JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

Cults are often guilty of using a word or phrase from a biblical translation and then
examining and interpreting it as if the revelation had been given in that language.
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Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, for instance, says that the name
"Adam" consists of two syllables, A dam, which means an obstruction, in which case Adam
signifies "the obstacle which the serpent, sin, would impose between man and his Creator."83
Such meaning for the word or name Adam is pure nonsense.
Mary Baker Eddy also interprets the word "evening" as "mistiness of moral thought;
weariness of mortal mind; obscured views; peace and rest."84 This is an illustration of someone
who mistakes literal language for figurative language and vice versa. Mormon theologian James
Talmage interprets the prophecy that "thou shalt be brought down and speak out of the ground"
to mean that God's Word would come to people from the Book of Mormon which was taken out
of the ground at the hill of Cumorah.85
2. THE ACCOMMODATION OF REVELATION. In order for God's truth to be
understood by the human mind, God had to put His truth in human language which has its
limitations. His truth, therefore, is always greater than any language about Him.
Figures of speech are often used to communicate some concept with an ear catching,
imaginative comparison. "Trees clapping their hands" (Isa 55:12) is a powerful way to express
extreme joy. The danger, for the uninformed and lazy student, is that such an expression is
interpreted literally thus thinking that the prophet is merely talking about leafy motion. We
always must look for the intention behind a figure of speech.
3. PROGRESSIVE REVELATION. The Bible sets forth the movement of God in
history, with the initiative coming from Him and in which God brings man up from the infancy
of the Old Testament through the maturity of the New Testament. This does not mean that the
New Testament is superior to the Hebrew Scriptures; it means that the revelation begun in the
Old Testament finds its completion or fulfillment in the New Testament.
4. OBSERVATION. We must discover what the passage is saying, not make it say what
we want it to say. We must read things "out of" the text (exegesis), and not read things "into" the
text (eisegesis). We must come to discover, not prove.
Lack of observation will often lead to strange interpretations. The Mormons, in their
missionary manual quote the Parable of the Virgins (Mt 25:1-13), to show the concept that
"mortality is a probationary period during which we prepare to meet God."86 This is overspecification
in that it is a more detailed or specific conclusion than is legitimate in view of the
biblical text.
The main point—the message—of this parable is something far less specific in that all it
says is that human beings should be prepared at any time to meet God or to witness the Second
Coming of Christ.