C1- THE WITNESS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
In today’s world we are constantly being reminded that we are living in a post-Christian era. North American society is constantly characterized as being a pluralistic multicultural community in which there can be no constant static concept of good and bad or right and wrong. Rather, to be participating members of this society we must be willing to live with majority rule, minority rights, and a value system which is based upon the preponderance of societal values as opposed to any religious code or system.
Such criteria have been used in our society to overthrow the weight and direction of the Holy Word of God without having to debate its criteria in any way. In fact, Christians are pressured by society to see the Holy Bible as being but one of the holy books that provide valid information concerning a multiplicity of ways to God in His Heavenly Presence.
The vision of the Holy Scriptures (The Bible) is even a matter of major controversy in the Christian Church today. Not only is it causing a split amongst those who understand various passages in different ways but it is also causing divisions amongst those who see the Bible, as written, as being the Holy Word of God and those who do not so accept it. The end result of both differences can be further fragmentation of the Christians Church.
But, is such necessarily so? The question has to arise, “Just what constitutes a Church being Christian?” Dr. John Stackhouse, in an article appearing in the Winnipeg Free Press during the controversy over United Church Moderator Phipps’ statements, stated that the Bible is the main source of our knowledge of Jesus Christ. To teach anything else as being the teachings or will of God in Jesus is to break from the Christian Church and its source book. The result can be called anything the author of such thought wants to call it. But it certainly cannot be called Christian!
In this line of thought, a Christian Church is one that sticks to the Holy Word of God as it is taught in the Holy Scriptures which are the His Divine Record of His Divine Will for Humankind! As such, the goal of Christians is not to controvert the Holy Bible but to use all the tools God has given to understand what God is saying. Our work is not to refute God’s Word but to comprehend it as it is written.
Over the past century and a half the Church has faced an onslaught of “scholars” who feel that the human mind is far more capable than God’s Word in responding to the modern world. As such, potentially useful critical tools have been developed through which Holy Scripture can be filtered. The problem is that mankind has determined to use these tools to refute God’s Word rather than to use them to deepen the understanding of the words through which God has spoken to us.
These so-called “liberal” schools of thought generally state that any form of literal understanding of the Holy Bible is superstitious and unlearned. There is a strong basis in secular humanism and a total mistrust of any references to the miraculous or divine intervention, which are considered, at best, unclear and not to be trusted. The term “schools” is used because, even within this divergent form of philosophy, one finds many variations and permutations of what can be called “liberal” theology.
The liberal schools of theology state that it is up to man to use his God-given intellect to “ferret-out” God’s meanings and desires for human beings in today’s post-modern culture. The tools to be used are a base reference to the classical thought of Holy Scripture modified by reference to mankind’s reason and traditions. And, in practice, the teachings of Holy Scripture end up beings scrutinized and validated by reason and tradition resulting in much of Scripture being discarded or declared irrelevant in this day and age.
It is interesting to see theology taking a stance such as this in the light of current secular trends. Such trends tend to ignore or even belittle the teachings of God’s Holy Word – especially when such is opposed to the directions of societies. This was clearly stated during the recent child pornography case heard by the BC Supreme Court where the lady judge, in responding to a presentation of Focus on the Family, directly stated that the Bible is an ancient book that is outdated and holds no relevance to today’s society. And this is merely a clearly stated situation opposing the teachings of God or, at best, ignoring them when seen in the light of other governmental and societal acts that go totally against the Holy Word of God.
The liberal theologians go further in attempting to make God’s Written Word meaningless and irrelevant when they use their own developed tools to “prove” the Bible unreliable and inapplicable to post-modern society. The “critical tools” are utilised to “demythologize” the books of the Bible, which essentially means to remove anything not acceptable to the liberal doctrinal positions. Then, using the platform created by such thought patterns, an attempt is made to define a “real historical Jesus.” This school will often talk about the “historical Jesus of the synoptic Gospels” or other such limiting terms.
As such schools of thought reduce the Jesus of the Gospels to “a teacher” or “an example” to be followed a completely new vision of the “real” Jesus is developed. The Gospel of John is essentially eliminated from the Scriptures as it is far too spiritual and presents, in their estimation, a totally different Christ from the Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels. The Epistles are the production of individuals who were trying to rationalize their years with Jesus. As such, their disillusionment in the crucifixion of Jesus is justified in a mystical resurrection that has occurred in the minds of those who would want him to physically rise from the dead. The development of Christianity involved the developing of legendary and mythological situations that were then read back into the stories surrounding the life of this Jesus.
