Skip to main content

Foundations and Boundaries

The Bible is a magnificent book full of wonder, poetry, and epic stories that doesn't shy away from what the world is really like. It is a complex work written by many different authors over hundreds of years, unified in one overarching narrative and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is a gift from God, help in time of trouble, and the chief revelation of Jesus Christ.

Everything I just said is true, but the problem is I don't always want it to be true. While at times I can admire the complexity of scripture I would mostly prefer it to be simple and straightforward. I want something that will tell me what to do, believe, and what to avoid. I want a quick moral reference handbook or a systematic theology encyclopedia that I can easily reference on the go. 

That isn't what the Bible is.

I think many Christians feel the same way I do. It can be nice to admire the Bible's complexity and variety from afar, but when it comes down to it we want something simple. We want a book that will tell us the "do's" and "don'ts" and spell out in an easy to understand way what exact theological positions we should hold and which we should avoid. 

Sadly I think we often let our desire for simplicity override the truth of what the Bible actually is. We treat the Bible like a moral handbook or instruction manual in our churches. This comes from a noble place, the desire to live righteous lives, but it isn't true to what scripture actually is.

The Bible's purpose is not to provide a complete list of moral obligations for us to live our lives by. It's purpose is not to systematically and explicitly outline every theological truth we should affirm. It's purpose is not historical or scientific. The Bible's purpose is to facilitate a relationship with the living God.

All the things I just mentioned are in the Bible. The Bible contains moral teaching, and it is important. The Bible contains theological doctrines, and they are important. The Bible contains history and helps facilitate scientific discovery, which are both important. It's just that none of these things are the primary purpose. They all serve the larger goal of helping us meet and grow closer to Christ.

This means that the Bible is not the book of answers I think we normally treat it as. Are there answers in scripture? Most assuredly there are, but again that isn't the primary point. The point is Jesus.

Over the next few weeks we will be discussing what this means about the answers we can get from scripture about important topics and questions. While these may not be the primary focus of the Bible, they do serve a function in helping us know Christ. We will discuss two concepts that I think the Bible lays out in our quest to Christ better.

The first is foundations. The Bible does not have all the answers in the universe, but it does lay the foundations of our understanding. The foundations are things that to be a Christian we must submit to and accept. For example, the fact that Christ rose from the dead is foundational in our understanding of pretty much everything.

The second is boundaries. The Bible makes the foundations of faith pretty clear, but beyond that is it a free for all? Well, no. The Bible is a complex book and allows for differences of opinion in many areas. However, the Bible does establish boundaries for our discussions. Not all opinions on a given topic are valid or faithful to the biblical witness.

I think as we go through these two concepts in more detail over the next few weeks it will become clear. It's also true that we do this unconsciously a lot of the time. We recognize that there are people who disagree with us on minor issues but can see that they aren't way off base. So we agree to disagree.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Reading Aloud

What is the primary way we use Scripture today? I think the answer, at least in our society, is private reading and study. The majority of our spiritual advice can be summed up in "study the Bible more." The moral of many sermons is simply that we don't read the Bible enough. I think that this is absolutely true, but I probably mean something a little different. While I obviously agree that we, in general, don't read the Bible enough individually that isn't actually my main gripe. I think we don't read the Bible enough out loud, in community, as a part of worship. This, I think, should be a central part of our gatherings every week. We should simply read the Bible out loud and listen together in community. How much is the Bible read aloud in your gathering? I'm talking specifically about just reading, not during sermons or classes. How often is the Bible simply read without someone commenting on or explaining it? Just the Scriptures read aloud for all to h

Jonah, Mercy

The story of Jonah is one of the most well known in the entire Bible. It is one of the very first stories we learn about in Sunday school. It is the story of a man who tries to run away from God, but is swallowed by a big fish! To a child, and quite a few adults, that sounds like an incredible story. It is. The problem we have with the book of Jonah is that we never move beyond this way of looking at things. We see it as a kid's story and nothing more. Rarely would do we as adults ever open the book of Jonah outside of teaching little ones. We've already touched on this with the story of the Flood and the Battle of Jericho. This week we are going to look at the book of Jonah and discover just how intense this book really is. Background We do not know who wrote the book of Jonah. It is unlike the other prophetic books in that it doesn't contain oracles and proclamations from God to Israel. The book of Jonah tells a story. This doesn't mean, however, that the boo

We Need More Images

What is your favorite way to describe God? Is there a particular name of God in scripture that you are drawn to? What images and pictures come to mind when you think of God? These are questions I don't think we ask often enough. We all have an image of God in our heads that we work with. It may not be a literal picture, though it might be, but ideas and concepts we tend to associate with who God is. Some of those images and associations may come from the Bible, but some may not. These things are influenced by our upbringing, Bible reading habits, personalities, relationships, culture, and more. The way we picture God has a dramatic impact on the way we live our lives. For example, if the primary idea you have of God is "Healer," when you hear or read that you are made in God's image you will likely feel called to heal, be it physical ailments or spiritual wounds. But, if your primary image of God is "Judge," that changes things. You very likely might tend to