![]() ![]() The world of scripture is largely unknown and unfamiliar. One sees that God is faithful to that promise in Jesus Christ, through whom God saves Jews and Gentiles (non Jews). ![]() One learns in scripture about a God who promises in Genesis 12 to bless the world through one man, Abraham. It is similar to learning a new language. Does God work through his people Israel in order to bless all people? Yes. Is God faithful to his promises to his covenant people? Yes. One reason may be the acute embarrassment that some church leaders feel with respect to scripture’s unrelenting focus upon Israel. Focused public reading of passages from the New Testament, to say nothing of the Old Testament, is infrequent in many church settings. God takes these human words, and uses then to speak to his people in each and every generation in the power of the Holy Spirit.Ĭonfidence in scripture’s clarity and eloquence is, sadly, lacking in many Christian communities today. Rather than merely containing human words about God, scripture is God’s Word in human words to human beings. Karl Barth encourages us to consider "the strange new world within the Bible". Ultimately, the scriptures bears witness to the incarnate word of God, Jesus Christ, the "Word made flesh" ( John 1:14). Rather, they worship the God who speaks through scripture. God speaks eloquently and clearly through his written word, in and by the power of the Holy Spirit.Ĭhristians, however, do not worship the scriptures. Women and men throughout the ages have converted to Christian faith through hearing God’s voice in scripture. The human words of scripture bear God’s voice. This is why the Christian community listens to scripture. God speaks, and scripture is his word to us. The God who called his people out of Egypt and raised Jesus from the dead, takes his people’s witness to these events, and speaks through this scriptural witness, to call and guide his people still. To say that scripture bears God’s voice is to say that these human words become an instrument through which God speaks. To paraphrase the Swiss theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968), it is the Word of God in the words of men. The Bible is scripture because it bears the voice of the living God. Christians call the Bible, the scriptures. Many others in the generations after him and throughout the world did the same.Īs a theologian and priest, I have the delightful task of unfolding the riches of scripture. Martin Luther translated the Bible into the common language of his day. One of the legacies of the Reformation, 500-years old this year, is that the Bible is now widely available in many, many different languages. What is the Bible? Is it God’s Word? These are perennial and important questions. Christopher Holmes writes about the power of the Bible. ![]()
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