Should I ‘Let Go and Let God’ When I Study the Bible? Hermeneutics Part 2

What role do we and the Holy Spirit play in understanding the Bible? Is our task primarily (or ‘only’) to ‘let go and let God’ and ‘be lead by the Spirit?’ Now certainly all believers are lead by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8), but does this negate any human effort? Do our attempts to understand the text of Scripture simply account to nothing more than trying to understand ‘by the flesh?’

Human effort and spirituality are not antithetical. One of the most basic justifications for this is seen in the person of Jesus Christ. Though fully God—completely and wholly divine—he was also fully man, complete with his limitations and weaknesses. To deny Christ’s humanity as though it were beneath him (a form of ancient docetism), is to deny the goodness of creation. Christ’s incarnation was certainly very humbling, but it was not evil. In fact, Paul would want to say that all of creation is good because it was made by a good God (1 Tim. 4:4).  

Here then is the connection between the incarnation and the goodness of thinking: Christ’s full humanity legitimizes our human efforts in understanding Scripture. Sweating, thinking, pondering are all physical acts…and they are good. That the immortal God would become man is certainly an affirmation of the goodness of creation. Those who resist personal efforts of study, therefore, are implicitly attacking the goodness of the humanity of Christ.  

Thus, the distinction between what we often mean by being ‘lead by the Spirit’ or ‘trying to understanding a passage’ is a false dichotomy. There is nothing necessarily less spiritual about analyzing the grammar of a text or the historical context. Conversely, there is nothing more spiritual about refusing to study simply because you believe the Spirit will give you understanding. Matter is good. That includes our brains. As we use them, in total submission to God, we are acting spiritually. 

Why One Cannot Understand the Bible Without Christ

Jesus is the Communicator of the Bible—John tells us in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” The Word that brought all things into existence is Jesus Christ. Thus, he is the center as the communicator of God’s Word. He gives all created things their meaning and purpose.

Jesus is the Message of the Bible—On his way to Emmaus, when his disciples were having trouble interpreting their Rabbi’s recent death, Jesus rebukes them for not understanding how he lay at the center of the message of the Bible. “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). The Old Testament predicts Christ and the New Testament proclaims Christ and preaches how we are to live in light of the Gospel.

Jesus is the Receiver of the Bible—We as receivers are not neutral. Our mind is corrupted and thus we do not understand things as we ought. But precisely because Jesus was God-man, and that through faith we are united to him, we now have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). His mind is now our mind. Thus, as we grow in hermeneutical salvation (thinking more like Christ), we realize that he is also the true receiver of God’s Word.

The Gospel is the only way one can understand all of reality. 

Can We Even Understand God’s Word?

If God’s ways and thoughts are infinitely higher than ours, then can we even understand the Bible?

We can for this reason: we are made in the image of God. Humans reflect God in a way that no animal does. This includes our language. We speak intelligently precisely because we serve a God who is a speaking God. Our thoughts and vocabulary and languages all have their origin in God Himself. Therefore, if God condescends and speaks to us and has it preserved for us in a book, we can know God truly, even if never exhaustively.

As image-bearers, we can have confidence in the understandability of the Bible. 

Why Do I Need to Learn to Study the Bible? Hermeneutics Part 1

“I have the Holy Spirit. Why then do I need to learn to study the Bible? Aren’t thinking and spirituality antithetical?”

Anti-intellectualism is a beast that bears many different heads today. These grotesque distortions of the truth permeate the global church today and severely hamper spiritual maturity in Christ. Heresies spread, truth is minimized, and knowledge that leads to right conduct is not embraced. This anti-intellectual beast grows because many people assume that knowledge is the problem. It is not. It is pride.  In the following blog posts, I hope to identify and slay several different heads of this beast.

Anti-intellectual head #1: “I do not need anyone to teach me because I have the anointing of the Holy Spirit.”

