By “bits” I’m referring to all of the little items of Scripture: particular person narratives, prophecies, legal guidelines, psalms, proverbs, in addition to the verses in our devotional guides or those who function the main focus for our sermons. What we do with them principally displays our hermeneutic. The default mannequin that many use is pushed by the query, “What does this imply to me?” Once more that query might pertain to the seek for some religious motivation, however may additionally discover solutions in connection to our causes, our theology, our science, our politics, or our seek for the need of God for our lives.
The mannequin that I most frequently discover within the church for coping with the bits, then, is that we need to take every bit, and drop it into the “me field.” We assume that since we imagine that Scripture is God’s phrase, and since we imagine each bit is impressed, then every bit should have relevance to me personally. That displays the hermeneutic that most individuals have. Sadly, this method is commonly primarily based on the springboard concept or a haphazard mannequin of biblical authority, quite than searching for to be tethered to deciphering the text-in-context.
We don’t present respect for God’s phrase by dropping all of the bits into the me-box if that’s not how Scripture is meant to work. I might remind us that the Bible is written for us, however to not us, however as necessary as that’s, that also doesn’t assist us to reply the query, “how is it for us?” The entire bits are necessary, however what are we presupposed to do with them?
As an alternative of dropping them into the me-box, we needs to be taking each and pushing it up into the God-box. The biblical textual content is telling God’s story, and every bit contributes to the composite story. It’s by means of that story that we come to know the plans and functions of God and what it means to suppose in godly methods. That’s the stage at which the textual content turns into related to us. Our response to Scripture is that we discover our place in God’s story—that we learn the way we should take part within the plans and functions of God and the way to suppose as God’s folks.
