Ears That Do Not Hear, Eyes That Do Not See

I encountered it in every church I served. It took different forms, in the different places, but underlying the different reactions was the same issue. People were resistance to a different way of thinking, to a new understanding.

Let me hasten to say that in most congregations I served I also encountered people who were open and teachable – people who were willing to think – people who recognized the ring of truth in what they were hearing, even when it was different from what they had always been taught. Invariably, these people were those who were hungry for spiritual truth, who wanted to go deeper in their spiritual lives, who wanted to grow in their relationship with God, who wanted more than their present experience of the spiritual life.

According to the apostle Paul, the only way we grow spiritually is by learning to think differently. (I have said this truth so often, I feel like a broken record. And, yes, that metaphor shows how old I am. It means I am stuck in the same groove, constantly repeating myself.) In Romans 12:2, Paul said, “Stop letting the world squeeze you into its mold. Instead, be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (personal translation). Paul’s teaching suggests the transformation of our lives involves a two-step process. It involves the renewing of our minds, that is, learning a different way of thinking, one shaped by the character of God and the ways of God under the guidance of the Spirit. I commonly speak of this way of thinking as thinking theologically. Paul spoke of it as thinking with the mind of Christ, 1 Corinthians 2:16. Learning this new way of thinking moves us beyond the way the world trained us to think. Moving beyond our old ways of thinking is the second step of the transformation process. We cannot grow and change as long as we cling to our old way of thinking, that is, to the way the world trained us to think. Thinking with the mind of Christ displaces the way the world trained us to think. The result is a transformed life.

Yet, even though it is the way to growing spiritually, many in my experience of church life resisted the very thing that would have led them to a deeper, richer spiritual life. They resisted a different way of thinking, a different understanding. They wanted to be told what they already believed and, thus, resisted anything that did not agree with that.

Sadly, my experience is nothing new. The writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel make reference to people having ears, but not hearing, to having eyes, but not seeing (Isaiah 6:9-10; Jeremiah 5:21; Ezekiel 12:2). Jesus used this idiom in reference to the people of his day, as well, Matthew 13:14-15.

The Isaiah 6 text helps me understand this resistance that seems so common.

So that they may not look with their eyes,

And listen with their ears,

And comprehend with their minds,

And turn and be healed, Isaiah 6:10.

Seeing, hearing, and understanding lead to turning and to healing. Turning carries the Hebrew concept of repentance: turning away from an old way of thinking and living to a new way of thinking and living. In other words, seeing, hearing, and understanding leads to change.

Isaiah’s language explains the resistance to a new, different way of thinking. Resistance to a new, different way of thinking is resistance to change.

Changing what we think and believe is like dropping a pebble in a pond. It sends out ripples that touch every aspect of our lives. We have to rethink everything in light of this new understanding.

That’s what happened to Paul when he encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. The encounter changed his understanding of, his belief about who Jesus was. That change in how he viewed Jesus led to other major changes: his understanding of God, of how God relates to us (grace, not merit), of what is pleasing to God (faith, not obedience to the law), of the followers of Jesus (faithful, not heretics), of the Gentiles (included, not excluded). One of the most significant changes was in his sense of self – his understanding of who he was, that is, his own identity. A new understanding led to a complete reorientation of his life. Paul’s experience demonstrates that seeing, hearing, and understanding spiritual truth leads to change. Maybe that’s why Paul spoke of being transformed by the renewing of the mind.

What happened to Paul is potentially true for us.

We build our sense of identity on what we believe, particularly on what we believe is true, what we believe about God, what we believe about our faith. The sense of being “right” plays a major role in our sense of self. It is how we distinguish ourselves from others. It is foundational to our egocentric, constructed self.

Thus, when we are exposed to a new way of thinking or a new understanding, we resist it. We react to it as though it were a threat – which it is! It is a threat to the persona we constructed based upon what we believe is true. To change what we think and believe requires us to rethink everything in our lives, including our sense of identity. It is a threat to our egocentric, constructed self which is built on being right. No wonder we resist!

Sadly, when we resist a new way of understanding of spiritual truth, we resist our own growth into the likeness of Christ. We resist the discovery of our true self, the person God created us to be. We resist the work of the Spirit who, in teaching us the ways of God Jesus taught, transforms our lives into the likeness of Christ.

