Read scripture to know Christ
Reading scripture to know Christ
Divers manners
Heb 1:1 ¶ God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Fortunately the author of Hebrews did not exhaustively list all the divers manners by which God has spoken. Though we may have preferred an exhaustive list, God's purpose is to tease us into meditating upon his word.
Ps 1:1 ¶ Blessed [is] the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Ps 1:2 But his delight [is] in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Php 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.
Well-intentioned scholars have attempted to build a wall of protection around such meditations. They have imposed hermeneutic rules which they have invented to protect the seeker from imagined dangers of unregulated meditation.
These scholars have set themselves up as the Pharisees of the church. The Pharisees built a hedge around the law to prevent the seeker from unintentionally violating the law. In doing so they became the greatest hypocrites. By keeping their invented laws on tithing the smallest herbs they violated the intention of God's law.
Mt 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
The man-made laws were a distraction from God's desire. People were so busy with all the details of all the invented laws, that they did not have time for true religion.
Jas 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Paul understood that once the purpose of the law was understood, that the details of the law could be forgotten.
Ro 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. Ro 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love [is] the fulfilling of the law. Ga 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
James also understood that the purpose of the law is fulfilled when you love:
Jas 2:8 ¶ If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
Just as the Pharisees had obscured the true purpose of the law with their invented regulations, scholars hide God's intended meaning of scripture with their invented rules of interpretation. We can know that such rules are invented when they are violated by Jesus or the authors of the New Testament.
For example, one invented rule in typology is that something evil, a sinful act or improper relation cannot represent the divine. However, Jesus violates this rule by using the serpent as a symbol of himself.
Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
The serpent is clearly a symbol of evil, yet it is used to represent the divine Son of God on the cross. How can this be? That is the first good question which guides us into meditation on the intended meaning of scripture.
As we ask God to reveal his truth to us, the Spirit, who was given to us to guide us into all truth, reminds us of another scripture:
2Co 5:21 For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
God's intended meaning is made clear to us through the scriptures as they reveal Christ. The serpent that Moses lifted up was intended to be a prophecy of Christ on the cross, having been made to be sin. As we look to the cross of Christ, we see our own sin nailed there. That evil serpent on a stick accurately portrays Christ on the cross as scripture has interpreted scripture.
Jesus violated the man-made rule of interpretation, therefor the man-made rule is wrong.
God is quite capable of guiding his people in truth through his Spirit and by his word, without the invented rules of scholars. He promised to do so.
Mt 7:7 ¶ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: Jas 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Imagined dangers
“You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” - Rahm Emanuel
When we perceive danger, often we trade freedom for security. The Pharisees did the same with their invented rules. They taught the law in such a way that people feared to even say the name of God. God never commanded this. With their invented rules, they guaranteed that if you followed the way of the Pharisee that you would not violate God's revealed law. You gave them power over you in exchange for security. The seeker gave up freedom to cook, walk, and eat within God's revealed law, for the guarantee of righteousness offered by the Pharisees. Some cults do that today. If you follow their invented rules and pass their interviews you are given a pass into their most holy places.
Our modern religious leader barrage us with an unending list of things to fear. This cult leader read the Bible and came up with this heresy, and that cult leader read the Bible and came up with that heresy. The implication is that if you read the Bible, unguided by their wisdom, you to might become a heretic. At the same time they are telling you to read the Bible, they are telling you not to read it without their guidance. It is interesting how facts are distorted in order to produce fear.
Eliminate fear by rewording the facts and see truth. This and that cult leader, who did not know God or Christ, and did not have the Holy Ghost to guide them in truth, desiring to indulge their sin and manipulate others, imposed their own meaning upon the scriptures to derive this or that heresy.
Since our modern religious leaders can't know for sure if you know God or Christ, or if the Holy Ghost is guiding you, they cannot trust you to read the Bible without their wisdom to guide you. This is often accompanied by their manipulations. How do they know that Sister Lucille is a saint? She attends church every Sunday, tithes regularly, comes to Wednesday night Bible study and volunteers at the homeless shelter. These may be good things, they help the church and other people. But does she know Christ? I wonder if she is too busy to meditate on the scriptures which reveal him. Should Sister Lucille read the Bible?
Let us consider the danger of reading the Bible without human guidance. If you do not know God or Christ, you are already in the greatest jeopardy. No greater danger can befall you by reading the Bible without human guidance. Sure you may impose your own meaning upon the words, but you are already condemned for imposing your own will upon your life, rather than following the will of God. You may actually come to know God and Christ through reading his word, and that is not a dangerous thing. He may write your name in the Book of Life in the process.
