All of us know the Bible is a very complex book with tension, mystery, conundrums, paradoxes, parables, and various genres of writing.
This naturally leads to various interpretations and some serious head scratching.
Over the years I have learned to put my thoughts into five buckets. In other words, when I come across a text it will usually fall into one of five categories that I imagine as buckets.
Bucket number one: “The secret things belong to the Lord” (Deut. 29:29).
The issue of where evil came from or why it continues to exist I put in this bucket. Many times I come across passages that fall into this category.
Bucket number two: There are “some things that are hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16).
God ordering the slaughter of the Canaanites can be understood, but it is hard to understand.
Bucket number three: “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12).
Then there are those passages that we grasp but not as clearly as we would like. The parables we can understand but are all nuanced leaving us with an irritating pebble in the shoe.
Bucket number four: “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear” (John 16:12).
These are the words of Jesus to His disciples. This is an issue of maturity. An older more mature saint may be able to grasp certain truths that a less seasoned veteran of the faith can handle.
Bucket number five: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
We will be without excuse regarding that which is clear.