Paul knew what he was talking about. The transformation of our lives – change – only happens as we move beyond old ways of thinking and living by learning a new, different way of thinking and living – thinking shaped by the character of God and the ways of God under the guidance of the Spirit.

Stop thinking the way the world trained you to think. Be transformed by learning a new, different way of thinking – one taught by the Spirit, shaped by the character of God and the ways of God. Stop resisting the work of the Spirit.

Inherited Theology Can Be Dangerous

In last week’s blog (Studying the Bible Can Be Dangerous), I used the term “recycling” to describe how many church members study the Bible. In this approach to Bible study, old beliefs, old understandings, and old ways of thinking are repeated and restated as though they were the right and only way to understand the Bible. Beliefs we learned and inherited from previous generations—which those who taught us had learned and inherited from previous generations—are recycled in the present. We hold to these old ways of thinking, assuming they reflect spiritual truth when, in reality, they only reflect the understanding of previous generations. These old ways of thinking could better be described as traditions rather than as authentic Biblical or spiritual truth.

What I am saying is, inherited theology can be dangerous. Consequently, we need to carefully examine what we have been taught.

Unfortunately, most of us seldom examine or reevaluate the theology we have inherited. Rather, we use what we already think and believe—our inherited theology—as the standard we use to judge everything we hear. If what we hear aligns with what we already believe, we accept it as true. If it does not align with what we believe, we reject it as false. This process is so automatic that we are generally unaware of it. It is so common that social scientists have named it. They call it confirmation bias.

This way of studying the Bible—using confirmation bias—has dangerous implications. It allows us to avoid the hard work of thinking and discerning. It closes us off to the Spirit’s work of teaching us the things of God that Jesus taught, John 14:25-26. It keeps us stuck in old ways of thinking. As a result, we fail to grow spiritually. We do not experience the transformation of our hearts and minds that comes through the “renewing of the mind,” Romans 12:2. Instead, we become rigid in our thinking—close-minded and hard-hearted. I’ll say it again: inherited theology can be dangerous!

I grieve as I listen to and observe friends who have not progressed beyond their thinking of fifty years ago. I think I can understand their lack of progress. Their religious circles (churches) practice recycling. Recycling reinforces inherited, passed down and passed around thinking. Not knowing how to evaluate what they hear or even that they need to evaluate what they hear, they allow the repetition of traditional thinking to reinforce their sense that what they think and believe is right. Which completes the circle—using what they think and believe to judge what is right and true (confirmation bias).

It seems to me that the inherited theology of many church members neglects the interior realm of life—the heart, Mark 7:20-23. Instead, like most religions, it emphasizes the external realm of behavior—acceptable behavior as prescribed in the law, religious rules, moral standards, and social norms. It focuses on believing the right things, on doing the right things (morals), and on being involved in church activities (especially Bible study!). These things define what it means to be “a good Christian.” This focus on externals feeds the ego-centric self. It fosters appearances rather than authenticity. It creates a lack of self-awareness—awareness of what lies in the heart, i.e., spiritual blindness. Because it primarily focuses on the external realm of behavior (to the neglect of the interior realm of the heart), the inherited theology which most of us have been taught does not produce a transformed life—the new creation of which Paul spoke, 2 Corinthians 5:17-18a. The ego-centric identity it fosters blocks the servant spirit that is the mark of authentic spirituality and discipleship, Mark 9:33-37; 10:41-45. Most telling, this inherited theology does not lead us to love as Jesus loved or to love those Jesus loved.

Of course, this warning about inherited theology raises the question, “how do I evaluate what I have been taught? How do I know if the theology I have inherited is healthy?” Perhaps a few questions can guide our self-evaluation.

Has what I have been taught to believe led me to love as Jesus loved and to love those Jesus loved? Does it allow me to exclude some from my circle of love?

Has what I have been taught to believe led to me to think differently—from how I once thought, from how the culture around me thinks?

Has what I have been taught to believe caused me to grow emotionally-relationally-spiritually, i.e., to a transformed life? Am I significantly different today than I was ten, twenty, thirty years ago?

