God has shown us pretty clearly the message
he wants us to have. Now you might balk
at that…when I say God has shown us pretty
clearly. One remarkable thing about
the Bible is that God used human authors.
So the writers used Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic depending on their
geography and culture. What challenges
us (and causes some of you to question whether the Bible is truly clear) is
that for us to have a good understanding of God’s message, it’s necessary for
us to understand something of Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and the cultures where
the writers lived, not to mention our own culture.
I teach in a Bible College.
We have four classes in Greek language and two in Hebrew language. We also have a class called Hermeneutics,
which is new term to many people. Even
the sophomores in the college often have no idea what the class is actually
about until day one when I explain what hermeneutics is. Oftentimes we use the word interpretation. It is the study of how we interpret texts,
especially the text of the Bible. These
classes are necessary specifically because God used human authors to write this
message and these writers wrote in their language, from the perspective of
their cultures, and obviously in times long ago.
God did not write this message and drop it from heaven. There are linguistic, cultural and
chronological elements of understanding God’s message that require some hard
work on our parts. Now, not to question
God, but let me question God. Why didn’t
He? Why didn’t he just send a message
directly from heaven that didn’t need to be translated, culturally adapted, and
chronologically understood with such great effort? Wouldn’t that have made more sense? We could argue that understanding and living
God’s message has enough difficulty without having to wade through the
“interpretation” that can vary so widely from language to language, person to
person, and century to century.
Well, in fact, He did.
He did “drop his message from heaven.”
About this time of year, every year, we begin a seasonal
celebration. Christmas. We celebrate the coming of God’s Word. The message that was sent in human form, to
demonstrate in the physical world, with living words, real relationships and within
the framework of a calendar, the life God wants us to know and live.
John 1 verse 1 tells us that Jesus is not created, but is Creator. He was there when all of heaven and earth was
created. It was after time began that
Jesus agreed to show up in human form in this world and not just tell, but live
the message live and in person. So God
has not left us without clarity.
Regardless of the language, the culture, the time we live, it’s not
difficult to understand what God wants us to know and live when we see God
himself leave heaven, live in poverty, reject position and power, and give his
entire being (no exaggeration) for the benefit of others. Seeing One who personifies compassion and
love shows us everything we need to know about who God is and how he calls us
to live. Study him.
In the past God spoke
to our ancestors through the prophets many times and in many different ways.
But now in these last days God has spoken to us through his Son. Hebrew 1:1-2 (New Century Version)
- This one was written by Scott
