Courtroom Tool

Opening Questions

The technical term for this is Hermeneutics:

Jon Nielson "Understanding God’s Word” Definition of this tool: “As we study the Bible and apply it to our lives, our goal is to say neither more nor less than what the Bible itself says.”

Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart “How to read the Bible for all it’s Worth: “we bring our enlightened common sense to the text and apply what we can to our own situation. What does not seem to apply is simply left in the first century?”

Read 2 Timothy 4:13 “Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come—and the books, especially the parchments.” How many of you have purchased ticket to Troas in order to find Paul’s jacket at Carpus’ house in order to bring it to Paul along with some of his books and parchments? We understand pretty easily that this is not a command for all of us to do but there are other aspects of 2 Timothy that we do take personally.

Read 2 Timothy 2:3 “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” We understand that this is not us enlisting in to a new Christian Army but we also understand that unlike the 4:13 passage this is a message that is to be followed. We must endure the hardship of this life just as a soldier endures the hardship of service in order to serve our God.

What are some ways that you can imagine people saying more than the truth that the Bible teaches—that is, adding things to God’s word?

What are some ways that you can imagine people saying less than the truth that the Bible teaches—that is, subtracting things from God’s word?

Nothing But the Truth

Problems

Legalism

Adding to scripture in order to make yourself feel, look and be perceived as more holy. As I look at this I remember setting up a set of rules between myself and my brother. We were trying to be good kids and in order to do so we believed that if we could adhere to a set of rules that we, well mostly me, set up that our parents would reward us with some prize. Now granted understand that at no time did we ever pass this by our parents to see if they agreed with it, but we moved forward none-the-less. As the week went by I forced my brother to admit to all kinds of infractions to our made up rules, and felt pretty good about the fact that I was next to perfect. I don’t think that our made up rules lasted past one week and we never asked our parents for the prizes that we had discussed because I think we both realized that our legalism had gotten the best of us.

We do this with the Bible when we determine that certain Christian morals aren’t being held to as highly as we believe them to be. We add to scripture and say that Good Christians don’t___________, The problem comes when we don’t have scriptural basis to back those statements up.

Spiritual Pride

Spiritual pride is seeing your additions to Biblical truths as making you better than others. This was what I would do to my brother when I would force him to admit to breaking our made up rules. What I was doing was proving that I was more of a good kid then he was. This is what we saw in the passage we looked at this morning from Luke 18:9–14 “Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The Pharisee believes himself superior for his spiritualness be it deserved or undeserved, true or untrue. The need to feel superior is of utmost importance for the Pharisee and we too can fall prey to this as we read and grow in the world.

What might motivate a person to try to make the Bible say more than it actually says?

Liberalism

Taking away from the scripture because it no longer applies or don’t fit your made up view of Christ and Christianity. Another term that has become popular to explain liberalism and faith is deconstruction. The idea is that one comes to a traumatic or troublesome crossroads in their life and the faith that they have held to doesn’t give them the answers or the comfort that they need at the time so they chose to “deconstruct” their faith so that it fits more with how they want it to be. The problem isn’t that you might want to reevaluate what you believe but that you would choose during the deconstruction process, to throw out foundational, Biblical principles because they are troublesome to your new found way of life.

License

Because the Bible can be made to fit your own version of Christianity the dangers of sin and rebellion are downplayed in order to make more of your freedom to sin over God’s command toward holiness.

This past week I read an article that spoke to this idea of license. 24 year old Lilly Philipps an “Only Fan’s” Porn start got baptized. That interested me because of the idea that someone in that industry would choose Christ over the money that they were able to make. That is the story I thought I was going to read instead what I found was a person who was picking and choosing the regliious preferences from the buffet of Christianity in order to make their own version of Christianity. Let me read a few excerpts, “Quite a big thing happened more in my personal life, where I kind of felt the need to start speaking to God again,” she continued. “I hadn’t really practiced faith for a while. I just wanted to get rebaptized to kind of reinstate my relationship with God.” It doesn’t appear that Phillips plans to stop creating adult content. In fact, she hopes to connect with fellow adult content creators who share a similar religious experience. “I think that there are a lot of Christian girls who are in this industry but people might not know it, and they might not feel comfortable talking about it because of the judgment,” Phillips said. Phillips told US Weekly that she is totally “fine” with people thinking she’s not a “good Christian.” “That’s their opinion. I’m definitely not claiming to be a traditional Christian at all,” said Phillips. “Obviously, I’m not against gay marriage. I am also pro-choice. So I definitely don’t have, necessarily, traditional values. But that doesn’t mean to say that I can’t be Christian.” “I would just hope that the Christian community welcomes me, because I guess everyone’s relationship with God is bespoke to them,” she said.

Can you hear how she is taking a form of Christianity and twisting it to fit her chosen lifestyle. And the harmful part is that she knows that she is doing it.

