“…But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No,’ lest you fall into judgment” (James 5:12). “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37).
Whenever any Bible student gets serious about studying and striving to correctly understand the Scriptures, he faces the question of Bible interpretation. Sadly, some have gotten this wrong, and from there on things only go from bad to worse for them.
Both Jesus and His half-brother James clearly state the importance and necessity of truthfulness in one’s speech. When “Yes” is said, it should be because “Yes” is meant. When “No” is said, it should be because “No” is meant.
God clearly expects His people to be truthful in their speech. A failure to be transparently truthful is evil and damning.
This expectation of human truthfulness would be an example of divine hypocrisy if God were not also transparently truthful in His word. Therefore, to accurately understand God’s word a wise Bible student adopts the general principle that God says what He means and means what He says.
To believe the Bible is to be studied as a book of mysterious riddles wrapped up in conundrums which can only be understood by an elite few of enlightened code breakers is to blasphemously imply that God is evil and a hypocrite. Don’t believe it for a minute.
God says what He means and means what He says. This approach to the Scriptures is the only sane way to study and accurately understand them.