It is seen that God has spoken to mankind in a cloaked manner through what has developed in the texts that have been included in the Christian Holy Book. But the words and the situations in themselves are not to be trusted or taken as being the literal word of God. That Word for today’s world is to be ferreted out by the theologians and Church leadership of the day. In this way, God’s Word becomes a fluid word that changes according to the needs of each society in its unique cultural position. In order to give some authority to this form of thought, it is necessary for the Scriptures to be revisited and revised to fit into the multi-cultural society of today. Anything that does not fit or is not palatable is to be thrown out or reinterpreted so as to be acceptable to humankind in today.
These schools of thought will often imply, or even declare, that Jesus Christ is only one of the ways to Eternal Life. They will say that it is arrogant, simplistic, unlearned, superstitious, and totally unacceptable in today’s world to think that God would provide an exclusive means to Salvation. Therefore, the Christian message is to be seen as being no better or worse than that of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. And then, of course, this carries with it a diminishing of the need for missionary or evangelistic work. In fact, attempting to convert someone from another faith is considered to be an insult to such persons.
While there are many variations within the conservative schools of theology, the base principles are far more cohesive. Where there are many variances in the understanding of God’s Word, these schools are basically united in the one thought that the Holy Bible IS the Divine Word of God. In this sense, the conservative groups form a single-minded “school of theology.”
The Rev’d. Dr. J
I Packer (Director,
Regent College’s Anglican Studies Program and Board
of Governors’ Professor of Theology at Regent College and Executive Editor of
Christianity Today) states this Biblical
position as follows, “…… the historic Christian belief that through the prophets, the
Incarnate Son, the apostles, and the writers of canonical Scripture as a body,
God has used human language to tell us definitively and transculturally about
his ways, his works, his will, and his worship. Furthermore, this revealed
truth is grasped by letting the Bible interpret itself to us from within, in
the knowledge that the way into God's mind is through that of the writers.
Through them, the Holy Spirit who inspired them teaches the church. Finally,
one mark of sound biblical insights is that they do not run counter to anything
else in the canon. This is the position of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox
churches, and of evangelicals and other conservative Protestants. There are differences
on the place of the church in the interpretive process, but all agree that the
process itself is essentially as described. I call this the objectivist
position.”
The conservative school of theology
really believes that God is capable of providing His people with an infallible
record of His dealings with humankind and with His Divine Will for the living
of the human life here on earth. The conservative Christian believes that “all
things are possible with God” and that, in His Divine Love for His special
creation – humankind – He has reached out through His Divine Son Jesus of
Nazareth who is perfect God/perfect man in order to provide the substitutionary
sacrifice necessary to open the gates of heaven to all who will accept His
Divine Gift of Salvation and come to Him through His Only Begotten Son Jesus.
Only hard firm evidence of human corruption of Scripture can cause members of
such a school of theological thought to question a teaching of the Holy
Scriptures.
In conservative thought the threefold
structure of Scripture/Reason/Tradition holds a very strong meaning and
application. The conservative Christian recognises the value of both reason and
tradition. However, as was made very clear by Richard Hooker, who never used
the three-fold term Scripture, Reason, and Tradition, in his Laws of
Ecclesiastical Polity, Holy Scripture stands in judgment over reason and
tradition – not vice versa!
Thomas Cranmer who firmly committed
the Anglican Church to Scripture and its ultimate authority for faith and
morals, while recognising the value of reason and tradition, also put forth
that they are valuable in explaining God’s Written Word. He said that,
“whatever contradicts the plain teachings of the Bible cannot be from God,
whether we find such ideas in the writings of Christians in the past, in the
experience of people today, or even in our own hearts.” Cranmer, in putting
this concept into practice, once urged his parishioners to, “diligently search
for the well of life in the books of the New and Old Testament, and not run to
the stinking puddles of men’s traditions, devised by man’s imagination for our
justification and salvation.”
The Anglican 39 Articles of Faith
maintain that the Books of the Old and New Testament contain all things
necessary to Salvation. They further teach that only those things found in the
Holy Scriptures so defined can be required of man for salvation and that
nothing may be taught that is contrary to the teachings contained therein. Not
even the Church or its leadership has the power to change or eliminate anything
contained in the Holy Scriptures.
