Two Opposing Views Can Both Be Correct

Every now and then I see a meme or a post on social media that presents a concept in such a simple way that I wish I had been the one who thought of it first. Most of the time, however, I end up using hundreds of words and many anecdotes to share whatever notion I am trying to convey.

One example is an image I saw on social media showing two men standing on opposite sides of a number painted on the floor. From one man's perspective, the number was a nine, and from the other man's perspective, it was a six. The men appeared to be arguing about which one was correct. The caption read, "Sometimes both are correct."

This concept, that two opposing views can both be correct in a given situation, seems contradictory to our Western way of thinking. This right-versus-wrong mentality comes from the Roman-Greek foundation of much of our education. However, biblical concepts are not rooted in Roman-Greek hermeneutics; they are rooted in Jewish hermeneutics.

One teacher explained it this way: In Greek thought, a cup is either half full or half empty, while in Jewish thought, a cup is both half full and half empty. While this may seem trivial or unimportant, the truth is that many biblical concepts can only be understood correctly when the reader recognizes that two different things can be true at the same time.

Because many people read and study the Bible from a Greek perspective, they spend countless hours arguing, debating, and, unfortunately, causing division within the body of believers. In reality, they are simply looking at both a six and a nine.

I am going to share two examples of what I mean.

The first relates to the question of what happens to a believer when they die. One view is that the person who dies sleeps until the resurrection. This view comes from verses such as:

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, so with Him God will also bring those who have fallen asleep in Yeshua.

Or:

John 11:11

After He said this, He told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm going there to wake him up."

The seemingly opposing view is that when a person dies, they immediately enter the presence of G-D in the World to Come. This view comes from verses such as:

2 Corinthians 5:8

We are confident, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord.

Philippians 1:22–23

But if to live on in the body means fruitful labor for me, what shall I choose? I do not know. I am torn between the two—having a desire to depart and be with Messiah, which is far better.

Ecclesiastes 12:7

Then the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

And Yeshua's words to the man on the cross:

Luke 23:43

Yeshua said to him, "Amen, I tell you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."

The truth is that, just like with the six and nine example, both views are correct. The difference lies in whether we are looking at death from an earthly viewpoint or a heavenly one.

From the earthly perspective, those who have died either sleep or rest in the ground until the resurrection. From the heavenly perspective, those who have died are already with G-D.

Why is there this difference?

The answer is time. On earth, we are constrained by time. In heaven, or in the World to Come, time does not exist in the same way. Heaven exists outside of time. From this world's perspective, there may be a thousand years between death and resurrection. From the heavenly perspective, however, the dead are already there because time does not limit God's reality.

The second example of a viewpoint conflict has to do with sin and sinners.

The Bible tells us both that we have been set free from sin and that, even though we have been born again, we are still sinners. The controversy disappears once we realize these two views are not opposing each other but are simply different perspectives.

When G-D sees us, He sees us as people who have been set free from sin because He sees us as His finished work from a heavenly perspective. We, however, see ourselves as Paul did, as sinners who have been redeemed.

This is how Paul could write what we read in 1 Timothy 1:15:

Trustworthy is the saying and deserving of complete acceptance: "Messiah Yeshua came into the world to save sinners"—of whom I am foremost.

And yet he also wrote in Romans 6:5–7:

For if we have become joined together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also will be joined together in His resurrection, knowing that our old man was crucified with Him so that the sinful body might be done away with, so we would no longer serve sin. For the one who has died has been set free from sin.

Paul was not confused, nor did he contradict himself. He was simply speaking from a Jewish hermeneutic, an understanding that two seemingly opposing things can both be true, depending on the perspective of the one doing the viewing.