Here’s how this argument works. They usually draw from 1 John 2:27, where the apostle writes, “But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.” They argue, “What more could we need? No one knows the mind of someone except his/her spirit. Therefore, no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God (see 1 Cor. 2:11). If then we have the Spirit of God, then we must understand everything and cannot need anyone to teach us.”

This vicious head may seem overwhelming, but I believe it can be easily slain. Here are four weapons against this beast:

1.)  The Apostle John is teaching them. At the very least, one has to admit that in teaching them that they do not need anyone to teach them, John is doing just that. He is instructing them something about the quality and sufficiency of their anointing. In fact, all of 1 John is full of a lot of teaching.

The next three weapons make the case that their anointing leads to categorical truth, but not exhaustive truth.

      2.) This is placed in the context of false teachers who are insisting they need to know more. Verse 26, the one immediately preceding John’s statement about them needing no one to teach them, gives necessary context, “I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.” John’s audience was dealing with many deceptions: Jesus did not come in the flesh (1:1-3) and Jesus was not the Christ or the Son of God (2:22; 4:3). These ‘antichrists’ were claiming that the Christians needed to know more and move on from the limited knowledge. To that John replies, “No, they do not need to move on.” He is not rejecting a Christ+ knowledge.  

          3.) Their anointing corresponds to apostolic teaching, and they are commanded to continue in it. In verse 24, John writes, “Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.” What they had heard from the beginning was apostolic teaching that affirms the deity of the Father and the Son (see vv.22-23). They are not commanded to ignore it or assume it, but to abide in it (present tense—implies continued action). Therefore, this further proves that John’s concern is not knowledge per se, but different knowledge that denies this apostolic teaching.

      4.) The nature of their anointing confirms that John is speaking of categorical knowledge. In v. 27, John argues that they don’t need anyone to teach them because they have the anointing. But what is this anointing? It is most probably being born again of the Holy Spirit (see 2:20). A central aspect of the Spirit’s anointing is to continually point to Christ (notice how the anointing leads to a correct affirmation of Christ’s deity—vv.22-23). Therefore, it also makes sense that John is not telling them that the Spirit’s anointing teaches them about everything exhaustively, but about everything that is necessary.

In short: John is teaching that by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, Christians are pointed to all categorical truth: Christ and his work. We don’t need other false teachers pointing us to something else. He is not teaching that we know everything about Christ and his work.  

REASON #9 Why Christmas Should Take Your Breath Away: Jesus’ Meekness and Might Meet in an Awesome Way at Bethlehem

About 250 years ago, the pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards said, “There is a conjunction of such excellencies in Christ as, in our manner of conceiving, are very diverse one from another.” What he means by this is that in the diamond of the person of Christ, we do not only see one beam of brilliance, but we see many different edges that defract Christ’s glory into a spectrum of brilliance. We do not only see might, but we also see lowliness. We see glory and we see plainness. We see eternality and we see frailty. We see authority and we see submission.

And these things do not contradict each other. Nor do they make Christ appear less glorious. Instead, they together magnify a multi-faceted glow that makes Jesus appear incredibly great. Let’s see this by looking briefly at the Christmas story.

One perspective of Christ’s coming is clearly his humility. He was born in an inn next to braying donkeys and manure after being rejected at the inn (Lk. 2:7). His first audience was nothing more than commoners (Elizabeth, Shepherds, Simeon, Anna). As a baby, he was completed dependent on Mary and Joseph to survive, even though it was he who created them (and sustained them!). No wonder Paul says that Jesus’ incarnation was an example of him making himself ‘nothing’ (Phil. 2:7).

But this is not the only facet we see. Conjoined with this do we also see the power of Christ brilliantly on display. He is born as one above all humans, Immanuel, God with us (Mt. 1:23). He is worshipped by the wise men as the king of the Jews, honored with the precious gift of gold (Mt. 2:2,11). His might is clearly seen as he forms (as the Creator of all things) a brilliant star to trumpet his arrival (Mt. 2:2). Thousands (maybe millions) of angels proclaim his birth (Lk. 2:13). His relative calls him ‘Lord’ (God!) while he is still unborn (Lk. 1:43)! Indeed, John says that this child is the very invisible glory of God made visible (John 1:14).

