Reading Scriptures

 

“Luke 12:32″

 Let us…put our souls in at the reading of the Scriptures as though into some peaceful harbor. It is, after all, a harbor without billows, an impregnable wall, an unshakable tower, imperishable glory, invulnerable armor, imperturbable satisfaction, undying enjoyment and whatever else you class as good—such is the communion with the divine Scriptures. It repels discouragement, preserves good spirits, makes the poor person richer than the affluent, bestows security on the rich, makes the sinner righteous, sets a secure guard on the righteous, snatches away ill-gotten gains, makes goods that are missing spring up, drives out wickedness, leads on to virtue—or does not so much lead on as even roots deeply and makes it last without end, being a spiritual remedy, a kind of divine an ineffable incantation which eliminates ailments, rooting up the thorns of sin, making the furrow clean, casting the seeds of piety and bringing the crop to fruition.    (St. John Chrysostom)

In Defense of the Septuagint

The Prophet Moses

As is well known historically,  somewhere about 200 years before the time of Christ the Jews translated their Scriptures into the Greek language.  This translation was called the Septuagint  (normally abbreviated as LXX).     It was a well respected document throughout the ancient world including among the Jews themselves, especially among those who commonly used Greek as their language of communication.   In fact the Scriptures were translated into Greek to make them more accessible to the rest of the world which used Greek as the universal language of the educated people.  Many Jewish scholars themselves relied on the Septuagint in their own writings. 

About 100 years or so after the time of Christ, the Jewish rabbis began reconsidering the acceptability of the Septuagint for use by Jews.  This seems in part to have occurred because of the Christian reliance on the Septuagint for their own claims about Jesus being the Messiah and fulfilling Old Testament prophecies.

After the Protestant Reformation, Protestant scholars in an effort to discredit the Roman Catholic Church abandoned reliance on the Septuagint and began using only Jewish versions of their Scriptures for translating the scriptures into modern languages.  The Masoretic Text which became the official version of the Jewish Scriptures was finalized between the 7th-10th Centuries AD, and thus is not an older text than the Septuagint but a more recent text.  The Masoretic text does correspond closely to Hebrew/Aramaic texts from the 2nd Century AD but differs at points from the Septuagint, sometimes significantly.

Modern biblical scholars do consult the Septuagint even when they rely on the Masoretic Text because the Septuagint is more ancient than the Masoretic Text and because the Septuagint was translated from a more ancient Hebrew/Aramaic text and so allows us to know how Jewish scholars 200 years before Christ were interpreting and understanding their own scriptures.  The Septuagint was not translated by Christians as Christianity did not exist at that time, so the Christians had no influence over the translation into Greek of the Jewish scriptures.  It did happen however that the Christians found the Septuagint to be both a solid basis for Christian thinking and rather useful in polemics against the Jews of later Centuries.

Since the time of the Reformation some Protestant biblical readers have distrusted the Septuagint and don’t accept it as a legitimate bible for Christians to read.   Some feel it is too “Roman Catholic.”   Others think it an unreliable translation or interpretation of the Jewish Scriptures, even though it was done by the Jews themselves and honored

Old Testament Patriarchs

by the Jews at the time of Christ.  Additionally, many scholars feel that the New Testament authors were very reliant on the Septuagint as demonstrated by their frequently using the Septuagint when quoting the Old Testament.

As I was reading Robert Charles Hill’s translation of  ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM’S COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS Vol. 2   (pp 343-344), I came across two footnotes of his that actually lend credence to the importance of the Septuagint (LXX) for our knowledge of the Old Testament.   Both of these footnotes were in regard to Psalm 145.

“…though our (Masoretic) Hebrew text has one verse (13) missing, which the LXX supplies, an inclusion confirmed by the Hebrew manuscripts discovered at the Dead Sea.”

“This is the verse occurring in the LXX and a Hebrew ms found at Qumran; it is not in the Masoretic Hebrew text of this alphabetic psalm at the point where we would expect a verse beginning with the letter nun….”

 I have read various arguments about the reliability of the Septuagint version of the Jewish scriptures and arguments for why Protestant Scholars prefer the Masoretic Text when doing translation of the Old Testament.   But the Septuagint which is used officially by Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox has shown itself to be a good window into the ancient Jewish (Pre-Masoretic) Scriptures.    Some have argued that translators in the ancient world were more likely to eliminate parts of texts (accidentally or purposefully) than to add to them.  At least in the two instances Hill mentions regarding the Psalms, the Septuagint may be relying on a more ancient text of the Hebrew Scriptures than the Masoretic Text does and thus gives us a better glimpse into the sacred writings of ancient Israel.   The Septuagint preserved something the Masoretic text lost.

THE ORTHODOX STUDY BIBLE  itself bases its translation of the Old Testament scriptures on the Septuagint unlike Protestant versions of the Bible.   The OSB thus follows the ancient Christian and traditionally historic version of the Scriptures which was commonly relied on by the first Christians themselves.   This is not to say that common English versions of the bible are wrong, they simply follow Protestant principles in their translations of the Old Testament and thus have a less complete version of the Old Covenant scriptures.

Christianity and Islam: Jesus – Prophet, Messiah, and Lord (1)

This is the sixth blog in my series which began with  One Christian Looks at Islam Looking at Christianity; next was the two part  Christianity and Islam: Of Prophecy and the Prophet; then the two part  Christianity and Islam:  Conflict over True Christianity.     These blogs are my reaction to the claims of some Muslim missionary literature aimed at converting Christians to Islam.  

