“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

— 2 Timothy 2:15

WHEN JESUS WAS BEING TEMPTED by Satan, we see something quite interesting. As you read this passage from Matthew 4:5-7, notice the approach Satan used to tempt Christ:

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike youar foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Several points about this passage strike me. First, did you notice that Satan used the Bible as the “authority” for his temptation? He was quoting Psalm 91:11-12! In other words, in his attempt to incite evil, Satan was appealing to God’s holy Word! Now, as Christians, there are several implications from this appeal that can help us to understand some of Satan’s methods (and therefore help us to “do battle”).

When Satan said for it is written he was basically saying this, “You believe in the Bible don’t you? You want to be a good Christian who follows the Bible don’t you? Then, you better do what I say, since what I am saying comes directly from the Bible which comes directly from God himself!” Now obviously, Satan does not “believe in” or hold Scripture as his personal authority. However, he will at least pretend to align himself with the Bible in order to make his message look credible.
Satan knows the Bible! And he knows it really well. We had better know it too.
The fact that Satan uses the Bible to attack Jesus and that Jesus uses the Bible to repel Satan tells us something astronomically important about interpreting the Bible!—there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. Or to state it a little differently, accurate interpretation of the Bible is not a “relative” practice guided by personal preferences. This often heard argument—“Well, that’s your interpretation of the Bible! But that’s not my interpretation!”—simply will not hold water. There most definitely exists a firm standard for good interpretation of the Bible (and that standard does not proceed from our personal whims and creative interpretive efforts).
Good and accurate interpretation of the Bible is not something reserved for the ivory towers of academia—it is vital for everyday living. Since Satan can twist and manipulate Scripture in his attempt to incite evil, we must know how to “accurately handle” the Bible in order to live in a way that brings glory to God.

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

Written around 1529 by Martin Luther, the great Protestant Reformer, this hymn has been called “the Battle Hymn of the Reformation” and was a source of great inspiration for the 16th century martyrs. Both music and words were composed by Martin Luther. This English translation by Frederick Hedge, a Harvard professor, was made in 1852.