"The Bible is the infallible, inspired, inerrant word of the living God. It is our rule of living, standard of conduct and final authority in all things." I have learned somewhat since then...
My
view of scripture 2015
The
cannon
The Bible is not a book; it is a collection of written
works authored by men of God concerning their witness of God’s action or
instruction in their lives. What we call the Old Testament was compiled and
officiated just over two centuries before Christ, and these are the
“scriptures” so often referred to in the New Testament. Jesus never spoke
against this collection nor did He suggest that there might be more. He did,
however, vehemently oppose the rabbinical tradition passed down from the same
period. The Apocrypha, though accompanying this collection, was never
considered scripture.
The books selected for the New Testament represent those
that met an exclusive and stringent criteria, hotly debated in ecumenical
councils with a great deal of meditative prayer; patterned after the council of
Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-35). Many of the texts that failed the test are available
for reexamination today. We also have historians of the day, like Eusebeus,
discussing the debate and reasons for exclusions. While I questioned the
inclusion of Revelation for a time, in the end I believe they made the right
decision on the cannon of 66 books. The criteria were that a New Testament text
must have apostolic authority or sanction with the intent or effect of common
circulation among the early church. If a text was widely popular though lacking
clear apostolic authority, it had to be ensured to have no conflicts or contradictions
with the balance of proven apostolic and Old Testament texts.
Textual
reliability
How do we reconcile textual variances within the Word of
God?... Divine preservation of corrupted perfection. God created a perfect
environment on paradise earth, but He entrusted that paradise to man. The earth
today is a scarred and distorted shadow of what was originally created, yet,
despite the effects of sin, the earth is clearly designed that life may thrive.
In the same way God gave His perfect word to man, and would continue to do so
if only we would listen. Man composed that which God taught so that the
spiritually deaf may receive the word of God through their physical eyes. Then
generation after generation did their best to preserve that which was passed down
to them. Through it all, while discrepancies and typos are evident God has
preserved His word that it inerrantly leads us to Him. In both cases, His
preservation has been so effectual that we were not only meant to survive, but
all together thrive, both physically and spiritually. As to the reliability of
the 28,000 handwritten manuscripts dating to within one century of the
autograph, while there are no two identical, no variance has affected the core
of any text. A variance is usually in word order or spelling differences,
occasionally a copyist would miss a line if it started the same as the line
before it, or one might accidentally include a note written on the master text in
the body of the passage. When all manuscripts are compiled, most discrepancies
are easily spotted, while the more difficult have no effect on any major
doctrine. Furthermore, even if we lacked any and all manuscripts, nearly the
whole of the New Testament could be reproduced from the citations of the early
and latter church fathers. That’s astounding preservation!
My
approach
The Bible was not divinely dictated in authorship,
translation, or selection. The latter church fathers were prayerfully guided in
their canonical discussions, all translators of the sacred texts past and present
are gifted linguists whose work compels due consideration, and the authors,
having learned from God and walking daily in His presence composed their works
to the people of their day addressing the issues at hand with the express
purpose of guiding them back to the abiding presence of that same divine
Spirit. The Bible was never intended to be our guide; it is our map directing
us to our Guide.
The Bible is not absolutely necessary for our salvation
or sanctification. If it were, then its authors and their predecessors would
have no hope of either. We do not need to read correction daily, we need to
walk in His presence constantly. Should we dispense with the scriptures then? Certainly
not! Only realize that the point is to know Him and what He is doing,
not just knowing about Him and what He has done. When we know well what
He has done in the past we are the more able to recognize the moving of His Spirit
in the present. But, rest assured, there will be no trivia challenge or memory
verse recitation predicating our entrance into heaven. It’s about walking with
Him in spirit and truth.
The
interpretation and application of scripture
The Bible is composed of a variety of writing types;
history, poetry, prophecy, allegory, letters of exhortation, and law. In what
manner should we understand scripture? That depends... History should be taken
as true unless there is due cause to consider otherwise and in that case it is
usually our understanding that is flawed because we have read traditional
details into the report without realizing it. History comprises the main
balance of scripture and is the preserved record of the eyewitnesses of their
day. We can learn of God and how to walk with Him from the example of their
lives. Poetry should be taken poetically, filled with word pictures and
hyperbole. While poetry is woven around the events that inspired it, it is not
usually meant to express historical data, but rather, convey the mood and
emotion of the event and the effect on the author’s personal connectedness with
God. Prophecy should always be read in the light of history, not assumed to
have yet to be fulfilled. Sometimes a prophet would proclaim a divine warning,
sometimes reveal secrets, and sometimes predict the future, at times with
unmistakable directness, and at times in ambiguous word pictures. When it’s direct,
you simply have to look for its fulfillment in the history since its
authorship. When it’s a vision step one is grasping what the prophet saw, then
maybe you can examine history for possible fulfillment. But, with a vision, we
often miss crucial details skewing our understanding. Such as the word “like”, for
example, when a prophet says he saw something that was “like” a bull, he did
not see a bull, but, what he saw gave him the impression of a bull by its
traits, characteristics, or emotional effect. And while it may boggle the
western mind neither history nor prophecy is necessarily presented
chronologically in scripture.
Parables should be taken allegorically, focusing on the
main point not examining the details of its fictional entourage. Apostolic
letters are the direct application of universal Christian principles for the
issues in the first century church and should be read with the purpose of
grasping those principles. They should only be taken as direct when your
situation parallels theirs. And the law, God’s direction for how to live before
Him. From the law we learn of the divine sense of justice. While sacrifices and
ordinances were fulfilled in Christ we can still draw our sense of right, wrong
and responsibility from here. The point of the law has always been to reproduce
the character of God into His followers. When the prophets exhort the people,
they always point them back to the law. And when they pronounce judgment, it is
always to a lesser degree than what the law prescribes. Mercy is not receiving
your due consequence, grace is receiving an undue reward, and with God, grace
and mercy are just. When we exhibit the likeness of God, our sense of justice
is balanced by our desire to show mercy.
The entirety of the Bible has always been meant to direct
us to the presence of our Lord; as we are while in the flesh so we will be when
freed from it, abiding in His presence or not. If we memorize every line and
obey every letter but miss that point, we’ve missed it all!
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