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Eager minds have laboured
lovingly and long in the study of the Bible. Who would seek to
discourage anyone from such enquiry ? Yet when we see below the
surface, and realise that there is a definite difference between
a study of the Bible and the study of the Scriptures, we long to
point out the way more excellent. Bible students are not
sufficiently concerned to throw off preconceived notions arising
from the environment in which they have been nurtured; they have
been to men's schools, and they continue to go there, even
though they may be seeking to give more earnest attention to
God's Word.
QUALIFIED STUDY
In general, very few even
realize that the Scriptures require qualified workers to handle
them. They must be correctly partitioned if we are to get the
truth. This cannot be done unless we definitely seek to know how
God partitions His ways in His dealings with the universe, as He
operates to bring it to His ultimate. If we think, when God
mentions pardon in certain connections, this is the same as
justification, then we cannot hope to reach any semblance of the
correct partitioning which is necessary before we can apprehend
the truth of the Scriptures. So also, if we take the evangel
heralded by the Lord before His death upon the cross to be the
same as that given to the apostle Paul, which is distinctly
founded upon His death, there can be little expectation of our
getting the truth.
BIBLE DIVISIONS INCORRECT
In connection with this
question of correctly partitioning the word of truth, we should
remark that the Bible has assumed a form which clouds our view;
it comes to us divided into two sections, termed the Old and New
Testaments. This ready-made division misdirects study in the
initial stage. It is not easily seen that the ministries
recorded in the four so-called "gospels" are addressed to the
descendants of the same people as those addressed in the Old
Testament; that they are announcing matters which are the
outcome of what was previously revealed, that the situation
developed in the history of the Kings and the Prophets is to be
rectified by the One Who does His heralding in the cities of
Israel, calling them to repentance. Nor does the subject change
in Acts, except that it adds one more crime to the catalogue;
that book continues the beginning made by Israel's Messiah. But
the activities of the Twelve are gradually removed from
Jerusalem, and eventually recede into the background. The circle
of the Twelve is broken by Herod.
GOD'S DIVISION CORRECT
It is at this juncture that
God introduces a radical change; from the prophets and teachers
at Antioch God severs Saul and Barnabas. This is God's
initial move to turn away from the ways which were dominated by
His promises to Israel. God is turning to the nations to whom He
sends an evangel based, not on the life of Christ, but on
His death and resurrection. In doing so, God is
reverting to conditions anterior to the introduction of
circumcision; He goes back to Abraham in uncircumcision to find
correspondences for what He is revealing through Paul. A clear
and full view will throw into bold relief the epistles arising
through this one named Saul, but now called Paul. We shall see
that the partitioning must not be between Malachi and Matthew,
as is done in the Bible, but rather at the end of Acts, when God
distinctly announces that the evangel is now sent to the
nations. The group of writings to which Paul's name is attached
is God's great division in the Scriptures for the present
economy in which Israel is cast aside. The remaining books of
the so-called New Testament are the links leading to the book of
Revelation, which introduces the day of the Lord, spoken of so
much by the prophets of old. That unveiling brings to
fulfillment the ministry of the Lord and the Twelve.
An intelligent survey looks at
the Scriptures as a whole, noting God's divisions into books
rather than the verses of our Bible. It notes to whom God
addresses His message at each particular point in the course of
revelation. It seeks to discover the scope of each book, and
then places it in the proper category. It does not look for
verses which seem to agree with notions previously conceived
without qualified investigation of the Scriptures.
A PATTERN OF SOUND WORDS
We should realise that the
prime necessity, if we desire a thorough understanding of the
Scriptures, is to remove from our minds the question that any of
our ideas are beyond question. It is also required that we have
a pattern of sound words, and this demands that we query all
translations of the Scriptures which have not been based on a
system which gives the soundness and regular usage of words.
The realisation of this
requirement is perhaps the greatest advance that can accrue to
our outlook on the task before us. It will make us alert to the
vital value of the scriptural words, and should cause us to see
that we require no contexts conceived from outside sources. And,
together with an understanding of the question of correct
partitioning, we ought readily to realise that contexts are
all-important, and must not be ignored.
