The following sermon will be preached this coming Sunday, August 10th.

We’re beginning a sermon series, wherein we’ll be exploring the tenants of the Apostles’ Creed. Last week we considered the implications of the concept of belief in the Scriptures as opposed to the concept of belief in our society. This week we need to do more preliminary work. There are many in our Conservative traditions who question why we need to study what some old dead dudes had said a long time ago. Why can’t we just read the Bible? Many of these same people will attempt to convince you not to read commentaries on the Scriptures, “because those are the opinions of men anyways.” Yet, these same people want you to listen to their sermons and read their articles … as if their opinions are more than simply opinions.

I hope to shed a bit of light on the illusion of reading the Bible only as our only source of spiritual authority. But let’s begin by turning to John 1.

Before I address the question of why we need the creeds and traditions of the Church, I need to address a preliminary question to that: Why do you torture us with all of this “intellectual” stuff? Why can’t you simply spoon feed us the Bible?

John 1:1-18:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was no the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given throughMoses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known (ESV).

At first this introduction to John’s Gospel sounds rather weird, with all this talk about light and darkness and Moses and John the Baptist and stuff. Yet, it all becomes a bit clearer if we shine a bit of light on it.

Let’s take the first verse, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Through out this whole passage it becomes fairly obvious that this Word is Jesus. Jesus is the Word. The Word is a Greek word, logos. And it’s actually a word in this passage that combines to cultures of thought … Greek and Hebrew. The Hebrew concept of the word of God is God’s active agent accomplishing his will. The Greek concept of the word of God or the gods is the divine mind, using reason and logic to gather things from chaos and set them into order. The Greek and Hebrew concepts of the word of God is what we see in Jesus. Jesus is both the mind and action of God. But we’ll come back to this in just a bit.

Do we remember the last time something in Scripture read, “In the beginning was …?” That’s right … Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning was God.” John is sort of retelling the story of creation … with the caveat that Jesus is the agent of creation. Let us notice verses four and five: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. the light sines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” In him was life, and the life was the light of men. This seems to be an allusion to the Fall, where the life of God, in this instance Jesus, was the light of men. Yet, they sinned and the life of God was no longer the light of men. The rest of the introduction is all about how Jesus has come into the world to redeem the world for God and is far superior than the previous spiritual giants, Moses and John the Baptist, for such a task.

In other words this whole passage and indeed the whole book of John is about salvation … eternal life (John 3:16). If we’re careful we’ll not miss a very important truth about the nature of salvation. If the Fall was away from the life of God, which was the light of men and Jesus came to bring us eternal life … then Jesus came to restore what was lost. What was lost was our light, which was the life of Jesus/God, who is the Word of God … the mind and action of God. Therefore any talk about salvation is talk about not simply going to heaven but is talk about restoring our souls and our minds and our strength or actions.

Question: What did Jesus say was the most important commandment? Was it not to love God with all of our soul, mind, and strength? Paul directs in Romans 12:2 that we are supposed to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, and it is quite telling in verse 12:1 that we are to present our bodies as living sacrifices. Indeed Salvation is more than simply going to heaven. It is the renewal/restoration of our souls, minds, and bodies.

So, William, why are you putting us through this torture of making us walk through the Apostles’ Creed? Why don’t you just spoon-feed us the Bible? In short, despite the very common tendency in our Conservative traditions, if we take Scriptural Salvation seriously, we cannot check our brains in at the door … for their transformations are one of the key doors to complete, holistic transformation.

Now, I understand that renewing our minds is a large door of transformation/salvation. Soooo, why don’t you simply give us the Bible? Why do we need all these creeds and traditions and stuff? Don’t we believe in the Bible only as our final authority for spiritual matters?

No.

Marin Luther, in advocating against the abuses of spiritual authority of the Roman Catholic Church, laid down the classic Evangelical & Protestant litmus test for truth … sola scriptura. Sola Scriptura is Latin for Scripture alone … and refers to Scripture as the final authority for believers. For many well-meaning believers Scripture has become their only authority … which at first seems noble.

Yet, how many of us can completely divorce ourselves from our personal biases … from our own preconceviednotions, our own relational baggage, our own family dysfunctions, our own religious and secular fields of training? While it is certainly possible and even expected that we approach a topic on its own terms, it is quite unlikely that we approach anything … the Bible included … without the shadows of our own experiences and training haunting us as we read. None of us is perfect … with perfect minds.

