Study + Revelation

John 14:26, "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 have said to you."

A couple of weeks ago I reached 1,000 blog posts. I held a mini celebration. Not really...the day sort of passed me actually. I just happened to look at the counter to realize that this milestone had come and gone. It's been an interesting journey. I started this blog as a way to stay connected with my Pioneer family, to hash out my own thoughts on spirituality, and as a means to bring encouragement into the lives of those seeking the Truth. I will be the first to say that I'm not pleased with every post. In fact, I've considered going back through them and deleting the ones that don't agree with where I am in my thinking. However, I've chosen to leave them alone. A memorial to the journey. A reminder that the Lord is continually teaching us.

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things. Have you ever considered the implications of that statement? I grew up in a church environment that was very Bible heavy. The belief was that the Word of God, aka the Bible, was the complete revelation of God. We were told to study it, memorize it, and apply it. All that we believed was based upon this collection of writings. While I understand it, and honor the place the Bible holds in our faith, these statements in and of themselves fall way short in grasping what the Lord is wanting to teach us. The Holy Spirit is our teacher. He will use the Bible. But the complete revelation of God is found in a person. The person of Jesus.

I believe what Scripture says about itself. That it is good (profitable) for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. It's not the Scriptures that I question but our handling of them. Much like my journey with this blog, we must leave room for revelation, for enlightenment, room for the Holy Spirit to bring His understanding into the equation. Church history is filled with stories of men and women who lived in that tension. Men and women who were willing to be taught by the Spirit of God. While they honored the faith traditions set before them, they were willing to go deeper. To study. To listen to the Holy Spirit. To allow the Lord to reveal Himself.

What I have come to believe is that the Word of God is not a book. The Word of God is a person. Jesus, Himself, is the Word made flesh. The Bible reveals Him, but the Bible is not Him. Most people don't even realize that the Bible does not call itself the Word of God. Most people don't understand that a lot of the attributes we give to this collection of writings are not things that it has declared itself to be. The Bible is a collection of writings. A collection of the Hebrew Scriptures, Hymns, Poems, and History of Israel. A collection of the Gospels, early church history, and letters to the early church. All important. All necessary in understanding the origin and practices of our faith. All profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training. It's not the Word of God, but it contains the words of God.

So how do we proceed? How do we gain insight into the faith? How do we unravel the mysteries of life and the nature of the Father? It all happens within an encounter with the person of Jesus - the living Word. Allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us, reveal to us, and remind us of all that He has said about Himself. Giving Him the opportunity to define the Father for us, to understand the Scriptures that He inspired, and to come to a greater understanding of who we are in Him. This type of life allows for a growing revelation of the Lord. Study + Revelation. Taking us deeper into His heart. Recognizing that faith isn't just something that can be mapped out, charted, and simply explained. It is something experienced, caught rather than taught, and is real and abiding. We need the living Word, active and alive among us.

I believe 98% of our theological errors can be fixed by understanding the finished work of Christ. The other 2% could be fixed by a good word study. Wrapped up in the finished work of Christ is the true nature of the Father. The true nature of who we are in Him. The plan and purpose of God for all of creation. We desperately need this. To grasp the goodness and love of our Father. To be still and just know Him. The word study I suggest for the other 2% is just a way for us to understand the original language. There's a lot of error in our thinking because we haven't done the work. We have allowed our limited English understanding dominate certain words in the Bible. Because of that, we are creating doctrines based upon some flawed concepts. We have too many resources available to us to be stuck in someone else's misunderstandings.

This type of growth is not embraced by everyone. Some people see the faith as something that has been passed on perfectly. Therefore, we just carry on what has been passed down to us. Good or bad. We have somehow forgotten that the church, and the faith that we carry, has gone through a lot of changes over the centuries. From Orthodoxy to Catholicism to Protestantism. From 500 years before there was a completed Bible translation to where we are today with more translations than we know what to do with. Lots of changes. While much of what the early church carried has endured, we have also embraced the greater revelations the Holy Spirit has provided.

Pay attention to this quote from St. Augustine:
"Accordingly, when anyone claims, 'Moses meant what I say,' and another retorts, 'No, rather what I find there,' I think that I will be answering in a more religious spirit if I say, 'Why not both, if both are true?' And if there is a third possibility, and a fourth, and if someone else sees an entirely different meaning in these words, why should we not think that he was aware of all of them?"
Augustine, Confessions 12.31.42

Something to consider in the midst of our dogmatic thinking.
Imagine a living faith. A growing faith. A faith that brings with it a revelation of the Living Word. A greater understanding of the who the Father is, and who we are in Him. Study + Revelation = just that.

Enjoy the journey!