Encountering the Bible

I sent the following to some friends this morning...maybe there is something here for you. 

Guys…just some thoughts on reading the Bible.

 

Please take a look at 1 Corinthians 1:18 – 2:16. This is a passage that every Christian ought to be familiar with because, among other things, it teaches us the difference between God’s wisdom and man’s wisdom. It reminds us that we can’t know anything about God unless He reveals it to us. Compare this to what Jesus says to Peter in Matthew 16:17 and also what Jesus says in John 6:63. Also consider Hebrews 4:12 – is this our experience with the Word of God?

 

The Bible is God’s Word, 2 Timothy 3:14 – 17; 2 Peter 1:19 – 21. This means that it is unlike any other book or text we will ever read. This also means that if we read the Bible like it’s just another book that we won’t “see” what there is to “see”. Apart from Christ we do not have the capacity to understand the Bible. Note what Jesus says to the Pharisees, who certainly knew the “data” and “information” of the Scriptures (John 5:39).

 

If the Bible is indeed God’s Word, His self-revelation, then when we come to the Bible we are coming to God and God is coming to us (Hebrews 11:6). We are looking for Christ…the central question in experiencing the Bible is always, “Where do I see Christ?” All other questions are secondary at best, irrelevant and distracting at worst.

 

Another question is, “How do I respond in obedience to what I am reading and seeing?”

 

When I read other books or texts, I am always critiquing what I read. However, when I read and encounter the Scriptures, God’s Word is critiquing me. I do not judge the Bible, the Bible judges me. This is a fundamental difference between my encounter with the Bible and every other text in existence. Even with statutory law, I still reserve the right to judge whether that law is moral and ethical – I have no such “right” with the Bible.

 

Another thing to consider, is that we want to allow the Bible to interpret itself, as the Holy Spirit allows us to see the interconnectedness of Scripture. We want to see the whole picture of Christ as presented in the Bible. This is one reason why we need to journey and live in the entire Bible.

 

Also, we interpret obscure passages with clear passages. We focus on what we know and not on what we don’t know. We just don’t understand everything that is written anymore than we understand all there is to life. It’s better not to make things up just to have something to say, or to write. Top – notch Bible commentaries acknowledge difficult passages, give options, and often end up saying in effect, “This is obscure and this is maybe the best option, but at the end of the day we don’t know for sure.”

 

Jesus Christ wants to reveal Himself to us through the Scriptures. Our Father wants to draw us to Himself through the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit wants to give us light and life through the Scriptures. Peter goes so far as to say that it is through God’s promises [in the Scriptures] that we are “partakers of the Divine Nature "(2 Peter 1:4). That is, the Scriptures are Eucharistic, they are another Communion Table at which we eat the Body of Christ and drink the Blood of Christ – we partake of Christ.

 

When we approach the Scriptures, we approach the Table of our Lord Jesus.