Mathew 5:17-20
17 “Do not think that I have come to
abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to
fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and
earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass
from the law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore,
whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others
to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does
them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For
I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and
Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
I have to admit, this is the one topic in this series that I
have actually been looking forward to preaching on, because of all the pithy
little sayings that Matt and I have been looking at, this one to me, is the
most troublesome.
I think next week's topic (Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin) is
the most difficult, so I am happy that I left that one for Matt to take a stab
at.
But this week we focus on that statement that really came
into vogue in the 60's and 70's as the whole issue of the inerrancy of the
bible became a major concern.
This was a uniquely North American
issue
It was promoted through a number of gospel recordings that presented
the idea that God Said It, I Believe it, That Settles it.
Del Delker recorded a version that
many people today still enjoy, but it was the Heritage Singers in 1976 who had
the biggest hit with the song.
The chorus goes:
God said it and I believe it
and that settles it for me
God said it and I believe it
and that settles it for me
Though some may doubt that His
word is true
I've chosen to believe it, now how
about you?
God said it and I believe it
And that settles it for me
In the fall of 1978, a group of conservative - evangelical
Christians gathered in Chicago, in response to the historical critical method
of Biblical scholarship that was rapidly becoming more and more popular with
Biblical Scholars.
This gathering in Chicago produced what came to be known as
the Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy.
This eight-page document was signed by more than 200 evangelical leaders
with the aim of defend the position of Biblical inerrancy against a perceived
trend toward contextual understandings of Scripture.
In the preface to the document they write:
The authority of Scripture is a key
issue for the Christian Church in this and every age. Those who profess faith
in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are called to show the reality of their
discipleship by humbly and faithfully obeying God’s written Word. To stray from
Scripture in faith or conduct is disloyalty to our Master. Recognition of the
total truth and trustworthiness of Holy Scripture is essential to a full grasp
and adequate confession of its authority.
The following Statement affirms
this inerrancy of Scripture afresh, making clear our understanding of it and
warning against its denial. We are persuaded that to deny it is to set aside
the witness of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit and to refuse that
submission to the claims of God’s own Word which marks true Christian faith. We
see it as our timely duty to make this affirmation in the face of current lapses
from the truth of inerrancy among our fellow Christians and misunderstanding of
this doctrine in the world at large.
I remember clearly when this statement came out.
I was a student in college and was taking a Bible as
Literature course and we had a lively discussion about this proclamation.
It is easy to understand how one could move from this
statement to: God Said It, I Believe it, That Settles it.
The most common Biblical reference that is used to explain
this position is found in the 2 Letter to Timothy that has incorrectly been credited
to Paul.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (New Revised Standard Version)
All scripture is inspired by God
and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped
for every good work.
I bet many of you are familiar with those verses.
But something interesting to note:
At the time of its composition there was no New Testament.
By the time of Paul's death, the
only parts of the Bible we had was what we often call the Old Testament --- and
even that was not yet codified.
The Gospels, Acts, Revelation and
many of the letters were not written yet; so they could hardly be referred to
in this letter.
Even among the Jewish community there was not consensus on
what was to become the Hebrew Scriptures.
Some argued for the prophets and writings, along with the Torah --- but
others --- did not see them as authoritative.
For some groups only the Torah was considered
inspired by God.
Paul, as a Pharisees, would have seen the prophets and the
writings as authoritative; so it is possible that when he wrote "all
scripture is inspired by God" he might have been referring to them in
response to these other groups.
But another question remains --- what does the author mean
by INSPIRED?
Adam Hamilton writes:
In Greek this phrase is just one
word, theopneustos. It appears nowhere else in the Bible, nor as
far as we know in other ancient literature, prior to Paul's use of the word
here. It comes from two words: theo, which means God, and pneustos, which refers to breath, wind,
or spirit. . . . We can say for certain Paul believed in some sense all the
sacred writings were influenced by God. Precisely
how, we can only speculate.
The question remains --- does inspired mean God actually
said it?
Think about
that for a second
If you believe that the bible is the inerrant word of God
--- that everything in it is what God proclaimed --- let me as you a couple of
questions.
How do you feel about bathrooms in a church?
I am pretty convinced that someone
on the original building committee was a literalist
In Deuteronomy you find this interesting passage:
Deuteronomy 23:12-14 (The Message)
Mark out an area outside the camp
where you can go to relieve yourselves. Along with your weapons have a stick
with you. After you relieve yourself, dig a hole with the stick and cover your
excrement. God, your God, strolls through your camp; he’s present to deliver
you and give you victory over your enemies. Keep your camp holy; don’t permit
anything indecent or offensive in God’s eyes.
I think that our building committee wasn't too sure that one
should go to the bathroom inside the church, hence why there were so few
bathrooms in the original building.
