The Word of God and the Bible

Over the last week or so I have been engaged in numerous online debates [mostly on Facebook] about Jesus being the “Word of God” [as opposed to the Bible], and Jesus being greater than the Scriptures.

Most of those arguing against these ideas are assuming [wrongly] that I take a low view of scripture. But that’s not at all what I’m saying.

My single aim is this: To point people to Jesus. If anything gets in the way of people knowing Jesus and following Jesus, then I am going to do my best to point it out and help people turn their faces and their hearts back to Jesus. 

For some Christians – not all of them – their Bible actually does get in their way. It takes the place in their hearts that should belong to Christ alone. 

But, more and more I am encountering brothers and sisters in Christ who cannot separate the book from the person that book points to.

Some have even flat-out argued that Jesus and the Bible are the same. Others have asked if there is more of God to know outside of the Bible, as if He could be bound in a book.

In response I have tried to point out that the Father gave Jesus a name that is above every name, [see Phil. 2:1-11]. If so, then wouldn't that also mean His name is above the Bible?

Now, I realize that if I simply wrote about how awesome Jesus was, most Christians would have no problem with any of that. The problem comes only when I dare to suggest that Jesus' awesomeness eclipses the Bible.

And that’s the problem, isn’t it?

Because Jesus affirms that He is greater than Solomon, and that He is greater than the Temple, and Jonah, Moses, Elijah, Jacob and Abraham.

All of that is presumably ok. [At least no one has challenged me on those claims yet].

But once I suggest that Jesus is greater than the book which was written by those guys and that points to Jesus, that, apparently, is going too far?

“Does this mean we should just throw out our Bibles?”

[I hear this all the time]

Short answer: No.

Longer answer: I think I've said this a few dozen times, and I am more than happy to say it again now: I will not, would not, could not, and do not suggest throwing out the scriptures.

I love the scriptures. I read them. I teach from them. I study them. I memorize them. I turn to them for guidance.

I value the scriptures. 

If you tried to come over to my house and take away my Bibles you would have to cut off my arms to get them away from me. 

Nowhere - not in this post, or in any of my blog articles, or in my books - never do I suggest that the Bible is worthless, or irrelevant, or that we should not read it or study it. 

That is not what I am saying.

Maybe that is part of our ongoing misunderstanding? When I say that Jesus is greater than the book, or that the Word of God became flesh and not paper and ink, what some keep hearing me say is: “The Bible is useless”.

For the record: I love, love, love, LOVE the scriptures because they point me to Jesus.

But I love Jesus a bazillion times more!

My relationship is not with a book. Even an amazing book like the Bible. 

My relationship is with Jesus. 

Yes, I would not know about Jesus if it wasn't for what I have read in scripture about Him. For that I am sincerely grateful. Very, very grateful.

But now that I DO know Jesus, I have a relationship with Him that is greater than my relationship with the book. 

That does not mean I do not continue to read or study the book. Because I do. All the time.

What it does mean is that Jesus is more amazing and mysterious and astounding than any book - even the Bible - can ever fully describe. 

Jesus is not the Bible. The Bible is not Jesus. 

Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. He came to dwell among us, and now He lives within us by His Spirit. 

I can hear His voice because He is the Good Shepherd and I am one of His sheep.

Does that mean I don't hear His voice through the Scriptures?

No, I do still hear His voice through the Scriptures.

But, I also hear His voice through the Holy Spirit.

I also hear His voice through other people, and sometimes through dreams, or through circumstances and events, and sometimes even music and art. 

Does any of that devalue the Bible?

No. I still value the Bible very much. [see above]

But none of that eclipses Christ Himself. He is not limited by any of those things but magnified.

-kg

The Incarnation of Love by Mary Emily Duba

The Incarnation – by which we mean “God coming to dwell with us in the person of Jesus” – is God’s radical act of peacemaking. God subverted every expectation humankind had for what peace would look like; what the Messianic expectation was. The people of Israel were expecting a warrior King. Someone who would come to save the people through a military victory over their enemies and rule as this righteous warrior King. God subverted their expectation by coming in the form of a vulnerable and dependent infant.


