Scripture

My dependence on other people to study the Bible and disseminate its message is probably one of the biggest mistakes I have made in my life. I know I’m not alone in this. This is what many have done since the organization of “the book”. Through the years religious systems that have employed the use of the Bible have set themselves in a position of either being the only ones having access to the material (such as the Catholic church during the “dark ages”) or as “experts” of the material (such as the clergy/laity separation since the Reformation).

With that said let me make it excruciatingly clear, I do not excuse my lack of diligence. As new believers we start out enthused and excited about our life in Christ. Changes develop in this zealous attitude as we become involved in learning what we should do and what we shouldn’t do in order to maintain this relationship with Christ. We end up doing things for God instead of enjoying what He‘s already done for us. Life in Christ, which is meant to be fulfilling and exciting, becomes routine and matter-of-fact living. Thus Bible reading follows suit. There are reasons for this pattern and the Bible spells them out. (I’ll write about this in a future post.)

I’ve begun to take more seriously the study of the Bible. I'm asking questions such as when and how was it put together, who put it together, what was the criteria for selecting certain writings over other writings, who “canonized” it and why was it canonized. This has become the norm. My initial searching for answers to questions like these has opened my eyes to ideas that I had never considered before.

For instance, what are the “scriptures” according to scripture? This was one of the first things I pondered. Jesus and the apostles of the New Testament all talked about scripture. What were the scriptures in their day?

In Matthew 26:56 in the garden it says, “But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled...” Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection and it says in Luke 24:27, “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” And again after His resurrection in Luke 24:44-45 Jesus said... “‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.”

Jesus said that the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms were the Scriptures. During the time that the apostles wrote about the scriptures, their own writings had not yet been included in a book called the Bible which consists today of Old and New Testament writings. Their scriptures had to be the same as Jesus'.

A second matter that I discovered was that the writings of Paul the apostle and the writings of the apostles of Jesus had different views about what the Gospel was. This definitely needs expounding.

Thirdly, reading the words of Jesus makes me ask questions like, Who was He talking to? Was it me? Was it the religious folk of his day? Was it the disciples following Him in that day? All of these are true. Each statement needs to be seen in its context though. The thing to remember is that He had not yet been crucified. He had not yet died for the sin of the world. He was living in the time when the Law was still in effect. The Law was fulfilled, however, when Jesus died on the Cross. Colossians 2:14 states… “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross…”

All of these things have caused me to see Scripture in a new light. It has created in me an interest to learn and an appreciation for what Father and Son conspired to do for us before creation began… a plan for the human race to be made whole again, successfully accomplished 2,000 years ago through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.