CONTEXTS AND VERSES
Few of the saints have tried
sufficiently to free themselves from the baneful habit of fixing
upon a verse which seems to agree with a conclusion they desire
to prove as truth. We should strive to realise that our study is
still controlled, in some degree at least, by such influence. We
need constantly to pray for the wise and revealing spirit to
enlighten the eyes of our heart, and rid us of the context of
our misconceptions. The following may serve as a concrete
example.
MY FATHER'S HOUSE
We read that, "In my Father's
house are many mansions" (John 14:2). Here we have a verse which
is usually divorced from its setting. Generations of expositors
of the Bible have been under the misconception that in this
utterance of our Lord He was referring to heaven and that
the words indicated blessings to be enjoyed therein. Such an
idea is but an assumption, for it has no agreement with the
scope of the Master's teaching. It would require much more than
an isolated text, spoken in the last hours of His ministry, to
establish such a conclusion; for there is not the least doubt
that He came heralding the kingdom of God promised to Israel
through the Hebrew prophets. All of His pronouncements were in
accord therewith, and He never went outside the scope of the
promises already made, which were to find their fulfilment on
the earth and within the land defined in the records of God's
dealings and ways with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their
descendants.
PAUL'S MINISTRY UNIQUE
The inference, here examined,
is sometimes used in an effort to show that Paul's ministry was
not exclusive in announcing blessings in heaven, and that hence
Paul's teachings are but an elaboration of His Master's words.
Those saints whose minds and faith have penetrated into the
details of Paul's ministry can never be persuaded by such
arguments, for they have seen God's ways with Paul; they have
perceived how unique is the evangel given to him, and how it
differs diametrically from that of the apostles. Moreover they
have learned that the two ministries differ, not only in fact,
but because the basis of the evangel heralded by the Lord, and
continued by the twelve, requires Israel to be established
on earth, whereas Paul's ministry calls for Israel's
defection. The object of the two evangels is radically
different. Yet each contributes to God's ultimate for the
universe.
HEAVEN NOT PROMISED BY CHRIST
Those saints whose minds have
been able to rise above the methods usual to Bible study see
very clearly, not only the falseness of the proposition, but
also that it ignores the immediate context of the verse, and the
larger context of John's gospel. The latter definitely prohibits
the thought of any heavenly destiny for the sons of Israel. This
chapter of John's account says nothing of heaven; in fact, the
word does not even occur in the conversation between Christ and
His disciples, yet teachers from their own traditions inject it
into the discourse, and seem unwilling to let the context colour
the verse. A realisation of this will show us that the latter is
in fullest agreement with the scope of the whole book. The word
heaven occurs nineteen times, and in every instance except one
it refers to details concerning the Lord Jesus Himself, but
never once is the word used to indicate blessing in heaven. The
one exception tells us that no man has ascended into heaven
(John 3:13).
HEAVEN NOT A HOUSE
The Master's use of the words
"My Father's House" could not possibly give the disciples the
impression that He was speaking of heaven. To them God's house
was the temple on Moriah. In this gospel it is recorded that
Christ, when going into this sanctuary, and finding it being
used for the purpose of selling oxen, etc. and the changing of
money, referred to it as "My Father's House". It is in this
house that the Master promises to make ready a place for the
disciples. And in the course of the discussion the method by
which this was possible is introduced. The disciples did not
understand that Christ's departure from them was to be by means
of His crucifixion. Nor did they apprehend the necessity for His
death, and what it would accomplish. Christ is telling them that
His death was to make ready for them a place in His Father's
house, to which they could lay no claim on other grounds.
The picture presented to the
minds of the disciples by the Father's house with abodes, not
"mansions", becomes the basis of a revelation that the Father
and the Son will also, because of the Son's departure from them,
make their abode in the disciples. We ought to take
notice that the conversation starts in chapter thirteen and
proceeds through chapters fourteen, fifteen and sixteen,
culminating with Christ's prayer to His father in chapter
seventeen. Thus the matter begins with the Passover meal and is
ended by the scenes in Gethsemane. The great thought controlling
the whole is the mutual abiding in each other of the Father, Son
and disciples, as well as others who keep the words and precepts
of Christ.
The Lord's departure is
announced in chapter thirteen (verse 33), and chapter fourteen
continues the discussion which arose out of this intimation.
Christ seeks to relieve the distress which will follow His
departure, and in the course of His words He presses upon them
their unity, showing how He and the Father are one, abiding in
each other, and how the same should be true of the disciples.
FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST
Faith is the keynote with
which to dispel their distress: faith in God and Faith also in
Christ. His going from them, and its mode, will be proof that He
is "the Way, the Truth and the Life". The whole discourse is at
the end of the Lord's ministry, yet they do not seem to grasp
that Christ is the Lamb of God; they have little
understanding that He was to suffer. The point is being
pressed upon them, and in view of the mode of His departure,
they are urged to be believing into God and into Christ. The
ignominious death will not prove Him to have been a deceiver.
The Master's going away was a
necessity. A place was to be made ready for the disciples in the
Father's house, and this could only be by His leaving them
through His death. This would prepare their place in the
Father's house, both literally and in figure, and He would come
again and take them to Himself. Meanwhile, and until He comes,
the Father and the Son will remain or abide in the disciples.
THE LAMB OF GOD NOT UNDERSTOOD
The reason for all this
emphasis concerning Christ's departure, whilst still abiding in
spirit, may become more apparent to us when we perceive that the
account of John presents the priestly aspect of the
ministry of Him Who is the Word. He is not presented as the
King, or the Prophet, though He is both of these. Lo! The
Lamb of God! This is the arousing announcement of John.
Priests and Levites had come to enquire why He baptised. Though
priests, they are ignorant concerning God's ways with Christ as
the Sacrifice. They would accept Christ on the throne,
but not on the altar. This mistake, perhaps in a lesser
degree, is found even in the minds of the disciples. They are
still far from appreciating that their Master must suffer
before entering into His glory. Though Judas had made his exit,
to carry out his betrayal of the Master, yet their minds are
slow to understand. They do not realise the reason for His going
away from them, much less the method of His going.
GOD ABIDING WITH HIS PEOPLE
The discourse develops a
series of figures, interwoven in a manner which shows the reason
for Christ's departure, and at the same time what is to be
accomplished thereby. The way to the Father was to be revealed.
Thomas took this literally, but the Lord explains that He
Himself is the Way to the Father, and no one is coming to the
Father except through Him. To this the Master adds the seeming
enigma : you know the Father and have seen Him. Thereupon Philip
requests to be shown the Father. He also failed to perceive the
significance of the Master's words, for the explanation shows
that the Father is seen in the Son, from which emerges the fact
that the Son is the abode of the Father - the Father is
remaining in Him.
The teaching is carried still
further. Another consoler is to be given, the spirit of truth;
it will remain beside and in them. Then will they know that He
is in the Father, the disciples are in Him, and He is in them.
The one who keeps His precepts, he is the one who is loving the
Master, and to such He will be disclosing Himself. Judas now
ventures to enquire why He does not disclose Himself to the
world. The answer gives us a key to the reference to the
abodes in God's house; the Father and the Son will be making
an abode with the one who keeps the word of Christ. Thus, from
the introduction of the Father's house with its abodes, we are
led to the real question which will be resolved by Christ's
departure; abodes are to be made for the Father and the Son. The
Father's house figures God abiding with His people, and in the
Son they abide in the Father. Thus is the place for the
disciples.
Much reasoning is associated
with Bible Study, for there are many things stated in the
Scriptures which reason cannot brook, and so Bible study becomes
largely a matter of explaining how to avoid believing the
Scriptures. We realise the severity of this observation, but it
is made in view of the need that God be accorded glory as God.
The saints are not in a category which guarantees against
depriving God of His full Deity. Few, indeed, exercise that
special privilege of according glory and thanks to God
because He is God. Often our thoughts of Him, and our
teachings about what He is doing are modulated, as though we
were God's peers, as though we had planned the universe, as
though we operated it. Even in the domain of salvation we think
and speak in a manner which excludes the Deity of God and makes
the prime factor to be human.
