Navigating Nuance
Notes
Transcript
Remind of Pastor’s desire for discipleship
Title:
Navigating the Nuance
Navigating the Nuance
Bible Study Principles
Explain title: Why “Nuance” (both in text and in life) (how quickly we revert to tidying up the nuance)
◦ The Assemblies of God understanding of Scripture has long been stated in the first article of the Fellowship’s Statement of Fundamental Truths: “The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are verbally inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct."
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.
13 For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.
21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
‣ We therefore understand the Bible to be the very Word of God in that God himself revealed His will and purposes to chosen writers (Amos 3:8) who faithfully and precisely recorded what had been revealed to them for eventual and providential inclusion in our canon of sixty-six books.
7 Surely the Lord God does nothing
Unless He reveals His secret counsel
To His servants the prophets.
8 A lion has roared! Who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?
‣ We understand inspiration to mean that special act of the Holy Spirit by which He guided the writers of the Scriptures. Such superintendence influenced both their thoughts and their actual choice of words, yet also made full allowance for the divergent backgrounds, abilities, and personalities of the writers. Moreover, inspiration applies to all they wrote as it is found in the canon of Scripture.
‣ We understand infallibility to mean that the Scriptures are true and reliable in what they intend to assert. Inerrancy is a near synonym to infallibility and has been used more recently to further attest that Scripture as recorded in the original manuscripts, the autographs, is without error. Being without error and completely truthful, the Scriptures are absolutely trustworthy (2 Samuel 7:28; Psalm 119:160; John 17:17; Colossians 1:5). Infallibility and inerrancy likewise apply to all of the Scriptures.
Truthful:
◦ 2 Samuel 7:28
28 “Now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant.
◦ Psalm 119:160
160 The sum of Your word is truth,
And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.
◦ John 17:17
17 “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
◦ Colossians 1:5
5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel
• Inerrant
◦ IN ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPHS
◦ Grudem estimates 99% of what we have in Greek and Hebrew copies is true to the original autographs. (His guess)
◦ Lost in Translation?
‣ We understand authority to mean that everything the Bible affirms and teaches is true. As God’s disclosed will and purpose, it is determinative for belief and behavior. Therefore, the affirmation that the Bible is the “authoritative rule of faith and conduct” is understood to call for accepting the Scriptures as the final and unchanging authority for doctrine and ethics.
Interpretation
Interpretation
‣ Scripture Interprets Scripture
• Buswell says, "In interpreting the Bible we do not ask any favors which we do not believe are proper rules for the reading of any serious literature."
‣ Lexicography
• "Words mean stuff"
• Study of specific usage both in and out of scripture in chronological context
• Words are not the concept, but point to the concept
◦ Tree - the word is not the tree, but points to the physical object that we define as tree.
‣ Context
• Many words in Biblical Hebrew as well as Greek require context to determine exact meaning.
◦ I.e. English word "Love"
Authorial Intent
Authorial Intent
• What did the author actually mean?
• What did the original readers understand the text to mean?
• Authorial Intent
◦ What did the author actually mean?
‣ What the author intended holds the key to the concept.
◦ What did the original readers understand the text to mean?
‣ One step removed from Authorial intent, but is the closest clue to otherwise difficult texts.
The Problem: We can't ask the authors or the audience what the writing meant.
The Solution: Historical AND Grammatical context
‣ Grammatical Context:
• Immediate Surrounding Context
• Word studies in the period language usage (modern vs Biblical Hebrew)
• Author's other writings for language usage
• Purpose for Writing (historical and grammatical)
Grammatical Context Bullseye
Grammatical Context Bullseye
◦ Authorial Intent
◦ Type of Literature (Wisdom, poetry, apocalyptic, narrative, prophetic)
◦ Immediate Context
◦ Chapter
◦ Book
◦ Author's other writings
◦ Testament
◦ Bible as a whole
Historical Context:
• Author and Intended audience
• Place and Time of writing
◦ Time:
◦ What else was happening in the city, country, world?
◦ Where does this fall on a biblical timeline?
◦ What information did they have available for interpretation?
◦ (We cannot impose on a biblical author information that we possess because of our accumulated current knowledge. - Intro to Bib Interp)
◦ I.e. using New Testament to interpret Old; term "Good Samaritan"
◦ Place:
◦ Politics, rulers, kingdoms, powers.
◦ Geography: mountains, valleys, roads, trade routes, port cities, accessibility, common or unusual routes (Woman at the Well in Samaria)
• Cultural Context
• Purpose for Writing (Historical and Grammatical)
Historical Context Bullseye
Historical Context Bullseye
◦ Authorial Intent
◦ Author's Immediate Situation
◦ Author's Intended Audience's Situation
◦ Time & Place of Writing (immediate, other writings)
◦ Time & Place in History (big picture, testament and timeline)
◦ Authorial Intent and Audience Interpretation leads to Modern Interpretation
• Help of the Spirit
What's the point?
What's the point?
1) Discern God's Message
2) Avoid and dispel misconceptions or erroneous perspectives and conclusions about what the Bible teaches
3) Apply God's message to our Lives
What you will find is that going through these steps as a process of biblical study will help you to understand the nuance in the text.
The more familiar we get with the scriptures, the more this becomes second nature.
Sunday night, I will preach a message based on the nuances in scripture, giving examples of tensions in the text
and tensions that we also deal with in life.
But tonight, I want to make the point that all of these tools help us deal with the nuance that we see in the scriptures.
Sometimes, this nuance is more convoluted because we don’t know some of the elements in these principles.
Other times, the nuance is there intentionally to magnify the sovereignty of God.
The incarnation is a great example of some nuance, some mystery that is revealed, yet still nuanced.
Jesus is both God and man. He is one with the Father, yet it was during his baptism that the Father spoke from heaven. The holy spirit is also called the spirit of Christ, but during that same baptism, the spirit descended on him like a dove.
In the prayer of Jesus just before the last supper he says,
1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You,
2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.
3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.
5 “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
7 “Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You;
8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.
9 “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours;
10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.
11 “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.
They are one, yet they are separate, we have one God, but we believe in a trinity. We have invented language to try and explain this mystery, but the truth is, there is nuance here that we may never understand until we get there and see Him face to face.
Here’s another nuance that Paul calls a mystery: 1 Cor. 15:50-54
50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.
Why is this a mystery? Because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom! So how will we be changed? ONLY GOD KNOWS!
There’s nuance! Let me tell you this; don’t be afraid of the nuance. There are some things that can remain a mystery without it corrupting our confidence.
Don’t be afraid of the nuance.
Navigating Nuance
Navigating Nuance
Navigating nuance is not only important in biblical study, but also in our interpretation of every day life events. Don’t be so quick to tidy up the nuance. There may be more in the tension than we realize.