Some
years ago I had coffee with a man of God whom I value highly. The atmosphere at
the time was beyond awkward. You see I had listened to him preach a sermon on
Genesis 3 in which he had seemed to trivialise the Fall. I had written saying
that to trivialise the Fall was by implication to trivialise the Cross which
was its antidote.
As
we drank our coffee his displeasure was unmistakable:
“You
and I have nothing in common,” he said, “We do not even have a basis for
discussion.”
In
reply I said, “Can I suggest two things which might form a basis?”
“Firstly,
the Bible is the Word of God” I
thought he might buy that because after reading the Scripture in a service he
would conclude with, “This is the Word of God”
“Secondly,
that Jesus Christ is the interpretive master key that unlocks the whole of it.”
After some hesitation he agreed, and though to this day some awkwardness persists in our relationship, we do have a basis for theological engagement.
I
heard one of our ministers say, “The Bible is a contested authority today”
which of course begs the question, “By whose authority is it contested?”
I
heard another of our ministers say, “The Bible is not our only authority, there
is the authority of experience.” Referring to the Wesleyan Quadrilateral.
It
seemed that he was regarding the four items of the Quadrilateral as four legs
of a table whereas it is clear that with Wesley Scripture was always the
supreme authority, the secure bedrock on which the tripod of Tradition, Reason
and Experience stood. There was no question of an adversarial or alternate
relationship between the Bible and Experience.
Of
course, The Bible is not our only authority, a maths textbook has authority for
instance. There is veracity in many writings, indeed in many religious writings.
The point here is that the Bible is acknowledged as having supreme
authority. It has canonicity, it is the yardstick by which the
truthfulness of other authorities is measured, not only in matters of Faith and
practice, but at least in matters of Faith and practice.
I heard yet another of our ministers refer to “recent revelation.” Yes, there are fresh discoveries in the field of science for instance, but I think he had in mind an extension to the canon of Scripture, something like the Book of Mormon, inserted between Revelation and the maps. It’s an interesting conjecture as to what such a book might be called. Perhaps one might hold a competition as to the best title for such a book.
Regarding
Jesus Christ as the Interpretive master key for unlocking the whole of Scripture,
it is not enough that our hermeneutic have Christological content, it needs to
be Christocentric.
Everyone
in town would like to hitch Jesus to their wagon, to co-opt Him to their
particular hobbyhorse or crusade. We all bring our own biases, hurts and life
experiences into play when we study the Scriptures, but by keeping Jesus
central in this, we will discover our biases corrected, our hurts healed and
our eyes opened to God’s truth as it stands revealed in His Word.
“You
search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, but
it is they that bear witness of me” says Jesus.
Peter Frow
September2022
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