Does what I have been taught to believe reflect grace-based thinking or merit-oriented thinking, unconditional love and forgiveness or people getting what they deserve? Do I commonly use the word “deserve”?

Does what I have been taught lead me to view and value, accept and embrace every person—without exception—as a beloved child of God or does it provide a reason for me to judge, condemn, reject, and exclude some?  

Does what I have been taught focus on the interior realm, that is, the attitudes and spirit of the heart, or on behavior—right belief, behavior, and church involvement?

Does what I have been taught foster my ego-centric identity or call me to die to it? Does it allow me to judge and criticize others—the telling mark of the ego-centric self—or does it call me to respond to them with understanding and compassion?

Does what I have been taught to believe nurture a humble, teachable spirit within me—a mark of authentic discipleship—or a sense of “I’m right” —another mark of the ego-centric self?

Does what I have been taught to believe train me to walk in the Spirit, in glad dependency upon the Spirit’s guidance and power to do what I cannot do in my own strength, or does it call for self-effort that tries harder to do better—the self-reliance that is a defining characteristic of American culture?

What emotional reaction do these questions stir inside you?

(These questions reflect the thinking found in my book God’s Plumb Line: Aligning Our Hearts with the Heart of God. A revision of the book, entitled God’s Plumb Line: A Tool for Discerning the Will of God – revised edition, is at the publisher.)

It is important that we examine what we have been taught because inherited theology can be dangerous to our spiritual wellbeing. 

Studying the Bible Can Be Dangerous

It seems to me that Bible study may be the primary activity in the life of most churches—even more so than worship.

In any given church, consider how many different groups meet to study the Bible—on Sundays and through the week, at the church building and in homes or offices or over coffee or for breakfast. What might the total number of participants be? How many hours are invested each week in the study of the Bible? Although United Methodists (and others) make worship the central focus of their life together, the number of groups, the number of people participating, and the number of hours invested suggest Bible study is the primary activity of the church.

Given the amount of time and energy invested in Bible study, a logical question would be: what does that investment produce? What is the outcome of all that study? How is any church member different after studying the Bible for twenty or thirty or forty or fifty years? What difference does the study make in the life of the participants or in the life of the church or in the life of the community? To my knowledge, these kinds of questions are seldom asked.

What Bible study produces is dependent on how the study is done.

Done well, studying the Bible can be life-changing. The apostle Paul taught that our lives are transformed as we learn to think differently. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds,” Romans 12:2. “The renewing of your minds” refers, as I understand it, to thinking shaped by the character of God and the ways of God. This new way of thinking displaces the way the world trained us to think. The exhortation “do not be conformed to this world,” in the original, is “stop being conformed.” The world has already trained us how to think. That thinking has shaped how we live. We only move beyond the shaping influence of the world by learning to think differently—with the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). Studying the Bible is a primary means by which we learn to think different, by which our thinking begins to be shaped by the character of God and the ways of God. Thus, Bible study can be life-changing—if it is done well.

So how do we study the Bible so that it is life-changing?

First and foremost, we read and interpret the Bible in light of the life and teachings of Jesus. Jesus is the fullest revelation of who God is and of the ways of God. As the writer of Hebrews said, “He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being,” Hebrews 1:3. The Bible does not displace Jesus as the fullest revelation of God. Jesus, not the Bible, is the last word about God and the ways of God. Thus, the life and teachings of Jesus guide how we interpret the Bible.

We read and study books of the Bible rather than independent snippets, randomly chosen. In doing so, we read and interpret individual stories in light of their larger context, the flow of thought within the book itself.

We read and interpret the Bible in light of a text’s historical, cultural context. To whom was the text written? What was the situation the text addressed? What did the biblical writer say to those in that situation? We seek to understand the human dimension of the text so that we can understand the divine dimension, the spiritual truth expressed in the text.

We read and interpret the Bible with a teachable spirit. We study with an openness to what God would say to us. We read with the intent of learning and growing—growing in our knowledge of God and the ways of God, growing in our relationship with God, growing in the likeness of Christ. In other words, we read with a clearly defined purpose: to grow spiritually. We read as the followers of Jesus seeking to grow in our discipleship—i.e., through the lens of discipleship.

