I Corinthians 2:10b-16 - Illumining Scripture

I Corinthians 2:10b-16

For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. FOR WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.

Message: Illumining Scripture

Time: This epistle was written to the church that resided in Corinth of Achaia. First Corinthians is a response to a letter that Paul received from the Corinthian church, and that letter was probably a response to another of Paul's letters. This letter was composed in Ephesus around AD 54-55, and such topics as division, sexual immorality, lawsuits, marriage, Christian liberty, order of worship, and the resurrection are covered in this epistle.

What the Lord is Saying:

This is the last day in this study of Sola scriptura - that Scripture is the sole authority of our lives. There are natural revelations in this world - creation which testifies about God but doesn't necessarily save man. But hopefully it brings us to that knowledge. God speaks through people, through dreams, through events, through anything he desires. But his final revelation of who He is and His salvation is through Jesus and was revealed to us in His holy word. And so All scripture is inspired by Him. All scripture is breathed out from him. It provides us every thing that we need for life - everything. It is complete. It cannot be broken. It never fails. Yet he spoke through fallible men, speaking in a unique way through them, through their personalities. And they can still fail. But the word that we now of a scripture is Sola Scriptura - infallible, inerrant. So it is clear. It should be clear. It is meant to be clear in its meaning. The words itself have been set apart as Scripture through a canon process. As God inspired the writers to write, he also has confirmed the text that we consider to be All Scripture. It ended with the witnesses of the resurrection and Jesus testimony. We need to make sure we rightly handle this truth in our lives. We need to interpret it correctly. It is a literal interpretation and yet there are different ways it is spoken - in non-literal language such as phenomenological and anthropomorphic, through different genre's like prophecy, epistles, law, prophets, parables, apostles and in English styles such as personification, hyperbole, and metaphors. There is explicit and implicit teachings. We interpret the Bible with the Bible. If two passages seem to conflict we must realize they don't, they can't. Understand the context. Yet talk to each other through this process. Help one another to understand it better.

And today, I am reminded that all the while, realize that we are not alone as the Holy Spirit is with us illuminating the words. The Holy Spirit is here. Paul instructs us explicitly in this today. He tells us clearly that the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. We have the Spirit in us, illuminating His words to us, helping us understand what we need to know. This Spirit wants us to freely now the things of God. It is like I have to figure out how to filter out everything that is not God in my life, so that I can see Him, and what He is to teach me and have me learn -- so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. I am to take those spiritual thoughts and then communicate with spiritual words. It is like this is to be my language but according to my personality.

But this doesn't mean that natural man or unbelievers cannot know what scripture is saying - just that they lack the illumination of the text and what it means for salvation or come to saving faith. For them it is a textbook. That's what I've always thought of the JW's and the LDS - this book is a textbook to them. And most people see it as a life manual only. They see it as a handbook to living life now and sometimes even in the next life. But, my life in Christ is everything to me. It is to definite my thoughts and then my words. The Spirit tells me what I am to know about God, my creator, my sustenance, and therefore my life. It is not a duty in order to get more people in a church and please the church - it is me with God in this life. It is living with the mind of Christ.

If the Spirit is in me, it is in others and so I can listen to their words.

Promise: In all of my study of Scripture, I must never forget my need of the Holy Spirit's assistance. As I read, I need to pray that the Spirit will illuminate that reading and give me understanding so that I can then apply it. I am not simply a bucket that is at church or in a study to fill up a bucket, but I am to be a hose, spraying out to everyone in my path.

Prayer: O God, there is power in your name, in You, and You are equipping me even now through the Words and Work of the Holy Spirit in my life. I trust in you. I do not trust in me. I want your words thoughts to be my thoughts and your words my words. Thank you for living in me and illuminating me. Thank you for entrusting me with You and providing me all that I need. Clear out the gutter and the garbage in me. Train me according to your godliness. I depend on You, Jesus.


Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with February being about the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve.

Acts 15:1-35 - Interpreting Scripture with the Church

Acts 15:1-35

6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question

Message: Interpreting Scripture with the Church

Time: Clearly written by Luke, this book follows the lives of Peter and then Paul after Jesus' ascension into heaven. The book was completed about 62 AD as Paul sat in prison. It provides an account of the growth of the Church and spread from Jerusalem, from a small group of frightened believers in Jerusalem transformed into an empire-wide movement of people who had committed their lives to Jesus Christ, and it should help us to be bold and have zeal in our walks with God.

