Can you make the Bible say anything you want? Well in one sense people can and do, but that does not necessarily mean those interpretations are valid, or that they are representing what is intended. I can by selecting words from the dictionary, and quoting their position (verse and chapter), claim that the dictionary says all kinds of outrageous things. But that would not mean that it is the dictionary is making (intending) those statements. Those statements would be made by me, and it would be the wrong way to use the dictionary. There are a lot similar things going on in many of the so called interpretations of the Bible. The apostle Peter warns of such Scripture twisting and tell us that those who do this, do so to their own destruction. He also warns us against “Private interpretations” (2 Peter 1:20; 3:16).
It has been said that the Bible is simple enough that a child can understand it, and deep enough to drown an elephant. There is a lot of truth in this statement (that it is both things). It is no coincidence by the way, that Jesus said that unless we become as a little child we will not enter the kingdom (Matthew 18:3). I want to suggest that likewise, unless we become as little children we will not be able to understand and correctly interpret the Bible. There are many things that need to be said here, and I cannot say all of them. I do however, want to say some things and to clear away a number of things that could clutter up our being able to read or even come to the Bible.
The first thing that I want to say, is that the Bible has a central theme, a central message, and receiving and understanding what all lies behind this message, is foundational to interpreting the whole Bible. The Bible itself tells us this, since “the wisdom of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing” (1 Corinthians 1:18). For example, if we turn our backs on this central message, we will not understand that God is for us, and has acted in history with incredible and costly love to reconcile us with Himself (John 3:16). Theologians call this central theme soteriology, that is the history, the how, the what and the why of salvation. Put simply this is all about how we get right with God and why we even need to. To say this in other ways, it is how we enter the Kingdom, how we get saved, how we receive His life, life in its fullness, and life everlasting. From the early chapters of Genesis where God sacrificed an animal to provide coverings for Adam and Eve's (spiritual and other) nakedness, to the picture painted by the sacrificial systems of the Temple, to the once for all sacrifice on the Cross of the perfect Son of God, God was providing and showing the way back to Himself. We receive this “salvation” by faith, and as with Abraham of old, this is credited to our account as it were, as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). It is not a righteousness of our own (i.e. self righteousness - Philippians 3:9), it is a righteousness that is greater than that of the religious hypocrites, and it is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8,9). It is the only way to get right with Him (see John 14:6).
The second thing I want to say, it that all this gets very complicated for us when we step out of our childlikeness. When we are childlike (as opposed to being childish), we know we need help, we know we can't do it on our own, we know there are wonders we have not even begun to experience. When we step out of childlikeness we loose our curiosity and we begin to feel we have arrived. But there is more to life with God than we have even begun to think or imagine (1 Corinthians 2:9). There is always more. When we loose our childlikeness and start to become proud believing we are good enough on our own, or if for whatever reason we become too wise to believe “such foolishness”, then the cross becomes a stumbling block (I Corinthians 1:23), a rock of offense and we cannot understand it (1 Corinthians 1:18). Understanding the Bible then, has very little to do with being smart in the sense that the World means being smart. No doubt you will have heard the expression “too smart for his (or her) own good”. The apostle Paul tells us that “by wisdom the world did not know God” (1 Corinthians 1:21). You see it all the time in the University. The word “childlike” does not always come to mind when you think of the academic (British understatement).
I cannot emphasize this childlikeness enough as a necessary component of interpretation, in particular on our dependence on God to understand. The Scriptures did not come into being apart from God, and they cannot be understood apart from Him. All Scripture we are told is inspired by God or “God – breathed” or God Spirited as one translation puts it (2 Timothy 3:16). Likewise we are told that Holy men of old were moved by the Spirit of God to prophecy. The Intervarsity statement of faith that I recommend (I will say more later) proclaims this Divine inspiration is unique. The Scriptures are inspired in a way no other literature is inspired.