According to the literature, Islam accepts Jesus as a major prophet on the authority of the Qur’an alone – not on the authority of the Torah or the Gospel.   This means that the information in the Qur’an cannot be measured by the Scriptures of Christians and Jews.   Therefore, ideas about Jesus or Moses or any of the Biblical prophets found in the Qur’an are said not to be reliant on or influenced by the teachings of Jews and Christians.   Islam claims the Qur’an is “a-historical” meaning it is a divine document without any human explanations added to it, unlike the Bible which Muslims claim contains errors since it shows signs of human intention in it – historical information, recording human events, offering human exegesis and explanations.  Such claims by Muslims free Islam from having to subject their teachings to historical, literary, archeological or scientific examination.   Personally I see this as a weakness.  For any religion which claims it upholds Truth, should have nothing to fear from such external examination.   Truth is truth.    God’s truth is true in this world, and should be able to be examined by human reason and investigation.   Science is not going to overthrow the Truth of God, but it might challenge overly rigid or literally readings of Scripture.  But the believer has nothing to fear from studies in history, linguistics, literature or science, unless some of the claims of religion are not literally true.

One convert to Islam from Christianity accused Christians  of seeing the Bible as an end in itself, whereas  he says it points to something else beyond the text.    He of course claimed it points to Muhammad.   Bibliolotry is not Christian for in Christianity we have God’s Word incarnate – Jesus.    God’s Word is living and personal and not just a book of printed pages and rules and regulations.    God’s Word is not a book but a person.   Christians certainly would agree that the Bible points to something beyond itself.   In the Gospels which the Qur’an does say contains the message of God,  Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

I do not know how Muslims understand the Qur’an in heaven.   They see the Qur’an on earth as being an exact replica of that which exists in heaven (and thus they see the Qur’an as having been authored by God and not written by men inspired by God).   My question is:  what form does the Qur’an take in heaven?  Does it have some kind of existence, material or spiritual?  Can it be seen or read?    Did God actually write it down on something?   What does it mean that it exists in heaven?   This seems to me a point to be discussed for Christians certainly understand Jesus to be God’s eternal Word (see John 1).

Islam claims that it offers the correct understanding of Jesus.   “It is Muslims who are best adhering to the teachings of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), and hence they rightly deserve to be called the ‘true followers of Jesus Christ.’”    According to the literature, Muslims believe in Jesus and believe in God’s revelation to Him, the Gospel.   Muslims believe in his supernatural conception without a human father, that he performed miracles like giving life to the dead.  Muslims believe in his 2nd coming.  Mary is greatly respected in Islam.   These are some ways that Islam shares with Christianity ideas about Jesus and why he should be honored by all people in the world.   Both religions claim it is important to know Jesus and to know who Jesus is.   This is the point upon which Christians and Muslims can debate, agree and disagree since they share some common ideas.   The issue of who best follows Jesus and understands Him is where more disagreement will be found, and yet it is something concrete that can be discussed.

The literature says that Jesus never claimed “I am God you must worship me”  or “I am co-equal and co-eternal with God”  or “you will enter heaven if you believe in my blood sacrifice.”   Here Islam follows a line of thinking that one can find in the early years of Christianity in Arianism, which Christianity considered for many years but then rejected as a false idea about Jesus and not consistent with the revelation recorded in the Scriptures.  (Unlike Islam, the Arians did accept the same Scriptures as the rest of Christianity and debated the received text.  Islam simply denies the validity of the received text and offers a different text as Scripture, which makes it acutely difficult for Christians and Muslims to discuss who Jesus is).   But there are a plenty of examples in the Christian Scriptures which uphold the claims of the Christians regarding the relationship of Jesus to God the Father.   A major difference however between Christianity and Islam is that Islam tends to read Scriptures with an absolute literalism, while the Christians have been willing to reflect beyond the literal words in gaining an insight into the meaning of the Bible.  Islam says Jesus never commanded His followers to worship Him, but Christianity would insist if you remain faithful to what the Scriptures witness to about Jesus, it becomes clear that He is the Messiah, the Son of God, imbued with the powers of God, which leads one to the conclusion that Jesus Himself expressed that He shares a unique oneness with God the Father.   In this way Christianity calls humanity to greater reflection on what God wills for humans, while Islam relies much more on simply submitting to God’s commandments.

Next:   Christianity and Islam:  Jesus – Prophet, Messiah, and Lord (2)

Christianity and Islam: Conflict over True Christianity (1)