What the Lord is Saying:

Scripture is the only infallible authority in our lives. Scripture will not fail us. But there are other authorities we can use in our lives, namely the Church or those within it. We can learn from other people's insights into the Scriptures because the Holy Spirit is present in lives that are surrendered to God. 

I think the point here today is that we need each other and it is important in reading Scripture to read commentators, depend on the Holy Spirit, but also talk about among people that believe the Bible is inspired and infallible.

I've knocked the idea of Roman Catholics and that the Bishops and apostles of the church throughout the 1000 years or so that there was not a printing press would herald the teaching of God's word and so it basically became a think to just let the Bishops discern the meaning of God's word. But, I think in some ways we all do this or have a tendency to align ourselves with some speaker and trust his interpretation. And yet, I think the point is that this doesn't mean that we don't study the Word ourselves and don't have regular Bible study ourselves. I don't know what it was like growing up in the 14th century and prior. Perhaps church involved meeting together after a message and talking about the sermon.

Discerning the will of God in our lives is a difficult venture. We all have different feelings about our faith and approach it in different ways. At times, yes, we have similar alignment to the truth. Bt, I think we need to be careful to assemble together and to always make that a priority in our lives. In Acts 15, Paul and Barnabas took time to think about this question of circumcision and men from Judea saying that it was imperative for salvation. They concluded that grace is what is key in our lives. The grace of God has been present throughout history - in the time of Moses and Abraham and the giving of the Law and present in their time, following the raising of Jesus from the dead. Grace is what was key in all of this not sticking to rules. Rules are needed in our lives, but not to bring about salvation. Paul and Barnabas took time to think about what was being said but also trusted in the Holy Spirit and what He was speaking to them and leading them.

I need to make sure I am doing the same thing as I listen, study, read the Word of God. 

Promise: I need to be willing to submit myself to the authority of the church and those that have studied the Word of God. I need to seek to read Scripture with the church and to learn from others both past and present. 

Prayer: Lord, keep me diligent in the personal study of Your Word. Give me discernment continually as I listen to those that are around and state their understanding of Your Words. Thank you for the wonderful individuals that have taken the time to study and learn Your word and understand it. 

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with February being about the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve.

I Corinthians 10:1-11 - Explicit and Implicit Teaching

I Corinthians 10:1-11
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.
6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.” 8 Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. 9 Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. 10 Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
Message: Explicit and Implicit Teaching

Time: This epistle was written to the church that resided in Corinth of Achaia. First Corinthians is a response to a letter that Paul received from the Corinthian church, and that letter was probably a response to another of Paul's letters. This letter was composed in Ephesus around AD 54-55, and such topics as division, sexual immorality, lawsuits, marriage, Christian liberty, order of worship, and the resurrection are covered in this epistle.

What the Lord is Saying:

I continue to examine the different forms of literature that we have in our Bible. The Bible is the Word of God. It is God's special revelation to His people and it is the final revelation. The books that we have of the Canon are complete. This Word equips us to do every good work and apply every good thing in our lives. We can trust it. It is to be interpreted literally, but we also realize that there are different language types it has. There are non-literal ways lie phenomenological which describes things the way they appear, like the sun stood still and anthropomorphic language which describes God as having human attributes, like fingers and hands, though he is a spirit. Personification gives personal characteristics to impersonal entities like trees clapping their hands and mountains singing. Hyperbole exaggerates to make a point as the story of the mustard seed begins with this tiny seed and then grows so people can sit in it. Metaphor is a very common one to use a word for one thing that is meant for something else, like Jesus saying I am the door or the light.

All of this forms helps us to better understand what we are reading. The goal is to interpret texts correctly as religions have been started based upon interpretation and many of the different belief systems focus on different ways to interpret. Thus, as we study each passage it is the explicit, direct teaching of the passage that must control our interpretation of that passage.

By explicit instruction, we mean teaching where the instructor clearly outlines what the learning goals are for the reader, and offers clear, unambiguous explanations of the skills and information structures they are presenting. The text referenced here, I Corinthians 10 is an example of explicit teaching as Paul describes things in order that we would not crave evil things. He says Do not be idolaters...Nor let us act immorally...Nor let us try the Lord...nor grumble. These commandments are clear do's and don't in our Bible, and thus the teaching is explicit.