The Ordinal in the Anglican
Communion requires those being ordained to state that they hold the Bible to
“BE” the Word of God and to “contain” all things necessary for Salvation. Further,
the candidates in the Canadian Church are required to sign their assent to the
Solemn Declaration of 1893, which defines the adherence to the Holy Scriptures,
the traditional Creeds (Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed, & Athanasian Creed),
and the 39 Articles of Faith. While such is taken lightly and with known
objection (some will say with fingers crossed behind their back) by liberal
theologians and their students, conservative theologians stand by that which
they vow and see it as a violation of such vows to hold any view contrary to
that which has been vowed.
The conservative Christian utilises
all available tools to understand what God is saying to modern man through His
unchanging Word – Living and Written. The goal is to understand and apply
rather than to refute and break down. God’s teachings that “His thoughts are
not man’s thoughts and His ways are not man’s ways” are taken as being
indicative of the awesomeness of the unchanging and timeless God. In this is
seen the need for man to hone his God-given skills in order to understand that
which God is saying to today’s world through His timeless and unchanging Word.
Further, God’s Holy word teaches
that the Lord Our God is an unchanging God. Jesus said that heaven and earth
would pass away but His Word would never cease. The writer to the Hebrews
stated that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Hence, one
strong basic principle is that Almighty God will never contradict Himself and
that anything presented to man that is contrary to God’s stated will is always
wrong.
Thus, there is no question that
anything that contravenes God’s \Word is sin. Further, man, in wilfully
choosing that sin over the clear Divine Will of God, is practicing idolatry in
that he is setting up both his own will and the act of sin itself as being more
worthy of worship and devotion than Almighty God Himself.
Further, the conservative school of
thought sees Jesus Christ as being the unique source of salvation for all
mankind. The words of Jesus that He is, “The Way, The Truth, and The Life, no
man comes to the Father but by Him” are real and significant. Thus, the command
of Jesus to “go into all the world and Baptize in the Name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” is not an option but a requirement for true
Christian Life. Thus, there can be no other source of Salvation, if Jesus is to
be believed, than that of Jesus Himself in His Cross and Resurrection. And
evangelisation is not an option.
Some would want to say that such a thought, despite its being recorded in Holy Scripture – God’s Timeless Divine Word to humankind, is shear presumptuousness and arrogance. However, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger states in discussing the exclusivity and truth of Jesus, “In reality, the arrogant one is the relativist. Isn’t it arrogant to say that God cannot give us the gift of truth? Is it not contempt for God to say that we have been born blind and that truth is not our concern? Real arrogance consists in. wanting to take God’s place and to determine who we are, what we do, what we want to make of ourselves and of the world. Therefore, the only thing that we can do is to recognise with humility that we are unworthy messengers who do not proclaim ourselves, but who speak with holy fear of what is not ours, but of what comes from God. Only in this way is the missionary task intelligible, which cannot mean spiritual colonialism, the submission of others to my culture and ideas. In the first place, the mission calls for preparation for martyrdom, a willingness to lose oneself for the love of truth and of one’s neighbour. Only in this way is the mission credible. Truth cannot and must not have any other weapon than itself.” In the Cardinal’s perceptive understanding, the truth we proclaim is not our truth but God’s truth revealed in His Divine Word – Living and Written. Thus we are not proclaiming our own vision of truth but God’s – and that cannot be arrogance. Arrogance would be to presume to contest God’s truth.
Thus, it becomes abundantly clear that idolatry (setting up a god in place of God and then worshipping it), whether the idol be the thoughts and minds of others, things of the world, or our own minds, is found in the choosing of these things over the clear and simple Word of God.
In today’s world the tendency is to think of idols as being love of sports, financial wealth, power, possessions, etc. as being potential idols that can come between God and the human being. In placing the intellect of man in a position of judging the Holy Scriptures, that intellect becomes the idol that mankind worships. It has to be remembered that God stands in judgment of humankind not humankind in judgment of God. Further, God is found in His self-revelation as we see Him in the Living and the Written Word. And Jesus has defined what truth is for us in His High Priestly Prayer when He defined Truth as being God’s Word. This Word of Truth is found in the words of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Further, this Word is defined in the person of Jesus the Christ Who, in His Divine/human self is the very effulgence of the glory of God and reveals God to mankind in the strongest manner that humanity can bear to perceive and remain on this earth.
In Jesus is found the final self-revelation of God to humankind prior to the end of time. This concept is attested to in the witness of Scripture, the Apostles, and of Jesus Himself. Thus, no “new” revelation will come other than that which explains and does not contradict God’s communication in the Holy Scriptures.