This is the fourth blog in my series which began with  One Christian Looks at Islam Looking at Christianity; 2nd was  Christianity and Islam: Of Prophecy and the Prophet; then Christianity and Islam: Of Prophecy and the Prophet (2).    In this series of blogs I am taking a look at how Islam views Christianity as presented in some Muslim missionary materials which are aimed at converting Christians to Islam.  I am not looking directly at the claims of the Qur’an but only what some Muslims appear to be saying about the Qur’an and about Christians.   Obviously their materials are for proselytizing purposes and are polemical against Christian claims and apologetically for Islamic ones.  Since I thought the booklets I read were respectful to Christ, I am endeavoring to respond respectfully to the claims of the Muslim missionary material.  Obviously there are serious points of disagreement between Islam and Christianity.  There are also points of agreement:  that there is one God the Creator of all things visible and invisible, and that Jesus is in the direct line of those revealing God’s message to the world, that Jesus’ birth was miraculous and that Jesus was a miracle worker.  The Muslim literature also claims that Muslims are true believers in Jesus.   In this claim Islam and Christianity do share a common interest:  the correct and proper understanding of Jesus Christ.   Since both Islam and Christianity are both concerned about the truth concerning Jesus of Nazareth, we share a common bond.  In history Christians have spent a great deal of time debating and discussing “who is Jesus?”  The first several hundred years of church history is full of such discussion and it is the main work of the Ecumenical Councils of the 4th – 8th Centuries.   The Church has had to consider many divergent views on Christ, but has through careful deliberation and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit remained faithful to the Gospel, all the Scriptures, the Apostolic preaching, and the decisions of its Ecumenical Councils.   Unlike the criticism which Islam presents against the Christians, the Christians have not added to or altered their Scriptures.  Modern scholarship in contradistinction to Islam often accuses the Church of being too conservative and of having been too narrow in its acceptance of writings as Scripture.   It can’t be both ways.  The Church has endeavored to remain faithful to the full revelation of God and has a closed scriptural canon which has not allowed accretions or deletions from its sacred writings.

The Muslim missionary literature acknowledges that though the Qur’an is the last Holy Book revealed to mankind, it is not the only holy book revealed by Allah.   The Qur’an in Islamic thinking is the only holy book which has not been mixed with human and philosophical ideas and doctrines.  It is thus the only authoritative and authentic revelation available to mankind.     According to the Islamic missionary booklet THIS MATTER OF FAITH (Discover Islam Series) the “extraneous and unrevealed material” in the Bible includes “statements of historical context, descriptions of events, exegetical comments, philosophical treatises, literary allusions or quotations.”    This booklet also claims that since much of the Bible was orally transmitted before it was written down, the Bible’s ideas “tend to be influenced by cultural categories” and thus include “folk wisdom, folk tales, legends and fabulous tales that generally circulate within any local culture.”

Of course the Qur’an itself first was transmitted only orally.  Muhammad was commanded by God to “recite” (which is a meaning of the word ”Qur’an”) not to write anything.  He also was illiterate, so it was others who wrote down what he said at a time when there was not a standard written Arabic language.   So if orally transmitted materials have a tendency not to be completely accurate, that should apply to all such oral transmissions.  Additionally, despite the negative comments towards local culture, Islam claims the Qur’an is an exact copy of God’s word in heaven, which implies that God Himself speaks and writes in Arabic which the booklet says “is one of the top ten languages living yet today”.    The booklet goes on to claim, “And where the Qur’an refers to local 7th century Arab culture and tales, it does so in a way that sets straight some controversy and that teaches a larger truth thereby.”   

The Qur’an (2:136) says Muslims believe in the revelation given to Moses and to Jesus and they make no distinction between any of them.   In 3:3-4 the Qur’an says that God has “revealed unto you the Scripture with the truth, confirming that which was [revealed] before it, even as He revealed the Torah and the Gospel aforetime, for a guidance to mankind, and has revealed the Criterion [of right and wrong]…”   So though the Qur’an reconfirms the truth found in the Torah and the Gospel, Islam says that all of those parts of these Scriptures which do not agree with the Qur’an are not trustworthy and must be eliminated or only interpreted the way the Qur’an interprets them.   Thus for example, anything that contradicts the Qur’an’s interpretation of Jesus can’t be true even if it is in the Gospel which the Qur’an confirms.  Therefore no logic or external proof of any kind is valid in a discussion about Jesus with Muslims.     In that sense neither proof nor logic  nor any evidence from history, archeology, or science can be applied when considering the claims of the Qur’an regarding Jesus and Christianity.

One other factor is that though Islam in general claims that the Qur’an is straight forward and understandable to any reader, many Arabic speaking people and many scholars acknowledge that certain texts in the Qur’an are virtually incomprehensible.   For many Muslims any questioning of the Qur’an is seen as an insult to God, which makes it very difficult to have any kind of discussion or debate with Muslims.   For a longer discussion on these issues see for example the January, 1991, ATLANTIC MONTHLY article, What is the Koran?    It is therefore interesting to note in THIS MATTER OF FAITH that it says that one needs no further revelation than the Qur’an “supported by a reliable exegesis (body of explanation) with practical application in the well-documented life history of the Prophet.”   So though any exegesis found within the Bible is seen as evidence of tampering with the text, the Muslim missionary literature acknowledges the reader of the Qur’an is going to need materials external to the Qur’an to understand it – both an exegesis and a history of the Prophet.   This re-introduces into  the discussion the need for human made materials to understand the Qur’an which would undermine the claim that the reason the Bible is not reliable is that there is evidence of human influence in it. 

Continued in Christianity and Islam: Conflict over True Christianity (2)

Scripture: Written for our Instruction Not just for our Information

In reading the Bible, it is important to have a frame of reference in which we place the text we are reading in order to understand the scripture.   Some argue that the plain reading of the text is always the literal reading of the text, but we need to keep in mind that biblical literalism is an interpretation of the scriptures.   However we decide to approach the scriptures – literally, critically, or spiritually – that is our method of interpretation and shapes what we see and how we read the text.  This is much in line with the old adage which says you have to believe in miracles in order to see a miracle – a miracle won’t bring you to belief, because if you don’t think miracles happen, even if one does you will interpret it in some other way .

The bible itself does not order us to read the text literally.  The literal reading of the text is a possible reading and sometimes the best reading of a text, but it is not the only possible way to read the text.  In contrast to a literal reading of the text, biblical scholars often rely on a historical-critical reading of the text, which is another interpretive method in which the reader attempts to discern what the original context of the scripture was and what the original author/editor of the text was thinking and trying to convey.  It actually is another form of literalism, but often comes to a very different conclusion about the text’s meaning than does pure literalism.

If we study the hermeneutic of the various New Testament writers in their use of and comments on the Old Testament (hermeneutic = the method of interpretation), we discover that the authors of the New Testament did not follow only a literal reading of the Old Testament, nor did they follow the norms of the historical-critical method in their use of or interpretation of the Old Testament.   Take for example St. Paul’s comments in Romans 15:3-4:

“For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.’  For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

First St. Paul is making a moral exhortation to the Roman Christians about love – taking care of the other before yourself.  He then points to Jesus as the primary example of love, of one who did not please Himself, but did what was good for others first.  In this St. Paul is clearly contrasting love (which is always other oriented) and self love (which always places the “I” or “me” or “mine” before the other).  His commentary is moralism and he is trying to shape the attitude and behavior of his readers.

Second, St. Paul quotes from Psalm 69:9 as a scriptural reinforcement of the principle of love which he is promoting.  Paul takes a verse from Psalm 69 which in its own context has a particular reading and meaning and he uses the verse as if the words were said by Christ.  Psalm 69 is a lamentation of David as he speaks about his own life and situation and sorrows and problems.  One can read the Psalm literally and historical-critically and have them make perfect sense without reference to Christ.  However Psalm 69 is frequently quoted throughout the New Testament and is used as one of the prophetic psalms of the suffering servant of God.  It is used in the New Testament as a prophecy about and testimony to the Messiah.  The Psalm is interpreted as applying not to David but to the Lord’s Christ.  This is a Christological interpretation of the Psalm.  The verse is not being taken out of context, as many modern scholars might argue, for I think St. Paul uses the verse because he wants the reader to call to mind the entire Psalm.  He is not proof text, but rather using a verse to call to mind a large context.   By referring the verse to Christ, he is referring the entire Psalm to Christ – to interpret the Psalm and to reveal the Christ.

Third, St. Paul then describes his hermeneutic – his interpretive principle in vs. 4: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”   St. Paul is saying that it is not the literal meaning of the text nor its historical-critical meaning which are most important.  The ancient texts “were written for our instruction” – not mostly to record a factual history, but to shape our understanding of the present – “that we might have hope.”   The ancient scriptures were written to encourage us through our present problems and situation.  Additionally the texts were written not merely to inform us, but more to form us: not mere information, but formation and even transformation.   This of course does not deny the literal or historical meaning of the text, but only and rather says that the text has a more important meaning for us than a mere literal reading of the text can give us.  And that meaning both reveals Christ to us and is revealed by Christ to us.  David in writing Psalm 69 does not tell us the text is really about the Messiah and not about himself.  But applying the text to Christ becomes the interpretive principle which guides St. Paul.

Once again it brings to mind Christ’s own words in John John 5:39-40: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

Reading the Bible, which is an essential part of being a Christian, of being a disciple of Christ, requires us to be able to read the scriptures, to see them with apostolic eyes, and to have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). 

See also my Reading the Old Testament to Reveal the Truth

The Limits of Biblical Literalism

When Jesus Christ criticized the religious people of his day with these words: “You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40), He was saying it is possible to so bury one’s head in Scriptures as to miss the very thing to which Scripture is bearing witness – the things which God is doing in the world at that moment. Prophecy in the Old Testament means not just “future telling” but “forth telling” – it sets forth what God is doing and what God plans to do. Christ says the Old Testament Scriptures were written not to keep people’s focus on the past but to help them recognize God’s present saving activity in the world, including the arrival of the Messiah and the Kingdom of God. This is why Orthodoxy reads the Old and New Testament Scriptures Christocentrically, meaning we read them as a revelation of Christ. The book of Genesis and the creation story can be read literally or historically or scientifically even by Jews and atheists. It is only read Christocentrically by believing Christians.

If we read the creation story in Genesis without reference to Christ (as can be done by Jews and creation scientists) we fail to understand the Scriptures as revealed in Jesus Christ. So reading the Old Testament literally does not necessarily bring one to Christ nor to an understanding of the witness of that Scripture. “And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). That is how we are to read the creation story in Genesis. It is not about science, it is about Christ! That is how the Lord Himself interpreted them to His disciples.

Let us consider three other stories in the Gospel where the literal understanding is exactly what causes people to fail to understand Christ. First, in John 3:1-15 Jesus speaks to Nicodemus about being born again of water and the Spirit. Poor Nicodemus. He relies on literalism to understand spiritual things, and he simply cannot grasp the teaching of Christ. He hears Christs and asks, “How can a grown man crawl back into his mother’s womb to be born again? ” Jesus soundly rebukes Nicodemus: “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand this? … If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? (John 3:10, 12). It is precisely Nicodemus’ literalism which prevents him from understanding Christ. Additionally, Christ is telling him you cannot understand the things of this earth so you will never believe heavenly things. Nicodemus’ literalism prevents him from understanding the obvious so he cannot understand spiritual things!