But the inspiration of the Scriptures is only half of the equation. In particular in this age of Grace (since Jesus came and suffered and died in our place), the Holy Spirit has been given to “lead us into all truth” (John 16:13). Note again that it is the Bible itself that is telling us what is it that we need in order to correctly interpret it. Theologians call this role of the Holy Spirit in our understanding of the Scripture “illumination”. He sheds His light on what we read. Most of us who have walked with Jesus for any length of time, know the experience of a portion of the Scripture coming alive. We variously experience this as “ah” or as “oh yes” moments, and they change our lives. We somehow know it is God speaking to us (see “You hear from God and fairies too right?” September 2010). But hearing and obeying and trusting and understanding are closely related to keeping clean before Him, and to returning to Him when (not if) we stray. All this is part of being childlike, of being dependent on Him. So then in order to understand the Bible the way that God intends us to, we need to be willing to confess and forsake our sin, and turn to Him and ask Him to shed His light on what we read. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are dependent on Him, for “In Him we live and breath and have our being” (Acts 17:28). We are dependent on Him for our every breath. In becoming childlike, we acknowledge this dependence, and this is where we need to start in our understanding, and where we also need to continue. This last point is emphasized on John 8:31 where part of the condition of the fulfillment of the promise to be set free, is that we “continue in His Word”.
I wrote earlier about “Truth, Bible and Propaganda”. The propaganda of the World is relentless and is everywhere seeking to undermine our faith. There are three things we need to do to counter this propaganda, and so to be set, and to walk, free. They are, firstly to read the Word, secondly to read the Word, and thirdly to read the Word :). Actually we need to read the Word, memorize the World, prayerfully meditate on the Word and then obey (do) the Word. When we do this, we will have the all the tools we need to see through the propaganda, to be not conformed to the World, and we will prove and approve, what is good and perfect and acceptable, namely the very Will of God whose very essence is Love, and who wants to protect and to provide (see Romans 12:1,2). The Scriptures tell us that there are three things that war against the soul. They are the World, the flesh (our sinful lusts and our sinful nature) and the Devil. The one who continues in His Word is not ignorant of the devices of this last Buddy.
Coming to the third and final point for today, I want to start to say something about how to avoid the trap of falling into (subjective and isolationist) private interpretations. We need a balanced view, but to whom shall we listen? It is too easy to get confused. Let me start by saying that there is a spiritual wisdom of which the world knows nothing. Jesus Himself tell us that to the disciples (i.e. to those of us who are willing to sit at His feet and learn) are given the secrets of the Kingdom, but to those outside all things come in parables, precisely so they will not understand (Matthew 13:11). This is rather startling when you first hear it, since most of us thought of parables as a means to make things simple so we can understand. And this is true for those “inside”, but not for those outside. Part of this is God's mercy on those who reject Him, since we all are accountable for our response to the light given, for what we do with what we know.
This teaching of Jesus from Matthew has profound implications for correctly understanding the Bible. First of all there are secrets of the Kingdom that need to be discovered. Second of all these secrets are only given to the believing Church. Begging the question, for the moment who exactly is the church, this gives us a way to confirm (or not) that what we are understanding is indeed what is intended. As always, we need to look to the Bible for guidance. In the book of Acts we read that they were together on one accord, and that “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42 ). So here are two components to consider. First of all there is unity (one accord). It is not that there were no disagreements (see Acts 15), but that disagreements were (and hence should be) dealt with. So the second thing I want to say, and I will take this up in the coming days, is that part of the way things were settled was through the collective wisdom of the Apostolic teaching. More to come.
To summarize I am wanting to say three things about where we need to start (but not where we need to finish) in our interpretation of the Scriptures. We need firstly to understand that the Scriptures have a primary central message, and that is how we enter into life with Him. Getting right with God is foundational not only to our life with God, but in understanding the Scriptures themselves. The secrets of the Kingdom are revealed to those who receive it. On the other hand “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). So then, if you are at the very beginning or are searching and have not yet entered into the Kingdom, I suggest you might start with the Gospel of John (New Testament). John tells us that his purpose in writing is that “ you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). In John we also read that it is in continuing (not just a one time reading) of His Word that its operation in our lives sets us free (8:31). Secondly in our approach to understanding the Scriptures we need to come with the attitude of a little child, open curious, trusting. Part of this is our understanding that the Word was given by inspiration of God and cannot properly be understood apart from the illumination of God the Holy Spirit. In other words in order to understand, we need to come in a child like openness and dependence on Him. It is good and right and proper to stop before we read and ask God to guide us in our reading and our understanding. Thirdly while we must read and study and pray for illumination for ourselves, we need to check that our interpretations (and the interpretations of our little group or denomination) are in accord with the Apostolic teachings of the rest of the New Testament, and as understood by the believing church, in History (the early church), and across groups and denominations who believe what the Bible says about itself. I will say more in the coming days.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment