Recently I have followed some online postings of a Contemporary Christian Music artist, who shall remain nameless here, that I have appreciated since the 70’s. His music and ministry have always presented the gospel, and very often have been the voice of challenge and call to the church to walk out authentic Christianity under His Lordship.
However, recently His posts have surprised Mary and I because his dogma has turned legalistic and exclusionary to the point it seems his true goal is to disqualify any one that may take issue with his interpretation of scripture from his reformationist “sola scriptura” foundations. It saddens me that such a powerful voice has been turned toward doctrine for the self perception sake of being right.
Those that know me well know that I love the scriptures and I certainly embrace the scripture as the only infallible source of authority for faith and practice. I would certainly also agree that we are saved and justified by faith alone, through grace alone, through Christ Jesus alone, and unto the glory of God alone. This is all well and good for foundations.
My question has always been in any discussion of the “five solae”; where is the Spirit? That said, and as my Christian artist friend unfortunately proves; The interpretation of truth does not come from intellect and study, or knowledge mixed with devotional passion to it. I fear, in his case, he may have ceased to worship the Lord of the scriptures, and began to worship the scriptures themselves. This inevitably leads to the kind of Pharisaical approach to judging righteousness that caused them to lay burdens on others they could not live out themselves and to reject He who was the WORD made flesh and dwelling among them. Jesus confronted this in a scene from John 5:
[John 5:37-47 NASB95] 37 “And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. 38 “You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent. 39 “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; 40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. 41 “I do not receive glory from men; 42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. 43 “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the [one and] only God? 45 “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. 46 “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. 47 “But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
Jesus makes it clear here that is possible to search the scriptures and never hear the the voice of the God who gave them as an infallible source of revealing His nature, and end up without His word abiding in you. The scriptures do not hold life; Life is in Him whom they testify of and reveal, and it is in coming to Him and relationship with Him that you enter into and have life. In the end the scriptures are a tutor and will be the judge to convict those that have not come to faith by hearing His voice and seeing His form in them.
His revelation requires, and comes by, a faith that comes from hearing, and that faith is not of yourself. It is His gift of grace and by the Spirit.
[John 16:7 NASB95] 7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
[John 16:13-15 NASB95] 13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose [it] to you. 15 “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose [it] to you.
The Holy Spirit has come and been given to us as an advantage. He guides us into all the truth. When we rely on our own, or some others, interpretation of the truth we are prone to legalism, judgement, and error coming from intellect. When we rely on the Holy Spirit to speak, He reveals and delivers Jesus every time. As Jesus did nothing of His own initiative (John 5:30, 8:28, 8:42, 14:10) but only what He saw the Father doing, so the Holy Spirit speaks nothing of His own initiative, but what He hears from the Father/Son so disclosing the will and nature of God. He glorifies Jesus and gives us what is His and in Him.
So to stay out of the Pharisaical paradigm, develop an ear to hear, and heart to understand (a willingness to obey His Lordship directives), and look to see Jesus in what the Holy Spirit reveals in the scriptures, and as you find life in Him. Don’t miss the point of the word, life is not found in the rule and regulation of legalism, but in HIm whom it reveals and the Spirit of life.
In Luke after the resurrection a few disciples got a taste of His revelation of Himself in the scriptures
[Luke 24:27-32 NASB95] 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. 28 And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. 29 But they urged Him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is [getting] toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.” So He went in to stay with them. 30 When He had reclined [at the table] with them, He took the bread and blessed [it,] and breaking [it,] He [began] giving [it] to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?”
Believers should revere the scriptures and their authority for they are often used by the LORD and the Holy Spirit to bring us into relationship and personal contact with the incarnate WORD (John 1). We see Jesus revealed in them. They do testify of HIm most clearly.
The word of the new covenant is written on our hearts and the power to live by it enabled by His Spirit now within us.
[Ezekiel 11:19-20 NASB95] 19 “And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.
[Ezekiel 36:27 NASB95] 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
[Jeremiah 31:31-34 NASB95] 31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,”declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Yes, the scriptures are a foundation for just judgment, correction, and confrontation of sin. They are infallible. But, unless mixed with, and administrated by, the Holy Spirit within us they will not bring life or a complete revelation of His nature. They can (and often do when administered by men) when only intellectually studied and understood lay heavy burdens upon us, and beat us down and into death, rather than becoming the joy and source of life in revealing Jesus they are meant to be.
Contemplating God requires His unveiling of Himself. The letter to the Romans speaks of witnesses in creation, the law, and the nature of man. But to know His nature we must see Him revealed in resources we can trust. And, His written revelation is there for us.
[2Timothy 3:14-17 NASB95] 14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned [them,] 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
Paul instructs Timothy to continue in what he has learned from the sacred writings that have given him wisdom and brought him to salvation through faith in Jesus. And, speaks of Scripture as inspired by God, and so being reliable for the kinds of just jugement, correction and reproof sometimes needed for training and equipping others.
[2Peter 1:17-21 NASB95] 17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”– 18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 [So] we have the prophetic word [made] more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is [a matter] of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
Peter had heard God’s voice from heaven revealing Jesus and saying “This is my Son… Hear Him!” And then indicates that Scripture is inspired, and prophecy given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is reliable and from God.
In Acts 17 Paul and Slias discovered Berean Jews who had “received the word with great eagerness examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed,….” They heard the gospel and then were checking the revelation of Jesus out in the scriptures.
May we be those who are constantly looking for Jesus in the Word and finding Him revealed with truth in the Holy Spirit. May searching for Him, and finding HIm there, be a joy and delight to us and one we can share revealing Him to others.
The length of Psalm 119 reveals a love for the precepts of God and His word. It can be a delight and joy. May our handling of it be so to ourselves and others rather than a bludgeon. Under the Spirit it can, and will, be uncompromised, but it will always be glorifying Him (Jesus) and taking of His and disclosing it to us.