Second, in Matthew 16:5-12 Jesus speaks to his disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Once again the disciples endeavor to understand him in some literalistic way and think he must be talking about their not having brought enough bread on the journey. Their relying on literalism causes them to totally misunderstand Christ and to get this rebuke from our Lord: “O men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive?” (Matt 16:7-8). Trying to understand Christ or the Scriptures purely literally causes them and us to misunderstand the meaning of Christ’s words.

Third, in John 5:1-15 Jesus heals a paralytic on the Sabbath Day, and the Jewish leaders are incensed that the healed man is carrying his bed. Now if we read the Old Testament purely literally, we will see that the Jews are absolutely correct in their condemnation of the healed man (Deut 5:12-14, Exodus 31:12-17, 35:2-3, Jeremiah 17:19-22, Nehemiah 13:19). But it is precisely this narrow and literalistic reading of these biblical passages which causes the Jews to totally miss the revelation in Christ. They are so worried that if they violate the literal reading of the law that God will be angry, that they fail to see the bigger picture of the world and what God is doing for the salvation of them all. Their focus on the absolute literal reading of and keeping of the Torah, causes them to fail to see right before their eyes what God was doing in their day in fulfillment of the Prophecies of Isaiah 29:18-19, 35:5-6. So worried are they about breaking God’s law that they cannot see how the miracle is a sign of what God is now doing. This is precisely what Christ is trying to show them – you narrowly focus on a literal reading of the scripture because in them you think you will find salvation, but these scriptures bear witness to me and you refuse to come to me (John 5:39-40 quoted above).

In the beginning of the universe, God spoke His Word and all things came into existence. God’s Word in the beginning was active, creating and life giving (Hebrews 4:12). God’s Word was not a book, it could not be understand by absolute literalism. But that beginning revelation of God’s Word turns out not to have been the whole story, for the Word became flesh (John 1:14), and in that incarnation we realize again that the Word of God is not a book nor a written word but rather is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. And we came to realize that the entire written Bible bears witness to the Person of the Word of God whom we know as Jesus Christ. The written word of God exists to bring us to Christ, and more astonishingly the Word became flesh as the man Jesus; so indeed searching the written word should bring us to Him. This is something biblical literalism alone might not do. Biblical literalism may claim that Genesis 1-3 is science, but Christ and the Orthodox Church would say Genesis 1-3 is about Christ. It is to bring us to the knowledge of Christ, not to a knowledge of science. Thus arguments about the literal/scientific truth of Genesis 1-3 can be offered without any regard to Christ, and for our purposes as Christians so limit the message of God as to miss the very importance they have for us.

When the Word became flesh, literalism takes on an entire new meaning, for now we are looking at the incarnation as the interpretive tool through which we are to read all of Scriptures. If we believe the Bible must only be read literally, then we are in fact putting a human limit on God’s eternal Word. Literalism is one human way to read a text, but it is not the only way, nor is it God’s way – for God reveals His Word in and through the incarnation, not through science nor through a scientific reading of the Scriptures. God’s Word – His revelation – speaks to us not only literally, but divinely, poetically, prophetically, prototypically, morally, in wisdom, and Christocentrically. “The law came through Moses, grace and truth come through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

See also my Creation “Ex Nihilo”  Not Interpretation “Ex Nihilo”

The Bible Alone?

While it is true that all scriptures are inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16), it is also true that the New Testament is an interpretation of the Old Testament scriptures. Christ understood the Old Testament scriptures in a particular way and interpreted them in a way that was not in agreement with either Sadducees or Pharisees. Ultimately Christ’s interpretation of the Old Testament says that neither the Torah nor the Temple is at the heart of God’s message, but rather that it is the Messiah and the Kingdom which the Old Testament is really all about, and pointing to and revealing. And Christ clearly makes Himself to be more important than either Torah or Temple.

What this implies is that Scriptures cannot stand alone in giving us God’s truth. It is the interpretation of the Scriptures which is the essential factor. As the Lord Jesus said, “You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). He really is saying that the Old Testament is really about Himself as Messiah. The Scriptures in this sense are a sign which point out the reality. Christ is the Word of God to which the scriptures bear witness – Christ isn’t the witness to the Word/Scriptures. He is the Word. So we turn to the Scriptures in order to find Christ. But it is Christ who is most important and in Christ we find eternal life and what the Scriptures mean. We need Him to interpret them. Having the Bible alone is obviously not enough – We need Christ in order to understand the Scriptures.

This is why proof-texting in trying to establish what the Scriptures means is of limited value. The Scriptures exist in order to lead us to and in order to reveal to us Christ Jesus our Lord. Any passage of Scripture, even a saying of Christ has to be interpreted by Christ and by our coming to Christ in order to understand the written word.

We cannot change the Scriptures – we receive them and have to deal with them as they are. But we do have to interpret them in Christ and never apart from Him. Those who want to read the Old Testament as a Law that still stands as obligatory for the godly which cannot be changed by the New Testament are trying to read the Old Testament without reference to Christ. And in John 5:39-40, we learn from Christ that this is exactly where they err. The Torah as the Law of God also existed to reveal Christ and to bear witness to Christ. Now we as Christians must understand that Torah “in Christ” which means coming to terms with Christ and with His interpretation of the Torah. His interpretation of the Torah is more important to us than the Torah. That is a Christian understanding of the Bible.

