God's Word on the Torture Rack

"...in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable [i]wrest,[/i] as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction" (II Peter 3:16)

I was reading this bit of scripture while doing a comparison of the second and third chapters of II Peter with Jude, when suddenly I felt impressed to look up the Greek for "wrest". This notion came, in particular, after reading Jude's account of ungodly men turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. I began to think of other erroneous doctines and cultistic beliefs (such as those espoused by the Russellites and the followers of Armstrongism, Swedenborgianism, Christadelphiainsm, etc.); in short, the myriad of false belief systems that sprouted their poisonous shoots from seeds originally planted within the soil of the Holy Bible.

So, I was impressed to look more deeply into the Greek concept of "scripture wresting" as I meditated on II Peter 3:16. I found that the word "wrest" was translated from a Greek term related to "torture by twisting", as, by example, the rack (Strong's 4761).

The rack is a medieval torture instrument used, traditionally, to [i]extract information[/i]. It is associated with confession. If a King, for example, suspected a person was witholding valuable information -- that is, information "hard to be understood" (3:16) -- he would first question the prisoner, and if a satisfactorial reply was not obtained, the next step was torture. The same treatment of the Word of God can be wrought by men who are "unlearned" (reading Holy Writ without the illumination of the Holy Spirit) and also "unstable" like the paranoid and proud King who will stop at nothing to hear what he wants to hear, and such wavering and unstable Kings should not think to receive anything from the Lord (James 1:7). These are suspicious men, like the masterminds of cults, who attempt to extrapolate information from God's Word that is both convenient and accomodating to their already pre-held convictions and pet suspicions. Since the Holy Spirit will not falsely confess, interrogation by torture is now in order.

God's word then goes on the rack to be "wrested". The aim of this act is to induce the Holy Spirit to confess to something He never intended to say. Innocent people under torture and duress have often crumbled and confessed to many a fallacious charge...if to only stop the horrific pain. The Holy Spirit, however, never does this. God, in his inestimable wisdom, instead allows men to believe a lie (II Thes. 2:11), [i]a false confession[/i], even as they contort and distort and pervert Scripture to neatly fit into the erroneous suspicions already erected in their minds.

On earth, the torture victim is mercifully killed after finally "divulging the secret", and the satisfied King can sleep peacefully, but in the spirit realm, when wicked men finally receive their coveted confessions the result is always that [i]they are the ones who are killed,[/i] as by entering unto "their own destruction".

Brother Paul

I found that the word "wrest" was translated from a Greek term related to "torture by twisting", as, by example, the rack

God's word is so rich.... thanks for digging that out Brother Paul.

And may we never be guilty of handling His word in such a way.

Danielle

And may we never be guilty of handling His word in such a way.

Amen, sister. I've learnt that what the Bible [i]doesn't[/i] say can often be more fatally interpreted than by what it [i]does[/i] implicitly say. Silence is golden, yet silence, in the wrong hands, can also be a deep, hidden pit. Pitfalls abound for those who traverse God's Word without a Lamp.

Brother Paul