What might motivate a person to try to make the Bible say less than it actually says?

Why is it so hard to say “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” when it comes to Scripture?

Why is it so important to maintain the tension and the balance of Scripture?

How can recognizing the dangers of both legalism and license lead us toward a right understanding of both Scripture and our Christian walk?

Helps

Balanced interpretation

Jon Nielson "Understanding God’s Word”: “When we commit ourselves to really studying, interpreting, and applying the Bible as it comes to us, we see that Scripture is quite balanced; it asks us to hold many different teachings and truths with a kind of tension. For example, the Bible calls us to diligent obedience and holiness—something that people who are legalistic enjoy emphasizing and teaching about. But the Bible also reveals the incredible, full, and rich grace of God, which saves sinners through the cross of Jesus Christ, not through anything that they can do. Those truths—a call to obedience and the fullness of God’s grace to save sinners—are held together with perfect joyful tension in Scripture.”

As we look at the problems 5.5 years ago and now again the tensions that are rising in Minnesota our Christianity is stretched. On the one hand we see that all people are indeed created in the image of God and therefore we should not see color or nationality as a barrier to our Christian duty to love and serve. The desire to do this is good and there are many in MN right now that see the implied racism of ICE as going against that Christian good. However, there is also a mandate to follow the rules and the authorities that God has put over us. There is a tension there but one which we can balance with our Christian walk if we choose to.

Protection from ourselves

We make it our aim to look at scripture in a way that doesn’t make it about us. We want the scripture to speak to us not about us therefore, we neither add to nor take away from the scripture as a whole. The Bible is God’s gift of love and mercy given to me but it is not written for me to change or add to as I see fit. This stands in direct opposition to the Bespoke Christianity of Lilly Phillips or any other liberal Christian who has “Deconstructed” their faith to suit their needs. We do not get to define our Christianity to fit our needs. Instead we are to transform our lives to the image of Christ and allow His truths to shape our morality.

Here is another problem that is solved by Hermeneutically looking at scripture: Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart “How to read the Bible for all it’s Worth”: “Sometimes our theological problems are derived from the fact that we are asking our questions of texts that by their occasional nature are answering only their questions. When we ask them to speak directly to the question of abortion, or of remarriage, or of infant baptism, we want them to answer the questions of a later time. Sometimes they may do that, but often they will not, because the question had not been raised back then...The only way we can therefore speak to such questions is on the basis of a whole biblical theology, that included our understand of creation, the Fall, redemption, and the final consummation. That is, we must attempt to bring a biblical worldview to the problem. But no proof texting when there are no immediately relevant texts.

How will it help you in your walk with Jesus Christ be benefited by faithfully seeking to understand the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth of God’s word?

Application

Genesis 3:1–7

• How does Eve fail to speak “nothing but the truth” of God’s word in this passage?

• How does the serpent fail to speak “the whole truth” about God’s word in this passage?

• What would it have looked like for Adam and Eve to speak God’s whole truth and nothing but that truth?

Mark 7:1–13

What are some noble purposes or good intentions that might tempt someone to add to God’s word?

What are some ways that we might see the Pharisees’ error with regard to God’s word played out in church or religious life today?

How can a legalistic tendency begin to twist our understanding of the character of God?

In what ways does adding things to God’s word—and then trying to enforce those additions on other people—affect our view of others and our relationships with them?

Matthew 5:27–30

From what you have seen from the accounts of Eve and the Pharisees, what would you say is on the line as we respond to God’s word and apply it to our lives?

Why is it so important to hear and apply God’s word correctly?

Are there ways that you have felt especially challenged so far in this chapter about how you interact with God’s word?

How are you growing in your understanding of the right response to the Bible?

As you think about Matthew 5:27–30, which is focused on the sin of lust, what are some ways that you can imagine people wanting to say less than what this passage is teaching?

What are some ways that people might want to use this passage to say more than what Jesus is saying?

What approach makes best use of the courtroom tool?

1 John 1:5–10

How does a good understanding of Jesus’s substitutionary death for sins on the cross help you apply 1 John 1:5–10 faithfully? In other words, why is the gospel very important as you apply the courtroom tool to that passage?

How should the clear biblical call for Christians to pursue obedience and holiness shape our understanding of this passage?

As you consider this passage from 1 John, how would you summarize the different perspectives on sin in the lives of believers that could result from the reading of this passage?

Matthew 24:32–44

How is reading the Bible with balance different from reading it with compromise?

How is recognizing a certain tension between two truths in the Bible different from failing to make strong statements about biblical truth?

As you think about the second coming of Jesus Christ, in what ways do you think you need to adjust your thinking?

Do you think very often about his coming to judge the world?

How might some people say or do more or less than what the Bible teaches as they await the return of Christ to judge the world?

What leads some people to try to figure out the precise time of his coming?

How do some people fail to obey Jesus in their preparation and readiness?