For Christians, peacemaking begins with the body of Christ; with this child Jesus who has subverted every expectation we have for what peace – “shalom” – will look like.


Shalom is this state where “all is well”; where people have access to the food they need, the healthcare they need, the opportunity for just relationships with one another and with God and with the Earth. It’s more than what we think of as “peace”. It’s more than a cease fire. More than a starry night and songs around the campfire. It’s something much more holistic. Much more grand and whole. It’s God’s vision for the Universe as He created it to be. So the work of peacemaking, the practice of peacemaking, really begins there.


It’s about imitating Christ who is “the revolutionary face of the God of nonviolence.” I love that because it really encapsulates that this person of Jesus, this reconciling activity that God is doing in Jesus, is more than what we could have expected. It subverts our inclinations towards violence. And it subverts our idolatry of fear. That we would raise our fears to a level of an idol. That we would need to respond violently because we are so afraid. Because violence does reign in our world. And that’s a reality that we can’t escape. But we have the opportunity as Christians to choose not to idolize our fear. To choose instead to worship the One God who made heaven and earth and who’s vision for us is “shalom”.


Jesus tells a parable about a woman who puts just a little bit of yeast into a bowl of many measures of flour – enough for many dozens of loafs of bread – and he says, “This is like the Kingdom of God”. 

So, I think about yeast as this tiny little speck of life, this little growth that, even though it is tiny it can give life and leaven to the whole batch. So, I like to think of our acts of peacemaking – the Body of Christ in the world – as this little bit of leaven that, as small as it may seem in a world that is so incredibly violent, in a world that is at war, it is enough and more. It will give life and leaven to the whole creation. God has promised that it will be so. That what is small – these daily acts of peacemaking; those moments where we chose to not to say what we might have said, not to send the email that might have damaged a relationship, not to retaliate when we are provoked –those seemingly small choices give life and leaven to the whole bowl of wheat; the whole batch of creation.


God does not come as a warrior king. God comes as a baby. God’s power is hidden under the signs of vulnerability. God comes in poverty. God comes to a young woman who had no status in the community. God’s glory is hidden in the ugliness of our lives. In places of violence, in places of suffering, God is there, hidden among us. This is the theology of the cross. That in the horror of the cross, in the violence, in the ugliness, and the weakness of a man stripped and beaten and hung to die there is something more powerful at work. Hidden under these signs of weakness is the glory of God.


So as Christians we refuse to take up what the world sees as signs of power. We refuse - we don’t always, we fall short in this - But we want to say, “We refuse to be oppressors. We refuse to be dominators. We refuse all of the signs in the world that make for power.” 

Instead we choose weakness. We choose vulnerability. We choose to love. To have our hearts broken. We chose this because we know that under those signs, in the manger, among the cattle, on the cross, among the poor, God is there. We are not afraid of being poor. We are not afraid of imprisoned. We are not afraid of standing on the side of those who are weak. We are not afraid to be with God’s little ones. Because there is vulnerability, there is the glory of God. Where there is suffering God’s peace is stronger. No matter how hidden it may seem. In death there is abundant life.


God has already done the radical, the subversive revolutionary act of peacemaking and reconciliation in Christ. God has made peace between Himself and Creation. There’s no bigger gulf than that. There’s no bigger disconnect than between the Divine and the Human. All we have to do is make peace among human beings. 

God has done the radical thing. We just have to live into that promise.


- Mary Emily Duba

Saved By Zero

 

I had an interesting dream the other night that was a combination of philosophy, theology and mathematics. I’ll do my best to communicate this in blog form but it might be something that works better as a live presentation or dialog. Let me know if this makes sense or not.

The philosopher Xeno had a theory which worked on paper (in theory) but was not possible to recreate in the real world. In essence, Xeno proved mathematically that it was impossible for any object to travel from point A to point B. In his example it was an arrow.

