What I have sought to establish here is that the word of God is not simply the
bible. Indeed, the bible is just an
executive summary and a synopsis of the word of God. The
word of God is God (the Eternal and ever-present Father) communicating and
conversing with His children. Do you
suppose His method of fathering is to just write an instruction manual and give
that to each child when he is born and unable to read or understand it? That’s pretty close to what some earthly
fathers do, but we ought not judge God’s fathering skills and techniques by the
ones we are used to.
And isn’t it true so often that when a person
turns to faith in Christ that we shake their hand, give them a bible, tell them
to read it every day and pray and come to church? In my experience that’s nothing like what God
does when a person turns to Him; so why do we do that? In my experience, God acts like a mother who
has just given birth; and not many of them hand the newborn a bottle of milk,
leave the room, and wait outside for the baby to cry.
God is like a relentless lover and like a
parent who never ever stops caring about and looking for and communicating with
their children wherever they may be, whatever they may be doing. In one sense, that is the definition of
fathering.
The book is a useful tool, but it isn’t and
never was intended to be the sum of God’s word to us. As the New Testament quite clearly points
out, there is the writings (graphe:
scripture); there is the
spoken and written account of the light and life of God in Jesus Christ (logos); there is the myriad ways in
which God stays in touch with his children fresh every day (rhema); and there is His passionate
unveiling of His wishes and intentions for his beloved children by any means He
chooses (apokalupsis).
So what’s the problem? Why do we not hear? Why do we misunderstand? Why do we go so ‘off-track’? Why do we get it wrong so often and so
badly? Well for one thing, we (preacher
and listener alike) have allowed ourselves to be hoodwinked by our arch-enemy
into thinking that the bible is all we need; that it is “the word of God”. And we have completely ignored our Eternal
Father’s specific instructions not to use a ‘go-between’ such as a priest or a
pastor. Perhaps we are not tuned in to
God’s frequency. Perhaps we’re so used
to having the TV on in the background that we no longer hear it – heck, we don’t
even know it’s still on. As Francis
Schaeffer said years ago: “God is there; and He is not silent.”
Sure – there are times, as with any good
father, when God is silent; because that seems to be the only way of getting
our attention. But it certainly isn’t
the way He wants it. And He doesn’t want
us spending so much time reading the instruction manual that we have no time
left for Him, our creator and sustainer.
Neither does He want us to imagine that His only method of conversation and communication is a badly translated
bible. What kind of a father is
that? And what kind of sons are we if we
are not hankering to spend quality time with Him personally and with our brothers
and sisters?
The word of God is, from one angle, graphe, logos, rhema and
apokalupsis. From another angle, as
I said at the beginning, it is more than just the sum of these things; it is
the very heartbeat, the will, the passion of our Eternal Father communicating
and conversing with His beloved children.
As with natural families and fathers and children, are we
listening? Are we hearing and
heeding? Are we paying attention? And then when we hear and apprehend His word,
are we handling it accurately, correctly, appropriately?
¤
Paul wrote to
Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does
not need to be ashamed, handling
accurately the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). ‘Word’ here is logos. It can mean ‘the
logos of truth’; it can mean ‘the true logos’; whether it is either or both, it
is a reference to that known and understood body of truth that is the good news
of the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ; the light and life of God in Jesus
Christ.
Again Paul wrote to Timothy, “All scripture
is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for
every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16).
Scripture here is graphe, a direct reference to what we know as the
Old Testament. It is probably safe to
include what has become known as the New Testament, thought most of it had not
been written when Paul wrote this to Timothy.
And what does it say about graphe? One: it is God-breathed; two: it is useful
and profitable for a number of things. It does not say it is “the word of God”; and
it does not say it is “holy”.
Apostle John, in his apokalupsis (unveiling) of Jesus repeats
the phrase, “Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit says to the ecclesias.” From the very beginning, it has been stressed
that we can hear God because God has His Holy Spirit who knows God intimately
and is given generously to God’s children; and because, by Spiritual birth, we
are given “spiritual ears” to tune in to eternity and the heartbeat and passion
of God our Father. In addition, certain
members of the Body of Christ the ecclesia are given the Spiritual gifts of
seeing and hearing in eternity. We can hear – because we have the ears and
we have the Spirit speaking; our obligation is to pay attention.
Jesus’ brother,
apostle James wrote: “Be doers of the word, not just hearers.” (James 1:22) ‘Word’ here is logos. In other words,
James’ instruction is that the logos of God is not meant to be listened to and
heard only, but obeyed. If you listen to
Jesus speaking to and about the Pharisees in the four gospels, you can easily
see that it was common for many of the Pharisees of the day to be hearers not
doers. James is writing to members of
the Jewish community who would have first-hand experience of this. The good Jewish thing to do is to hear it,
memorise it, be able to quote it. James
is saying do it; obey it; live it.
