I just finished reading Misquoting Jesus, by Bart Ehrman, a book about the history of the written New Testament. The author, in his concluding statements, made a very interesting point that seems in line with the current topic of this blog. I will quote it here. I hope that you are not derailed by this information, but rather encouraged to reach for the living, present Holy Spirit of God who, as Jesus said, was given to guide us into all truth. As the years went by and I continued to study the text of the New Testament, I gradually became less judgmental toward the scribes who changed the scriptures they copied. Early on, I suppose I was a bit surprised, maybe even scandalized, by the number of changes these anonymous copyists of the text had made in the process of transcription, as they altered the words of the texts, putting it in their own words rather than the words of the original authors. But I softened my view of these transcribers as I slowly came to realize that what they were doing with the text was not all that different from what each of us does every time we read a text. The more I studied, the more I saw that reading a text necessarily involves interpreting a text. I suppose when I started my studies I had a rather unsophisticated view of reading: that the point of reading a text is simply to let the text “speak for itself,” to uncover the meaning inherent in its words. The reality, I came to see, is that meaning is not inherent and texts do not speak for themselves. If texts could speak for themselves, then everyone honestly and openly reading a text would agree on what the text says. But interpretations of texts abound, and people in fact do not agree on what the texts mean. This is obviously true of the texts of scripture: simply look at the hundreds or even thousands of ways people interpret the book of Revelations, or consider all of the different Christian denominations, filled with intelligent and well-meaning people who base their views of how the church should be organized and function on the Bible, yet all of them coming to radically different conclusions. Think back on the last time you were involved in a heated debate in which the Bible was invoked, and someone volunteered an interpretation of a scripture verse that left you wondering, How did he/she come up with that? We hear this all around us in discussions of homosexuality, women in the church, abortion, divorce, and even American foreign policy, with both sides quoting the same Bible—and sometimes even the same verses—to make their case. Is this because some people are simply more willful or less intelligent than others and can’t understand what the text plainly says? Surely not—surely the texts of the New Testament are not simply collections of words whose meaning is obvious to any reader. Surely the texts have to be interpreted to make sense, rather than simply read as if they can divulge their meanings without the process of interpretation. And this, of course, applies not just to the New Testament documents, but to texts of every kind. Why else would there be such radically different understandings of the US Constitution, or Das Kapital, or Middlemarch? Texts do not simply reveal their own meanings to honest inquirers. Texts are interpreted, and they are interpreted (just as they were written) by living, breathing human beings, who can make sense of the texts only by explaining them in light of their own knowledge, explicating their meaning, putting the words of the texts “in other words.” Once readers put a text in other words, however, they have changed the words. This is not optional when reading; is it not something you can choose not to do when you peruse a text. The only way to make sense of a text is to read it, and the only way to read it is by putting it in other words, and the only way to put it in other words is by having other words to put it into, and the only way you have other words to put it into is that you have a life, and the only way to have a life is by being filled with desires, longings, needs, wants, beliefs, perspectives, worldviews, opinions, likes, dislikes—and all the other things that make human beings human. And so to read a text is, necessarily, to change a text. That’s what scribes of the New Testament did.
Faith Comes By Hearing
I grew up with an unbiblical view of faith. I think I just Christianized the words "belief" or "hope." Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. My personal definition would have been more like "Faith is the anticipation of things hoped for, the belief in things not seen," or something like that. In other words, my faith was built on hope. When I would pray, I hoped that God was listening in on my thoughts. I didn't really have any proof or even a Bible verse that said he could hear my inaudible requests, but I trusted that he could. I also had faith that he would answer, though my "yes, no, or maybe" method allowed for chance or happenstance to look a lot like the sovereign will of God. When it came to doctrines, I had "faith" that mine was correct. I never really acknowledged that there were smart people on all sides of every debate. I just held my ground on my own beliefs and defended them against every contrary opinion. The same was true of my biblical interpretations. However I saw the verses were the way they were meant to be seen. I had faith in my own reasoning. What about my feelings? Until I was older, I never took health, hormones, fatigue, or stress into account. It was amazing how a good night's sleep would affect my devotion time and make me feel better about God, the church, and the purpose of my life. Would we feel differently about God and each other if we've had our V8 every morning? What about Spicy V8?
If you look carefully, you'll find that the "faith" I had growing up, is actually only half of the biblical definition. Paul explains in Romans 10 that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
In context, you'll see that Paul is not referring to the Scriptures, but to the prophets, who were actually hearing from God and speaking to the people. The faith of these people were based, not on a system of doctrines, but the living and active word of God. Some of these words were written down and God expected those to be followed (the law, the temple rituals). In a family, that could be seen as "the rules of the house" along with the daily, spoken interactions of the family.
God does speak through the Scriptures, but he also speaks to his people day to day (directly or through modern-day prophets). This way, our spiritual lives are always relevant to our times, but truth never shifts with it. The rules of the house remain, but the day to day events are more fluid and relevant. If you read through the examples of faith in Hebrews 11, you will see a group of people that listened to God and obeyed. None of them acted "in faith" without hearing from God first. But in Hebrews 4, we read about Israel, who had been given orders from God to enter the land of Canaan, but did not inherit the promise. The word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. United by faith? So faith is belief coupled with obedience. It is not enough to hear from God. It is not enough to believe. One must act. Remember without faith it is impossible to please God. If you are not hearing from God, how can you have faith? If you are not walking in faith, how can you please God?The Nervous System
If God is truly going to be the head of his church, the nervous system must be functional and the body must be responsive. We cannot replace our head with Christian leaders, apologetics, church culture, books, or even the scriptures themselves. I assert that, if Christians are not living by the Spirit of God, they are not living as Christians. They are paralyzed. The living dead. Useless to the body. Have Pentecostal scarecrows chased us out of this fertile field? It seems as if when the Holy Spirit comes up, people just want to talk about miracles and tongues. I'm talking about the normal Christian life. 