By implicit instruction, we refer to teaching where the instructor does not outline such goals or make such explanations overtly, but rather simply presents the information or problem to the student and allows the student to make their own conclusions and create their own conceptual structures and assimilate the information in the way that makes the most sense to them. An example of this from Scripture would be the telling of the resurrection of Jesus in the Gospels. All four gospels mentions this miracle that occurred - the presence of angels, a heavy stoned rolled away, the appearance of Jesus. None of the Gospels state that God raised Jesus from the dead but this is a natural conclusion. The doctrine of the Trinity would be another example of implicit instruction. Nowhere is that term used in scripture, but we have the Father, Jesus, and the Spirit all with the same God-like attributes. Thus, the instruction provides to us the conclusion of the three persons of God. 

Exodus 32:14 says that the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people. Now did the Lord really change His mind? Numbers 23:19 says - “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? So here Numbers says that God does not lie, so how could he change his mind? Numbers 23:19 is explicit teaching. Thus, the description in Exodus 32:14 of God changing his mind is anthropomorphic or giving us human attributes. God knew the plan and to us the appearance was that he changed his mind, but He knew what He would do all along. He does not change His mind like we change ours. 

Thus it is important to allow the explicit passages to help define the meaning of the implicit ones. Thus, the explicit teaching of Numbers 23:19 helps guide our learning of other scriptures. This is an important distinction where we need to understand the way the Bible is being written. 

Promise: It is common for belief systems to take implicit teachings and make them explicit but these explicit teachings contradict other teachings. If there are contradictions in scripture then our beliefs are shallow and we cannot believe anything it says. 

Prayer: Lord, again, thank you for this understanding. You are illuminating my understanding of Scripture. You are providing me the different language types in scripture that help shed light on the reading and understand of Your word. You are a great God. You never change. Help others to understand this teaching so that it can illuminate our understanding of You.

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with February being about the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve.

Isaiah 55:12 - Personification, Hyperbole, and Metaphor

Isaiah 55:12
“For you will go out with joy
And be led forth with peace;
The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Message: Personification, Hyperbole, and Metaphor

Time: Isaiah prophesied from 739–681 BC to a nation that had turned a deaf ear to the Lord. He wanted to see the nation of Judah return to serving God with humility and love for their neighbors. But he was called to pronounce judgments to on a people offering meaningless sacrifices in the Temple and committing injustices throughout the nation. It provides the most prophetic picture of Jesus in the entire Old Testament.

What the Lord is Saying:

As I spend this time talking about interpreting the Bible literally, I think about the language that is used in the Bible and the different types that are present. Yesterday, I looked an non-literary language or the idea that words sometimes have more than just their basic dictionary meeting and sometimes words mean something a little different from the literary definition. For some this can be confusing and cause people to think about texts in a different way. The Bible, if read incorrectly, can become different in its meaning.

The words of 2 Timothy 2:15 speak - Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. This is my desire, to accurately handle the word of Truth -- God's word. As I do this, I can be confident in the work I do each day to further the gospel.

Three more literary devices are examined today.

Personification uses personal characteristics for impersonal things. Society calls nature, Mother - as in Mother Nature. People refer to their cars as "he" or "she." Here in Isaiah 55:12 it says that the mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isaiah uses these words to help communicate the great joy that will result when God's people return to Him. These words are also found in Psalm 98:8 - Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy. The deliverance of God's people yields a joy that is all over creation. It is all encompassing as it even effects objects that have no voices.

Hyperbole is the use of intentional exaggeration to make a point. This is not deception but again helping to provide a picture of what a person is feeling at a given time. I will often say that I am hungry enough to eat a horse. I am not saying that I am actually going to eat a horse, but if I did, a horse represents a lot of food and I am simply stressing my hunger. When Jesus gave the parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13:31-32 he used this type of hyperbole. He talks about the mustard seed in a garden and when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. He calls it smaller than all of the other seeds. But it isn't the smallest seed. He is showing that the kingdom of God starts out small as to almost invisible but then grows into a large realm. The gospel starts with a small group of men and we have now seen it grow and multiply across our world. God can take things that are little and multiply them. He has done this with this blog for he has built a community of people that encourage one another as they read the Jesus Calling devotional each day.

