"A Matter Of Interpretation"
For generations faithful gospel preachers have had to fight the old sectarian plea that "it doesn't make any difference what a man believes, just so he is honest in it." It is impossible to believe in the importance of faith and at the same time believe that it doesn't make any difference what a man believes. If it does not matter what a man believes, then it would not and could not matter whether he believes at all or not. It would not matter whether he believed in the virgin birth of Christ, if he were honest in rejecting it. It would not matter whether he believed in the resurrection, or even in the divinity of Christ if he were completely honest in rejecting such items. He could reject the transfiguration, the miracles, the crucifixion, and even the very existence of Christ if he were sincere and honest in such rejections. In that case the atheist and infidel (who is honest and sincere) would have exactly the same hope of heaven as the Christian!
Sectarian people are coming to realize this more and more. But lately we have begun to meet the same old worn-out idea among gospel preachers. A gospel preacher said to me not very long ago that he had heard another gospel preacher say that very day that much of the trouble within religious circles arises merely over a matter of interpretation; and that we should be more tolerant of those who differ from us, for, after all, maybe their interpretation is right and ours is wrong! This business of baptism, for example, for the remission of sins. It all depends on how you interpret that. Since nobody can claim infallibility, then nobody has the right to claim an infallible interpretation; so maybe the other man's interpretation is right. We can't condemn him just because he happens to interpret the subject differently! So the old idea makes its appearance in modern dress.
But let us test that idea and see how it works. If the idea is true, it ought to apply to one Bible teaching the same as to another; it will apply to all Bible teachings on the same principle. If baptism for remission of sins is only a matter of private interpretation, and no one can condemn a man simply because his interpretation happens to differ, then in exactly the same way whether Jesus was born of a virgin or not is a matter of private interpretation. It will all depend on how a man looks at it. Modernists say he was not born of a virgin. Their preachers fill pulpits of churches all over the land today, and teach that Jesus was not born of a virgin; they have been "educated" away from such crude superstition; they do not subscribe to the idea that he was conceived by a virgin through the power of God, and was born of a woman who had never known man. They simply cannot accept it that way.
The modernists might very well say to us, "It is all a matter of interpretation; you interpret it your way; I'll interpret it mine. You can't condemn me, and I can't condemn you. For we are both honest and sincere in our interpretations." The same thing can be said of the crucifixion of Christ, also of His resurrection. Suppose somebody says, I believe that all these stories about Christ are symbolical and figurative. I think that death on the cross and that resurrection are simply ways of describing something that happened to His spirit. Out of His humiliation and out of His shame of being made a little lower than the angels, He was raised up and exalted and glorified before God. It is all a matter of interpretation.
The modernist has just as much right to take that attitude as has the gospel preacher to say that baptism is "all a matter of interpretation." On that basis we couldn't blame or condemn any man for rejecting any truth or any fact of the gospel of Christ. You can "reason" the whole thing out of existence. If the fact of not claiming infallibility for our "interpretation" makes it impossible for us to condemn the man who has a different "interpretation," then we are hopelessly at sea.
If it does not matter what a man believes, just so he is honest, then he can reject Jesus Christ as the Son of God, he can reject the Bible as the word of God, he can reject every single point of gospel teaching. If it does not matter what he believes, just so he is honest, then he can throw the Bible away in its entirety. I'll take that kind of philosophy in religion and reason faith clear out of the scheme of things.
It does make a difference what a man believes. It makes all the difference in the world. And it is not simply "a matter of interpretation." One must believe the truth to be saved. Error cannot make one free from sin; error cannot make one a child of God. And if a man is in error in his "interpretation," that error cannot be the same as truth. He must have the truth. What is the standard? you ask. The standard is what the Lord taught, the word of the Lord. The word of God is the final standard, not what some men may think, or believe, or "interpret" about the word. It is not by the sayings of preachers or the statements of creeds that final judgment is to be rendered, but by the word of the Lord. It was Jesus himself who said, "Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father thereof." (John 8:44) We are made free by TRUTH, not by LIES, no matter how honestly one may believe the lie.