Skip to main content

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.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more