Wresting the Scripture

Wresting the Scripture

There is an interesting portion of the Bible which records the words of the Apostle Peter from the later years of his life.  He speaks with wisdom concerning his relationship with fellow Apostle Paul. Peter addresses believers in regards to them looking for the New Heaven and New Earth and the Day of the Lord.  He speaks in admonition of their need for readiness for such a time and encourages them to diligence and blamelessness of conduct. 

  Peter and Paul had experienced an altercation earlier in their relationship together regarding the acceptance of people considered unclean by the majority of Jewish believers, the Gentiles to whom Paul was ministering.  Paul had said that Peter was blamable in this offense.  Now in the Epistle of II Peter 3:14-18 clarifies his support and agreement with Paul, accepting his wisdom and writings unto the believers as from a beloved brother.  He mentions that even some of the things hard to be understood which Paul wrote, should be not be wrested by the unstable and unlearned, but should contribute to the believers growing in grace.

Oh how easy it is to dismiss something we do not feel comfortable with or do not understand and bend the scriptures to support our opinion.

Noah Webster clearly defines the word as follows: WREST, v.t. [G., to wrest, to snatch or pull, to burst, to tear.]     1. To twist or extort by violence; 2. To take or force from by violence. 3. To distort; to turn from truth or twist from its natural meaning by violence; to pervert.

The Apostle Peter is clearly admonishing the early church believers of his day not to wrest the scriptures, particularly in reference to Jewish believers not being accepting of Paul’s teaching regarding welcoming the Gentiles.  Many Jewish believers had been openly resistant to accepting and affirming the ‘unclean’ Gentiles as outside the grace of God.  Many considered them sinners and uncircumcised.  Peter warns them to beware lest these feelings lead them away from their stedfastness in the faith.

Today, there are many Christians who wrest the scriptures to their own interpretations, pronouncing many ‘unclean’ and outside of the grace of God.  Many unlearned people with prejudice and bias proclaim loudly that gay people are sinful and unworthy to be called Christian.  Going so far to accuse others of wresting the scripture, these would have all gay people segregated from believers and condemned as sinful.  When the Apostle Peter saw the vision of the sheet coming down from Heaven with all manner of God’s Creation in it, he was admonished not to call unclean what God had cleansed.  This is what Christians do when they speak disparagingly of sincere, spirit-filled believers who happen to be part of God’s creation made with the manner of same gender attraction.

The unlearned and unstable, clouded by misapplication and cultural prejudice are quick to condemn same gender attraction as obviously prohibited by supposed direct statements of scripture.  The few verses that seemingly condemn, are easily and clearly understood to be referring to abusive same sex physical relations and not an all-encompassing prohibition of any loving physical same sex relations.  Verses deriding physical rape of someone of the opposite sex are not understood or interpreted to mean a condemnation of loving sexual relations with the opposite gender, so why should rape of someone of the same sex be only viewed as a total condemnation of all relationships with the same gender?

Believers today would do well to take heed to the admonishments of the Apostle Peter in his latter days.  Looking back on his past disagreements, Peter valued the wisdom Paul expressed in his writings, teaching that the grace of God had indeed been given to the Gentiles.  Gay people and Christian believers with same gender attraction, are created by God and capable of receiving His grace on their lives and relationships.  Let us not wrest the scriptures to condemn what God has not, and forbid what God has blessed and welcomed.
vs. 16 ' As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.'