Xeno’s theory worked like this:

Before an arrow can travel the distance to the target, it must first travel half that distance. But before it can travel the half distance it has to first travel half of that distance also. In short, as each distance is cut in half, Xeno demonstrates that there is no measurement of distance that cannot be divided in half. Therefore, you’d have an infinite series of points that need to be crossed in order for the arrow to travel from the bow to the target.  (Google “Xeno’s Arrow” if you need help understanding this concept).

This theory is true mathematically, but to prove it false all you have to do is to fire the arrow and hit the target. Theorem refuted.

But not so fast. What Xeno actually proved is that there are some concepts which are true (actual infinites) but that do not exist in the physical reality we all live in. Xeno actually proved several things:

First, that actual infinites do exist (otherwise math would not work).

Second, that there are things that exist (because we can prove them mathematically or otherwise) but that do not exist in this world. Therefore there is a world outside of this one where these concepts or truths do exist.

Thirdly, that since actual infinites do not exist in the physical reality, our universe is not infinite. (This means that our universe had an actual beginning and is not eternal).

The simplest way to express Xeno’s arrow is to draw a number line. This is where you have a line with zero in the center which counts upward from positive one leading towards infinity on the right, and counting backward from negative one towards infinity on the left. The end of each line has an arrow which indicates that the numbers (both positive and negative) extend outward into infinity.

This number line exists on the page, and it exists theoretically in mathematics, but it does not exist in our actual world. In other words, you could not ever hand me an actual number line in the real world. No one can actually produce one, even though it can be proven to exist theoretically.

With me so far? Ok, here’s where I’m going to get theological.

If we think of Infinity as God, then we can look at this from two different perspectives – Either this proves that God exists or it proves that God does not exist.

For example, if you take the perspective that God does not exist then you might be tempted to say that since an actual Infinite cannot exist in this reality (or Universe) then God does not exist. In other words, I can demonstrate on paper that an actual Infinite exists mathematically, but I could also draw a Leprechaun on a piece of paper and that wouldn't prove that they are real.

However, you could also take the perspective that God does not exist in this physical reality (or is not limited to or limited by this reality) but that His existence can be proven mathematically (since without this concept of an actual Infinite our mathematical calculations would not be true).

Now, let’s mentally turn our number line from left to right into an up and down line, with the negative line going up into heaven and the positive line pointing down towards the Earth. (There’s a reason why I don’t turn it the other way but I’ll explain that in a moment).

If we think of the Spiritual realm as being the negative infinite side of our number line and the positive infinite side as physical reality, then I have a theological thought to share.

When the Apostle’s Paul and  John were talking about the incarnation of Jesus, they were doing math. (Stay with me here).

John says in his Gospel (see chapter one of John) that “In the beginning was the Word (that’s Jesus) and the Word was with God [that is an actual infinite], and the Word was God [or, Jesus was equal to infinity]…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” [And the question is, “How?”]

Paul says this in Philippians:

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ, Jesus, who, being in very nature God, [that is, being equal to Infinity] did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing [or, Jesus became Zero] by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness [that is, became a positive one on the number line.]”

Jesus was equal to Infinity (or God), and we already know that our reality cannot contain an actual Infinite object, or being. Therefore, the only way for God (the actual Infinite) to approach the positive reality was to empty Himself of Infinity and become Zero.

Jesus emptied Himself of Infinity to become zero and by His own admission Jesus could do nothing on His own, but only what He saw the Father doing. [See John 5:19; 5:30; 12:49-50; 14:24; 14:31]

Here’s where it gets tricky. Zero does exist in our reality. It is possible to create an object which contains an absolute vacuum and is therefore, literally, full of nothing, or zero.

Unless of course you want to argue that even that vacuum isn’t full of nothing because space is something. In fact, you’d be right about that since at the subatomic level, every atom is 99 percent empty space. So, even solid objects are literally full of (mostly) nothing.

I’m not sure if that makes any sense to anyone other than myself, but it was the idea that woke me up this morning about 3 a.m. and I had to write it down.

Love to hear your thoughts about this if you have any.

 

 

 

-kg