In principle on paper, sola scriptura makes sense, as a safe guard against the abuse of authority. Most of us good evangelicals live the spirit of sola scriptura, while recognizing other tried and true authorities to help guide us along the way to Jesus. The Anglican tradition has long recognized reason and tradition as the handmaidens to Scripture in the court of Christian faith and life. In addition to Scripture, reason, and tradition, John Wesley included experience. In this arrangement of Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience, Scripture always takes the throne … while conversing heavily with her loyal handmaidens.

Yet, we have kidnapped Scriptures’ handmaidens, raped them and dumped their bodies into the River Individualism. What we don’t realize is that their ghosts often haunt us, as we can never read Scripture without using our brains (reason), nor thinking of what we have been taught or thinking of what new precedents to set (tradition), nor without considering how the message of Jesus gels with our experience.

I have two examples … both from people who seem to attempt to follow Scripture only.

Number One

I was speaking with a man, who passionately loved Jesus and his church. Yet my love for much of Contemporary Christian music and worship set him rather nauseous. His distaste for the Contemporary scene rocked on the principle that you don’t use the ways of the world to reach people in the world for Jesus. So not only lyrics had become taboo, but also the various beats themselves.

I asked him if he liked Southern Gospel music. He LOVED Southern Gospel. I asked him if he had ever been to a Country music concert. He had and experienced a rather knee-slapping time. Slowly, he began to get my point. County & Western music and Southern Gospel are very close kissing cousins.

Was it Scripture alone and only that led him to choose the worldly sound of largely white southerners by which to worship? Was it Scripture alone that led him to reject the wide variety of worldly sounds which make up the Contemporary scene? I’ll let you use your reason to evaluate his experience.

Number Two

My second example comes from a pastor and a church who are no doubt Bible-loving and Bible-believing Christians. The pastor submitted an article for the Faith section of a local newspaper, entitled “Cain is not in Adam’s bloodline” (sic). http://www.hartsvillenewsjournal.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=2821&SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&S=1

According to the article, contrary to what you have been taught, it was not Adam that impregnated Eve, resulting in the birth of Cain. It was Satan himself. Contrary to what you have been taught, it was not only Noah’s people that made it through the flood. Somehow these devilish descendants of Cain also made it through. Contrary to what you have been taught, it was not a group of Jews, who Jesus chided as opposing God, but … you guessed it … Cain’s devil children … attempting to pose as Jewish people. After all Jesus told them they were listening to their father, the devil (John 8). We are advised to beware of these very real people/devils that certainly exist today and to avoid them at all costs … at least until Jesus comes to destroy them in battle.

Is this no doubt, sincere, well-meaning pastor attempting to follow the principle of sola scriptura? His group’s mission statement underscores that they are a “non-profit church that is not affiliated with any denomination, and this allows the freedom to seek the truth of God’s Word. God’s Word is the common sense that provides the foundation for truth. Understanding the Bible to be a personal letter from God, we will strive to teach you to read His letter with clarity and understanding.” http://www.lakeshorebible.com/missionstatement.htm 

Again, I have no doubt that these people are truly loving and great people. I have no doubt that this pastor is a true man of God, who earnestly desires God’s truth. Unfortunately his very public display of interprative dehydration only serves to emphasize the mirage of Scripture only. He makes at least three boo boos in his interpretation:

  1. He failed to demonstrate that Scripture actually teaches that it was Satan instead of Adam who fathered Cain. This blunder alone sinks his whole argument.
  2. The Scriptural witness is that the life in Noah’s ark … and that life only … made it through the flood to populate the earth (sea creatures notwithstanding). Similarly the witness is that only Noah’s people were on his cruise ship.
  3. He claims the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares demonstrates his point, as it says that the tares represent the people who were sown by the seed of Satan. I don’t know if he’s ready for the necessary corollary or not. If the tares are the love-children of Satan’s sperm, then what are we to make of “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man?”

Yes, let’s read Scripture, let’s devour Scripture, let’s follow Scripture. Yet, let’s not attempt to read Scripture only … as our only authority … and certainly not by ourselves … alone. We need the Holy Spirit, living in his temple, the Church, who are his people that seek to have their minds renewed and transformed.