So, this Christmas, keep turning this diamond. Don’t just look at one angle. Be astonished at how low he made himself and soar with how mighty he still was!

Come, let us adore this humble and powerful child!

REASON #8 Why Christmas Should Take Your Breath Away: We Did Not Deserve Christ’s Coming

Imagine if Jesus never came. No God-man, no angels, no John the Baptist, no glorious incarnation. We would simply live our 70 years or so and then face our dying breaths with a knowledge that we would surely face God's wrath for an eternity.

And there would be nothing at all that we could do to avoid it.

This is what we deserve. That is the point that the author Luke makes obvious in his Gospel. We find in Luke that a central, driving motive for Christ arrival is God's abundant, precious mercy. Five (5!) times in the first chapter of Luke the word ‘mercy’ is explicitly mentioned as the reason why Jesus came (or why his forerunner, John the Baptist, was sent).

Mary—“My soul magnifies the Lord…his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation” (1:46,50)

Mary—“[God] has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever” (1:54-55)

Neighbors of Elizabeth—“And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her” (1:58)

Zechariah (Concerning Jesus)—“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people…to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant” (1:68,72)

Zechariah (Concerning John)—“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God” (1:76-78a)

Mercy here means an incredible display of covenantal kindness to a people who were completely undeserving. Both the second and fourth passage say clearly that God sent Jesus on account of the word he promised years back to Abraham and his offspring. And yet this was mercy, which means that Israel did not earn this gift of God became flesh. God made a promise in ages past. Israel had been incredibly unfaithful and were left with no hope. Yet God still sent the only hope of salvation and forgiveness of sins (1:77). That is why it is called ‘great mercy’ (1:58) and ‘tender mercy’ (1:78). No wonder that in every single passage everyone is praising God for his mercy.

Consider how Christmas will change for you this holiday season if you view it as fueled by great mercy.

* You will stop hiding the wretchedness of sin in your life, for if Jesus came because of ‘great mercy,’ this implies that there was a GREAT need.

* You will never feel entitled to know Jesus as your Savior, for you know that mercy rather than works is what began God’s work of salvation.

* You will be tender and full of compassion to others, knowing that we were given hope when we were in the slums of our own stinking filth.

* Your heart will begin to well up with praise, knowing that this ‘great mercy’ is not a dead-end street, but instead a marvelous thoroughfare that leads to the destination of a ‘great salvation’ (Heb. 2:3).

Come, let us worship this merciful child!

REASON #7 Why Christmas Should Take Your Breath Away: The Angels Announcing Christ’s Birth Were More Numerous Than the Stars in the Sky

“And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear…And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’” (Luke 2:9, 13-14, ESV)

Here is a second simple, breath-taking, awesome aspect of this event which points to the greatest of Jesus Christ:

2.)The number of angels outnumbered the stars. It says there was a ‘multitude’ of angels proclaiming Christ’s birth. What does multitude mean? It is the Greek word stratias, which is a military word meaning thousands. Keep in mind that this is likely a very high number, for there was not a word for millions or billions or trillions in Greek. The highest word they had was thousands.

Revelation 5:11 suggests that the number of angels that exist is so high that it cannot be numbered. We are not told clearly in this text, but perhaps those angels were all present that evening. Maybe not, but the point is that this is far more than 15 or 50 angels in the sky. It would have been thousands, perhaps countless thousands. And because we know that the unaided human eye can see about 2,000 stars, the shepherds would have seen FAR more brilliant angels than stars in the sky. The sky would have been FULL of angels, all of them shining with the blinding brilliance of the glory of God.

Consider this: God (perhaps) had all of the created angels (trillions?) show up to proclaim the coming of his Son. Not one angel would miss out on this glorious announcement.

And all of this points to the greatness of the one they were proclaiming.

Come, let us worship this glorious Messiah!