We read and interpret the Bible in conscious dependency upon the Spirit of God. The Spirit teaches us the things of God that Jesus taught (John 14:25-26). The Spirit orchestrates and guides the transformation of our hearts and minds that leads to a transformed life (2 Corinthians 3:18).

We reflect on, think about, and meditate on the spiritual truth the Spirit revealed to us in our study. The study is not over until the spiritual truth is incorporated into our thinking and into our lives. The ultimate objective of Bible study is the renewing of the mind that produces a transformed life.

Bible study that follows these principles should carry a warning label: Beware! Proceed with caution! Studying the Bible has been known to change how you think!

While studying the Bible has life-changing potential, I have not seen much of the kind of transformation Paul spoke of—moving beyond the way the world trained us to think, thinking shaped by the character of God and the ways of God, lives patterned after the life of Jesus—come out of most Bible studies. Which naturally leads to the question, why not? The answer lies in how we study the Bible.

What I have observed about most Bible studies, particularly in adult Sunday School classes, is that Bible study is secondary to the fellowship the class shares. Relationships, not growing as the followers of Jesus, are the primary driver of most adult Sunday School classes. The Bible study that is offered often is based upon another person’s thought—a denominational resource such as a “quarterly” or a book someone has suggested. Studies generally deal with an isolated text without awareness of the larger context. The text is used to support a theme the writer wants to communicate or an agenda the teacher has. This use of a text generally ignores the spiritual truth the biblical author attempted to communicate to the original audience. Many read and study the Bible seeking validation for what they already believe and think. They read, looking for facts to believe. As a result, they remain unchanged in how they think or how they live.

The term “recycling” could be used to describe this kind of Bible study—old ways of thinking, old beliefs, old understandings being recycled and used again. I once heard Sunday School described as shared ignorance, passed down and passed around.

Studying the Bible can be dangerous. How we study the Bible determines what the danger is—a transformed life through the renewing of the mind or a life unchanged through recycled thinking and beliefs.

Spiritual Immaturity and the Ego-centric Self

 (Facebook post - 7/11/2023)

More of Rohr's wisdom along with some thoughts his wisdom stirred:

If our egos are still in charge, we will find a “disposable” person or group on which to project our problems. People who haven’t come to at least a minimal awareness of their own shadow side will always find someone else to hate, fear, and exclude. Hatred holds a group together much more quickly and easily than love and inclusivity.

Sadly, the history of violence and the history of religion are almost the same history. When religion remains at an immature level, it tends to create very violent people who ensconce themselves on the side of the good, the worthy, the pure, the saved. They project all their evil somewhere else and attack it over there. Someone has to be blamed, attacked, tortured, imprisoned, or killed. Sacrificial systems create religions and governments of exclusion and violence. Yet Jesus taught and modeled inclusivity and forgiveness!

As long as we try to deal with evil by some other means than forgiveness, we will keep projecting, fearing, and attacking it over there, instead of “gazing” on it within ourselves and weeping over it. The longer we gaze, the more we will see our own complicity in and profitability from the sin of others, even if it’s the satisfaction of feeling we are on higher moral ground.

ASL: Rohr's thinking stirs a couple of thoughts for me.

The spiritual journey involves recognizing and dying to the ego-centric self - that self we constructed, using what the world said we needed to do and be, in order to be accepted and valued by the world in which we live.

Our spiritual immaturity is evident in how we judge and condemn, reject and exclude others - any other. Our criticalness and exclusion are expressions of the ego-centric self's effort to prop itself up by comparing itself with others it deems wrong and thereby less significant. Their "wrong" translates into "I'm right" and "I'm better than."

The polarization within our country and within The UMC reflects this pattern of condemning and rejecting - indicators of emotional-relational-spiritual immaturity and a defended ego-centric self. In an era needing the best thinking of our mature selves, we are functioning out of immaturity. Immaturity is always evident in reactivity and anger, condemnation and judgement of others, rejection and exclusion, rigid positions supported by black-and-white, right-or-wrong thinking.

We have all experienced emotional wounds - generally in our formative years. Unrecognized, these wounds remain unaddressed. Unaddressed, they remain unresolved (unhealed). Unresolved, they shape our lives today, outside of our conscious awareness. They get projected onto others in the form of judging and criticizing, rejecting and excluding.

