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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