The Canon of Scripture

There is nothing more basic to the Christian walk than the Bible. Along with Christ, it is the foundation form of communication about God to Us. The Bible is our Canon. But when we talk about the bible as canon. We don’t mean one of those weapons that goes boom. Then what do we mean. When we say it is our Canon. Simply put we mean it is our standard of measure. As we talked about in the beginning with Truth. Any truth we hold must have a standard. And when it comes to the Truth about God that standard is His own Word.

But how many of us truly understand what the Bible really is and what it is about. Now that may sound odd. To those who have been Christians for only a short while the answer seems obvious. But to truly understand what the Bible is. We have to first clear some of the Christian smog that has clouded the church over a number of years. So let’s start with the obvious. Anyone who becomes a Christian and reads the bible knows that it is God’s message to humans will undoubtedly be moved emotionally from time to time. This is good and completely normal. And we will talk about the Goal of reading the Bible at the end of this lesson, which is a critical part of the process of taking the bible seriously. But there is a difference between understanding that reality and studying the bible to feel a particular way. That is a very selfish way to study God’s word. The Bible never teaches us to study it to feel a certain way. We will never appreciate Gods story. If you read it as your story to solve your problems. That is not its intended purpose. Serious bible study is about moving beyond “self help” and looking to seek to master the text. It takes real time, effort and years of practice.

The other things that often gets in the way is our misconception of the role of the HS in reading the text. It is not the role of the HS to give us the meaning. The role of the HS is to illuminate the text. The Bible itself never teaches that idea. We often have a sort of spiritual entitlement as Christians. We think that since we have access to God we sudden have all the knowledge of how to read the bible implanted into our brains. Sort of like a pro athlete who plays on the field without ever having had to work for it a day in his life. That is not how reality works. Every relationship requires time and attention to be fruitful, Our relationship with God and the Bible are no different. We have to put in the time it takes to get there.

If we want to truly understand the Bible. We have to seek to interpret it in its own context.

The Bible Unfiltered: Approaching Scripture on Its Own Terms Chapter 2: Getting Serious—And Being Honest—About Interpreting the Bible in Context

There are many contexts to which an interpreter needs to pay attention.

• Historical context situates a passage in a specific time period against the backdrop of certain events.

• Cultural context concerns the way people lived and how they thought about their lives and their world.

• Literary context focuses on how a given piece of biblical literature conforms (or not) to how the same type of literature was written during biblical times.

We also have to face the fact that Bible is a strange and weird book. This is because the worldview of the biblical authors was a supernatural one. Not an exhaustive chronological view of history. Michael Heiser puts it this way.

The Bible Unfiltered: Approaching Scripture on Its Own Terms Are We Sincere about Biblical Authority?

most Christians think themselves believers in the supernatural because they believe in the Trinity, Satan, angels, and demons. They profess Christ and believe in God—and that’s the extent of what they truly think is real in terms of the supernatural. They affirm what they need to affirm to call themselves Christians. The rest is too scary or weird or seems simply superstitious.

When it comes to the supernatural, the question for every Christian who says they believe in biblical inspiration and authority to ask themselves is simple: How much of what biblical characters and writers believed about the supernatural world do I believe? Put negatively: How much of what biblical characters and writers believed about the supernatural world do I feel comfortable dismissing as a modern person? The answer to these questions will tell you how serious you are about biblical authority on such matters.

So the fundamentally how should we approach the Bible?

The Bible Unfiltered: Approaching Scripture on Its Own Terms Chapter 4: Let the Bible Be What It Is

Let the Bible Be What It Is

The road to genuine understanding must be that we do not make the Bible be some sort of wax nose that can be molded and spread according to traditions, our prejudices, our personal crises, or even our own cultural intellectual battles. Now before you say hold on a minute. Let me say that it does provide hope for our struggles and help in times of need. However one of the basic rules of understanding the bible is that it was not written to you. But was written for you. It hold truth for us today. But only in the context of what was written to its original audience. And we must also seek to understand that audience along side our own.

This brings me to our next topic of the idea of inspiration.

What comes to mind when you think of Biblical inspiration? Or does anything come to mind at all? It may (or may not) surprise you taht many Christians have view of inspiration that is closer to that of the Koran or some sort os paranormal event. What do I mean by that? They think that the way Scripture came about was by the author going into some sort of trance state and writing down what they heard.

Now to be clear. God does speak to people in Scripture.

The Bible Unfiltered: Approaching Scripture on Its Own Terms Instruments or Puppets?

Writers report events and record feelings. They build arguments. They express themselves in poetry. They use sources. They borrow thoughts. They (or other hands that follow) rewrite and refine what was written. Authors are sensitive to genre, structure, literary devices, word choice, poetic parallelism, and narrative art. There is wordplay, irony, and premeditated structuring of plot. The books we have in our Bible are the result of work and careful thought. Biblical books were not slapped together. No part of any biblical book just “happened” out of the blue.

This is a better view of Inspiration.

The Bible Unfiltered: Approaching Scripture on Its Own Terms Instruments or Puppets?

God chose a wide range of people and providentially prepared them for the moment he would prompt them, either by his Spirit or by someone else’s influence, to write something down for the benefit of God’s people (or to collect and edit material from a prophetic figure). God put them in situations that would lead to the need for them to write the message God wanted preserved. He didn’t need to put them into a trance and manipulate their fingers.

So then why read the Bible? If we are not to read the Bible with eye towards our own motivations. Or to solve our own problems. Then what is the point? In short learning not to read the bible this way is precisely the point. For us to change! The goal of reading the Bible has been and always will be.....

TRANSFORMATION

Now up to this point I have not quoted a word of Scripture. That may perturb you slightly. But my goal here is not use the Bible to prove the Bible. That is circular reasoning. My point here in our session is that “how” to read the bible is just as important as the content it contains. Whole book have been written about the content of Scripture. They are called commentaries. The real challenge is knowing which are worth the time. But that is anoth subject for an entire series on it own. So just to make you feel better. Here is a verse that I think fits nicely on the topic of transformation.

Romans 12.2

Those who read the Bible not out of selfish motives, but to truly seek to change into the image of Christ are those who read with the purest of hearts.

The question then posed to each of us when we open the pages of Scripture is this. Do I want to change more than I want my own way? This is the essence of life with God and return from the fall. And the restoration of Eden. Heaven returning here on earth.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

Have ever realized that you were approaching the Bible incorrectly? If so how?

Why is a better understanding of inspiration so important?

Why do people (and many Christians) have trouble the content of the Bible that takes a supernatural approach?