Metaphor is used by writers to designate one thing in order to designate another. Jesus says in John 10:7 - Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. Is Jesus literally a door? Is Jesus literally a light? No, but he uses these metaphors to help describe the entryway he is into our lives. Jesus often uses this door metaphor as described by John. In Revelation 3:20 he says, Behold I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. This explains to us that as we open the door or the window of our hear or our lives to God, he comes in. He enters into our lives and takes up a sort of ownership in our life. And into the kingdom there is only one door or only one entryway.

Promise: We should call attention to the different uses of language in the Bible that is used to help us better understand what it is saying.

Praying: Lord, thank you again for the clarity of Your Word and the way you speak and encourage me through language. Lord, in some ways we speak in a funny way, but we speak in order to communicate in a effective manner and help people understand. Lord, remove the blinders on people who think that You must fit into a box and only communicate in one way. Help people to see the truth of your message. Lord, you are true and complete. I pray that this language would help draw people closer to You.


Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with February being about the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve.

Ecclesiastes 8:1 - The Language of Scripture

Ecclesiastes 8:1
Who is like the wise man and who knows the interpretation of a matter?

Message: The Language of Scripture

Time:  Solomon's authorship is not stated. Solomon's reign as king of Israel lasted from around 970 B.C. to around 930 B.C. The Book of Ecclesiastes was likely written towards the end of his reign, approximately 935 B.C.

What the Lord is Saying:

Once the scriptures are identified through the Canon of Scripture concluding that these are the Scriptures that are inspired by God and the final revelation from God to His people it is important to look at now the interpretation of Scripture. I have stated previously that the way the Bible is interpreted means everything for this has resulted in many of the different denominations and even belief systems we have today. In addition, there is often much confusion when it comes to the Bible for people think that there is a special way of reading the text and understanding it, almost like there is a secret code. At times, I wonder if this is said because people want something from God - like those that were walking around at the time of Jesus - as they wanted healing or escape from there present circumstances and so what they find difficult is accessing what they want.

The most basic principle is to interpret the Bible literally. Thus, read it according to the intent of the authors. Yes, there are different literary styles used - poetry, historical narrative, proverb, epistle, parable, sermon, prophecy, and others. I would agree that sometimes prophecy contains imagery, metaphors and allegories that are somewhat difficult to determine, but that is a small portion of our Bible. Thankfully today we have the Bible in multiple translations that provide it to us in our own language. I am thankful for the scholars that have vested their time in studying how best to understand it.

In thinking about how to interpret it literally, today I look at two basic categories of non-literal language. Non-literal means words that go beyond the dictionary meaning of words. This is used to help provide readers a more complete picture in their minds of what they are reading.

Phenomenological language describes the way things appear to the naked eye. Often things are described by the way they look when the exact science would say something different. In Joshua 10:12-13 it says - Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “O sun, stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Now, did God in fact cause the earth to stop moving briefly for this to happen. Or is this language being employed to describe an incredible act of God that enabled the Israelites to win their fight.

Recently, there has been a lot of writings about a flat earth and the Bible supporting this idea. It seems that often what is termed as verses that support this idea are actually verses written with Phenomenological language. For example - Deuteronomy 28:49 says -  The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth. Flat-earth folks believe this means the earth has an end, but this is really what appears to the writer at the time and speaks more of the distance the nation is coming from.

Anthropomorphic language describes God as having human attributes, yet we know from Scripture - John 4:24-  God is spirit - and so when human attributes are given to him it simply is trying to give us a picture of the human like affection he has toward us or that he sees or is aware of all that happens.

Thus, to say that we need to interpret the Bible literally doesn't mean that every text has a literary definition as there is non-literal language in the Bible.

Promise: Understanding literary forms will assist us in not treating the Bible as something that it is not, thereby improving our interpretation of the text. Reading the Word of God carefully according to these forms will help keep us from asserting error and confusing people about the meaning of God's revelation.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for Your word and helping me to understand it and how you have communicated through many different writers over the last 4,000 years. Thank you for bringing clarity to my understanding of Your Word.

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with February being about the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve.