Addition and Subtraction

Last week, based on Matthew 15:1-20, I said the Pharisees had a “math problem.”  They had trouble with addition and subtraction.  These religious leaders were adding “the tradition of the elders” to Scripture, and they were also subtracting “the commandment of God” from their teaching.  Bad math.  Serious spiritual errors.

The Lord speaks stern words to anyone who would either add to or subtract from his revealed word:  “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book:  if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).

Think of it:  to add to God’s words is to be a liar (Proverbs 30:6)—when we conceal or distort the truth, we lie.

By contrast, the biblical ideal is for Christians to receive, retain, and relay the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27)—nothing more, nothing less.  The familiar courtroom terms, “The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” are apt.  Our job is to spread God’s message to the world (that’s what “ambassadors” do, 2 Corinthians 5:20); we’re not free to expand or condense the truth.  The Lord is not looking for editors.

Of course, it’s easy to point fingers at the Pharisees and their self-serving ways.  But let’s pause and look in the mirror.  Do we tend to cut corners with God’s Word, either by subtracting or at least minimizing some themes?  Do we drift toward those “favorite verses” in order to hear only what will comfort and not disturb us—and thus, in effect, snipping out whole sections of the Bible?  Ask yourself today:  “What portions or topics in the Bible am I prone to neglect, or even avoid?”  Is it the message of compassion for the poor?  The call to moral purity?  Jesus’ charge to take up a cross?  The warning against the love of money?  What is it?