What is it?

I’ve been involved in some conversations the last few days that might have a bearing on what we’ve been trying to work through together.

One of those discussions had to do with the way the Scriptures point us—sometimes in very subtle ways— to Christ, and to our need of the God he reveals. For example, when the New Testament letter to the Hebrews says that the word of God is living, powerful, and sharper than a two edged sword… (Heb 4:12), it surprisingly uses a personal pronoun in the very next verse (Heb 4:13) to further describe that “Word.” This fits with the overall letter to the Hebrews that, from its introduction, moves us from the lesser to the greater (in this case from the collective written word to the living Word/Christ).

The other discussion I’m thinking of had to do with what it takes to apply the written words of Scripture to our lives. We were talking about how important it is to find the timeless intent and principle within a text rather than just assuming that was written to someone else a long time ago can be literally applied to ourselves.

But at that point we also spent some time talking about how misleading it can be to settle for the resulting pursuit of principles in a way that can so easily morph into a kind of law-based living (Gal 3:1-5).

By contrast, if we think of “the word of God” as a collective self-revelation of the God who is exposing our own hearts and need of him, so that we will learn to love him, one another, and even our enemy—we can then begin feeding not only on words that can quickly divide us—but on the personal Word who nourishes us (and enables us) with the graciousness and kindness of God (1Peter 2:1-3).

Or is my attempt to express what I think is the ultimate kind of getting personal… clear as mud…? :-)

PS I took the picture above years ago in Amman, Jordan, which is where I also saw a re-enactment of Roman occupiers (previous post). Am guessing that the round, stone bowl in the foreground is the reconstructed remains of a fountain.

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