Perhaps, we could liken the Bible to a printed circuit where inductors, capacitors, resistors, and various semi-conductors all direct or control current to perform certain computerized electronic tasks. It is all soldered together as one device which needs these components doing what they do to work. A few pieces fine tune things and even with them removed the device will still function, but some components are absolutely essential. A good repair person who fixes these circuits always see the entire board and not just individual parts of it. They know that the device operates as a single unit when it is working right.
The Church knows that the Bible has this single quality about it, also, otherwise scriptures compared to other scriptures could be contradictory and we would simply choose the ones we like, discarding the verses we don’t like. Or if some verses were “extra” having no “current” relevance to our lives or our future, we could discard them outright as historical static. But this is not the Bible I read—nor the Bible you read! Our Bible is a single work of divine inspiration in which the personalities of the individual writers can be seen like different chip manufacturers of various computer parts. But, like the computer, the Bible, viewed as a whole is important in understanding its overall purpose and value to us. There are verses in Genesis that are connected in God’s plan with verses in Revelation and some of that truth, like an electric current, flows by design through Torah law as well as the prophets’ writings.
While I am making this comparison, I recall the day a hooked a battery operated tape record to house current and blew it out. (No! I don’t know sometimes why I do what I do.) But is not God’s Word a bit like this? The voltage is the emphasis or importance God puts upon it in His plan. Some scripture requires a higher voltage—more emphasis—than some other verses, just like some computer parts need more or less power to work right. With some verses the emphasis is very low [Romans 14:22]. As Paul confessed, “by permission, and not of commandment” [1 Corinthians 7:6]. Some Biblical directives are essential for some of us but may not be as important for others. Think married compared to being single [1 Corinthians 7:32-33].
But it is the parts that connect to the entire Bible of Truth that must be valued most and one of these is what this writing is about: “You shall have no other gods before me,” says the Lord. [Exodus 20:3]. This single verse—if you were to put God’s volt meter on it—would register very high, indeed!
And the part known as Hosea’s prophecy!?
It needs a heat sink!