Jesus tells the
parable of the lamp: you don’t light a lamp and then cover it with a container
or put it under the bed. Rather you put
it on its stand from where it can give light to all who come within range. “So take care how you listen … because whoever does not have, even
what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.” (Luke 8:18)
Paul wrote to the
Corinthians about the difference between spiritual things and natural
things. He wrote that there is a
“natural man” and a “spiritual man.” The
natural man is not born again; is not born of the Spirit; is not born into the
things of the Spirit of God; the spiritual man is. It is impossible, says Paul, for a natural
man to apprehend or understand the things of the Spirit – because, “Spiritual
things are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14-15) Spiritual things are not apprehended and
understood by the mind and the working of intelligence and logic, but with the
spirit, by the Holy Spirit. For the
spiritual man, the mind is informed by the Spirit; for the natural man, the
spirit is informed by the mind.
In summary, there is
a right and a wrong way to handle the wealth of the word of God; some ‘have
ears to hear’ the word of God and some don’t; hearers of the word of God are to
be doers of it; there is a helpful and an unhelpful way of listening to the
word of God; there is a spiritual and an unspiritual (fleshly) approach to the
word of God.
One of the most
popular things to do with the bible is to use it as a weapon like a soldier
uses a gun. As such, it is an extremely
dangerous weapon because its maker never intended it to be used that way. Furthermore, for it to be used that way, it
has to be modified. And no human being
that ever lived has had God’s imprimatur to modify it for such a use.
In the bible there is
reference to turning swords into ploughshares: the ploughshare is the blade of
a plough that slices through the earth.
It seems to me that, using this metaphor in reverse, people are turning
their ploughshares into swords.
According to the bible itself, it is useful and productive for a range
of things, none of which is killing people or even having a fight with
them. Yet that is precisely what many do
with the bible: turn what is meant to be a useful ploughing tool into a
fighting weapon.
Today, I hear so many
preachers thumping their bibles shouting, “the bible says…” So what if it does? That doesn’t make it worth listening to. And I’ve been hearing this ranting personally
for over forty years. The bible itself
says that “he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the
rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
If you’re not coming to God and you do not believe that he exists,
hearing the bible quoted usually won’t make a difference. What often will make the difference is God
cutting through our ranting with His own rhema
and apokalupsis to bring His light
and life into the situation.
And today, I hear
alleged discussions which are really thinly disguised fights over theological
positions supported by proof-texts made from preferred translations of
taken-out-of-context bible verses and rammed home with sanctimonious voices
declaring that they have the full authority of God on their side. How many wars in human history have used this
tactic? How much of today’s global
violence is the same thing – bible proof-texting to prove one’s
superiority? “Mine’s bigger than yours –
nyah, nyah!” God is allegedly on both sides, using His “holy book” to brow-beat the
opposition into submission.
We are taking the
ploughshare off the plough and fashioning it into a sword with which to wound,
maim or kill the supposed devil-worshipping opposition.
And the justification
for this for many “evangelical christians” is the scripture from Ephesians 6:17
“take the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.” Yet Paul wasn’t saying we should turn the
bible into a weapon for fighting battles with other people. Paul used the word rhema not graphe so he wasn’t talking about the bible, he was
talking about the immediate word that God gives in the situation. And Paul nowhere advocates battles with
people at all; he says that if we have battles at all, they are spiritual
battles with spiritual powers fought with spiritual weapons. Paul never advocated quoting the bible to win
any battle: not with other humans nor with spiritual powers.
What he was saying is
that, in a spiritual conflict, God will give you the words and the message you
need; it will be a rhema and it will
be just the ticket; and you will be shown in the moment how to use it for best
effect. What he was encouraging the
Ephesians to do was to stand ready, fully clothed in the appropriate gear,
ready with ears to hear what the Spirit says and ready to carry out the rhema given.
There are many roots
to this problem tree. One root is the
traditional belief that “the bible is the word of God”. Another is the belief in the Crusades
mythology of the so-called “christian knight” who fights for God and king using
weapons of the flesh. Another root is
the belief that the sword of the Spirit is the bible and that it is to be used
on fellow-humans. And as always, it is
the genuine truth of the genuine word of
God that will bring down this tree.
If you starve and poison the roots of a tree, it will not survive.
The truth is, the word of God is so much more than the
bible; and the scriptures God gave us never were intended by God to be a weapon turned against humans but a useful and
productive tool for building up people and propagating the good news of the
kingdom of God in Christ. The bible is a
useful part of a plough, never intended to be turned into a weapon of
destruction. In human hands, it can be a
dangerous weapon or a valued and productive tool; it hinges on what our heart
attitude is, both towards God and towards our fellow-humans.
Cheers,
Kevin
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