The Holiness of Scripture

Themes: Scripture

Read this beautiful quote from B. B. Warfield, a theologian who worked in Princeton at the turn of the 19th – 20th Century. A truly great mind, and a gentle heart for God. I got a bit emotional when I read the quote and thought about times spent reading the Bible with my mother as a child.

… our memory will easily recall those happier days when we stood as a child at our Christian mother’s knee, with lisping lips following the words which her slow finger traced upon this open page, – words which were her support in every trial and, as she fondly trusted, were to be our guide throughout life. Mother Church was speaking to us in that maternal voice, commending to us her vital faith in the Word of God. How often since then has it been our own lot, in our turn, to speak to others all the words of this life. As we sit in the midst of our pupils in the Sabbath-school, or in the center of our circle at home, or perchance at some bedside of sickness or death; or as we meet our fellow-man amid the busy work of the world, hemmed in by temptation or weighed down by care, and would fain put beneath him some firm support and stay: in what spirit do we then turn to this Bible then? With what confidence do we commend its every word to those whom we would make partakers of its comfort or of its strength? In scenes such as these is revealed the vital faith of the people of God in the surety and trustworthiness of the Word of God.
Warfield, The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, 107

Comment and Share

City Light

Themes: Places, Reading Scripture, Scripture, Society, Sydney

‘If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, blessed shalt thou be in the city’ (Deuteronomy 28:2,3).

‘The city is full of care, and he who has to go there from day to day finds it to be a place of great wear and tear. It is full of noise, and stir, and bustle and trouble. Many are its temptations, losses, and worries. But to go there with the divine blessing takes off the edge of its difficulty; to remain there with that blessing is to find pleasure in its duties, and strength equal to its demands.

‘A blessing in the city may not make us great, but it will keep us good; it may not make us rich, but it will preserve us honest. Whether we are potters, or clerks, or managers, or merchants, or magistrates, the city will afford us opportunities for usefulness, It is good fishing where there are shoals of fish, and it is hopeful to work for our Lord amid the thronging crowds. We might prefer the quiet of a country life; but if called to town, we may certainly prefer it because there is room for our energies.

‘Today let us expect good things because of this promise and let our care be to have an open ear to the voice of the Lord, and a ready hand to execute his bidding. Obedience brings the blessing. In keeping his commandments there is great reward.’

- C H Spurgeon

Comment and Share

Worship – John 4:21

Themes: On Knowing God, Prayer, Reading Scripture, Scripture, Sunday

Where can God be found?

“Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, yet you |Jews| say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus told her, “Believe Me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”” (John 4:20-25 HCSB)

The question about where to worship is crucial to the Old Testament. Yet with these words Jesus renders the question irrelevant.

It’s no longer to be about place: God the Father desires worshippers who will worship in spirit and truth. The Father desires worship that is appropriate to his nature. What good is worship that by its form betrays ignorance of the one being worshipped?

We might reveal in the praises of people who don’t know us, knowing full well that if the details of our lives and failures were to become public, the praise would be quickly diminished. But the more we come to know God the more capable we are of worshipping him fully. He is good all the way through.

The worshipper in ‘spirit and truth’ approaches God in a manner that demonstrates the he or she really knows God.
It’s the kind of worship that is only possible once the Father has been revealed to the worshipper by the Son.

God is Spirit, as such, he is not bound by location. This was recognised by Solomon in his dedication of the Temple.

“But will God indeed live on earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.” (1 Kgs 8:27 HCSB)

Yet it was in the temple that God chose to meet with his people and accept their worship.
The Jesus we meet through John’s Gospel is in a continual tension, almost rivalry with the temple. Early in the narrative we are told that the Christ understood his own body to be the replacement for the temple,

“Therefore the Jews said, “This sanctuary took 46 years to build, and will You raise it up in three days?”
But He was speaking about the sanctuary of His body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this. And they believed the Scripture and the statement Jesus had made.” (John 2:20-22 HCSB)

The place where God chooses to meet with his people is now in the person of his Son.

“The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14 HCSB)

Comment and Share

Tyndale and the Bible Reading

Themes: Critique, On Language, Scripture, Tyndale

There is an interesting piece of research that featured in the Sydney Morning Herald recently. The central finding is that our brains have a limited capacity to store information in working memory (similar to the RAM in a computer), i.e., there are only so many memory-tasks that we can perform simultaneously. Since, reading, listening, verbalising, all require some of this working memory, if we are engaging in too many of these activities at the same time we become less effective at any particular one of them.

[This] questions the wisdom of centuries-old habits, such as reading along with Bible passages, at the same time they are being read aloud in church. More of the passages would be understood and retained, the researchers suggest, if heard or read separately.
Sydney Morning Herald

I was particularly interested in the application by the application of this research to the Christian practice of reading along with the Scripture passage being read out in a Church service. It struck true with me – my experience is that either listening or reading the Bible is likely to be more effective for absorbing what I’m studying than doing both at once.

Which makes me think that next time we do Bible study, I might suggest that one person read while the rest of the group simply listens. Perhaps we could discuss together whether this is more effective for absorbing the meaning of the text.

However, while I think that it’s appropriate for us to try this out at Bible study, I won’t be going down the same path at Church.
You see, reading along with the passage in Church is not simply about seeking to absorb the passage. There is the rest of the sermon for explanation and checking over the text (if the sermon is any good). The whole point of a good sermon should be to explain and encourage us to absorb the meaning of the text.

Even if reading along with the passage isn’t the quick absorbtion method for Bible understanding, I’d be worried if we stopped this practice. Not least because it might lead us to stop bringing our Bibles to Church.

Reading along with the passage is a crucial means of holding the Minister accountable for his words.

People like William Tyndale struggled and were killed so that men and women would have free access to God’s word in their own language. Their fight was not solely motivated by the belief that God speaks to each of us directly through Scripture.
Tyndale and others believed that the Church was best guarded against heresy when the members of a congregation are able to check the words of the preacher against the words of the text.

On 6th May 1536, King Henry VIII of England ordered that a copy of the newly translated English Bible be placed in every Church throughout the country. The people of each parish were to have free access to this Bible at any time of the week for their own reading.
This is the piece of history that lies behind those great big old Church Bibles you can still see around in older Churches. It was possibly the greatest piece of legislation ever passed.

So I’m all in favour of anything that helps us to absorb and understand the Bible better. But keep taking your Bibles to Church. Check the reading against the text, hold the preacher accountable for his words.

If the people stop taking their Bibles to Church, the Church will fall.

Do Tyndale proud…

I defie the Pope and all his lawes. If God spare my life, ere many yeares I wyl cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture, than he doust.
William Tyndale
As quoted in the Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, touching Matters of the Church (Foxe’s Book of Martyrs) by John Foxe

Comment and Share