The High-Level Verses & The Elaborating-Verses
Romans 10:13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven...
A contradicting Bible? No!!!
In the Bible, there are high-level verses, and related elaborating detailed verses in other places of the Bible. Similar to the usual writing styles in most documents and books - a summary statement followed by details. In the Bible, the details are not always following the high-level statements, but they are there in other parts of the Bible. God said, "those who seek Me diligently find Me". Why did Jesus bother to tell us all these vague parables? He could have just said one sentence! And no need for a whole Bible!
Here are some examples:
A high-level Verse:
Romans 10:9
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
The associated elaborating verses:
1 John 2:4
“The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and yet doesn’t keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
John 14:15-16
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever
Notes: So for the high-level verse in Romans 10:9 above, you still need to "read the fine print". God gave us a whole bible, not just Romans 10:9.
It’s easy to say something like, "all I need to know is John 3:16, for example; it tells me everything I need to know; keeping it simple".
Ignoring the rest of the Bible means you’re on the wrong path, and could be heading for spiritual death.
We are to be careful not to run with the high-level verses as the complete message. Jesus' teaching and parables provide the associated details we need to know.
A 2nd example of a high-level verse:
"Christ bought us with His blood and made us free from the Law.", Galatians 3:13.
Elaborating Verses:
Renewed day by day, 2 Cor 4:16, through the daily praying of the Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6:9-13.
A 3rd example of a high-level verse:
John 14:16
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever
Notes: The part about the Holy Spirit to be with us "forever". This is a high-level statement. To enable the "forever" see the details in the next reference below.
The associated elaborating verse:
Luke 11:13
Jesus said: "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
Notes: So we ask Him for the Holy Spirit, to receive as a gift, and sounds like receiving Him in a repeating way, similar to "us giving good gifts to our children". Therefore, not every human on earth automatically received the Holy spirit after Jesus ascended to heaven, as churches teach. And even after we get baptized, although we receive the Holy Spirit at baptism, it's not automatically "forever". Because the assumption for the "forever" claim is that after baptism we also follow the rest of Jesus' commands in our daily lives for the rest of our lives! Therefore It is not true that the Holy Spirit is inside all of us and that we only have to listen to Him, or tap into that power as many Protestant churches teach. Jesus said the above verses right after He had said the Lord's Prayer a few verses before in Luke 11:2-4. Meaning the Lord's Prayer is what leads to the receiving of the Holy Spirit for that day. And therefore has to be asked for daily for the daily-renewal.
The following Bible verses are to be understood as broad-brush high-level statements
Those keeping it simple, aka too lazy to read the Bible, choose their favorite verse from this list and run with it. But the sad reality is that they have become spiritually dead due to lack of knowledge of God, which is in the details of the rest of the Bible. If God intended to keep it simple, He would not have given us a thousand page Bible; He would have given us one simple verse.
Ephesians 1:7
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace"
Romans 10:9
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 6:23
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
1 Peter 2:24
"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed."
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
2 Corinthians 5:21
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
John 10:28
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.
And these Bible verses are elaborating on the details of the above verses, with specific instructions
In the high-level verses above, there is an implied assumption, that the person would do the right thing for the rest of their life - regular spiritual duties of seeking God and praying the Lord's Prayer daily.
Matthew 6:9-13
Jesus said: This, then, is how you should pray:
"Our Father who are in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."
Notes: Jesus instructs us to pray this prayer daily. Hint: it says "give us this day our daily bread", means we should pray it daily. And asking God to give us the bread that He gives, which is the bread of life, for the daily renewal and forgiveness of sins.
And also note, there is a condition for forgiveness. If we don't forgive others, then God would not forgive us. How many people do you know that forgive others? And who therefore is covered by the blood and saved by grace?
1 John 2:4
“The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and yet doesn’t keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
John 14:15-16
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever
Notes: What does believe in Jesus mean? Keep His commands. What are His commands? They're all spiritual commands! Scattered throughout the New Testament. There are a number of them in the Sermon on the Mount, example "seek God always", and the Lord's Prayer, which fulfils the eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood, which was Jesus' biggest commandment for the forgiveness of sins. Then there was many other commands about growing our spiritual maturity, in His parables. Examples, "produce fruit or cut the fig tree", "vine branches that may wither and die", and "cast the wicked servant who did not multiply his talents into eternal darkness".
John 8:51
Truly, truly, I tell you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.”
Notes: The Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 is one of His words, and "seek God always" is another, and many other Jesus commands that we need to keep! These are the details no one is looking at!
John 15:4-6
Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned.
Notes: This is one of Jesus' commands, to remain in the vine (to remain saved), or else become unsaved! This may appear contradicting to John 10:28 for example, but it's not! John 10:28 is a high-level statement assuming we're following His commands always. Here John 15:4-6 is one of the fine-prints we need to study and follow!! How do we accomplish this? Seek God always by reading the Bible, and pray the Lord's Prayer daily.
Luke 13:6-9
6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
Notes: Jesus gives us a specific parable about the need to grow spiritually, or else become spiritually dead! How do we heed His command? By truly seeking God always by reading (or listening to) the Bible. And by praying the Lord's Prayer daily.
Matthew 25:14-30
14 “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey. He called his own servants and entrusted his possessions to them. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent, depending on each one’s ability. Then he went on a journey. Immediately 16 the man who had received five talents went, put them to work, and earned five more. 17 In the same way the man with two earned two more. 18 But the man who had received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five talents approached, presented five more talents, and said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I’ve earned five more talents.’
21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy.’
22 “The man with two talents also approached. He said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I’ve earned two more talents.’
23 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy.’
24 “The man who had received one talent also approached and said, ‘Master, I know you. You’re a harsh man, reaping where you haven’t sown and gathering where you haven’t scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went off and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’
26 “His master replied to him, ‘You evil, lazy servant! If you knew that I reap where I haven’t sown and gather where I haven’t scattered, 27 then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and I would have received my money back with interest when I returned.
28 “‘So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have more than enough. But from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 30 And throw this good-for-nothing servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Notes: Another parable from Jesus about the need to grow spiritually. Growing "fruits" and "talents" is spiritual maturity. God expects us to grow spiritually, otherwise He'll give up on us and we become spiritually dead, as in the parable: "throw this good-for-nothing servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
2 Corinthians 4:16
Paul said: "…Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day."
Notes: Again here Paul alluding to the Lord's Prayer, "daily renewal".
2Corinthians 13:11
Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Become mature...
Notes: This is Paul telling the church to become mature before he left. Obviously he meant spiritually; what else could it mean?
Hebrews 6:1
Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity.
John 6:51-56
"51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” 52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.
Notes: Jesus, in a public gathering before His death, telling people that He is the Bread: Which we now know can be received spiritually through the Lord's Prayer. It is obvious from the elaborating verses that the bread has to be received daily in order to be forgiven and become filled with the Holy Spirit, daily.
There are many more elaborating verses, not all mentioned here.
Related Subjects: