obvious.

Sexual immorality, debauchery, and he goes through a whole list. And he says the fruit of the Spirit is also going to be obvious. Love, joy, peace, patience, etc. And so when a person becomes a believer, we do believe in having good fruit. And when Paul writes in Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 that you're saved by grace through faith, this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works lest any man should boast.

Many might think, well, I guess he's teaching that you can do whatever you want. No, in verse 10, he says we are God's workmanship, created by Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. And so when we look at verse 10, we see that goes right along with what James is saying, because James is saying if you're a Christian, you can't say, well, I have faith, you have works.

No, you put the two together. When you're justified by faith, and faith alone, as Romans 3, 28 says, then you are going to have fruit that comes as a result of that if you have a genuine conversion. And I think it's unfair of Latter-day Saints to assume that we are taking a more antinomian position, which is what James is addressing, because we do emphasize the fact that we should live holy lives that honor the one who saved us.

I often refer people to the Pastoral Epistles, for instance. I mean, Paul speaks a lot about the necessity of good works and showing people who you are as a Christian. In fact, if you don't show them who you are as a Christian by your works, you fall into the problem that we read about in James.

Go back and read it, and you'll see exactly what I'm saying. Bill, when somebody does bring out James 2, 20, I think a good question to ask is, are you suggesting, because we're saved by grace through faith, according to what I believe Paul says in Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, are you suggesting that I don't believe in good works? Get them to say, well, you must not, because there are many Latter-day Saints who think that Christian churches are teaching. All you have to do is walk down the aisle, raise your hand, and say, I believe, and you can go out, the two sins you always hear about, murder and adultery.

You can go do whatever you want in any licentious way you would like. And that's not what the Bible teaches. That's not what being a Christian is all about. Why would you want to disobey God when you realize that you are justified not based on what you have done, but what God has done for you? When you understand the value of justification by faith alone, you want to do good works. I have in the past, I've kind of joked with Latter-day Saints that I'm talking to. They say, well, I guess you're right. I am saved by works.

They're just not my own. And then I get to explain what I mean by that. And usually after that explanation, I think they start to get why we separate what justifies and what sanctifies. And point number six, Eric, you write, ignoring the context of the situation and the purpose of the verse and passage.

What are you referring to there? Well, I use the verse 1 Corinthians 15, 29, very commonly used when it's talking about temple work. It says, else what shall they do, which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? And so the Latter-day Saint will take that verse and say, that's why we do baptisms for people who are already dead in our temples, so that they will have a chance in the next life to be able to accept or reject, especially if they hadn't heard the gospel. But today, many Latter-day Saints will do this for people who did hear the Mormon gospel, but chose not to follow it. But to use that verse and not understand the purpose of that passage, because Paul is not trying to bring out in 1 Corinthians 15 the ability to do works on behalf of dead people, but rather he's talking about the resurrection of the body. The whole chapter is about that, and to support that, BYU professor Charles R. Harrell, we did a whole series on his book called This Is My Doctrine. This is what he says on page 355. It should be noted that in the passage in 1 Corinthians 15, 29, the voice changes from we to they for this verse only.

Else what shall they do, and why are they baptized for the dead? Then the shift is back to we. Why stand we in jeopardy?

Could Paul be alluding to a practice that only they, not we, were participating in? And I think he's making an excellent point. I have to wonder when I read what Harrell has said there, do you think Harrell has been reading D.A. Carson? Because I think Carson used that same argument.

I know we've used this argument. It is important to note that he switches from we to they. He's referring to someone.

We don't know who, because this passage, we have to admit, is pretty vague. But another point I want to bring out, Eric, the Latter-day Saints want to look at 1 Corinthians 15, 29, and mention how baptism for the dead is absolutely important to save their ancestors, their relatives. But are we to assume that when Paul says this, that he's referring to something that's done in a temple? Because that's the only place you can do it in Mormonism. It has to be done in a temple.

It can't be done at a local chapel. Well, if you're going to say that's a restoration of the way it was done in the past, you're going to have to demonstrate that this alleged baptism for the dead that you think was being practiced was also practiced in a temple. The Christians were not in charge of the temple area.

And I doubt very seriously that any Orthodox Jew at that time would have allowed the Christians to use their facility to perform an ordinance that they personally did not agree with or believe in. The fact, Bill, that you don't find baptism for the dead ever discussed in any other verse, I think that's also important. There were groups that did take this verse in a literal way and did do baptism for the dead back in those early days, but this is not something that was common with the Church. And certainly it was not something that was taught by Peter or Paul or the other apostles. And I think Mark Strauss, I want to bring him up again, because he says this in the book How to Read the Bible in Changing Times on page 87. He said this verse, 1 Corinthians 15, 29, is one of the most obscure statements in the Bible. It is nowhere else referred to by Paul or any other New Testament writer. It does not appear elsewhere in the early Church.

Paul does not explain it or affirm it, but merely uses it as part of his argument for the reality of Christ's resurrection. Such an obscure and disputed passage should never be used to develop a theology of baptism for the dead or to encourage a particular pattern of behavior. Fringed passages like this should not be used to establish core tenets for faith or practice. I remember Dr. Ronald Youngblood in our hermeneutics class in San Diego warning about building doctrines on like one verse.

That's a very dangerous thing to do, and I think he was absolutely correct. And I think it would be just as dangerous for Latter-day Saints to do the same. And one other thing, Alma chapter 34 certainly contradicts anything that 1 Corinthians 15, 29, if it really were talking about baptism for the dead, Alma 34 says there is no work that can be done for anybody. It is something that's impossible according to the Book of Mormon. It says this life is the time to prepare to meet God, and if you don't do it in this life, the devil has sealed you his.

So you're right, I think that would nullify any notion that there would be any type of quote-unquote second opportunity to make up for things that you didn't do during this mortality. Thank you for listening. If you would like more information regarding Mormonism Research Ministry, we encourage you to visit our website at www.mrm.org where you can request our free newsletter, Mormonism Researched. We hope you will join us again as we look at another viewpoint on Mormonism.