The Bible seems to be subject
to human explanation, where Scripture is for faith. The
Scriptures reveal God and His ways. If they reveal, it is
because we cannot know otherwise. The Bible student argues that
God cannot be the Saviour of all men. Such is the treatment of
His word by human reasoning, whereas faith relies on the living
God when He reveals that He is the Saviour of all mankind. Faith
does not formulate arguments to adjust them to what seems likely
to be true; nor does faith adopt the alternative course of
ignoring that part of revelation. If we must reason, then this
should be its form: God need not have used such language, but,
since He has done so, then He must mean what He says.
This accords glory to God as God.
WHOSOEVER WILL
It is "in the Bible" that
humans have a will, and so the sphere of volition must be
paramount ! But students of the Scriptures are not so much
concerned with things which are "in the Bible" as they are with
truth which God reveals; they know that the Scriptures also
state that God operates the universe after the counsel of His
own will. And if we are to reason, then the statement concerning
God's operations must be the major factor, and we must
put the "whosoever will" into its relative place. Real study
considers contexts and notes the circumstances and time to which
each scriptural statement refers; it notes how God's
administrating differs in various eras; it never loses sight of
the fact that God, in and through Christ, is moving to a
consummation when He will be All in all.
Bible study is largely
regulated by our human philosophies. We impose them, doubtless
unconsciously, upon the matters we read in the Bible. Even
amongst those who make so much headway as to go behind the Bible
renderings, there are many who still labour under the incubus of
their early training. They have dimly seen enough to go beneath
the translation, yet they have not penetrated so far as to throw
out all ideas and notions and begin to learn only from the
Scriptures. To do this would indeed be Scripture study.
GOD'S PURPOSE
The various schools of Bible
Study are now giving greater prominence to the idea that the
Deity has a plan. They speak of God's plans and purposes. The
study of scripture ought to bring the knowledge that God has
only one purpose, but many ways within that one
purpose. His ways are diverse in differing economies, yet all
contributing to the one ultimate.
Moreover, God's ways in every
administration, except in the one to which the name of Paul is
attached, are but preparatory lessons to the people subjected to
those ways. By these God will teach and lead the whole universe
to see the necessity for that gracious gift of His own
righteousness through the justification He is able to achieve in
Christ Jesus. Thus Paul's ministry, though in one sense
exclusively for the present era, in its fullest outlook contains
the essential requirement upon which God bases His intention
to reconcile all.
God's ways in all eras have
indicated the lack of righteousness in His creatures, but the
Scriptures through Paul reveal God as already
administering those features which will characterise that final
future economy when God's ways have reached the situation
immediately preceding His consummation. In that era God's
righteousness is applied and reconciliation displayed. At
present we may have the realisation of these blessings through
faith in those Scriptures partitioned by God from other
Scriptures under the name of Paul. We of this economy, if we
know what God is now dispensing, are able in faith, and in
spirit, to skip the enigmatic ways of the future which are still
concerned with the old creation, and which are seen in the
administrations which intervene for the earth; we anticipate the
new creation which corresponds to the blessings of this era.
Though many readily agree that
God has a plan, yet we find when it is examined that it is not
the plan of the God of the Scriptures, for it affords only the
results which the will of the creature allows to mature.
Consequently, it is not a real plan at all, but merely
fortuitous imaginings buttressed by texts from the Bible. The
God of the Scriptures will head up the universe in Christ - in
heaven as well as on earth. The last administration will
complement the eras, and will lead to the consummation when God
becomes All in all. Then will be seen the full fruit of
righteousness and reconciliation and God revealed as God.
At such a point will the Son of God, through Whom all has been
achieved, become subject to Him Who subjected the universe to
Him.
Such truths are not to be
found in those records of the Master's ministry when He, in
accord with the era, told them not to go off into a road of the
nations. But they are found in the ministry which is based on
God's severity to Israel whom He temporarily cast aside in order
to reveal that consummation which rounds out all His ways and
displays His glory beyond the heart of man's thoughts. That
glory His Scriptures reveal, yet how few of His saints believe
Him!
E. H.
Clayton
Contents Page
"Grace
and Truth"
granted permission
to Martin Lee (GoodNewsGospel.info)
to copy and distribute this document.
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