We constructed our ego-centric self in order to escape the pain of these deep emotional wounds - pain which we pushed deep inside beyond our conscious awareness. These wounds and their pain and the messages we attached to them are all dimensions of what Jung called our shadow.

The ego-centric self is fragile - a constructed self rather than an authentic self. It lives with strong defenses designed to protect its fragile identity, particularly its shadow. Criticizing and judging, rejecting and excluding others are some of its classic defense mechanisms. The ego-centric self lives by appearances - those things that project success and value: achievements, wealth, material things that wealth provides, the right circle of friends, the right groups, etc. The ego-centric self reacts to anything that gets too close to exposing its shadow. Thus, it is threatened by authentic spirituality. That's a major reason the religious leaders of Jesus's culture sought to have him killed. His teachings and actions undermined their merit-based world and its hierarchy, threatening their status and standing which they used to validate their ego-centric selves.

Healthy spiritual formation always leads us to address the shadow - those old wounds, their pain, the messages they produced, and the ego-centric self we constructed to deal with them. In other words, healthy spirituality involves healing - emotional-relational-spiritual healing. Sadly, in reaction to the Pentecostal movements and faith healers, the Western Church has abandoned the healing ministry. In its place, it has created an environment in which the ego-centric self can grow and flourish - a world centered on right beliefs, right behavior, right worship.

Immature spirituality - the realm of the ego-centric self - always produces positions that criticize and judge, reject and exclude those that are viewed as "other." It functions out of merit-based thinking. People are criticized and judged, rejected and excluded because they fail to measure up to some standard of expectations. Healthy spirituality always leads to inclusiveness that views and values, accepts and embraces every person as a beloved child of God. It functions out of grace-based thinking.

Before we are willing to deal with the ego-centric self, some kind of failure and pain are generally required. Such experiences strip away our self-deception, leading us to face our brokenness and need. That's where the grace of God becomes real and transformative.

This era in which the institutional church is dying could well be God's invitation for the Church to rediscover true discipleship - discipleship that involves dying to the ego-centric self. (See my latest book - Following Jesus: Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark.) 

Reading the Bible Literally

When we first began to read the Bible, all of us read the Bible literally. It was the only way we knew how to read it. We naturally assumed it meant what it said, not realizing there could be more to the text than what it said. We do not learn to look for this “more” until we understand the nature of scripture—human and divine, ancient, Near Eastern, prescientific.

Reading the Bible literally opens the door to several unintended outcomes. It allows us to look for what we already believe rather than for what the Spirit would teach us. In turn, it allows us to use the Bible to validate what we already believe, thereby blocking our spiritual progress. Using the Bible to validate what we already believe, we are prone to use the Bible as a weapon against those who think differently. Arguing “The Bible says!” we block honest dialogue or any other possible understanding. In this way of reading the Bible, we pull verses out of context, ignoring the original meaning of the verses. In addition, we treat all texts as having equal authority rather than recognizing that some texts reflect a fuller understanding of God and the ways of God. The end result is spiritually damaging. We create God in our own image. We make ourselves the ultimate judge of truth. We create a me-centered spirituality that blocks healthy spirituality. We remain unchanged, stuck in old ways of thinking and living, spiritually blind and spiritually immature.

Reading the Bible literally makes us resistant to the work of the Spirit. One dimension of the work of the Spirit is to teach us spiritual truth—the things of God Jesus taught (John 14:26; 16:12–15). As a result, we learn to think differently. We move beyond the way the world trained us to think and live into thinking shaped by the character of God and the ways of God. The apostle Paul called this new way of thinking “the renewing of the mind” (Romans 12:2) and “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). This renewing of the mind results in spiritual progress, a spiritually transformed life. In contrast to this life-transforming process, reading the Bible literally keeps us stuck in the ways we have always thought and lived, using the Bible to validate those ways.

A literal reading of the Bible is frequently presented as an expression of faith. While such a perspective is indeed an act of faith, it is a misplaced and misinformed faith. The true object of faith is God, not the Bible. The key question of faith is about God, not about the reliability of biblical facts: is God who Jesus revealed God to be as recorded in scripture? To view the Bible as beyond error (inerrant, infallible) also reflects a misinformed faith. It denies the human dimension of scripture while emphasizing only the divine dimension. It refuses to do the hard work of thinking and discerning that is an inherent part of interpreting the Bible.

