Foundational thinking on Scripture

Why do I, as a Greek Orthodox Christian, include non-Orthodox writers in my spiritual library? Because I do not believe that the Church can be or has ever been divided. What then do I make of the "apparent" divisions? To me, they are only testimonies to the sinfulness of man, our arrogance, our thirst for power and self-glorification. True enough, some "churches" espouse very erroneous beliefs. To me, though, these are patently not "of the Church," they prove themselves to be mere human constructs, for sure. As for the rest, what is keeping us apart?

"…simply ignorant, full of self-conceit, with a craze for questioning everything and arguing about words. All that can come of this is jealousy, contention, abuse and wicked mistrust of one another, and unending disputes by people who are neither rational nor informed, and imagine that religion is a way of making money." (1 Timothy 6:4-5 Jerusalem Bible)

Martin Luther (1483-1546) is best known as the reformer who said, "Here I stand," to Pope and Emperor, but he understood his vocation to be a Doctor of Biblical Studies at University, and the majority of the 55 volumes of his works in English are commentaries on Scripture. In Luther's approach to understanding Scripture, the Word and Spirit create an event in which the reader participates. As the Holy Spirit used a human to write it, the Holy Spirit uses the Word and helps the human enter into Scripture. The impression one gets from Luther as he writes about figures and scenes in Scripture is that he is describing an actual landscape that he had visited. Luther would say that interpretation is a Word-event available to all readers through the Holy Spirit.

These thoughts are not only foundational in regard to the Holy Scriptures, but also Orthodox:
1) We participate in scripture. We don't just read it.
2) We enter into scripture. Our lives become enmeshed with it.
3) We are taught by the Word Himself when we enter the scriptural world. All believers, not just specialists, can interpret the Bible.
Whether they do it correctly depends on whether they have in fact entered and participated in it.

Scripture alone is authoritative. No doctrine be taught except the pure Word of God.
Scripture as the sole authority for the rule of the life of the Church can be found in the writings of the earliest church Fathers. Augustine wrote, "For Holy Scripture fixes the rule for our doctrine, lest we dare to be wiser than we ought. Therefore, I should not teach you anything else except to expound to you the words of the Teacher." This is the tradition of the early Fathers and the monastics to pray, meditate, memorize, and copy the sacred text daily.

In the Bible everything has to do with Christ. Furthermore, we see that all the fathers in the Old Testament, together with all the holy prophets, had the same faith and Gospel as we have, as St. Paul says, "For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ." (1 Corinthians 10:4). The sole difference is, they believed in the coming and promised Seed; we believe in the Seed that has been given. The gospel this side of Pascha (Easter) is the promise of God that in Jesus Christ, God has fulfilled the Law of Moses on the cross; Abraham received his version of promise before the law was given to Moses.

Simple is best. One should not say therefore that Scripture has more than one meaning. God is beyond human all-knowing. However, all Scripture can be interpreted, and all Scripture has one simple sense."The Holy Spirit is the simplest writer. His words could have no more than the one simplest meaning which we call the grammatical or the literal meaning." Luther's understanding of "literal" is different from the modern definition of something that which can be verified by facts—rather, "literal" means what the author intends by the words.

Scripture interprets itself. One passage of Scripture must be clarified by other passages.

Luther said that the best method of interpreting the Bible is to put Scripture alongside Scripture allowing plainer texts to illuminate the more obscure. For example, the book of Hebrews and the Gospel of Matthew employ Old Testament so continuously that they are almost running commentary. Luther's commentaries function the same way; for example, to explain the word anathema in his commentary on Gal 1:8, Luther cites Joshua 6:17; Lev 27:28; and Ex 17:14. Luther practices "commentary by concordance."

Related to how Luther experienced no historical gap between God and himself, he referenced Scripture for answers to contemporary questions, he also experienced no gap between historical eras, and seems to be unaware of the ease of his time-traveling, shifting easily from the time and culture of Cicero, to that of Abraham, or the distance between Jesus in Palestine and the desk in his study. In his biblical world-view, the Holy Spirit makes Scripture come alive, and through faith inserted Luther into the stories. The historical gap is bridged by faith when one is lifted out of the present and placed into the Bible. The biblical world and the contemporary world run together.

In Christian Orthodoxy, something similar happens to us in our encounter with the holy icons: The Holy Spirit makes Scripture come alive, and through faith inserts us into the stories we see depicted in the icons. That's one reason why it is said that "icons are written, not painted."

Karl Barth said, "The Holy Scriptures will interpret themselves in spite of all our human limitations." Men and women do not interpret Scripture as much as Scripture interprets each person. This takes place when Scripture is read in the faith which is freely given by grace of God. Though Barth and Luther differ in part in their theology of the Word, they stand shoulder to shoulder against any who would say there is any other way into the landscape of the Bible. And I, as an Orthodox Christian, stand with them.

There is nothing really potentially unorthodox or disruptive in holding these views. By reminding ourselves of the centrality of the Holy Scriptures, we are not devaluing the (Orthodox) Church Fathers. We are giving them their true value, removing them from the possibility of being considered infallible, and restoring them to their proper place—members with us of the Body of Christ.

The Bible's Author is God, the text is alive, it has the power and the freedom through the Spirit to do what it says it is going to do, and the message addresses the reader personally through the action of the Author. There is no passive Scripture in faith.

As Martin Luther said, "Christianity is simple, lying open to the light of day. One must take and accept it as it is." He could say that because he understood that Scripture had an Author whose voice could be heard and verified only through the humility of faith, and then the gift of revelation can be received.

This post consists mainly of excerpts from Andrew Kenny's blog. For his original post, click here.