Principle #4...Bible reading week 31, day 5

Today is another in between chapter devotional for the book of Zechariah.  We will be in Zechariah chapter 5 on Monday.  We are continuing today on the series about the "meaning" of the text.  What I am giving you is what I have learned from some teachings of Pastor John Piper.

What is the "meaning" of the text?  The answer to this question we have been working with is, "The meaning of the text is what the author intended to communicate by his words."

Let's review the three principles we have covered so far.

Principle #1 - The Bible assumes it.  The Bible corrects those who interpret wrongly.

Principle #2 - The Golden Rule.  As a reader, do unto others as you would have readers do unto you as an author.  If we flip the roles would you want other readers to twist your words as an author?  I assume the answer would be "NO!" 

Principle #3 - Reading a text in order to discover the author's intention, is the the humble path to greater knowledge and true wisdom.  It is arrogant and prideful to dismiss the author's intention and go with the reader's feelings or adaptions.  The humble grow.  The prideful gloat.

Now lets go onto Principle #4 which is a longer one.

The definition of meaning reflects the Biblical worldview that God is absolute Reality, and that He created and upholds a world of reality that has objective existence outside our minds, so that the aim of reading His word is not to create meaning, but to discover it in what the God-inspired author intended to communicate - an intention that has real objective existence outside ourselves.

The main point of this principle is encapsulated in the phrase, "not to create meaning but to discover it."   The worldview of our country is ever changing.  We are creating the definition of life and when it begins.  We are creating what defines our gender.  We are creating our definition of marriage.  We are creating our explanations for our very existence.  So lets go to the Scriptures.

Psalm 14:1 says,

The fool says in his heart, "There's no God."  They are corrupt; they do vile deeds.  There is no one who does good.

One worldview is that there is no God.  The Bible says this is a foolish position to hold.  This position leads to corruptness, vile deeds, and thinking that we are good enough.  

Exodus 3:13, 14 says,

Then Moses asked God, "If I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is His name?' what should I tell them?"  God replied to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM.  This is what you are to say to the Israelites:  I AM has sent me to you."

God says that He is.  God defines Himself as absolute reality.  If there was nothing else physically, there would still be God.  We try to say there is no God or we try to redefine who He is but what does He say about Himself?  God, because He is God, is able to define Himself as is and am.

Hebrews 1:1-3 says,

Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways.  In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.  God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him.  The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word.

Here are some more things about God.  God made the universe.  God sustains all that is in the universe.  God made and sustains by His powerful word.  The word of God that came through the prophets at different times and in different ways has been fulfilled through the God now speaking to us through His Son, Jesus Christ.  His words are God's words.  These are the words that created us, sustain us, and govern us.  It is not our words on a subject that matter but His and our place is to be in adherence to His words.  He is the author and we are the readers.

Let's leave the best for last and give you Ephesians 3:3, 4 which says,

The mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have briefly written above.  By reading this you are able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ.

Let me go back through these two verses with adding context and content.  The mystery made known to Paul who is human author writing the revelation by God is that Gentiles would also experience the grace of God.  Paul points us to what was written before or above like he, the author, is directing us, the readers, to what he means by this phrase, "the mystery."  Paul, the author, is confident that we the readers would understand his intention about this mystery of Christ.

So let's summarize where we are so far in helping us to understand the meaning of the text.

Principle #1 - The Bible assumes it.  It corrects when we, the readers go astray as something that is needed.

Principle #2 - The Golden Rule.  Read as you would have others read your work if you were the author.

Principle #3 - The Humble Path.  Be humble in wanting to know more of God rather than being prideful as one who has all the answers that you think you need.

Principle #4 - This definition of meaning assumes the Biblical worldview that a God-inspired author's intention has real objective existence outside ourselves.  Reality is not just an echo of our own subjective preferences.

God is in charge of the definitions, not us and He who is outside of us has set the perimeters for us to live within.  Why?  Because He is God and that's the position that God holds that we do not.  Let us pray.

"Lord, may I keep You in Your rightful place.  May I cherish the words that You have spoken and put in print form through the human authors You worked through.  May I see the Bible's assumption and apply the Golden Rule and take the humble path and seek to discover Your intent rather than create my own.  Amen."

Pastor Adam