(This post was first published as an appendix in my book Why the Bible Is So Hard to Understand … and tips to understanding it – Revised and Expanded Edition. The book is available on my website – pastorstevelangford.com – or from Trafford Publishing – Trafford.com - as well as from Amazon.)

The Idolatry of Certainty on the Spiritual Journey

This blog is Part 2, i.e., a follow up, to last week’s blog: “The Issue of Authority in Discerning the Will of God.”

Underlying the many theological and ethical position statements made by different individual Christians and Christian groups throughout history is a certainty that their position is the right position because they can use the Bible to support it. Their position is “right” because it is “biblical.”

I argued in last week’s blog that this thinking is based upon faulty assumptions, a misunderstanding of the nature of the Bible, and a literal reading of the Bible. Jesus - as the fullest revelation of God, God’s character, and God’s ways – is the true guide to discerning the will of God, i.e., the “right” position on any theological or ethical issue. Such discernment is dependent upon “the renewing of the mind”, Romans 12:2, resulting in “the mind of Christ,” 2 Corinthians 2:16. Such thinking is thinking that has been shaped by the character of God and the ways of God under the guidance of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:7-16). “Be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect,” Romans 12:2 (emphasis added).

In this blog, I want to identify what seems to me to be the driving motivation for these “biblical” positions and statements of dogma. It seems to me that Christians who make these proclamations are seeking certainty – a clear sense about what is right and what is wrong, what is acceptable and what is not, what to believe as right and what to reject as wrong - and through that certainty, a sense of control.

Such certainty is a false idol on the spiritual journey which makes the quest for certainty nothing more than idolatry.

The quest for certainty is a quest for control. Certainty puts them in control, allowing them to define what is right and what is wrong, what is acceptable and what is not, what to believe as right and what to reject as wrong. Control is the reason behind the creation of any idol. Control is the objective of the certainty they project.

Those who hold to and argue for their “biblical” position generally reflect a rigidness in their thinking. Their thinking is right-and-wrong, black-and-white, either-or thinking. It has no room for nuances – the grey area that is inherent to any issue – or the messiness of the human condition. They want absolute certainty. Their arguments generally reflect a defensive tone, as though they are protecting the very foundations of their faith. If this position were to fall, the entire foundation of their faith experience would crumble beneath them. They have built their faith on the Bible being totally reliable – the infallible, inerrant word of God. “The Bible says” is their bottom line.

The rigid thinking and defensive posture of those who argue for their “biblical” position is revealing. It indicates fear, suggesting a deep-seated insecurity about their faith. Certainty is the façade they use to mask this insecurity, hiding it from themselves more than anyone else. Their unrecognized and unacknowledged insecurity is rooted in merit-based thinking. They have to know what is “right” so they can get it right. Unconsciously, their relationship with God is based on merit – getting it right, doing it right. Inevitably, such merit-based thinking and relating produces spiritual arrogance – “we are right, you are wrong.” It allows them to feel better than those who dare to disagree with them or challenge their beliefs. In my experience, certainty is always accompanied by a not-so-subtle spiritual arrogance.

While my description of these biblical literalists is harsh, let me hasten to acknowledge the commitment and sincerity of their faith, expressed in loyalty to their church and faithful involvement in the activities of their church – particularly Bible study.

Having acknowledged their faithfulness, I must also say that - in my thinking - the faith of these people is a misplaced faith. They have placed their faith in what men have taught them the Bible is – infallible and inerrant. (This teaching about the Bible and this language to describe it date to the late 19^th century. It grew out of a reaction to German biblical scholarship that sought to identify the many sources that could be identified in the development of the Bible. The biblical scholarship of that time recognized the human dimension of scripture – as does biblical scholarship today. This discussion about the human dimension of scripture was seen by some – they called themselves “fundamentalists” - as a threat to the reliability of scripture. These fundamentalists argued that the Bible is a divine book, inspired (literally: God-breathed) by God and written under the guidance of the Spirit. As such, it is totally reliable. It is infallible and inerrant. In doing so, they opened the door to “biblical” positions, the spiritual arrogance associated with “biblical” positions, and to the idolatry of certainty. Their quest for certainty turned the Bible into an idol before whom they worshipped.)