The writer to the Hebrews clearly states that ‘in these last days” God has spoken through His Son. Further, it is stated that the Son is the very mirror image of the Glory of God. As such there can be no further revelation. Jesus, according to the Scripture, is that final Revelation.
The Apostles were acutely aware of the finality of the Gospel and the need to follow the Great Commandment of Jesus until He would come again in glory in the clouds. Thus, they did not look forward to any new covenants or teachings from God. Rather they used the Life of Christ and the teachings of God in the Old Covenant to instruct their followers on how to live and how to wait in great expectation of the Second Coming of Jesus as Judge of all mankind.
Finally, Jesus Himself did not look forward to any other revelation of God. “I and the Father are One,” “I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life; no man comes to the Father but by Me,” and to Caiaphas, “I AM (ego emi), and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming again in the clouds,” are clearly the statements of One Who did not expect any further revelation before the consummation of all.
Thomas Cranmer once wrote that, “unto a Christian man there can be nothing either more necessary or profitable than the knowledge of Holy Scripture.” Right from the time of the Anglican Reformation it has been considered essential for Christian people to read and learn the pure content of Holy Scripture.
Thus, the job of Christians today is to take all the Holy Bible teaches, and the vision of the Christ therein Who reveals the Father, gives with the Father the Gift of the Holy Spirit, and is the final Word of God until the end of time, and to follow the Great Commandment of Jesus to bring this Gospel to the whole world Baptizing in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Having witnessed this strong Biblically centred faith position one could easily say that such is impossible to live within. And, such a view would be correct if Jesus has left His Disciples to live it on their own.
The Word of God in the Scriptures and as passed on through the Children of God, the Body of Christ, performing its work in the world. The Ministry of the Word is a necessary element in the leading of an individual to the Salvation of Christ. The Bible itself asks, “How can they learn if they do not have a teacher?” The teacher is God’s Divine Word being presented by the Body of Christ – the Church.
Jesus knew that many would want to live the Life of a Christian here on earth as God intended in His Act of Creation. Many would even follow the command of Jesus and come to the point of Justification by approaching the Cross of Christ, confessing their sins, and receiving, if truly repentant, the Divine forgiveness. In such God, in Baptism, grants the Gift of the Holy Spirit to all who come to Him through His Divine/human Son Jesus. The Holy Spirit provides the “saved” person with that presence of God that helps him/her live the day-to-day life with the potential of having full communication with God just as man was intended to live in creation.
From this point, the Ministry of the Word again takes a prominent role. A person usually comes to Christ via the “milk” of the Word of God that is gentle, tasty, and wholesome. Just as the human infant is nourished through the gift of milk so the baby Christian is nourished through the “milk” of the Holy Scripture. But, that starting point has to lead to an ongoing development that leads to the partaking of the meat of the Word of God. Thus, through personal and corporate study together with the teachings in the sermons within worship plus the benefit of the newfound Gift of the Holy Spirit to reveal and explain the Word the Christian grows continuously in the knowledge and love of the Lord God Almighty.
Jesus, knowing the frailty and the needs of the human being, also gave the Gift of the Sacrament of the Holy Communion. Jesus, in instituting the Holy Communion said of the bread and the wine, “This is My Body, take and eat it; and, this is My Blood, do this in remembrance of me.” Thus, in this act of the Sacrament of Holy Communion we both remember what Jesus has done for us and we participate, as St. Paul explained, the Body and Blood, the life-giving force, of Jesus. Jesus knows that humans need to use their senses in comprehending truths. Thus, He gave us elements of bread and wine that we could see, touch, smell, and taste in order to give us something physical to experience as we receive His Divine Presence in a very special way that opens us to the Holy Spirit strengthening and building us up in unique and special ways.
The Holy Scripture directs us to The One Truth in Christ that leads us to the Ministry of The Word (evangelistic and for ongoing growth – sanctification) and its twin, the Ministry of the Sacraments. The Word leads us to Christ. The Sacraments confirm and strengthen us in Christ. And the Word in conjunction with the Sacraments lead us through the whole process of Sanctification until the Day we enter Glorification in the presence of God Almighty – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Word presents the Truth of God. Unlike the relativistic liberal thought, the Word of God – Living and Written – directs us toward The Truth. God has revealed that One Truth and humankind has the duty of living by that One Truth of God as it is contained in His Divinely Inspired (God-breathed) Holy Scripture – The Bible. In order to aid and direct those who have made the commitment to live by God’s truth, and have truly repented of their sins, God has granted the Gift of the Sacraments (Holy Baptism, Holy Communion, and the five Sacraments of the Church – Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders, Penance, and Unction) as vehicles to impart special Gifts of the Holy Spirit to those who are members of the Church – the Body of Christ. These Sacraments do not provide Salvation. Rather, they work together with the Holy Word of God to assist believers (those who, in Christ, have come to Salvation) in their walk through life as members of the Body of Christ. The value of the Sacraments to an individual depends upon that person’s position and vision within the Holy Word of God and their position within the Children of God, the Body of Christ, The Church!
