Reading the Bible, Knowing Jesus (7)

 

The second conversation that shocked me occurred less than two months ago, it is the most recent of the three. Vickie and I were sitting at our table with a dear family member. While we don’t see him often, for he lives on the other side of the country, nor talk to him with great frequency, we love him and his family deeply.

 

We were talking about reading and understanding the Bible when he said to me, “I’m not an intellectual like you, so it is hard for me to understand the Bible.”

 

My first thought was, “O my, what have I done?” I was completely taken aback.

 

I rose from the table, got a Bible from a bookshelf, placed it in front of him and sat down. Then I said, “Please open it and let’s read it. Open it anywhere.”

 

He opened the Bible at Daniel Chapter 10.

 

Now of all the passages in the Bible, Daniel Chapter 10 was not toward the top of my list to read with him because of its apocalyptic language and imagery, but as Reepicheep counsels, we must take the adventure that Aslan gives us. And so our nephew began reading aloud, and as he read a thought or two he’d stop and reflect on it with Vickie and me. It was a sweet time and before we knew it Neil had taken us through Daniel Chapter 10.

 

Neil saw the essence of the chapter. He didn’t need a commentary, he didn’t need Vickie or me to explain it, he did (I hope) benefit from our encouragement. While we made occasional comments about possibilities of meaning, it was more along the line of a hitting coach suggesting to a batter what pitches to look for with a particular pitcher. A hitting coach cannot face the pitcher, only the player at bat can do that.

 

After Neil had taken us through Daniel Chapter 10, we turned to Matthew and looked at a few passages. Since he was reading Matthew at home this seemed like a good idea – once again, to use another baseball analogy, he was making contact and putting the ball in play.

 

I don’t know what our nephew’s concept of “intellectual” is, perhaps it is more along the line of someone who receives formal education in a particular field, I suppose I should ask him. I do hope that in our time together that he saw that the Bible, by God’s grace, is accessible to us all – that as we come to God’s Word that God’s Word comes to us.

 

When I facilitate a small group, and when I preach, I tend to ask questions rather than give answers. This was also true in my business career, since I wanted my employees to grow, I needed to ask and seldom answer. Some folks respond well to this approach, others hate it. I think that once most people get over their insecurities that they not only begin to grow, but they learn to practice it with others and thereby help them grow.

 

I have learned much from the insights of others, insights which they would not have expressed had I been doing most of the talking. Often in a small group someone will say something that I had never thought of or seen in quite the same way – those times are exciting to me. Furthermore, whether in the Kingdom or in business, I’ve learned that if you give a group of people a problem and then leave them alone, they will usually come up with some great solutions and possibilities.

 

In the first conversation with our husband-and-wife friends, I was challenged by the erroneous idea that you need to exegete the Bible in a certain methodical way in order to understand it. In the second conversation I was challenged by the idea, also false, that you have to be “intellectual” to readily understand Scripture. In the first conversation I was asking myself, “Have I given that impression in my teaching and preaching?” In the second conversation I was asking myself, “How have I given that impression?”

 

The Scriptures are clear that only the Holy Spirit can reveal God’s Word to us (John 16:12 – 15; 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:16). Pastors and teachers fall short if they do not instill this in their people. All of our learning and education must go through the Cross of Christ for it to be of lasting benefit. Perhaps all seminary and Bible college students should memorize 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 before they begin their studies. Perhaps all teachers and professors should be required to take an annual refresher seminar on 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:16.

 

Perhaps Jesus’ words in John and Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians should be written above the entrance to every seminary and every seminary library. Perhaps every author who seeks to write a commentary ought to read these two passages every day prior to beginning his work.

 

It is the rare commentary that is unambiguous in its dependence on the Holy Spirit for conveying the Word of God. These are the commentaries that view history, archeology, textual spade work and transmission through Scripture and Christ, allowing the Holy Spirit to bring the “natural” alive, rather than building a foundation on the “natural” and forcing the Bible into the image of natural man. Many commentaries are a mixture and can be confusing to the unaware and wearisome to others (wearisome because the reader must constantly pick bones out of the fish). Some of us have learned to eat fish with bones faster than others; all of us should be careful when we do so.

 

The Holy Spirit either breathed the Bible or not. The Holy Spirit is either the Primary Source of the Bible or not. Yes, for sure God incorporates contemporary images, using them “as-is” or transforming them upward into higher and deeper perspectives – but the Primary Mover must always be the Holy Spirit, not the human author’s contemporary surroundings, understandings, beliefs, practices, intentions, and cultural biases. We must submit all things to Christ and seek Christ in all things. The Bible, by God’s grace, transports us into the eternals in Christ Jesus. We are not to live as earth dwellers.

 

We live in a time of exceptional information, I do not say that it is a time of exceptional knowledge, for to really know something requires, I think, a marriage of the mind and heart with the object to be known – whether in the concrete or the abstract (and the abstract is no longer the abstract to those who know it). Using this measure, we can seldom know anything by using a search engine. 

Employing a search engine and thinking the results by themselves give us knowledge is like purchasing a tomato at a grocery store and thinking that we have grown the tomato. We may gain data from the internet, but we are not likely to gain knowledge or wisdom. We may come home from the grocery store with a tomato, but that is not the same as our neighbor’s tomatoes on his table, for he has nurtured the soil, planted the seeds, cared for the plants, and harvested the tomatoes. Hothouse tomatoes seldom have taste, hothouse data from the internet is the same.

 

Interpretive methodologies may have their place, they may be helpful, but they must not sit on the interpretive (hermeneutical and exegetical) throne – Jesus has reserved that for the Holy Spirit. The wise interpreter submits himself and his approach to the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ, knowing that “knowledge puffs up, but love edifies,” knowing that “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

 

If we remove the Holy Spirit, if we remove the supernatural, if understanding the Bible is open to anyone who can learn hermeneutical and exegetical principles, if 100% of the process of Biblical interpretation can be taught and tested – then what the Bible says about itself is a lie, 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:16 is a lie, because it teaches us that “a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually understood” (1 Cor. 2:14).

 

Our “faith is not to rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:5).

 

We, who are in Christ, have been given the Holy Spirit “who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words” (1 Cor. 2:12 – 13).

 

Now, how we negotiate all this is another matter, and whether we can recover from where we are and return to where we ought to be in the Holy Spirit and the Living Word is another matter. How these things are worked out is beyond my vision – I suppose it must be local, always local – yet it may indeed have broader currents. Christ Jesus must always be our North Star; the Cross must always be our portal into the Divine and heavenly.

 

Someone has said that while over the past few decades we may have done a good job of teaching people the Bible (which I question), we have not done a good job at teaching people to know Jesus.

 

There is an irony here, when thinking about the Biblical text and interpretation. The irony is that when we remove the Holy Spirit and supplant Him with our methodologies, that our focus on the text is pretty much the same as those who teach the Bible solely as literature; neither approach requires the Living Christ, neither requires the supernatural, neither requires the Holy Spirit, both are controlled by “man.”

 

As John the Baptist said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven” (John 3:27).

 

You may have discerned another possible irony, and that is that I may appear to have drifted into the “intellectual” after beginning this reflection insisting that being “intellectual” is not necessary for seeing and understanding the Bible. If thinking about things is being intellectual then I am guilty, but I don’t think so, I think I am simply seeing Scripture as it is written, that I refuse to gloss over passages such as 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:16.

 

If I am using terms and concepts and sharing concerns that are unfamiliar to a reader, I am complementing the reader on his or her ability to think about these important ideas and teachings from the Bible. We do not grow by being constantly fed baby food (Hebrews 5:11 – 6:3; 1 Cor. 3:1 – 2). Much of our small group and Sunday school material might as well be published by the Gerber baby food company.

 

I refuse to treat people as if they are stupid. I refuse to water down the Gospel and the Bible. I refuse to deviate from calling us to total devotion and commitment to Jesus Christ. I refuse to treat adults as children.

 

“For I determined to know nothing about you, except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Only the crucified Jesus Christ opens the door to seeing and understanding Scripture.

 

Let us trust the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus and His Word to us (John 16:12 – 15).

Postscript: I realize that this can be challenging to those of us trained in hermeneutical and exegetical methods (methods of interpretation and communication). It is difficult for me to work through it, and I imagine I’ll die without having fully done so. Aren’t we always striving to see Jesus more clearly? To see His Word more fully? 

Some of my teachers have held “methods” loosely and graciously, giving room for their students to explore and grow as the Holy Spirit works and lives in them, others have been more rigid. All have loved Jesus; all have done their best. This is analogous to being trained to preach by a good teacher. I love Scott Gibson and Haddon Robinson – for who they are in Christ (Haddon is now in the Presence), for the content of their teaching, and for their own preaching.

 

As I have previously shared, I was trained so well by Scott and Haddon that I didn’t need the Holy Spirit. After I’d been pastoring for a few months and preaching every Sunday, I realized that I had so absorbed and bought into Haddon’s methodology, including his exegetical approach (which I incorporated with that of the broader faculty) that I could preach without reliance on the Holy Spirit and that few, if anyone, would notice. 

This frightened me and (I hope) drove me to a dependance on Christ (I hope in some measure, I’m still learning this Way) and helped me to hold all methods loosely. I may return to this subject at some point, we’ll see. When you live in a culture or system, it can be difficult to critique it – especially when it appeals to you.