The Bible is indeed a divine book. It is inspired – God-breathed, 2 Timothy 3:16. It is also a human book. God spoke through men and women who were moved by the Spirit, Hebrews 1:1-2; 2 Peter 1:19-21. In the Bible, we find both the human and the divine.

Given the Bible’s dual nature, is it reliable? Absolutely! The writer of 2 Timothy wrote it is “able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus,” 2 Timothy 3:15.  It “is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” 2 Timothy 3:16b. The writer of 2 Peter urged his readers to be attentive to scripture “as to a lamp shining in a dark place,” 2 Peter 1:19.

The Bible is a reliable source for helping us know God and the ways of God. It contains the stories of God’s self-revelation to and through the nation of Israel. Because God’s self-disclosure was accommodated to the people’s ability to understand at that particular stage of their spiritual development, it was always partial and limited – “in many and various ways,” Hebrews 1:1 - literally, “in bits and pieces.” This means some things in the Bible reflect the thinking and culture of the people at that period of time, not the will or ways of God.

So how are we to know which part of the Bible reflects the partial, limited understanding of Israel and which reflects God’s self-revelation?

Spoiler alert: discerning the will of God requires us to think. Specifically, it requires us to think with a renewed mind, Romans 12:2, and the mind of Christ, 1 Corinthians 2:16. Discerning the will of God is only possible through thinking shaped by the character of God and the ways of God.

God’s fullest self-revelation was in Jesus, the Son, who “is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being,” Hebrews 1:3a. (The writer of Hebrews contrasted the full revelation of God through the Son with the partial, limited revelation given through the prophets, Hebrews 1:1-3. Also see John 1:14, 16; John 14:8-9a; Colossians 1:15, 19; 2:9.)  

Because Jesus is the fullest revelation of God, we know the character of God. “God is love,” 1 John 4:8. God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, wickedness, and sin,” Exodus 34:6-7. In his letter to the Romans, Paul spoke of this steadfast, faithful love as “the righteousness of God,” Romans 1:16-17; 8:28-39. In addition, because of Jesus, we know the ways of God. God relates to us out of grace and forgiveness, freely embracing us as beloved children – Ephesians 1:3-5; 2:4-10, 13-22; 1 John 3:1-3. God uses the divine power to serve, Mark 9:33-35; 10:41-44; Philippians 2:5-11, advocating for and empowering the powerless (justice), Isaiah 1:17.

We know these things about God – the character of God, the grace-based ways of God – by faith! We have faith that God is who Jesus revealed God to be. Paul spoke of “the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” 2 Corinthians 4:6c. Paul means that, in Jesus, we know what God is like – the glory of God. Our knowing, however, is an act of faith. Paul went on to say “we walk by faith, not by sight,” 2 Corinthians 5:7.

Our faith gives us confidence, 2 Corinthians 5:6 and 8, but not certainty. We are confident in who God is and in the ways of God because of Jesus. Everything else - what is right and what is wrong, what is acceptable and what is not, what to believe as right and what to reject as wrong – must be judged in light of the life and teachings of Jesus. We discern the will of God by exploring the life and teachings of Jesus under the guidance of the Spirit. Such exploration – an act of faith - helps us align our thinking and thereby our living with the character of God and the ways of God - again, an act of faith.

Faith expressed in confidence - not certainty - is the mark of a follower of Jesus. I am confident that God is who Jesus revealed God to be. Faith is also expressed in a teachable spirit. Faith keeps us open and teachable, willing to learn and grow and change, again the mark of a follower of Jesus, while certainty produces a closed mind that is unwilling to learn and grow. (Remember: the transformation of our lives comes through the renewing of the mind, i.e., learning, Romans 12:2.) Faith is expressed in humility. Humility, not the arrogance that accompanies certainty, is the mark of a teachable spirit.

I want to say “I am certain that I am right about this,” but in light of what I’ve written, I’d better say, “I’m confident that this way of thinking aligns with what it means to live by faith.” Living out of the confidence I have in this way of thinking is an act of faith – just as the certainty of some is an expression of their faith. The difference between my faith and their faith is the object of our faith – and that makes all the difference in the world.