Passages that you have wrestled (or struggled) with in your Christian life

[Piper 2]

The original post was closed for good reasons.

What is a passage that you have wrestled with?

As a young Christion, I really struggled with Hebrews 6:1-6, on whether someone could lose their salvation. I came to see that people cannot lose their salvation, although I was in the Church of Christ for a few years and was taught you could.

In my middle years, Romans 9 and whether it taught individual election. I believe it does.

In my last few years, I have wrestled with and fought with 1 John 2:2.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

After reading John Owen, I have come to a place where I agree with his view of particular atonement, but still wrestle with this particular verse. Owen explained it well in The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. It's too long of an argument to post here, but in my case, it was decisive.

Anyway, what passages have you wrestled with?

 

[Scarlett O.]

"Wrestled with" OK.

[1] Lot offering his daughters to be raped. That coupled with Peter in the New Testament calling Lot a righteous man.

I wrestled for YEARS with that. The older I got and the more I read the word, the less I wrestled. But I still wrestle a little bit.

 

[Blank]

Acts 17:1-2 ESV
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. [2] And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

It befuddled me why Paul would spend so much time (repeatedly), if certain ones are of the 'elect' or predestined, but I had to come to the realization God uses means and in this case Paul's reasoning (out of the Scriptures) with the Jews for 3 Sabbath days (two weeks).

 

[Tenchi]

The original post was closed for good reasons.

What is a passage that you have wrestled with?

As a young Christion, I really struggled with Hebrews 6:1-6, on whether someone could lose their salvation. I came to see that people cannot lose their salvation, although I was in the Church of Christ for a few years and was taught you could.

In my middle years, Romans 9 and whether it taught individual election. I believe it does.

In my last few years, I have wrestled with and fought with 1 John 2:2.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

After reading John Owen, I have come to a place where I agree with his view of particular atonement, but still wrestle with this particular verse. Owen explained it well in The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. It's too long of an argument to post here, but in my case, it was decisive.

Anyway, what passages have you wrestled with?

There are so many...

In my youth, Romans 6 gave me much confusion, especially everything before verse 13. My adolescent feelings and experience did not bear out what Paul had written in the first half of the chapter, though I knew I was a born-again child of God. Learning to "walk by faith, not by sight," to trust God's word over what my feelings and experience were telling me was true, was a real brain-bender, at first.

I don't know that I "wrestle" with understanding any particular passage or verse now. Mostly the wrestling happens in the application of God's word to ever-wider and deeper spheres of my life.

 

[Deacon]

Oh so many...
One verse? I've got one phrase that I've wrestled with from my earliest memories as a believer!

...because of the angels.

...found in 1 Corinthians 11:10
"Therefore the woman should have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels".

I've read many, many commentaries and I'm still bewildered by it.

Rob

 

[atpollard]

Pretty much everything in "Revelation" ... although I don't know if "wrestle with" is the correct term to describe "shrug in confusion and move on".

 

[Wesley Briggman]

[Mat 19:19 KJV] 19 Honour thy father and [thy] mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Such a significant command, yet the application eludes me.

Firstly, how is self-love described?

Secondly, all the analysis I have read boils down to: "Don't be a jerk!".

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

Thou shall not….covet, steal, kill…etc

Love thy neighbor as thy self

Go out and preach the gospel to the lost (not like a cheap salesman I ain’t a gonna!)

Now, do unto others I like, practice & live by…example, I hate absolutely hate someone proselytizing to me so I don’t do it to others knowing it’s an extreme annoyance to most. If you live your life actually showing empathy & kindness & compassion to others then emulation of those qualities should be enough. Besides the HS regenerates & converts…let him do his job.

 

[Tenchi]

[Mat 19:19 KJV] 19 Honour thy father and [thy] mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Such a significant command, yet the application eludes me.

Firstly, how is self-love described?

Secondly, all the analysis I have read boils down to: "Don't be a jerk!".

I think of this verse in the light of what Paul wrote to the Ephesians:

Ephesians 5:29
29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it...

Even the most self-loathing people I've met (I used to be one of these), feed, rest, bathe, clothe, shelter and protect themselves. Even though they appear not to love themselves, they take pains to nurture themselves in various ways, avoiding serious pain, pursuing comfort and pleasure as they're able, and seeking out the consolation and affirmation of others. In my case, though I loathed myself, really, that loathing was a testament to my inordinate ego and self-centeredness. Until God brought me into the truth of death to Self (Ga. 2:20; 5:24; 6:14; Col. 2:9-13; 3:1-3; Ro. 6:1-11; 12:1, etc.) I couldn't see just how much, despite my apparent hatred of myself, I was in bondage to the old Self.

My apologies if you'd rather I had commented on your post. It's just, given my own past, and my work with youth within the Church, this matter of Matthew 19:19 has been of particular interest to me.

 

[RootBeer]

There's parts I wrestle with because I don't understand them. I like to think that with more study, I'll understand more.

Then there's part I wrestle with because my sinful human nature rebels against them.

The parable of the wicked servant is a wonderful parable. But the way it constantly forces me extend grace to people who clearly don't deserve (when of course I do!) is something I wrestle with daily.