Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - June/86

Contributor - Dick P. Oosthoek

Title - How do we deal with the Scriptures?

Topic - Bible

I could not have thought some eight years ago, as I came from the Netherlands into Canada, that 1, who am not a dogmatist, would ever write an article on the subject The reason I am doing it now is that I feel that I cannot keep silent, now that I am offered the opportunity to say something, for I am very concerned about the way certain people (and their numbers seem to be increasing) are dealing with the Bible.

Let me give an example: A person told me some time ago that the Good News Bible" is no good. Asked how he came to that conclusion, he replied that the only good translation is the King James Version. This is clearly false, since the Greek texts of the New Testament used for the translation of the King James Version are not as good as those used nowadays. This argument however failed to impress the speaker, who could not read any of the original languages in which the Bible was written. He then declared that the King James Version is inspired.

Now if that would be the case, we had better stop all research into the text, translation and explanation of the Bible. All we would have to do is learn Old English. This conviction - that the King James Version is inspired - also implies that it is literally true. It must be, if it is inspired by God. But as soon as we have reached this stage, we arrive on shaky ground, for then every word in the Bible has to be true; and if there can be found one word in it that is not true, the whole Book has become unreliable! And this is exactly what this man and several others with him, were saying. But that apparently does not cause them any problem, though they feel that a modern scientific theory, such as the Theory of Evolution, does not agree with the way they interpret their King James Version.

How dangerous a position like the one described above is, is illustrated by the story of a friend of mine who stopped studying theology after his first year at seminary. His reason for stopping was that the results of modem scientific and historic research do not agree with the claim that the Bible is literally true. And that is what my friend thought the Bible, as the Word of God, should be. So since one word of the Bible, according to his conviction, was not true - whatever the word " true" may mean - the whole Book was unreliable: the stories about God dealing with His people, the stories of Jesus, the letters of Paul. So he could not build his faith on the Bible anymore, and consequently, he lost his faith in God, in Jesus and became an agnostic.

What was the mistake my friend made? Was it that he took the results of modem scientific research too seriously'.? Was his mistake that he did not do as those other people, with their inspired King James Version, did - just deny the truth of modern science? I do not think so. The only difference between my friend and the people described above lies in that my friend was a good intellectual and a sincere person, which many who claim the King James Version as inspired are not. Were they as intellectual and sincere as my friend, they would do the same as he did. lose their belief in God, or change their opinions.

Both types of people are making the same mistake: they believe in the Bible, and because of this belief they believe in God, Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit, etc. But their primary and first belief is not a belief in God, but belief in the Bible. They are what one could call Bible worshippers, Bilbio-latrists, people committing idolatry with the Bible, so that the Bible becomes their God.

We would like to believe that people, like my friend who lost his belief in God and those others who claim the King James Version to be inspired, are just exceptional cases, and that the average Canadian Christian has less fanatic convictions with regard to the Bible; but as I said at the beginning of this article, I am not feeling that easy about this matter. If you just think, for example, about the practice of swearing oaths on the Bible, the red lights of all theologians should start to glow. There is also a clearer example: I have several doctrinal statements on my desk from different Christian groups, institutions, and societies, who start their doctrinal statements by declaring that the Bible is the Word of God , inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that there are no mistakes or errors in it that it is complete, etc. After this first statement about the Bible, follow statements about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, etc. It is clear that those latter statements are derived from the Bible, the Word of God, and that the truth of those latter statements is solely dependent on the truth of the Bible.

It is clear, I think, that this position is virtually the same as the one my friend and the adherents to the King James Version were fostering: they believe in God, in Jesus, because they believe in the Bible. It is very easy to see that this is not right. If we just change the sequence and say things the right way: "We read the Bible because we believe in God, because we believe in Jesus". This is so obvious that it needs no further discussion. Nobody will start to believe that what is written in the Bible about Jesus is true unless he or she believes in Him, or is starting to believe in Him. And let us not forget that most of us are brought to believe in Jesus by those who preach Him in words and actions! The Reformation adopted the canonic Scriptures, because they witness about Jesus. So the conclusion is clear- Christians read the Scriptures because they witness about their Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Making this conclusion, we have also found the clue to how to read the Bible, and what to find in the Bible: not statements about the results of modem scientific research; but rather God speaking to us through the stories of His coming and dealings with this world of sinful human beings, passed on to us in Old and New Testaments.

This implies two things:

(1) We should not try to put a limit to 'natural scientific and historic research with the help of the Bible. This is abuse of the Bible. The Bible is not given to us as a handbook for judging scientific research in the twentieth century.

(2) God is speaking to us through the Scriptures about Himself and us. That is the reason for us to confess that the Bible is the Word of God. We should not try to incarcerate God in the Bible. However, people sometimes seem to be inclined to do so. They declare that the Bible is the Word of God, meaning that God has said all He had to say to us in the Bible, once and forever, and that He afterwards withdrew Himself and left us with the Book, so that what we do now is study the Bible in the sense that we take it, lay it on the table in front of us and try to discover God's opinions on the subjects we are interested in. The result of this activity is that the Bible becomes a book of law, prescribing for us how to think, to act and which opinions to foster.

Apart from all other negative things you can say about this way of studying the Bible, I would say that this is an that we want what He wants. unholy and unfair practice. It is trying to All this is expressed in the word catch, to trap, God in what He ostensibly has said, and the results cannot be good. For if we do, think, and believe what we must do, think and believe, we are bound to be insincere in our doing, thinking and believing. You can only believe what you sincerely do believe and understand, and you can only be sincere in what you are doing, if you do what you want to do.

Our problem is that we sometimes do not understand why we should do something God wants us to, or even that we do not agree with God. Please let us be honest in this way, that we tell God, our Father in Heaven, what problems we have. We should do that respectfully, wishing and praying to understand His will for us. Then He will enlighten our spirit so that we understand his meaning, and then He will change our hearts so that we want what He wants.

All this is expressed in the word "disciple". "Disciple" means, in the first place, " student ', and because dents often followed their teacher who was walking about it also means "follower". Students and followers of God, of Jesus, that is what we should be and that is what God, through His Word, the Bible, makes us to be. We will never reach a status beyond that of student and follower of Jesus. But it is enough. Nothing is greater than to be a student and follower of the Lord who loved us so much that He died and was resurrected for us, that He should be with us forever and we with Him. And there is nothing we want more that to learn to know better our Lord and His will for our lives - and therefore we will follow Him, reading the Scriptures and praying God, that we may hear and understand Him.

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