Reflections on the Holy Saturday Scriptures Readings

Reflections while listening to the Scripture at the Holy Saturday Vespers-Liturgy.

Whenever listening to the scriptures read, I often have thoughts come to mind about a verse or idea in the Scriptures. Here are a few of the things I thought about while listening the 15 Old Testament readings on Holy Saturday.

Genesis 1:4 “And God saw the light was good.” The very first thing that God sees as good is “light” which was also the first thing He called into existence. There is goodness in creation from the very beginning. A blessedness, which God is pleased to see. He is not indifferent to the creation He has made. He not only brings it into existence, He experiences creation (He sees it) and finds goodness in it. As the Creator, He no doubt imbued the creation with goodness, but the text also suggests that He experiences that goodness when encountering the creation. He draws goodness out of the created! Creation is not valueless in God’s eyes. It has a value and this value is not only what He put into it, it is also what He draws out of it when He encounters the created. Goodness is not simply a property of God. It is also a value that His creation possesses and something which can be experienced through encountering created things. The goodness in Christ for example is not simply the divine in Him, it is also the case that His physical body possesses such goodness, as it was meant to do from the beginning. There is no form of dualism here. If creation is not good, it is not because God has withdrawn this property from it, but rather that the created has spurned what God has given to it. Humans are to have a very particular role in creation, and that role requires the humans to be good, blessed, holy, godlike. But when humanity rejects its place in creation, it forsakes goodness and then can no longer fulfill the role God intended humans to have in the created order. Christ re-unites the goodness of God with the goodness God saw in His original creation.

Jonah – the King of Nineveh proclaims a fast in response to Jonah’s message, but the not eating food or drinking even water is not the goal of the fast. Rather the food fasting is simply to get everyone’s attention and to get everyone focused on what really needs to happen: “yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence which in is his hands.” It is turning away from all evil which the king hopes will cause God to relent and not destroy the city. It isn’t letting heaps of food go uneaten which is the goal of the fast – that will not earn God’s favor. Rather by fasting, people are to stop all their normal ways of behavior so that they can concentrate on correcting the real problem – sin. That is what our Great Lent out to be for each of us as well. It is not piles of uneaten food which are going to reach up to heaven, get God’s attention, and cause God to forgive sinners. It is only our changing our hearts and repenting of evil which God will really notice and care about. Something for us to think about – we are not offering up to God uneaten foods, as God isn’t looking for such offerings from us. He is looking into our hearts and hoping to find in us hearts cleansed of sin so that He can dwell with us.

Jonah – God tells Jonah: “And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left…?” It is interesting that God’s motive in warning the Ninevites is His own love, but a particular type of love: compassion or pity. He is not desiring to save the city because of how good the people are, or how holy they are. He pities them because of their ignorance! Nevertheless He feels compassion and mercy for them and desires to save them. He doesn’t wait for them to become good and holy. God’s love is purely gratuitous and unconditional. In Lenten services we do pray for “the errors of the people” or sometimes translated as the “ignorance of the people”, a phrase found in Hebrews 9:7. God’s loving concern for people is not based on the people’s “loveability” nor on their holiness or goodness. God can also love based upon pity and compassion – another lesson for Christians.

Exodus 13:20-15:1 It is God who directs the Israelites to move to the location which will entrap them between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea. Interesting that He doesn’t lead them in such a way so as to avoid danger and difficulty, which would certainly be the way most of us would prefer and would choose. There would be no need for dramatic escapes and rescues if God didn’t lead them to a point where they needed to be saved in the first place. Moses is so confident that God will save them – He will do it all, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you today…” But God, ever unpredictable, says to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.” God it turns out is not going to do all the work in salvation. He tells Moses, “Lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it…” It is Moses who has to part the sea, not God! The salvation of the people is in Moses’s hands. And what is God going to be doing while Moses parts the water and enables the Israelites to escape? “I will harden the heart of the Egyptians so they shall go after them.” In other words, God is not going to stop the Egyptians, on the contrary He is going to provoke them to pursue the Israelites, while Moses is busy trying to get the Israelites away from the Egyptians. God is not trying to make things easier for Moses and the Israelites. God doesn’t drown the Egyptians, He tells Moses to stretch out his hand and to return the waters to their rightful place. God doesn’t do this act on His own, He commands Moses to do it, but then leaves it to Moses to get the job done. God does not and will not do everything for us – He cooperates with us and demands synergy from us in working with Him. He tells us what to do but then leaves it up to us whether or not we do it. This is not God-alone thinking, but true synergy.

Isaiah 61:1-19 Sometimes we Christians are too narrowly focused in our theology. For example we hear a great deal regarding how Jesus died for our sins. But Jesus came into the world to do a lot more than dealing only with sinners. “… because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn … to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit… that he may be glorified.” We Christians sometimes get so focused on sin that we forget all the things that is was prophesied that the Messiah would do. There is a whole lot more wrong with the world than just sin, there is sickness and affliction, captivity and mourning, and brokenheartedness too. Christ came not just to take on our sins, but also to heal our diseases and to take on all our ailments, spiritual, mental and physical.

Reading the Bible: The Book of Revelation

A few thoughts about reading the Book of  Revelation. 

 The book’s title in Greek means  “to reveal”, not to hide or conceal, not to scare people, but to give us clear guidance and direction, not to confound or confuse us.

It had a message for the readers of the day in which it was written and for us.  And though the message is couched in mysterious terms, it was meant to be understood by its readers.  It was written for Christians, not for Gnostics.  

Overall the book is meant to encourage the faithful, not threaten the sinner.  A key passage and message is “Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints”  (13:10).   The book is addressed to Christians suffering from the threat of persecution or suffering from the persecution itself.    It is a reminder to believers that despite oppression, God is still in charge of the universe.

The Apostle John is thought to have written the book towards the end of his own life.  What were some of the events going on in John’s 1st Century world that caused the Christians grave concern?    Scholars point to several natural disasters which were on John’s mind, such as in 61AD  the city of  Laodicea was totally destroyed by an earthquake, in 79AD  Mt Vesuvius erupted destroying 3 cities, and in 92AD a  severe grain famine in the Mediterranean region led to starvation for many.   Additionally, the times were awash in political turmoil:  in 60AD the  Emperor Nero began demanding Roman citizens to worship him as a god, in 62AD  the  Roman Army was defeated by Parthenius, in 64AD a devastating fire in Rome was blamed on the Christians by the Emperor Nero, in 66AD there was a  Jewish revolt against Rome, in 68AD the self-proclaimed god  Nero committed suicide leading to chaos in the Roman Empire with 4different Emperors rising to power in one year, in 70AD the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, in 90AD  Emperor Domitian ordered death penalty for all his family members who don’t take his divinity seriously.  Additionally a government approved persecution of  Christians was beginning in Asia Minor.   So there were many problems which the world at large as well as the Christians in particular faced.

 Christians came to see their position in the world as having to choose: Who is God the Lord?  Is it the Emperor and his claims to divinity or even the Roman State  itself, or is the Lord the God of Israel and is His Messiah also Lord and God?

 Revelation is biblical prophecy -   not fore-telling the future like Nostradamus is credited with in tabloids,     but FORTH-TELLING,   telling us what God is doing in the world today despite all of the bad news His faithful may be suffering under.

Biblical prophecy proclaims that it is God who gives meaning to the world – even to suffering.  It claims that despite severe trials for believers and suffering for God’s people, there is still the much larger plan of God which is unfolding.   So biblical prophecy and the Book of Revelation have the message for all believers: Do not despair!   Do not fear!   There is a God and in the end He will triumph, even if now He seems silent or defeated.

 Revelation was written as a letter not to create fear in the believers about the end of the world, but just the opposite, to create faith, hope and endurance because the time of God is near.   Revelation is not information about the bad world we live in, but rather it is a proclamation by and about Jesus Christ and how He does ultimately triumph over all powers in the world.

Revelation tells us what in God’s name we can we live by in a shaken and cynical age.   Revelation tells us then when we get used to the good life, times of prosperity and success we forget how bad evil really is.    The reminder is that even when evil does its worst, God is still sovereign over His creation.     We as God’s people are neither helpless nor hopeless.   God assures us He wins in the end.   So be people of hope, and faith, of patience and endurance.    Never allow the present to block or cloud your view of the future.

Revelation is a LETTER written with a clearly understood message to the church community in the midst of oppressive crisis.  That message is: Christ is king though crucified.   We Christians share in Jesus (the Crucified One) now.   The kingdom is present now in the fallen world, in the Church through the Cross of Christ.

 

References:

M. Eugene Boring,  REVELATION

 Eugene Peterson, REVERSED THUNDER

A Resurrection Gospel

Normally on Saturday evenings in our parish Vespers, I read the Gospel of the Resurrection at the end of the service. The Orthodox Church has divided the passages from the 4 Gospels which deal with Christ’s resurrection into 11 separate readings. (This includes Matthew 28:16-20 – 1 Lesson, Mark 16:1-20 – divided into 2 Lessons, Luke 24:1-49 – 4 Lessons, and John 20:1-21:25 – 4 Lessons). One of these 11 Resurrection Gospel lessons are then read on a rotating basis each Sunday as a way of proclaiming the Resurrection of Christ from the dead – the main message of Christianity itself.

Sunday in the Orthodox Church is always dedicated to celebrating the Resurrection of Christ, for it is on Sunday morning that the empty tomb was discovered by the women disciples of the Lord, and they learned from the angels that Christ is risen from the dead. The 11 Resurrection Gospel lessons properly belong to Sunday, and really are the Gospel lessons which define the theme for every Sunday of the year. The 11 Gospel Resurrection Lessons are supposed to be proclaimed on Sunday morning, during Matins, before the Divine Liturgy. At the Liturgy itself are then read a different repeating cycle of Gospel lessons which offer more instruction to the faithful about how we are to live knowing that Christ is risen form the dead. In our parish we are not doing Resurrection Matins on Sunday morning before the Liturgy, but we do Resurrection Vespers each Saturday night, and it is in this service that we read from the 11 Resurrection Gospel Lessons. As I have mentioned in a previous meditation, if you as a Christian want to return to the first and the most important message of Christianity, you need to come to Saturday Vespers to hear the Resurrection Gospel Lesson proclaimed. That will always bring your faith journey back to the very origins of Christianity.

