Finding Out How Little I Knew

Could the Bible Have Been This Simple All Along?


I want to give a little list of some of the basics I have learned from teachers like Chris Rosebrough, Kim Riddlebarger, Michael Horton, R.C. Sproul, and others, who stand confidently on the authority of the Bible and also are guided by the ancient Church fathers (the ones not condemned as heretics that is) and also the Reformation fathers (Such as Luther and Calvin).

This is a quick summary what beliefs I hold now, in regards to how to approach Scripture and the Christian life in general, and how they differ from how I used to think:

1. Expositional teaching rather than topical:  When choosing who to listen to and read, I prefer those who cover entire passages of scripture.  I've learned that you can support some spectacularly unbiblical views by pulling verses out of context; and those particularly adept at this art go translation shopping to find the one that seems to support their view
   
2. How I treat passages regarding law and behavior: When reading a biblical passage that exposes my sin, I see it as an opportunity to enter a time of confession and receive the forgiveness of God through Jesus rather than a prompt to find a self-help technique for overcoming that sin
   
3. The Bible is about Jesus, not me.  These scriptures testify from first to last about Jesus and how God preserved the line of the Messiah.  The Old Testament stories are not meant to be constant allegories to my life.  They are testimonies to God's power and goodness.  And the first creeds of the church were filled with what people believed about God.  The creeds of today seem to be filled with what people believe about themselves.
   
4. Old School Hermeneutics:  The three most important rules of scriptural interpretation are context, context and context.  In addition to this, I interpret scripture with scripture, Old Testament in light of New Testament and Gospels in light of the Epistles.  I no longer interpret passages according to how they may fit into my life or according to some particular emotional barometer in my gut or wave of feeling of euphoria I had come to call "God's Presence", because there is no biblical teaching or precedent to support the use of such things in order to "hear from God".
   
5. I've grown more skeptical.  I listen to teachers, those who set themselves as authorities on the scripture, with great skepticism. I never noticed before how quickly a speaker can move from biblical truth to unfounded nonsense in the veritable same breath, without skipping a beat.  And the more popular the teacher, the more skeptical I get.
   
6. I have stopped looking for my "best life now".  I cannot base my whole theology on what I would like for John 10:10 and Jeremiah 29:11 to mean.  The rich man had his success in life and Lazarus had misery in this life and his reward in the next.  I need to start realizing this life is short and not trying to redecorate this shanty called my life and find satisfaction in the riches I have to come in the age to come and anything that comes now is merely a bonus.
   
7. The Bible is Simpler than I thought.  I have discovered that the theme of God's holiness, our sin, his grace, our helplessness, and his power are woven through the scripture in an unbroken thread.  It's not Law in the Old Testament and Gospel in the New Testament.  It's always been Law and Gospel.  I'm sure I'll have a whole post on this alone to come.

I'm sure I've left something out, but these are the obvious things that come to mind.  I'll cover more specifics on each later, but this is a good overview on some of the radical turns my thinking has taken that have made the bible much simpler, but finding a book to read or a teacher to listen to much more complicated!  But I don't regret it.

For years I've been wandering from one fad to the next, and even dabbling in non-christian pop psychology fads (and of course some "Christian" ones) and I'm finally learning that I don't need to rethink Christianity, I need to rediscover it, just as Luther did, finding what had been lost, but to him it was all completely new.  I'm done bouncing.  I'm ready to settle down into the faith handed down by the apostles!