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of understanding the Divine, we will
approach the text as terra incognita,
unknown and even frightening in its possible
demands upon us. For who dare assume that
they fully understand the words of God in
every dimension? If I were to feel that more
deeply, then I would not start reading Luke 15
with the attitude that ?Ah Luke 15, yeah I
know all about this?.
Openness to Change
One reason the text doesn?t change us may
simply be because we don?t want to be
changed. One could be forgiven for thinking
that a lot of people go to church exactly
because they don?t like the change they see
around them- their own ageing process, the
change of society further and further away
from the safe environment [as they perceive
it] which they recall from their childhood.
And institutionalized religion is very often a
safe place, with an atmosphere and smell
which is at least 20 years behind the present.
And we who are in some way involved with
such organizations? lament our personal lack
of change in response to the dynamism of
God?s word? Could the fault not be within us?
One form this takes is our way of assuming we
understand the text. Because we consider we
?have the Truth? in terms of having a valid
relationship with the Lord Jesus and hope of
eternity, we can too easily assume that
therefore we fully understand every word in
the Bible. But that doesn?t follow. And yet
that impression is probably behind a phrase I
hear too often in Biblical discussion, when
someone asks a question about the meaning
of a verse: ?Ah but doesn?t it simply mean
that??, and then some moral platitude or
well agreed doctrinal truth is stated. This is
reductionism, bringing the text down to a
simplistic interpretation of what it ?simply
means?. The same left brain approach can be
seen in a desire to interpret the elements of
the tabernacle or parables in a simplistic
?this equals that? approach. The idea is very
much ?Now write that interpretation in your
margin next to that verse, and go on to the
next verse - and do the same?. And so the
live, wild tiger dynamism of God?s Spirit as it
is in His word is tamed down to some
simplistic and trite form of words - human
words.
Read the Text for Yourself
That might sound obvious. But increasingly,
people are reading not so much the Bible
text, but about the Bible, ever enthusing
about the latest ?absolutely awesome? book
they read. The ultimately awesome book is
the Bible, not some nicely wordsmithed book
about the Bible. If you ?get nothing out of?
the Bible text, re-read it, pray for under-
standing, re-read it? and the most amazing
things will come out of it to you. And as Harry
Tennant used to say about Bible study, no
jewel shines so brightly as the one you find
yourself. One of those ?finds? can last a life-
time; whereas what you read in those
?awesome? books will likely be forgotten by
you? next week, and surely by next month.
God forbid that our relationship with Him
should boil down to reading one of those
?awesome? books about spirituality or about
His word? whilst His own word remains
unopened, our engagement with whatever
we read about it dependent upon our
dimming memories of the Bible text we read
years ago. You may like to read the text in
another language, if you know another one.
Or in other versions. Or copy it out, making a
summary of it. Read it out loud, mime it. Ask
questions of the text. These are all things I
have tried and can commend, but mere tech-
nique alone will not compensate for the
correct attitudes to God?s word.
Asking Questions
Asking the right questions is perhaps the most
important thing in practice. Our pre-under-
standing can stop us asking them because we
fear going out of our comfort zone, we fear
new interpretations, and the whole idea of
asking questions suggests that we do not in
fact know the absolute truth about all of
God?s word. We know the truth of Christ, and
by grace have sure hope of the Kingdom. But
Editorial | Reading the Bible again for the first time