Not a book
In John 14, Jesus makes clear that after him the Holy Spirit will come to us, as his disciples, to “teach us everything” and to build us up in love.
No mention of a book. A lot of bible worshippers love idolatry.
So what is scripture for? Exactly what it does: to point us to the Incarnation of God, Jesus the Christ, and to the sustainer of faith and love, God the Holy Spirit. With God the Father, then, scripture tells us to worship the Holy Trinity. Not itself.
Scripture even itself encodes the teaching that faithful attention to God’s revelation will build wisdom beyond scripture:
In Acts 11, Peter rushes back to Jerusalem to explain to the elders that he accepted Gentiles Christians only after the Holy Spirit has to berate him 3 times to so.
“Now the apostles and the brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” But Peter began and explained to them in order….
“… As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”When they heard this they were silenced. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance unto life.”
And again in Ephesians, Paul writes,
“… how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that is, how the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”
Took us 1800 years to begin to believe that White women, too, were fully engaged by the Spirit. 1900 years to accept black people as full Christians. Took another 100 to accept gay and lesbian people as Christian.
But the Holy Spirit is seen on these believers. They, too, are called to leadership with their spiritual gifts. And God the Holy Spirit continues to dwell in believers without distinction to identity. Only faith.
Holy Scripture still teaches us, too, because it is densely layered, filled with analogical examples and cries of the human spirit. But 2000 years old, it needs interpretation. It’s not a lash. It’s a source for opening oneself to new wonders of God. The natural and supernatural worlds are not separate and they do not collide. They each ground and reinterpret the other. They are involved with each other, the seen and the unseen. The one a phenomenological reality, created and therefore a sacrament, a sign and conduit of the other, which is the eternal Truth.
“Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.”
“For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.”
It needs interpretation, indeed. Good, rational, well-considered interpretation, at that. And that seems to me to be the problem too often.
ReplyDeleteRight. That is the question: where is the authority held to interpret scripture.
DeleteThe great mistake of radical protestantism is not sola scriptura. The great mistake is unem lectorum, one reader only. The entirety of radical protestant - all the hundreds to thousands of varieties - is because of the doctrine that each person can interpret scripture by the sole wit of their own reason. The reason Stan rejects the name of Jean Calvin for his Calvinism because he perceives the implied but necessary judgment that no one person can set the rules for Christ’s body, the Church. And yet, radical protestantism is merely a huge grab bad of individuals who disagreed with something and persuaded other people to agree with it and away they went, cutting off the believers from whom they departed. And many fell to killing each other in the name of god, and co-signing them to hell for breaking whatever NT phenomenon they valued above Christian unity. I grew up in the southern churches of Christ (capitalizing Church was against doctrine.) We took communion every Sunday: cracker and a shot glass of grape juice we selected from a tray of shot glasses passed to us. I later became aware that there was another church of Christ, of much smaller number, who couldn’t stand the tray because Jesus clearly took the [one] cup! We could not worship together.
This is the culture that is inherited legacy of Stan, and the other Thugs.
So, how and who interests scripture for today? The same way and by the same people in which the actions and energy of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament are interpreted: by Christ’s body, the church. And particularly by those the community of the body of Christ recognized as spiritual elders. (And we remember that the Holy Spirit precedes l the Bible by eternity and the Church precedes the Bible by 309 years.)
Both Peter and Paul had mystical experiences with the Holy Spirit. And what did they do? They went to the Jerusalem elders to get a consensus of approval on what it all means.
Apostles of Christ, hand picked, interacting with God the Spirit and, for Paul, hearing the ascended Christ… but they could not do the protestant thing and decide on their own. They needed the reflection of the community, the body.
So, too it should be with us. Fallibility is far better mitigated by a faithful crowd. It’s not perfect. And spiritually gifted people often being to the body the need if the Holy Spirit: we must change our judgments about this or that; resist the powers about this or that; sacrifice ourselves for the love and mercy toward this one or that one or that group of people over there made also in the image of god.
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ReplyDeleteWow. The fake Scot, after nearly a dozen tries STILL can’t spell.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Marshal’s standards, he hasn’t proven he’s married. Or has a woman in his life. He has photos but could just be a sister or strangers’ photos he grabbed from the internet.
ReplyDeleteFeo is an Unteachable LEFTIST heretic who loves what God calls an abomination. He harasses a good Christian woman by daily trying to publish on her blog. He spews lies about politics and refuses to honor requests to stop harassing with attempting to post comments on MY blog.
ReplyDeleteThe fake Scot, after a dozen attempts, fixed his spelling difficulties.
ReplyDeleteStill can’t prove he’s married.
And can’t rationally defend his dogmatic ideology. Because it’s not faith. His belief is in White identity.
Glenn, and his other persona or his wife if he has one, are so fragile that mere news stories of Trump’s destruction of our democratic social fabric traumatizes them.
ReplyDeleteAlready asked and answered on the other posts. Unlike you, I’m answering - and refuting - your Will to be ignorant.
DeleteCome with scripture related to this post, Glenn. If you’re a Christian, you can hear Jesus in John 14, Peter and the Jerusalem elders in Acts 11 and Paul in Ephesians and get the importance. Christians have the promise of the Holy Spirit to guide us. If you cannot, then give up the idea that you’re a Christian.
Come with scripture related to this post, Glenn. If you’re a Christian, you can hear Jesus in John 14, Peter and the Jerusalem elders in Acts 11 and Paul in Ephesians and get the importance. Christians have the promise of the Holy Spirit to guide us. If you cannot, then give up the idea that you’re a Christian.
ReplyDeleteIf you want me to respect your “wife” Glenn, then you have to respect mine. Disavow Marshal’s comment and don’t let him lie about her again.
DeletePretty simple for a decent Christian. You’ve never done it.