May 14, 2009
What's There to Brag About?
Just because a portion of Scripture is speaking to a specific group doesn’t mean that it’s not applicable to the rest of us. Addressing Jews about their self-righteousness Paul said, “…if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?” (Ro 2:19-20 NV) It’s interesting that being knowledgeable in the Word is what makes us susceptible to falling into the same trap. Individually we may not be presumptuous enough see ourselves as guides and lights. Too bad we can’t say the same for some of our denominations.
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2 comments:
Gail;
-----Paul carefully contrasts the Israelites’ subtle error to the truth like a black ink spot on a white sheet. “If you are convinced…you are a guide…a light…an instructor…a teacher…then…teach yourself.” That which subtly caused the Israelites to be convinced they were teachers, “…because you have in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and truth…” is no relief from the implied charge of hypocrisy. It is the Law that teaches, as Paul wrote to the Galatians, “…the Law was our custodian…” Having the Law did not conscript the Israelite into being the embodiment of knowledge and truth. The Law remained that, and the Israelite was simply its possessor.
-----Christian Gnosticism became a problem for the church very early. It is in part what I John 2:27 deals with, “…you have no need that anyone should teach you; as His anointing teaches you about everything, and is true…” Ironically, the Gnostics found in this passage support for their thinking that God gave inner revelation to some for teaching their lofty ideas to other less fortunate ones. Some underpinnings of Gnosticism are found in simple human nature, and they linger with us today manifested in denominationalism. One key underpinning is the human unwillingness to give full attention to every detail. The Holy Spirit is the anointing we received, but the Scripture is the writing the Holy Spirit gave. The one can not be taken and the other left, therefore the anointing which teaches us is the Holy Scripture through application by the Holy Spirit. The Gnostics pulled from Scripture the very principle they used to deny Scripture, because it was they who applied the Scripture, not the Spirit.
-----Our denominational penchant is guilty of the same. Place a sheet of clear plastic (a transparency) over a 1/20th scale side view of a 1957 Ford convertible and mark on it 200 dots anywhere you choose upon the lines, curves, and corners of the car. Now give that transparency to someone else, but not the scale side view. That person will recognize it as a car, and if the top was down in your picture, he may even note that it is a convertible. A Chevrolet fan may think of it as a classic Belaire, or a Dodge fan may think of an old New Yorker, or a Studebaker fan a Silverhawk. But they will not teach it as such, because each one will notice many dots conspicuously out of place with the lines, curves, and corners of the models which they appreciate. In the same way, the Scriptures are a collection of all the dots God marked of a picture only He knows. The denominations we appreciate amy resemble it in general, but never in absolute detail.
-----We know that all of the lines, curves, and corners of our various denominations are not totally congruent with those of each other. Therefore, the transparency God has marked for us can not line up congruently with every denomination. Yet the teacher of each denomination takes that fact to mean that God’s transparency does not line up with everyone else’s denomination, but it does with his own. In line with true Gnosticism, he dismisses the Scriptural dots that do not match up with any of his denomination’s lines, curves, or corners, and continues teaching the stuff of it, making it the embodiment of knowledge and truth, while unconsciously slighting the Word.
-----Two dots all denominational teachers should notice being out of line with anything of their pictured denominations are, “For now we see in a mirror dimly…” (I Cor 13:12) and, “I have applied all this to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brethren, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.” (I Cor 4:6) Any line, corner, or curve that does not lay in true congruence with a dot on God’s transparency is beyond what is written. To continue teaching them, anyway, is to puff up one against another. These are details demanding attention. Since not one of us holds in mind the full picture the dots of God’s Word mark out, the first thing the responsible teacher must teach is that the anointing is the teacher - the Spirit and the Word. The second thing he must teach is that what he, himself, is about to teach is only a partially adequate representation of what the anointing teaches. When all Christian teachers stop teaching like the Israelites taught, presuming that they have become the embodiment of knowledge and truth, then maybe the world might stop scoffing and laughing at Christianity.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
PS;
----I attend a Bible study on Wednesday mornings. We began a study of Job last Wednesday. When Job 1:6 brought our conversation across “the sons of God,” we were beginning to have a very interesting discussion about the implication of this passage upon the sons of God mentioned at Genesis 6:2. But before the discussion could even mature, let alone conclude, one of the brothers called for its close. He was a former preacher, and he obviously had some very concluded ideas on the subject. But since all of us at the study do quite well in handling controversial topics without arguing, I was left only to imagine that he sensed his denominational toes were about to get stepped on.
-----It is sad how deeply the ill effects of the denominational mentality can drench the Spirit. I was hoping to hear some ideas from anyone there that I had not heard before, and I was totally ok if a reasonable one somewhat altered my perspective. In fact, that is why I go there. It is called spiritual growth.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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