Orthodoxy loves symbolism and remembering the events from the life of Christ which are for our salvation. The attitude often is when we remember an event – proclaim its Gospel Lesson and sing about it in the hymns of a liturgical service – we are in a way “recreating” the event so that we can personally participate in it. The Resurrection Gospel is supposed to transport us to the very events of the Gospel – we ourselves are witnessing the resurrection! After the priest proclaims the Resurrection Gospel, the chanter or choir sings the hymn, “Having beheld the resurrection of Christ we behold the Lord Jesus…” The hymn is not saying we remember what others saw or said about the event, we having heard the Gospel participated in it so we too are witnesses – we’ve seen the truth. As we sing at the end of every Divine Liturgy – “We have seen the true light, we have received the heavenly Spirit; we have found the true faith….” We are saying that we personally have experienced the Resurrection! We are not singing about what others have claimed, we are saying we have experienced this truth in our own lives in the Liturgy and through our personal participation in the Body and Blood of the Risen Lord.

A week ago on Saturday during Vespers I read Luke 24:1-12, which is the 4th Resurrection Gospel Lesson.

I have been reading that Lesson as one of the 11 Ressurection Gospel readings for the last 28 years at Vespers and this time around my mind was drawn to a very particular idea.

The myrrhbearing women come to the tomb and encounter two “men” in dazzling white garments at the tomb. These “men” are thought to have been angels of the Lord, not humans. These messengers from God (for that is what an angel is) tell the myrrhbearing women at the tomb, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again” (Luke 24:5-8).

The Myrrhbearing women come to the tomb, seeking Christ, much like we often think of ourselves as going to Church to find Christ. At the tomb of Christ, the women first hear the proclamation that Christ is risen from the dead; however, in Luke’s Gospel Lesson, they in fact do not immediately encounter the Risen Lord. Instead, they are told to “Remember how he told you….” They come to the Tomb of Christ, the fountain of the Resurrection as we Orthodox call it, the place where the Holy Fire, the Light of Christ is still given to the faithful, and they find that Christ in fact is not there. They then are told what they really need to do is to remember what Christ spoke to them and taught them in His lifetime. Finding Christ. for these first disciples, is not as important as remembering what He taught!

We’ll have that same experience on Saturday night when we come to Vespers and hear the Gospel Lesson proclaimed. Christ will not be there, instead what we experience is what the Myrrhbearing Women experienced – the absence of Christ means we need to remember what Christ has taught us! We need to call to mind the Gospel lessons in which we learned what our Lord Jesus Christ had to say to the world. And now we need to remember His words also!

It is when they experience the absence of Christ – He is not where they expected to find Him – when they realize He is risen, “Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest” (Luke 24:8).

When we in Church experience that Christ is risen from the dead, and not only risen but also ascended into heaven – when we experience that He is not where we expected to find Him but that He is someplace else -that is the very moment when we need to remember His words, teachings, lessons, commands, example, so that we know what is now expected from us. We need in that moment to make Christ present through His teachings, by remembering what He has taught us!

The Women Disciples of the Lord then hurried to talk about Christ’s words and teachings with the other disciples. We need to do the same. We need to take the time to remember the words of Christ and then to talk about them with one another so that we can know how we are to live and what we are to do.

We may come to church looking to find Jesus, like the women disciples did when they went to the tomb of Christ. What we might just experience is the angelic message “he is not here”. Instead of looking for Jesus, we are told to remember His words to us, and then to discuss them with our fellow disciples. And in the end, instead of looking for Jesus, we are told to go tell others about the resurrection.- tell others about what we have experienced! Seeking our Lord doesn’t result in finding Him, but rather leads us to telling others what we have learned from Him and experienced through Him!
Of course we also need to be prepared for the reaction others – including our fellow Christians – might have to our message. When the Women Disciples of the Lord told His chosen Apostles about their experience of the empty tomb and the message of the Ressurction, what was the reaction of Apostles? “But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:11). It is a tough sell, even to fellow disciples. That however does not excuse us from sharing the Good News anyway, even if others find it hard to believe, we are to remember Christ’s words to us and share them with others.

We know the story of the Resurrection of Christ did not end in disbelief, for eventually the Apostles do believe and the message of the Resurrection has been presented to every generation down to us. The realization that Christ is risen from the dead, becomes the very basis of our life as Christians.

And a final word, the most difficult of all. As Christians, those who have encountered the empty tomb and believed the message of the Resurrection of Christ our Lord, sharing the Lessons which Christ taught us is to be a normal part of our lives. It is because the Resurrection changes the way we understand the world, life and death, good and evil, that we live a new and transfigured life as Christians. The hard truth is it is our lives which are to be the witness to Christ. We are not to rely on others reading the bible to come to know Chirst.

For the message of the Gospel is not written just in books – it is to be written on our hearts. It is when it is written on our hearts that others will read the Gospel in our lives and come to believe themselves.

As St. Paul tells the Corinthian Christians, “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all; and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor 3:2-3).

Imagine that – it is not a bible that St. Paul claimed to be writing. It is not the bible that St. Paul imagined people would be reading. Rather he envisions our hearts and our lives being the very Scriptures which others see and read and come to believe in our Lord.

So it isn’t handing out bibles that is most important, it is having the words of Christ written on our hearts and governing our behavior which is going to be the Word that will most change the world.