The last post from the hit series Missio Dei dealt with biblical authority, concluding that the Bible's authority lies in its presentation of reality. What realities are rendered to us in the Bible? Wright lists three:
- The reality of this God
- The reality of this story
- The reality this people
Elaboration required.
The Reality of This God
I wrote previously about the word "God". It's a word that can mean anything, depending on who you are. Even when two people talk about the God of the Bible, they can be talking about a seemingly completely different person, or at least talking about Him in one or two contradictory ways.
We must be clear that when we talk about the God of the Bible, and when we say that Scripture renders to us the reality of God, the God in question is a person, with a name. That may sound simple, but its reality is the most profound thing imaginable. I think too often we lose sight of the personhood of God, and everything which that entails. God revealed Himself to Moses as a person, calling Himself "I AM". Jesus called Him "Abba", an Aramaic term for which the English equivalent would be "Dad" or "Pa", depending on where you are from. Scripture speaks of a Person; one, whole Person - the Hebrews knew Him as YHWH, the Holy One of Israel, and the early Jewish Christians knew Him as God our Father.
One important thing to remember is that it is this God's reality which gives Scripture its authority, simply because it is this God's reality which gives Scripture its existence. God exists apart from the Bible, but He has chosen to make Himself known to different people at different times in different ways, the details of which are recorded for us in the Old and New Testaments. The charge of circular reasoning can surely be made here: The Bible renders to us the reality of God, and the reality of God renders to us the Bible. I make no objection to this charge. The only thing I can say is that if YHWH is God (or if anyone is God for that matter), then "circular reasoning" must be employed, otherwise the claim to deity is false.
The problem people have with the relationship between God and the Bible is that is is treated as equivalent to my relationship with my passport. I am Declan Kelly. How do I prove to someone that I'm Declan Kelly? Well, I show them my passport which I received from an authority greater than myself - the government. I do not show them a document written by my own hand to verify that I am who I say I am. I don't have the authority to get away with that. But God does. In fact He must, or He is no God at all. For who else has the authority to speak about God other than God Himself? Unlike you or me, God, by definition, cannot be authorised by a higher power. Therefore to expect anything but circular reasoning when it comes to God and the Bible is unreasonable. The Bible is an authority on God because God is the authority behind the Bible.
With that tangent out of the way, so what if we encounter the reality of God in Scripture? Well,
- The reality of this God
- The reality of this story
- The reality this people
Elaboration required.
The Reality of This God
I wrote previously about the word "God". It's a word that can mean anything, depending on who you are. Even when two people talk about the God of the Bible, they can be talking about a seemingly completely different person, or at least talking about Him in one or two contradictory ways.
We must be clear that when we talk about the God of the Bible, and when we say that Scripture renders to us the reality of God, the God in question is a person, with a name. That may sound simple, but its reality is the most profound thing imaginable. I think too often we lose sight of the personhood of God, and everything which that entails. God revealed Himself to Moses as a person, calling Himself "I AM". Jesus called Him "Abba", an Aramaic term for which the English equivalent would be "Dad" or "Pa", depending on where you are from. Scripture speaks of a Person; one, whole Person - the Hebrews knew Him as YHWH, the Holy One of Israel, and the early Jewish Christians knew Him as God our Father.
One important thing to remember is that it is this God's reality which gives Scripture its authority, simply because it is this God's reality which gives Scripture its existence. God exists apart from the Bible, but He has chosen to make Himself known to different people at different times in different ways, the details of which are recorded for us in the Old and New Testaments. The charge of circular reasoning can surely be made here: The Bible renders to us the reality of God, and the reality of God renders to us the Bible. I make no objection to this charge. The only thing I can say is that if YHWH is God (or if anyone is God for that matter), then "circular reasoning" must be employed, otherwise the claim to deity is false.
The problem people have with the relationship between God and the Bible is that is is treated as equivalent to my relationship with my passport. I am Declan Kelly. How do I prove to someone that I'm Declan Kelly? Well, I show them my passport which I received from an authority greater than myself - the government. I do not show them a document written by my own hand to verify that I am who I say I am. I don't have the authority to get away with that. But God does. In fact He must, or He is no God at all. For who else has the authority to speak about God other than God Himself? Unlike you or me, God, by definition, cannot be authorised by a higher power. Therefore to expect anything but circular reasoning when it comes to God and the Bible is unreasonable. The Bible is an authority on God because God is the authority behind the Bible.
With that tangent out of the way, so what if we encounter the reality of God in Scripture? Well,
If the God YHWH, who is rendered to us in these texts, is really God, then that reality (or rather His reality) authorises a range of responses as appropriate, legitimate and indeed imperative. These include not only the response of worship, but also of ethical living in accordance with this God's own character and will, and a missional orientation that commits my own life story into the grand story of God's purpose for the nations and for creation. Mission flows from the reality of this God - the biblical God. Or to put it another way: mission is authorised by the reality of this God.
The question is, have Christians substituted the reality of this God who speaks to us through His Word and is present among us by His Spirit for the reality of a set of doctrines about God, or a set of rules to live by? When we take the former approach to Scripture, our mission flows from missio Dei as we participate in what this God -- whose purposeful reality springs from the pages of Scripture -- is up to. When we take the latter approach, mission is something we do because the Bible tells us so; it's our response to a text.
We must learn to see the realities to which the Bible bears witness, and none is more important than the reality that YHWH is God.
We must learn to see the realities to which the Bible bears witness, and none is more important than the reality that YHWH is God.
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