Saturday, March 13, 2021

The Opening Pages of The Bible Book Revised and Expanded.
Illustrations on the Blog Are Temporary



Part One

 

            The Bible has been improved in so many ways in the last 70 years that many of them can hardly find their way back to the source. One revision was not enough, so the new versions have multiplied faster than diet and Church Growth books. I remember getting a four version New Testament in the 1960s, in parallel columns, which provided as much clarity as a family argument. 

            The Bible is the revealed Word of God, and like Jesus Christ, has two natures, divine and human, but without error. The Bible is one Truth, the Book of the Holy Spirit, with all parts in harmony. The spirit of rationalism, under the banner of improvement, is bound to move from one imagined contradiction to another. However, faith in Jesus, the Son of God, leads us from one priceless passage to another. 

            The Bible is inerrant and infallible. The established denominations claim that inerrant is a new description for the Bible. But Luther used the Latin words for inerrant and infallible in his Large Catechism, On Baptism. Infallible has been the prevailing definition but the term was watered down so much that the word suggested fallible. The tepid, tentative, liberal theologians began saying, “Infallible in doctrine, but not in history or geography.” That was like saying, “Your essay is perfect, except in spelling and grammar.” Likewise, the inspiration of the Scriptures was watered down by many similar qualifications and amendments, so plenary was added to the inspiration of the Word of God.

            Denominational mergers of the 20th century hid their internal conflicts, so they removed the friction with this solemn and rather angry declaration – “The Bible did not float down from heaven. It was written by men.” Some added, to ease the pain of serious study, “We could have 30 books in the Bible or 100. Humans decided the number.” I have never discovered a believer who thought the Bible came down, in finished form, from heaven. Nor did I find an expert naming another 34 books for the canon. The Apocrypha, heavily promoted by the Church of Rome and liberal Lutherans, never qualified for the canon. The marketing of the Apocrypha did little more little more than make people wonder what those books were.

            The greatest detour in understanding the Bible began with Medieval philosophy and theology – they were really the same at that time. Augustine began by spoiling the Egyptians, combining his universal grasp of secular knowledge with the Scriptures. Toward the end of the Middle Ages, Aquinas embalmed this method, which was embraced by Rome. Reading Augustine and Aquinas in Latin means moving from the peak of erudition to denominational script.

Unfortunately for the dream-weaving theologians, Luther was urged to earn a doctorate in the Scriptures, which brought him into constant and daily contact with the Bible. The Erasmus edition of the Greek New Testament gave the Reformer the original text of the New Testament versus the accepted and misleading Latin version. There is a reason the Holy Spirit chose to speak to us in Greek. This language was made universal by Alexander the Great’s conquests, his promotion of Greek culture, and the Greek merchants and managers set up by Alexander to do business with the world. Centuries before the Nativity, Greek was established as the natural route for the Gospel to move about in the East and West Roman Empires, centered in Rome and Constantinople. The mighty Roman Empire, which grew after Alexander’s, saw Greek as the language of culture, and proved its admiration for everything Greek by borrowing its architecture, law, literature, sculpture, government, and pagan theology.

Besides Greek, Luther also learned Hebrew and used his verbal skills, with a team of scholars, to translate the Old Testament into German. The Old Testament completed the Bible he started by translating the New Testament from Greek into German at the Wartburg Castle. Luther’s Bible established the German language, just as Shakespeare and the King James Version established the English language.

We now have endless methods and resources for learning the Biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek, which caused so much interest during the Reformation and after. But few seminary students currently learn more than the ancient alphabets, bypassing Latin as well, due to its expulsion from public education. The put down of Shakespeare, the actor, having “little Latin and less Greek,” is now true of the ministry, having little Greek, less Hebrew, and no Latin at all.

The Cornerstone Is the Beginning

            The great Dr. Walter Maier, who earned a PhD in Semitics at Harvard University, identified Biblical inerrancy and Justification by Faith as the cornerstone and the keystone of the Scriptures. The beginning of the universe - and the Bible - is an excellent litmus test to see whether an individual is using ministerial reason or magisterial reason in interpreting the Bible. Ministerial reason means subordinating our understanding to the clear, plain language of the Bible. An example is Luther stating that the Bible judges all books and is not judged by any book. Magisterial reason places human reason equal or above the teaching of the Bible. This magisterial reason is on constant display in the modern commentaries, most denominations, and the Church of Rome.

            Genesis 1 teaches us inerrancy, the cornerstone of the Bible, not simply inerrancy but the power, majesty, clarity, and efficacy of the Word of God. Without this knowledge, taught by the Holy Spirit in the Word, we can make little progress in Scriptural knowledge. We may know about the Bible, as with many other subjects, whether nuclear fission or calculus, but we do not know the Bible - and become confused, indifferent, or hostile to its message.

Genesis 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

God’s creation of the universe is taught or mocked many different ways, but this is the only true account. These two verses take chance and evolution out of the picture, and place God’s will, wisdom, intent, and purpose at the center of our lives. In the first two verses we find God the Father creating and God the Holy Spirit witnessing. The third member of the Trinity is revealed in the next verses.

Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

The skeptic wonders, “Where is the Son of God in Creation?” – which is answered in John, the Fourth Gospel and God’s own commentary on the Five Books of Moses.[1]

John 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

The Son of God existed in the beginning. He is the Logos, and through this Logos, God’s Word, all creatures and elements, stars and planets, were fashioned. To make this very certain, the double negative is used – not one single thing was made apart from Him.  Moreover, He is the life and the light of men.

            The opening of the Fourth Gospel begins with the three-fold use of the Word, which indicates the Trinity, as taught throughout John and throughout the entire Bible. The link to Genesis is difficult to miss, since only Genesis and John start with the same phrase – in the beginning. Another lesson hidden in plain view – is light being created before the sun and planets. The true Light of man is the Son of God, not the sun, planets, and moon, so often worshiped by pagans.

            These comparisons are not slight or accidental, but essential to the entire Bible and our understanding of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Savior. They show how much of the Old Testament is essential to the New Testament, so knowledge of one without the other is slighted.

            The link between Genesis and John is attacked from two positions. One is to dismiss the Creation in Genesis because every religion has some kind of Creation story, from the absurd to the disgusting. The other is to remove the apostolic authority of John by saying it is a philosophical work written centuries after Christ. Thus, with so much time spent outside of Christian sources, they find no DNA match between John and Genesis, but an astounding array of invented matches between paganism and the Biblical books. “The Bible is dependent upon pagan religion” will land a clever lad or lass in the best world religion faculties, at elite divinity schools, and at tenure-protected denominational seminaries.

One Truth, One Harmonious Doctrine

            The fatal trigger for many is the promiscuous use of brief portions of Scripture to prove a point, apart from obvious dissonance with the Bible as a whole. The trigger word is spelled skandalon in Greek, and it means the part which sets off the trap and captures the prey. The Word of God is not so confused that it reveals one truth here and a conflicting truth somewhere else. The only way to read the Bible is seeing it as the Book of the Holy Spirit, Luther’s term, and not as a series of possible debating points.

            Teaching the Bible as a unified Truth is a powerful weapon against false doctrine, because the contradictions are so easily identified. Laity and ministers should arm themselves in advance, but that is often not sufficient. Fortunately, attacks against the truth force us into returning to the sources, the Scriptures and faithful books, to support the strength of the Gospel and the weakness of error.

One Teacher – The Holy Spirit

            The final sermons of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel are beautiful lessons on the work of the Holy Spirit. If people studied them, they would not be gaping with wonder at the marketing lectures of Fuller Seminary graduates. If the Bible were simply a work of man, it would then be just as full of contradictions as any novel. Even the classic work of Homer has errors that made the ancients say about the Iliad – “Even good Homer snores.” But the power of the Holy Spirit throughout the Bible reveals a miraculous unity on one hand and an ability to teach us on the other. The youngest child, even a baby, can comprehend the Bible’s message. However, one must believe as a child, or the Kingdom of God remains a mystery and even an enemy for those too refined to subordinate themselves to the truth.

The Efficacy of the Word

            The snake oil salesmen of the world want to sell us, at a high price, various notions and potions that are effective. They avoid and berate the one thing effective, the Word of God. The Spirit was so far ahead of us that the idea of the effectiveness of the Word was written into the Scriptures, wisely foreshadowing those days when people desired and pursued everything but the Bible – as effective.

            Outside on March 13th, 2021, the rains are pouring down on our garden, trees, and weeds. North of us, the city of Denver is promised one of the biggest snowstorms of history. No one would dare claim that the soil and plants will be the same after rain falls and the snow melts. The rain will feed the fungi, bacteria, and earthworms that tend  and feed the flowers and crops. The snow will protect the plants against the freezing, dry winds of destruction. Underneath this blanket, creatures will be relatively warm and comfortable, the ice crystals locked together to form a blanket ideal for recycling, warmth for now, moisture for later. In the snow and rain is something no city or well can offer – usable nitrogen, the building-block of life, the green of the Green Old Deal.

            The best definition of effective is something that always works, unlike anything made by man. The bridge over the Mississippi River in Moline was once an object of awe, but now it is being demolished because it no longer works. Effective would also means – never fails us, unlike our cars that fail to start on the coldest days or smolder and burn without warning. No one has ever created an effective plan that does exactly what the leaders projected and hoped. If a general in the army said, “This plan will work exactly as we have hoped, with no change or disasters or mishaps,” the soldiers would laugh and the officer would be replaced.

            God’s definition of effective is clearly revealed in Isaiah 55 – and sadly, this all-encompassing passage is almost universally ignored.

Isaiah 55: 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

This reminds us that no one can discern the thoughts and plans of God. Besides that, His manner of working is far superior to anything we can grasp, so we have to start with humility and subordination to Him.

Isaiah 55: 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Verses 10 and 11 point out what we should know, without questions, about the rain and snow, their cycle of coming down from heaven (a familiar motif in John) and returning. Nor can we dispute that rain and snow have a peculiar trait far more productive than anything man can produce – the power to make things grow. Farmers say, “Irrigation keeps the crops alive. Only rain can make them grow.” God’s Word is just like the rain and snow- it never returns without results. This double negative makes it impossible to find an exception to the effectiveness of God’s Word. One retiring minister said he was a failure, so I questioned him:

·        Did you preach and teach the Word faithfully? “Yes, I tried.”

·        Did you baptize and give Holy Communion? “Yes.”

·        Did you visit people with the Word and Sacrament? “Yes.”

·        Are you saying God’s Word was not effective?           

The second Promise is that God will accomplish what He pleases. The truth is – money, members, and buildings do not prove a thing, and we cannot judge now or in the future where God’s Word will flourish.  We can predict that replacing God’s Word with raffles, prizes for attendance, entertainment, soft drinks and snacks, and warmed-over bar music will accomplish nothing in God’s plan. The third Promise is that God will prosper His Word, which means the results will be so great – such as the Reformation – that no one can dispute the results are from Him.

            In short, the effectiveness of God’s Word is guaranteed in Isaiah 55 three ways:

1.      God’s Word always works and is never a failure.

2.      God’s Word always does exactly what He wills.

3.      God’s Word will accomplish His plans in abundance.

Reading this passage gives us confidence (confidence, literally “with faith”). Teaching this passage turns people away from the false gods of the market place to the Holy Trinity revealed in the Scriptures.

The Spirit Never Exhausts Our Knowledge

            The Vatican got most of the Protestant denominations to switch to their patented three-year lectionary, which gave ministers more variety to ignore. The value of the historic lectionary comes from the repetition of the basic lessons in the Epistles and Gospels. If a minister studies the same passages every year, using Luther and Lenski and many more faithful authors, he will grow in appreciation and knowledge.[2] The Spirit’s work is such that the deeper we go into the Bible, the more we appreciate and understand. Some passages, so mysterious to the pastor – especially those – hit us like thunderclaps with their truth and clarity.



[1] The Gospel of John is probably the least-read commentary about the Five Books of Moses. A careful study of John will put to shame a century of rationalistic Biblical works.

[2] The Lutheran Library has a wealth of faithful sermon books and sources to use, all as free PDFs. The Lutheran Library has many of those books available as low cost print books.