You may form a new cult. There is no danger there. Since you are already condemned, there can be no greater condemnation. You are already the leader of a small cult of anyone who follows your guidance. So there is no change in the state of your danger.
Though there is no additional danger in reading the Bible, there is a real danger in following the man-made rules of Biblical interpretation. You may miss knowing Christ. You may actually study the scriptures diligently and miss the whole point. One of the Sadducees challenged Jesus with a problem from scriptures, and Jesus said the man didn't know what he was talking about.
Mr 12:24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?
This man, a Sadducee, had been taught how to read the Bible by other Sadducees, yet Jesus said that he did not know the scriptures, nor the power of God. That is the greatest danger of all; to miss Christ in his own scriptures. It would be like intentionally going to Jerusalem to meet the Messiah on the street corner where he said he would be, then not meeting him, though he were right there, because you didn't recognize him.
But modern scholars would rather teach their own methods than rely upon God.
“Sometimes the NT interprets OT prophecies in their literal sense, but other times it assigns an ISPA [Inspired Sensus Plenior] sense to them. That does not give license to the contemporary interpreter to imitate the hermeneutics of NT writers, because such a procedure would violate the grammatical-historical principle of single meaning. “ - Richard Barcellos (1)
To these scholars, adherence to their man-made literal-historical hermeneutic is more important than learning from God or the NT writers.
Mt 23:13 ¶ But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in [yourselves], neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. Lu 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
No rules?
Is it being proposed that when we read the Bible that there are no rules? Of course not. Jesus taught the Jewish leaders in the temple how to read the scriptures when he was twelve years old.
Lu 2:46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. Lu 2:47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
The same rules were understood by the Bereans.
Ac 17:10 ¶ And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming [thither] went into the synagogue of the Jews. Ac 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
The rules of interpretation were taught in the early church. Apollos was taught the methods in order to polish his understanding.
Ac 18:24 ¶ And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, [and] mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. Ac 18:25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
Luke, a New Testament author who is accused by modern scholars of using the Old Testament in odd ways, tells us that Apollos knew how to teach the Old Testament diligently and only need minor corrections to teach more perfectly..
Ac 18:26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto [them], and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. Ac 18:27 And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace: Ac 18:28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, [and that] publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.
Luke considers that the more perfect way of teaching is to show, by the scriptures, that Jesus is Christ. These are the very methods that are mocked by modern scholars. Rather than show a prophecy of the birth of Christ in the account of Judah and Tamar (Gen 38), the man-made literal-historical method would have us teach that we shouldn't have sex with our daughter-in-law, unless of course she hasn't had children by her dead husband, or some other moralistic message derived through the use of Greek rhetorical invention. The more perfect teaching of Gen 38 is that after Adam and Israel failed to beget 'living children' God would sow the scapegoat through a virgin and that child would be both God and man and would bear the sins of man.
Jesus taught his disciples how to read scripture by example:
Lu 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
The proper application of the rules which were used by Jesus, Aquila and Pricilla; which were understood by the apostles and the Bereans, and the Jews who were convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, is measured by how well their use teaches that Jesus is the Messiah.
It is also measured by the testimony of the Holy Spirit.
Lu 24:32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? Ro 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
By using the methods taught by Jesus and the apostles, we discern that there is a third witness:
1Jo 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
Though we won't get into the method itself right now, the water represents the word of God, and the blood represents the life which God produces in us. John says we have three witnesses on earth: the Spirit, the Word, and the life that God produces in us as a result of the first two. Even now, though you may not know the details, the Spirit tells you that this is true.
1Jo 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding [Word], that we may know him that is true, and we are in him [Spirit] that is true , [even] in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life [Life].
More fear
Someone will twist what has been said in order to produce fear and try to drive you away from God. They will tell you that the Mormons use these scriptures to lead people astray. Yes they do. They don't know Christ. That's their business. The devil would prefer that you be scared away from the Bible because the Mormons misuse it. The Mormons test truth by a burning bosom testimony. Yes they do. And that is wrong. They have based their test of truth upon one witness and a faulty one at that. You have three: The Spirit who guides us in truth, the Word of God which leads us to Christ, and a life that was produced in you that only Christ could have given. If you don't have all three, then you're in the same place as the Mormons. Good luck.
(1) In quoting Richard it is not the intention to single him out for criticism since he is merely parroting the position of many others. His name is only mentioned in order to give credit for the quote used. http://www.mctsowensboro.org/mcts-blog-original/nt-use-of-the-ot-part-ii-should-we-employ-the-hermeneutical-method-of-the-nt-no-part-2/
