{"id":2330,"date":"2007-11-03T12:05:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-03T12:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/?p=2330"},"modified":"2007-11-03T12:05:00","modified_gmt":"2007-11-03T12:05:00","slug":"shibboleth-1-but-the-bible-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/?p=2330","title":{"rendered":"Shibboleth #1: "But the Bible says….""},"content":{"rendered":"

Gabcast! Learning Church (Mersea)<\/a><\/p>\n

A learning Church session: Shibboleth #1: “But the Bible says…”<\/p>\n

Click ‘full post’ for my notes.

\u201cBut the Bible says\u2026\u201d
Or: why I don\u2019t understand \u2018sola scriptura\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cPreviously, on 24\u2026\u201d
Need to distinguish green area from what I object to
\u2018evangelicalism\u2019 includes both
Green area = \u2018Scripture\u2019, \u2018Scriptural perspective\u2019, \u2018Scripturalists\u2019 etc
What I wish to interrogate: \u201cModern Protestantism\u201d
This is a conversation within evangelicalism<\/p>\n

What is Modern Protestantism?
Offshoot of Northern European Christianity
\u201cModern\u201d \u2013 capital M, ie NOT \u2018contemporary\u2019
Contains implicit value judgements
Embedded in \u2018liberalism\u2019
Fundamentalism as the Siamese twin
Ichabod<\/p>\n

Are \u2018Modern Protestants\u2019 saved?
Wrong question (consider Gandhi)
Issue is about sound doctrine
Is the view \u2018weight bearing\u2019?<\/p>\n

Scriptural mysticism
Mysticisms in each area
Zacchaeus was a small man
Read with the expectation of meeting Christ
The incarnate word is not the written word \u2013 the written word testifies outside of itself
You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (John 5.39-40)<\/p>\n

Two interrogations of \u2018sola Scriptura\u2019
\u2018Sola Scriptura\u2019 \u2013 you only need the green area
From reason (red) \u2013 is it coherent?
Inerrancy
The plain sense of scripture
From tradition (blue) \u2013 is it consistent with the faith handed down from the apostles?
What place does the community have in interpretation?<\/p>\n

The doctrine of inerrancy
\u201cWe affirm that Scripture in its entirety is inerrant, being free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit. We deny that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science. We further deny that scientific hypotheses about earth history may properly be used to overturn the teaching of Scripture on creation and the flood.\u201d (Chicago Statement) <\/p>\n

Mark 2.26
Ahimelech?
Copying errors?<\/p>\n

Matthew 13.31
Cf \u2018not one iota\u2019\u2026
Local culture of the time<\/p>\n

2 Samuel 8.4
RSV: \u201cDavid took from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand foot-soldiers\u2026.\u201d
NIV: \u201cDavid captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand charioteers and twenty thousand foot soldiers\u2026.\u201d
Why? 1 Chron 18.4: \u201cDavid captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand charioteers and twenty thousand foot soldiers\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n

Peter\u2019s denials
John 13.38 vs Mark 14.72<\/p>\n

The Road to Damascus
Acts 9.7 vs 22.9 vs 26.14
Et cetera et cetera<\/p>\n

What is at stake here?
Is it:
Either Scripture is true in every conceivable sense
OR God does not exist\u2026.?!?!?!?!
Or are there other ways to read Scripture?
Protestant neurosis
individual interpretation, means all the weight on the individual
what if I get it wrong?! Oh doom!
Hence the great emotional tension<\/p>\n

Leave the microscope behind
Sieving the sea
Accepts Modernist epistemology
Ie what sort of thing knowledge is (propositional, abstracted from community)
AND
What sort of knowledge is seen as valuable
Inevitable consequence is fundamentalism \u2013 Scripture as scientific text book<\/p>\n

Sola Scriptura?
The \u201cplain sense\u201d of Scripture
Impact of technology and general literacy
Different ways to explain
Hermeneutics<\/p>\n

Which interpretation?
Eg New Perspective on Paul
Scripture or 16th century interpretation of Scripture?<\/p>\n

What is revelation?
Quranic?
Inspired human witness<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s consider the canon
\u2018All Scripture is god-breathed\u2026\u2019 \u2013 refers to OT \u2013 and not to our OT
Progressive discrimination
Canon \u201cformed\u201d in 4th Century AD
Church experienced most important and formative growth WITHOUT the \u201cBible\u201d<\/p>\n

“Before there was even Scripture, there was the faith; the early church did not set the limits of the scriptural canon as the paramount task of nascent Christianity. Its first goal was to settle the content of the faith, and it did this using means other than the Bible… the early church would never have restricted the term ‘canon’ to the Bible alone… Each element in the canonical tradition of the church has a part to play in the whole, and the canonization of Scripture took place within this whole.” (Craig Allert)<\/p>\n

Example
Matthew (nobody knows\u2026)
Doctrine of the Trinity
How to resist Arianism?<\/p>\n

Bible significantly post-dates:
Bishops and the hierarchy
Centrality of weekly communion
Creedal confessions (orthodoxy)
Paedo-baptism<\/p>\n

Tradition and community
Scripture is itself a tradition
Faith comes by hearing
Received by a community of faith
Digested by the community of faith
Taught by the community of faith<\/p>\n

Consensus fidelium
\u201cIt seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us\u201d
2 Timothy 3.14
Every tradition has its structure of authority
\u201cBut the Bible says\u2026\u201d means \u201cBut my community says the Bible says\u2026\u201d
Doesn\u2019t mean magisterium<\/p>\n

God-breathed
What IS inspiration? How does the Holy Spirit work?
The spirit gives, or the spirit is?
(ie alongside or within? Cf Prophets)
We need to breath that breath (Adam)
A spirit which inhabits Scripture
We need to inhabit Scripture
You don\u2019t drink a swimming pool \u2013 you swim in it<\/p>\n

What is the highest value?
What is the Word of God?
(ie where is Jesus?)
Chicago Statement: \u201cWe affirm that the Holy Scriptures are to be received as the authoritative Word of God\u201d
John Stott: \u201cthe really distinctive emphasis is on Christ. I want to shift conviction from a book\u2026 to a person. As Jesus himself said, the Scriptures bear witness to me. Their main function is to witness to Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

John\u2019s gospel
\u201cThere are some things you cannot bear now\u2026\u201d
Spirit leads into all truth
\u201c\u2026these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.\u201d (20.31) <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gabcast! Learning Church (Mersea) A learning Church session: Shibboleth #1: “But the Bible says…” Click ‘full post’ for my notes.\u201cBut the Bible says\u2026\u201dOr: why I don\u2019t understand \u2018sola scriptura\u2019 \u201cPreviously, on 24\u2026\u201dNeed to distinguish green area from what I object … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[35,45,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-evangelicalism","category-learning-church"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3npsc-BA","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizaphanian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}