Sunday, April 5, 2009

Bibliolatry (Part 2): Tearing Down Our Idols

By David Ryser & Tim Speer

The preacher held up his Bible and thundered, “You can stand on the Word of God!”

I am blessed...and cursed...with an over-active imagination.  As the preacher dramatically made his point, I could not help but picture myself standing on my Bible.  Why would anyone stand on a Bible?  I thought it would be an excellent way to ruin a perfectly good Bible.

Actually, there is a great deal of truth in that thought.

The Bible was not written so we could stand on it.  This is true spiritually as well as physically.  The Bible itself tells us that it is not our foundation. Jesus Himself, and only Jesus, is our foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11).

So how is it we find ourselves standing on a book?

From the earliest times of the Protestant Reformation, the majority of people who identify themselves as Christians have been People of the Book.  The Bible is one of Luther’s two pillars of the Christian faith:  sole fide, sola scriptura (By faith alone; by scripture alone).  A common faith in Jesus and a belief in the Bible as God’s Word were supposed to unify all Christians.  A common faith in Jesus certainly unites all Christians.

So why are there thousands of Protestant denominations?

Denominationalism is not a new thing.  The apostle Paul had to deal with a primitive version of this problem (1 Corinthians 1:12).  But we have taken denominationalism to a much higher level.  Why are there so many denominations if we all agree that we must place our faith in Jesus and that the Bible is the Word of God?

Because we can’t agree on what the Book says.

If we were standing on Christ, we would be much more unified.  We are divided because we are standing on the Bible.  And we can’t agree on what the Bible says.  Our differences over interpreting the Bible have justified division, in our minds, because we have made the Bible the foundation of our faith.

We have put the Bible in the place of God.  We have become bibliolaters.

Setting up idols in the place of God is not a recent development.  Biblical examples abound.  One such example involves the bronze serpent that Moses was commanded to make during a plague of poisonous snakes among the people (Numbers 21:8, 9).  The people afflicted with the snake bites were told to look upon the bronze serpent.  Those who did so were healed.  The bronze serpent was used as a tool by God to bring healing and deliverance to His people.

What a blessing.  Or was it?

The people of Israel kept the bronze serpent as a reminder of the healing miracle God had performed in the wilderness.  They even had a name for it:  Nehushtan.  Over time, Nehushtan went beyond being a reminder of what God had done.  It was put in the place of God.  The people of God began to worship Nehushtan, and it had to be destroyed (2 Kings 18:4).

What God had done came to be equated with God Himself.  We can make an idol of anything.  Even the Bible.

Too many of us have put the Bible in the place of Jesus.  We have become bibliolaters.  But what can we do?  How can we tear down this idol?  We cannot--we must not--destroy the scriptures.  The Bible is the living Word of God (Hebrews 4:12).  It is His written expression of Himself.  It will not pass away until it is fulfilled (Matthew 5:17, 18) and we are living eternally in the presence of Jesus.

We need the Bible.  But we must use it lawfully.

We need to understand that the Bible is not Jesus.  The Bible is a sign that points the way to God.  It tells us where we are going and how to get there.

But it is not our destination.

Imagine you are traveling along the road and come upon a man who is clinging to a road sign.  The sign reads:  St. Louis 50.  You stop to assist the man.  You ask him, “Are you ok?”  With a big smile, he answers, “Oh, yes!  I’m so blessed!  I’ve found St. Louis!”

You begin to suspect the man is deranged.

You try to convince him that he has found a road sign pointing to St. Louis, but that he is not yet in the city.  An argument ensues.  You ask, “But if that’s St. Louis, what does the ‘50’ mean?”  He answers, “Maybe it’s his age.”

You get back into your car, lock the doors, and go on your way.  But you don’t tear down the sign.

We need to listen to what the Bible says about itself.  The apostle Paul tells us that “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6).  The Bible assists us in finding God, but we must find Him if we are going to receive His life and salvation.  We can be people of the Book without being people of the Spirit.

We need to be both.

If we are not careful, we will become like the young lady who is head-over-heels in love with her fiancé.  And he loves her.  He writes to her every day.  She treasures his passionate love letters and never tires of reading them over and over.  One day he comes to visit her.  She is in another part of the house reading his letters.  Try as he might, he cannot coax her out of her room to be with him.

After a time, he leaves.

She has missed out on spending time with the love of her life.  Why?  Why couldn’t she have put the letters down for a few minutes and spent time with her fiancé?  Could it be that she has fallen in love with his letters?

There is a time for reading…and there is a time for fellowship.  Both.  Each in its time.

We must be careful about what we give ourselves to.  We will contend for the thing we love. Are we passionate about a movement or a ministry?  Have we given ourselves to a teaching?

What do we love?

We are called to be the Bride of Christ, not the Bride of the Bible.  If we are betrothed to Jesus, but give ourselves to anything else, what does that say about us?  There are not over 30,000 denominations because we are divided over Jesus.  There are over 30,000 denominations because we are divided over the Book.

We are contending passionately for a book.  We have given ourselves to a book.  What does that make us?

Adulteresses.

The Bible isn’t the problem.  The condition of our heart is the problem.  We need to tear down the idol in our heart.

Read the Bible.  Cherish God’s written Word.  Receive its instruction.

But love only Him.

By the way, have you ever wondered how Peter, John, Paul, and the other early Christians loved God and did mighty works in the name of Jesus…without the New Testament?

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

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