As is clearly illustrated above, one who truly wishes to learn of Jesus and grow in the faith known as Christian finds the clear teachings and claims of Jesus the Christ in the four gospels contained in the Holy Word of God. These teachings, illuminated by the Divinely Inspired Letters, History, and Revelation contained in what is known as the New Testament provide the illumination necessary to truly understand the Will of God shown in the Old Testament. Together, for the Christian, these make up the Canon of Communication that has been given by God to His children in Jesus Christ so that they can be open to the receiving of His many blessings following His Divine gift of Salvation in Jesus.
There is no room for allowing the norms and pressures of secular humanism to direct the vision of God’s Eternal Word. While there may be much emotional desire to get along with other human beings, and such is laudable, the Christian is faced with the constant choice of following God’s Will or following man’s will. And, of course, for one dedicated to Jesus Christ, there really is no option but to wilfully choose Jesus! The relativistic world would like Christianity to embrace all other forms of religious thoughts as being equally valid.
However, this Divine Communication of God to mankind leaves no room for accepting any other way or means of reaching Eternal Life in His Heavenly Kingdom. The whole message of the New Testament teaches that Jesus is the “Final Fulfillment” of the promises of God contained in the prophecies of the Old Testament. And this Jesus taught that He is The “ONLY WAY” to Eternal Life in the presence of God Almighty. Thus, the Christian message, by its very nature is an exclusivist doctrine. There is no way around this if one truly accepts Jesus as the true Son of God.
In Jesus is seen Perfect God/perfect man perfectly united in one perfect human nature. This Jesus, through His atoning sacrifice of the one perfect human life (His) by the one perfect Priest in the Order of Melchizedek (Him) and the victory of His Resurrection has provided the route to the reunion of humankind who are willing to accept this free gift with the Father in perfect communication through the Holy Spirit while here on earth. And this Salvation of God in Christ is brought to fruition in the perfection of the God-guaranteed entrance into the Eternal Presence of God in the Heavenly Jerusalem.
Thus, the matter of obedience is clearly defined in the Holy Scriptures. The Christian is bound first and foremost to obedience to Almighty God as He and His Divine Will have been shown to humanity in the person of Jesus the Christ. There can be no obedience to anyone or anything that would lead the Christian into any act or position that is outside of the clear teachings of the Holy Word of God as seen through the illuminating filter of Jesus Christ.
While the “liberal” schools would decry such a conviction and dedication as being outside of the realm of reason and logic and strongly within the sphere of fundamentalism (which is a dirty word to the liberal) and superstition, the Christian who sees the magnificent wonder of God wrapped up in His divinely Inspired Gift of the Holy Scriptures can do no other than to place obedience in the awesome God so marvellously Revealed. The whole realm of the worship of man’s mind and intellect and the seeing of God’s Will needing the assistance of man’s mind in order to be made clear for any given society becomes totally meaningless to the Christian who subscribes to the Power and Wonder of Almighty God being revealed by Him in His Holy Word – Living (in Jesus) and Written (in the Holy Bible).
It has to be further understood that such “liberal” thought is a major product of the Northern Hemisphere. Such was so clearly demarked at the 1998 Anglican Lambeth Conference where the Bishops from the 2/3 world so soundly rebuked and refused the relativistic revisionist presentations from those who would change Church Doctrine, especially concerning the place of the Holy Bible and its infallible teachings. The drifting away of Christians in developed countries is opening the door to Christian Missionaries from the Third World Countries coming to North America and Europe to re-establish the foundation of Christian Thought and Teaching in the Person of the Jesus of the Holy Bible.
These Bishop’s have led the way in teaching us that our first line of obedience must be to Almighty God and His Holy Word – Written and Living. Nothing can be allowed to divert attention from God’s Word in its original text and clear intention. Christian obedience means to stand for such an adherence to the Holy Scriptures in the face of all attempts to corrupt its simplicity and straightforwardness.