It is easy to see how this passage --- taken literally ---
could lead one to the conclusion that bathrooms are not allowed inside the
church.
What are some other thing we would need to make sure we don't
do
·
Don't wear blended fabrics or sow two different seeds
in your fields (Leviticus 19:19)
·
eliminate pork and shrimp from your diet
(Leviticus 11:7-12)
·
don't trim the edges of your beard (Leviticus
19:27)
·
Children who curse or strike their parents or
who are persistently rebellious should be put to death (Exodus 21:15 &
Deuteronomy 21:18-21)
·
Don't mow your yard or clean your house on
Saturdays (the Sabbath), or you can be put to death (Exodus 35:2)
·
For women, if you are not a virgin when you
marry, the men of your town are to stone you to death (Deut 22:21)
And I could go on and on --- but I think you get the point.
Is there anyone here who, as I read those prohibitions thought
to themselves: God Said It, I Believe it, That Settles it?
I kind of doubt it --- BUT --- I know what the response is
--- these are all in the Old Testament and we are not bound by the Old
Testament
Have you heard that one before?
What about when Jesus says this in Matthew?
Matthew 5:17-20 (New Revised Standard Version)
“Do not think that I have come to
abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and
earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the
law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of
these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in
the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be
called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your
righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter
the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus doesn’t seem to be suggesting that the Hebrew law is
no longer valid --- instead a literal understanding is that we are to keep all
613 laws of the Hebrew Bible.
But even Jesus never seemed to interpret the law in a God
Said It, I Believe it, That Settles it, kind of way.
He often gave his own, unique interpretations to some of the
laws found in the Hebrew Bible.
Like Jesus, we are called to interpret the bible
·
How many of us believe that women should be
silent in the church?
·
Or submissive to their husbands?
Yet both of those are in the New Testament
Slavery was justified through the quoting of scripture
I doubt that there are many who really believe that God Said
It, I Believe it, That Settles it
We all
interpret scripture
My problem with people who tend to use the phrase: God Said
It, I Believe it, That Settles it, is that it is often used to beat up others.
I have never heard a person quote the Shema:
Mark 12:29-32
(NRSV)
‘Hear, O Israel:
the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your
strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
And add to it the tag: God Said It,
I Believe it, That Settles it
I also don't believe that it is how the authors of our
biblical texts understood what they were doing.
As I have studied the scriptures, what I have come to
understand is that the writers did not claim that God was dictating to them ---
instead they were writing their own understanding, insights and interpretations
regarding the will of God.
The other day, a friend posted a picture of this scripture
on FaceBook.
2 Timothy
4:3-4 (Living Bible)
For there is going to come a time
when people won’t listen to the truth but will go around looking for teachers
who will tell them just what they want to hear. They won’t listen to what the Bible says but will blithely follow their
own misguided ideas.
It of course created a lively discussion.
Mainly how wayward most people had become.
Unfortunately, one of the key words in this quote isn't even
in the original text. And that word is
BIBLE. "They won’t listen to what the
Bible says", The word Bible isn't there.
And that additional word changes the meaning of the text.
The picture was quoting the Living Bible which is a
paraphrase and not a word for word translation.
A more accurate translation would be:
2 Timothy 4:3-4 (New Revised Standard Version)
For the time is coming when people
will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will
accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn
away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.
Hearing that, you can see one of the problems is that the
Bible itself is a translation, and unless we can read and comprehend ancient
Hebrew and Greek we can never fully know just how good (or accurate) any
translation really is.
I read the Bible to hear God speak through it --- I try to
listen between the lines and understand the context in which a particular story
was written.
I interpret
Sometimes
I do a good job interpreting,
Sometimes
I probably don't do as well
But the bottom line for me is --- the Bible is not God ---
it is, quoting Paul in his letter to the Corinthians --- "a mirror through
which we see dimly"
A.J. Jacobs and Rachel Held Evans both tried to spend a year
living the bible literally. Taking every
command and decree seriously and applying it to their lives.
Neither was
very successful
What both of them came to realize is that we all pick and
choose the scriptures we hold near and dear --- the important thing --- is to
pick the right things.
The Bible is a life giving book, and I believe we need to
spend more time in study and interpretation of what it means to our lives
today.
I don't have all the right answers. But I am willing to join others on the
journey of discovery.
As I was working on this sermon, I came across a Peanuts comic
strip that has hung on my bulletin board at home for years.
For me it is a great reminder
It is my prayer that you join me on the journey of
experiencing God.
Adam Hamilton suggests that instead of: God Said It, I
Believe it, That Settles it; maybe we should try:
God influenced it, I read, study,
and sometimes wrestle with it. And as I
interpret it in the light of Jesus Christ, I hear God speak through it and seek
to live its words as best I can.
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