Luke 1:1-4

Thom: Eyewitness is immensely important to the creation and explanation of our Scriptures.  If may people have seen something, something must have happened, to paraphrase N.T. Wright.  What David touches on with the term certainty I will not tackle here, other than to say that as someone who looks at linguistics/literature/philosophy/theology in a postmodern or postfoundational way, I try to think of certainty as a glass half full instead of a glass half empty.  To allude to David's own blog, we see through a glass darkly---the importance being that we see amazing things, not that sometimes they are obscure or blurry.

The Scriptures are an amazing storybook, a chronicled, multi-genre attempt at telling and retelling the wonderful story of God.  This is what Luke is doing here, as he has gone to investigate, articulate, meditate, and create the story of God.

Luke created his gospel.  He did it with the help of the Holy Spirit, the breathe of God, but Luke was in control.  He took up the pen, he investigated, he meditated, and then he made an orderly account for all lovers of God to enjoy.  The key here is "orderly," for it denotes the creational aspect of "good news" making.  Luke is the writer, who with the help of a brooding Spirit, (re-)creates the Word.  Gospel writing is right out of Genesis, as John alludes to in the introduction of his Gospel.  The Holy Spirit is hovering over Luke's writing as he forms it to be the beginning, the Word.  ... more

This is the third in the “Text(s) of Scripture” series between Dave and me.

Our present text is Psalm 18:30:

As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield
for all who take refuge in him.

Thom:

This God—his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

“Prove It!”

That’s what a nine year old says to another nine year old when a boast has been made or a bluff is waiting to be called.  Even if something is proven, the person who is right still might need to take refuge from the more powerful or the bully.  Spun out into a cosmic game of good versus evil, where spears are being thrown at harp players and prophetic words seem weak when confronted with the sword, proving right over might seems impossible. ... more

This is the first post in the “Text(s) of Scripture” series in conjunction with Dave at Through A Glass Darkly.

Our first text is Hebrews 4:12:  “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

Reflections

Dave: What does it mean for a text to be “living and active?” I’m reminded of current debates in the United States about whether our Constitution is a “living” document. There is lots of unfortunate political baggage around this concept, but it seems obvious to me that the Constitution is a living document, whatever approach one takes to its interpretation. The Constitution must continually be applied to circumstances the framers never could have anticipated, such as the scope of free speech rights on the Internet. And the Constitution continually judges our polity and praxis, forcing us to consider again and again whether “we the people” are living up to our formative ideals. There is a hermeneutical spiral in the interpretation and application of the Constitution, as we move from the original context to the contemporary challenges and back again.

The Bible is a sort of constitution for the Church, and it is “living and active” in a manner similar to the U.S. Constitution. The community governed by the Biblical constitution – the Church – must continually apply the principles reflected in the text to new circumstances the human writers could never have imagined. How do we respond to ethical challenges posed by new technologies, such as in vitro fertilization? What kind of community should we become in a global village networked on a scale inconceivable in the first century? And the Biblical constitution continually judges the polity and praxis of the Church, cutting through our cultural baggage and hypocrisy and asking whether we truly are loving God and neighbor fully.

Yet the Bible is “living and active” in ways that cannot be claimed for a legal text like the Constitution because this “word” is uniquely “of God.” The God who speaks this “word” is the triune God, who became incarnate in the Son and who speaks in and to the Church in the Spirit. The “text” of the “logos ton Theou” is not merely a set of signs that signify discrete legal-regulative principles in the manner of a Constitution. It is rather the signification of the presence of the triune God who continually transforms the community of faith.

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