It’s been a while since I last posted a blog, but following on our Judges series, I thought it would be good to explore a bit further how do we read the Bible responsibly?
In some ways I don’t like that question… “Responsibly” is quite a limiting, restrictive, narrowing, and serious word. I believe as we encounter the living God in scripture we are actually broadened, unbound, liberated — our narrow presuppositions and prejudices are cast wide open as we confront pure grace.
That being said, there are certainly irresponsible ways to read the Bible. And there are certainly some passages that are either confusing, boring, terrifying, repulsive, hard to believe — or a mix of all the above.
But to try and inform this question, I want to ask another question:
What do we mean when we talk about the Word of God?
Do we mean the Bible?
Do we mean the act of preaching?
Do we mean Jesus Christ himself, the living Word made flesh?
There is an argument to be made for each.
So all of the above? Does that mean there are three words of God?
Problems arise it seems to me when we treat the Bible as the unqualified Word of God in absence of these other two. If you take the other two away, then it’s pretty hard to budge on anything the Bible says: “the Bible is the Word of God. Full stop. Case closed. Finito. Zip. Shhhhhh.”
Rather I would say, there is one Word of God, who is the living Word of God, revealed to us in Jesus Christ. And we encounter the living Christ primarily in two ways:
- through the words of scripture,
- as they are proclaimed, incarnated, and lived out in the life of the community by the Spirit.
Therefore the Bible is the Word of God insofar as it witnesses to the living Word, Jesus Christ, within the community of faith*.
This sounds woefully technical, but it has quite big implications I think. It means the Bible is not a series of immovable, black and white, literal truths. Rather it becomes Truth as, through its words, we encounter the living Christ within the Spirit-formed community. The words of scripture therefore have a relational, living truth that must be prayerfully proclaimed and discerned for every generation, every culture, every community. They take on new meaning as the living God speaks to us anew everyday.
If this is the case, then the perhaps the question is less what? and more Who?
Who is the Word of God for us today?
But enough of me… what do you think? Do you agree? What implications does it have?
When you hear someone talk about the “the Word of God”, what do you understand that to mean?
Arohanui,
Jordan
* Uncle Barth frames it in this threefold way:
“The revealed Word of God we know only from the Scripture adopted by Church proclamation, or from Church proclamation based on Scripture.
“The written Word of God we know only through the revelation which makes proclamation possible, or through the proclamation made possible by revelation.
“The proclaimed Word of God we know only by knowing the revelation attested through Scripture, or by knowing Scripture which attests revelation.”
Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, vol. 1, I.iv. (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1936) 136.