On Twisting The Scriptures

The story is told of an art enthusiast who displayed a collection of etchings on his office walls, including one of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Every morning he noticed the picture was crooked, so he straightened it. Finally one evening he asked the cleaning woman if she was responsible for moving the picture each night. “Why, yes,” she said, “I have to hang it crooked to make the tower straight!”

Similarly, some people have the habit of twisting the Scriptures to make their imperfect lives look better to others or to justify their own opinions. The apostle Peter warned his readers about the kind of people who do not approach God’s Word with honest motives and respect for its authority (Matthew 28:18; John 17:2; Acts 4:10-12; Colossians 3:17; 2 Timothy 3:16-17), and who distort its message.

They will incur God’s judgment (2 Peter 3:15-17).

Any individual who purposefully distorts the meaning of the Word of God to fit his or her preconceived ideas, is treading on dangerous ground (Revelation 22:18; cf. Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6), and is worthy of being "accursed" (Gal. 1:6-9).

Dear reader, let us be careful “how” we read the Scriptures. Let us be one who "correctly explains" the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15 NLT).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets