Shincheonji lesson 8: fundamentals of the Bible, part two

Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible

The first half of this lesson is ordinary Christian teaching: God is the author of Scripture, it is inspired by God and the prophets spoke as the Holy Spirit carried them. That should be affirmed. The problem is the second half. The lesson says God “intentionally seals” content “until the proper time,” and that until then people only have “the teaching of man.” SCJ’s The Creation of Heaven and Earth (p. 5) states the conclusion: “There is no salvation for those who have only learned the teachings of men.” That puts every Christian before the scroll’s opening outside of salvation. The verses the lesson uses say the opposite.

1. 1. 2 Timothy 3: The Scriptures Timothy already had were enough

   The memory verse is 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Read the verse just before it:

   “…from infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:15)

   • Timothy already had Scripture that could make him wise for salvation. Nothing needed to be unsealed first.
   • Paul says Scripture equips the person dedicated to God “for every good work” (3:17). It is sufficient now, not after a future revealing.
   • If the Scriptures Timothy knew from childhood were able to lead to salvation through faith in Christ, then “no salvation” for those without the opened scroll cannot be right.

2. 2. 2 Peter 1: The prophetic word is a light now

   The lesson uses 2 Peter 1:20-21 correctly: prophecy came from God, not from the prophets’ own ideas. Now read the surrounding verses.

   • Peter says “we possess the prophetic word as an altogether reliable thing,” and readers “do well” to pay attention to it as “a light shining in a murky place” (1:19). It is a light for them now, not a sealed text waiting for a key.
   • Peter grounds his message in eyewitness testimony: “we were eyewitnesses of his grandeur” at the transfiguration (1:16-18). The apostles’ eyewitness testimony was about Jesus.
   • The very next chapter warns that false teachers “will infiltrate your midst with destructive heresies” and “exploit you with deceptive words” (2:1-3).

   The lesson’s review sets “the Word” against human beliefs held “without seeing and knowing firsthand.” That prepares students to trust someone who claims to have seen the fulfillment of Revelation himself. But the eyewitness of Revelation is named: “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things” (Revelation 22:8; see 1:2). And the eyewitness testimony the church is built on is the apostles’ testimony to Jesus (Acts 1:21-22; 1 John 1:1-3).

3. 3. Revelation 5: The Lamb opens the scroll

   The lesson says the sealed scroll shows God hides content until the proper time, so people should wait patiently.

   • In Revelation 5, the reason the scroll can be opened is that the Lion of Judah “has conquered” (5:5). He is the Lamb who was killed, and at the cost of his own blood he purchased people for God (5:6, 9).
   • The Lamb takes the scroll in chapter 5 and opens the seals in chapter 6, in John’s vision. Its opening is tied to Jesus’ victory at the cross, not to a later date.
   • At the end of the book, John is told, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy contained in this book, because the time is near” (22:10). That is the reverse of Daniel, who was told to seal his book until the time of the end (Daniel 12:4, 9). Revelation is the book that was not to be sealed.

4. 4. Isaiah 29: Blindness came from hard hearts, not early timing

   The lesson uses Isaiah 29:9-13 to say people lack understanding because the prophecy is sealed, so they fill the gap with human rules.

   • Isaiah gives the reason for the blindness in verse 13: the people said they were loyal to God and said wonderful things about him, but they were not really loyal to him. “Their worship consists of nothing but man-made ritual” (29:13). The sealed scroll in 29:11 is a picture of judgment on that hypocrisy.
   • The same chapter promises that “the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll, and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness” (29:18). Jesus pointed to his own ministry as that fulfillment: “The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear” (Matthew 11:5).
   • The cure for the blindness in Isaiah is a turned heart and the coming of God’s salvation, which the New Testament finds in Jesus.

5. 5. Mark 7: What “the teaching of man” actually means

   The lesson calls Jesus’ rebuke in Mark 7 the fulfillment of Isaiah 29. Look at what Jesus rebuked.

   • Jesus’ charge was that the Pharisees set aside God’s plain command to keep their tradition (7:8-9).
   • His example: God commanded “Honor your father and your mother,” but their tradition let a person declare that the help he owed his parents was a gift for God, and then he no longer had to do anything for them (7:10-13).
   • The “teaching of man” in Mark 7 is not interpreting prophecy before its time. It is a human rule that overrides a clear command of God.

   Apply Jesus’ standard fairly. Any instruction that leads students to hide their study from their parents, or to deceive family about where they are, would set aside God’s command to honor parents for the sake of a group’s rule. That is the exact pattern Jesus condemned.

6. 6. No salvation for two thousand years of Christians

   SCJ’s Creation (p. 5) says we have “only the teachings of men until God’s scroll is revealed,” and that revelation is “the only path to eternal life and salvation,” citing Matthew 11:27, John 17:3 and Revelation 1:1-3.

   • Matthew 11:27 says no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal him. Jesus says the Father has revealed these things to “little children” (11:25) and then invites everyone: “Come to me, all you who are weary” (11:28). The revelation is Jesus making the Father known, and the invitation is open.
   • John 17:3: eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ. That is knowing persons, not unsealing a scroll.
   • Revelation 1:1-3: the revelation was given “to show his servants” in the first century, and the blessing is for those who read and hear it then.
   • The New Testament shows people being saved through the gospel immediately: about 3,000 on Pentecost (Acts 2:41), the jailer and his household the same night (Acts 16:31-34). Paul says “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

   If there was no salvation until the scroll was revealed, none of these people were saved. Scripture says they were.

7. 7. Be patient and don’t fill in the blanks

   The review says God’s people “fill in the blanks with their thoughts, opinions and traditions instead of being patient and waiting.”

   • Moses gives the balance: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).
   • What God has revealed belongs to his people now, to understand and obey. Christians who believe the gospel already revealed are not filling in blanks with human tradition.
   • This framing places everything a student already believes into the “teaching of man” category, so it can be set aside when SCJ’s interpretation arrives.

8. 8. The “four contents” leave out the center

   The lesson and both SCJ books divide the Bible into history, teachings, prophecy and fulfillment. As rough categories, that is fine. But it leaves out what Jesus said the Scriptures are about:

   • “It is these same scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39).
   • Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus interpreted the things written about himself in all the Scriptures (Luke 24:27).

   SCJ’s The Physical Fulfillment of Revelation (p. 12) immediately adds that prophecy follows the order of “betrayal, destruction, and salvation.” That framework, introduced in Lesson 10, becomes the lens for all Scripture. Jesus gives a different lens: Scripture points to him.