Oh, The Presumption

On studying Psalm 119, I discovered verse 101: I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word. (NASB) Such a statement is huge indeed! In fact, within the balance of Scriptural context, it is impossible. ... as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; (Rom 3:10 NASB) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Rom 3:23 NASB) So some other information must lie beneath the words. Looking at other Bible translations, Young’s Literal says: From every evil path I restrained my feet... The Amplified Translation says: I have restrained my feet from every evil way... The Holman Christian Standard says: I have kept my feet from every evil path... Since most of the translations use the past perfect tense–have restrained–that might be the verb’s best rendering. Based on that assumption, the next question might be, “I have restrained my feet from every evil way ... in relation to what?” One interpretation might say the Psalmist avoided every evil way in the past. Okay, what about the moment he wrote it? Some Christian schools of thought use verses like that to teach a "second blessing" that makes us able to completely avoid sinning. The opposite view teaches an imputed holiness that makes anything we do something other than sin. Obviously, they can't both be true, so what is The Truth? My point is, we must take the Bible as a whole, instead of elevating one verse, or even a select set of verses, that prove our particular biased interpretation. When we read the Bible in that way, we miss its whole point: We read and study the Bible to apply it to our lives so we will accurately reflect who God is. When we study the Bible primarily for doctrine, we sacrifice its holiness while building our own prideful knowledge. Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. (1Co 8:1)