I'm going to be in New York for the next five days, so I wanted to leave some Biblical support for what I have been writing, and allow some time for thoughtful responses. Do you believe that the Holy Spirit can lead his people in clarity and truth? Most of you would say yes. But then, if someone has a word from the Lord there is a surge of skepticism. And for good reason. Most people want to run before they learn to walk. We have spiritual babies prophesying from their souls, soaking in the attention and money like the Pharisees. These zealous believers haven't matured enough to be trustworthy. However, we can't throw the concept out because of these people and just revert back to something more "solid," like a pastor or a book. We need to have our spiritual senses trained. It takes years. I am convinced that this is the greatest weakness of modern Christians. We want a human liaison. It feels safer. We need a pastor. The Jews wanted a king. The Roman Catholics want a pope. The body of Christ needs leaders, don't misunderstand. But these leaders are to be spiritual men, not human governments. We'll talk about church structure at length when we get there. THIS IS A KEY POINT: Spiritual things are accessed in the spirit and processed in the soul. The mind, emotions, and will are involved in this spiritual process, but we should not try to generate a connection to God in those places. Don't approach him emotionally in worship. Don't approach him intellectually in study. Don't start to act without hearing from him. Just be still. Listen. Then let your soul respond. (Jesus speaking to Pharisees) "And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life." John 5:37-40 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” And He answered and said to them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted." Matthew 13:10-11 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Matt 16:13-17 "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." John 14:21 “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” John 14:25-26 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.” John 16:12-13 As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. I John 2:27 (Paul writing about his credibility as a teacher) For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:11-12 This concept of revelation is where the Holy Spirit started with me. Until He was in complete charge of my learning, I could not take a step forward. Before 1997, my Christian life could be compared to a young boy grabbing a gun, putting on camos, and thinking he was in the army. After this, I actually had a commanding officer. For the first time, my spiritual life was active, challenging, and exciting.
God's Voice #3
Knowing God's love did a whole lot for my emotional stability, but very little for my Christian character. Growing up, I was always zealous and argumentative, but my zeal and personal Bible study seemed to have no effect against my arrogant, lustful nature. It was a constant point of frustration for me, especially after my experience on the mountain. My first year after college, I was reading a science fiction novel by C.S. Lewis called Perelandra. The book was set on Venus, but it was really about Adam and Eve. In one particular scene, the Devil character was having a conversation with the Eve character, playing on her naive, childish sensibilities to create a sense of bitterness and confusion between her and the God character. The problem was, I actually found myself agreeing with the Devil character. However, when I saw the inevitable result of his arguments, I realized the error of my thinking. It was then that God spoke to me. The message came just as clear and as moving as it had in High School. Wrong function comes from wrong beliefs. The reason you sin is not for lack of effort, but for lack of truth. In other words, I had weeds in the garden of my belief system, and I thought they were flowers. To settle this new dilemma, I decided to go through the entire Bible with a blue highlighter, marking every verse that had any meaning for me. Then I wrote those verses on 3X5 cards and stored them in plastic containers to be memorized. When it was time to start memorizing, I just grabbed a box. The first cards in the box started with I Corinthians 2, so that's where I started. For the next week or so, as my brain marinated in scripture, I found myself being directed in my understanding. The mental process went something like this (verses in italics): I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Wait . . . Paul came to Corinth in weakness, fear, and trembling? That’s not how I imagined him. Not in persuasive words of wisdom? Isn’t that what preaching is? Is Paul saying that if I persuade someone to faith with logic that their faith would rest on my wisdom and not on the power of God? Could our current method of preaching actually harm believers, making them dependent on the preachers? Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. What is this wisdom that Paul is referring to? Apparently it is something that mature believers understand and speak to one another. It is spoken in a mystery. It is hidden. It is predestined for the glory of believers—whatever that means. It is something that the world does not understand. Do I? But just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. I always thought these verses were about heaven, but apparently these “things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard” were revealed—past tense—by the Holy Spirit. Maybe these are the mysteries that Paul was talking about. Prepared for those who love him? That must be church, or certain people in the church. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. Man knows man. God knows God. If we want to know God, we have to learn about Him from the Spirit of God. He is given to us so that we might know God and acquire the things freely given to us by God. These “things” are what “eye has not seen and ear has not heard.” The hidden wisdom. Combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words? What is a spiritual thought? One that originates from the Spirit. What is a spiritual word? A spiritual thought released. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. “For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. People that do not have the Spirit of God will resist the hidden wisdom that the mature believers speak. It will sound like foolishness to them. They can’t even understand it. That would also make sense of the next few verses. First Paul quotes an Old Testament question: “Who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct him?” Exactly. Man does not know God. Then he answers the question with a powerful phrase: “But we have the mind of Christ.” Not we might have the mind of Christ. Not, with a little growth, we will develop a mind like Christ’s. No, we have the mind of Christ. Present tense. Through the Holy Spirit. Spiritual men are beyond reproof because their words and actions originate in God himself, therefore a natural man cannot judge them. Do we even believe this as a church? After so many false prophets and corrupt leaders, do we still believe that God can make us into people that are beyond reproach? I think that we have become like an abused woman that no longer believes in love, or a lawyer that has lost his belief in justice. Look at the current trends in our "emerging" church. Has our dependance on our minds and human leaders severed our spiritual spinal cord, causing us to lose our belief in absolute truth?
