The Most Difficult Verse in the Bible

As was said in yesterday’s post, this coming Sunday we will begin a new series on Sunday mornings.  This series will focus on the first 11 chapters of the Bible.  This post will hopefully serve as a kickoff for our time together in Genesis 1-11.  I also want to take a moment and let you know that if you miss a Sunday or you are unable to attend Westlake Baptist Church, you can listen to all of our sermons through iTunes.  Simply search for Westlake Baptist Church in podcasts or you can click the link on the left side of our homepage at www.westlakebaptist.org to be taken to our podcast.

If I was to ask you, what is the most difficult verse in all of the Bible, what would you say? Some have commented on passages such as Matthew 10:37 about “hating” your father and mother you can’t be Jesus’ disciple.  Others say passages in Revelation dealing with the Second Coming of Christ, the new heavens and the new earth.  Yet others point to Philippians 2:12 where it says to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”  Most of the difficulties of these verses come in applying proper rules of interpretation or having an understanding of the word as it was used then instead of focusing on how a word is used now.  That certainly can cause these verses to be difficult or confusing.  However, I believe none of those are the hardest verse in the Bible.  The hardest verse in the Bible I would argue is Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  Why would I say that is the hardest verse in the Bible?

Genesis 1:1 is the hardest verse in the Bible because it is the first verse of the Bible.  Everything that follows in the Bible stems from Genesis 1:1.  If we cannot trust what God said about creation, then how can we trust what He said about salvation?  If we can’t trust what God said about the earth in Genesis 1:1, then how can we trust what He says about heaven in Revelation 21 and 22?  Simply put, we either trust Genesis 1:1 or we don’t.  Our belief about Genesis 1:1 will either make us able to trust the rest of Scripture, or if we don’t believe Genesis 1:1, then we will struggle to believe the rest of Scripture.  God is either trustworthy in all that He says, or He isn’t trustworthy in anything He says.  There is no middle ground.  We may not like to think of it in those concrete of terms, but it is truth nonetheless.  And here is something else that may not sit well with us.  Regardless of our opinion about it, God’s Word is the truth.  2 Timothy 3:16 begins by saying, “All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God.”  The “inspiration of God” in Greek is “theopneustos” which literally means “Divinely breathed in.”  So Paul is saying that all Scripture has God’s breath in it.  Then as we go over to Titus 1:2 we read, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.”  So this God-breathed Word is true, because the One who breathed it cannot lie.  And of course we have the great truth that all Scripture points us ultimately to God as the Creator and the Redeemer of mankind.  Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the lie; no man comes to the Father but by Me” (all caps added for emphasis).  So here we have Jesus saying that He and His Words are true.  This makes sense because places such as John 1:1 teach that Jesus is God.  So all truth comes from God, and it points us to God as He is revealed in Scripture.

This leads us back to Genesis 1:1.  Because it is God who gave us Genesis 1:1, and we know that God cannot lie; then we must come to the conclusion that Genesis 1:1 is the accurate account of the beginning of human history.  And because Genesis 1:1 is true, then we can trust that the rest of Scripture is also true.  But even if you don’t want to believe it is true, it is true.  Our response to God’s truth needs to be full acceptance, but more importantly God-given obedience.  Because we can believe something is true, but if it doesn’t change how we live, all we have done is participated in an intellectual exercise.  When we are convinced that the Bible is true, then we will seek God’s help to align our life to the Bible’s teachings.  So let me ask one more question in closing, does your life reflect that you believe the Bible is true or are you living as though the Bible is a lie?

By His Grace and Through His Strength may we live for Him!

Pastor Justin