Unfold

The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. (Psalm 119:130) 

          Why can’t we just read the Bible? Why does the writer use a term like unfold instead of read? It seems rather arrogant. Our relationship with God is between God and us as individuals, we aren’t supposed to need someone to explain it to us. That’s what the Reformation was about – in part – our having Scripture in our own languages, and having a relationship with God that doesn’t involve the intrusion of some priest.

          First, consider a map. In order to see the whole map, you have to unfold it, and in order to use it, you will likely have to refer to more than one part of it. If the information you’re seeking isn’t on the map you have, you may have to use a second map and compare maps. You don’t get the big picture without unfolding the map, just as you don’t get the whole picture of what Scripture says by looking at one or two verses.

          One of the common errors we make is to think we can understand Scripture apart from the meaning it would have had in the time it was written. A great example of this is the command that we are to love one another. Today, we’re told that “love is love,” but would it be appropriate for me to love you the way I love pizza?  Is it appropriate for us to love one another as pedophiles say they love children?  When I’ve mentioned this last to people, I’ve been told that pedophiles don’t love children. They use and abuse children. I agree. But if “love is love,” then anyone who claims that something is love, how can we say otherwise?

          This doesn’t mean that we can’t read Scripture and gain wisdom by ourselves. It’s not a suggestion we should go back to teaching that only a priest can understand the Bible, but we do need to be careful to check the whole map. We need to make the effort to discover what we can about what it meant at the time it was written.

          There is another sense in which the unfolding of Scripture is a vital issue. Psalm 119 was probably written before 1000 BC. Jesus had not come yet. There were, therefore, things written that hadn’t taken place. As they took place, the map changed – sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. God’s Word was unfolded through the ages. There are things Scripture describes as coming. We will see what happens - we will be given light - as those events unfold.