The Scriptures in Perspective

What a joy it is to develop relationship with a God that loves to speak! Our God is not silent, nor withdrawn. His voice is familiar and finds an echo within our own hearts. Scriptures is one of the ways in which He chose to reveal Himself, and how to discover His living voice, instead of dead letters, within the scriptures, is the focus of this writing.

Attitude is such an important ingredient in any relationship. Our attitude toward the scriptures greatly determines the value we find in them. The very definition of attitude implies a complex and delicate state that involves beliefs, feelings, and values.

Because of this I thought it best to start with a series of symbols or illustrations, which describe the Word of God. Many of the passages we’ll look at refer to the Word of God beyond just the scope of Scriptures, and I appreciate that God speaks in many ways, but the focus of this writing is specifically on discovering His voice within the scriptures.

Jesus likened the Word of God to seed. Seed is a marvel. An apple seed is not an apple tree, yet it contains within it everything necessary to produce an apple tree. The seed is the beginning, the promise, the container of a living ‘creature’ much greater than itself.

In the light of this, there are two obvious errors in the way we could value the seed. Firstly, because we recognise that the seed is not the apple tree, we could decide to discard the seed. It is not the actual product, so why waste time on it. We could contend that we have an apple tree, and therefore no longer need the seed. I think the error of that is obvious to all.
Secondly, we could place undue value on the seed. We could defend the integrity of the seed, spend quality time with the seed, study the seed, profess our great love for the seed and eventually worship the seed – as if the seed is the life it contains … it is not!

Jesus said that the word of God is like seed. Scripture is seed – it is the beginning, the promise, the container of a life much greater than itself. God’s eternal purpose was never for His Word to just become Scripture, but rather ‘flesh’. “And the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us” Paul saw the same truth when he wrote to the Corinthians that they were ‘living epistles’. He places more value on them than on his letter! Paul intended for his letters to simply be the catalyst, or seed that would give birth to a life much greater than the seed. God intends for the scriptures to simply be the catalyst – the beginning of a relationship with Him that could never be captured in words. God desires to express Himself, not in the letters of a book, but in the lives of His children.

Jesus emphasised this same thought when He told the Pharisees “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me!”

Can you see how we could place the Scriptures in a position of honour that blinds us to its actual message? Can you see how we could value the seed as if it is the tree?
In no way do we subtract from the value of scripture in this way. Giving scripture its proper value is also the highest value we can give it.

Scripture contains the Word of God, as such it is intended to function as a seed that would germinate within us and produce the actual fruit – a transformed life.

Again in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians he warns about an approach to the scriptures that produces death! A seed that is kept outside of the environment in which it germinates can eventually die. So much preaching and teaching tries to impart knowledge and exhort people to gain more knowledge of scripture – I content that this produces more death than life.

Hear why and what John wrote: “I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth ... But the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true and no lie, and as He has taught you, abide in Him.”
His motivation for communication was not to inform or impart knowledge, but to stir up and confirm that which God Himself was teaching them (without his writing).

The Father has made available a relationship with Him, but so often people prefer a relationship with a book about Him. Why worship the manual, if Emmanuel – God with us and in us – is inviting you to encounter Him?

Obviously we value the scripture - the way it should be valued - as a catalyst, but placing it in the wrong position will hinder, rather than promote intimacy with God.

Perspective:
Let me give some examples of what Paul describes as ‘peddling the word of God’. I find the down-to-earth letters of Paul so refreshing compared to so much of our contemporary Christian writing. For instance, Paul doesn’t make a statement and then list 10 scriptures to support his point. It is so easy with concordances etc to find all the words that supports your point of view, yet this method completely ignores the actual message of the scriptures. It is with this perspective that I want to show some shocking facts about scripture. When we loose sight of the overall message, and dissect the scriptures into little verses it is amazing what we find.

Observation.
The Scriptures are often just an account of what happened and what was done. As such we can say that it contains the Word of God, but we cannot say it is the Word of God. For instance there is an account of how Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement and went their separate ways. This is not God’s Word on how to handle disagreements; it is simply an account of what happened. The message contained within the whole account is the Word of God, not isolated sentences.

Personal opinions.
We clearly see the different personalities and influences of the different times in the writings of the different authors of the Bible. As such it is clearly a human document, yet I also clearly see God’s message and dealings with man shine through all these writings, and as such I recognised that every part, every word is inspired by God. At one stage Paul clearly says that what He is writing is his own opinion and not God’s command! I think most of the writers, although not explicitly saying so, did not think of their writings as Holy Scriptures. This meant that those who read the letters did it with the full knowledge of the fact that there was a real fallible human behind these letters, yet they recognised the voice of God in the message.

Lies!
Let’s take the book of Job as an example. Often passages are quoted from this book as ‘the Word of God’, forgetting that within this same book, God rebuked them for what they said about Him in the book! Clearly, every individual sentence in the Bible is NOT God’s Word – It is the collective writings that contain His message.

All Scripture inspired by God:
Some find it difficult to reconcile this with “All scripture is given by inspiration of God”. There is, however, no contradiction in saying that God included every word and sentence necessary to communicate His message. Although some of these sentences are personal opinions, and others accounts of lies – lies even about Him – He still inspired the whole story as the container of His message.
Perversion of the scriptures occurs when one does not understand the story and quote the individual verses as ‘The Word of God’ concerning a specific subject.

Of much greater importance than understanding how the writing of scriptures was originally inspired by God, is allowing Him to inspire your understanding of them! Never underestimate the power of a seed – the power within the scriptures. You have the one who created these stories within you – let Him reveal to you its true meaning.

Remember “… the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true and no lie, and as He has taught you, abide in Him …”

It is an awesome experience when God takes the truth contained within these stories, written long ago, and makes that truth visible and relevant to you personally. He delights in showing us what He sees. And seeing what He sees is called faith.

Scripture is an awesome catalyst to encounter God Himself, but don't miss the forest for the trees - He is in you, hear Him; know Him; read Him.


By Andre Rabe