All things written

“If we do not believe in what is written in the Bible about itself, how can we then trust anything else that it says?” Rev Teddy Donobauer

There was a time when Christians were generally known as the Readers, because the life they lived was conditioned by their careful and frequent reading of the words of God as found in the Bible of the Old and New testament writings. They knew about the relationship between the two parts, they believed that the Old was what gave the New its meaning. They found in the Old illustrations of virtually everything the New said, and they realized that about 70% of the New was incomprehensible without a knowledge of the Old. Trying to sail across a wild sea without anything but the masts and the hull above the waterline of the New was to them bound to fail. That which is under the waterline is what keeps the ship of the Church afloat.

Correction: what kept it afloat! Because today the ship is sinking for precisely this reason. The Bible is truncated, censored, reduced and mutilated. And that invariably leads to a somewhat later but unavoidable effect on the Church. It will mirror the treatment of the Bible in the life of the Church. A mere outline or skeleton is left, and such never swim.

“For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.” Rom 15:4

In the slim hope that responsible people will take the time to consider the gravity of our situation I offer you a look at several New Testament passages which speak directly into this issue of the importance of the unity of the Bible. Letting the Scriptures speak of the Scriptures must surely be the starting point for any reputable and sincere Bible Student. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the Word of Truth” begins here. (2 Tim 2:15)

” Do not remove anything”

Beginning at the end and last book of the entire Bible I propose a commonly overlooked fact about that Revelation. A considerable part of it is already found in the Prophecies of Ezekiel and Daniel and other minor prophets. Without a reading knowledge of those books in the Old Testament any meaningful interpretation will be hampered and become more fanciful than factual. As in all revelations from God they are consistent over time and that which is said to be New can best be understood by knowing the Old. Before fanciful diagrams are made for an understanding of possible future events we need to give credit to the reason for them being written, the time for which it was written and the people to whom it was written. Again it is a matter of having a hull that can float before we hoist sail. How else would you understand “the great city of Babylon” in Revelation if you know nothing of the city in its heyday and the role it played in the captivity years of the nation of Israel? And what will you make of “the new Jerusalem” if you know nothing of the old? John, the apostle saw ‘Signs in the heavens’ but all those signs are indicators for events to happen on the earth. The heavenly things are being shown as being on their way to be realized on earth. While most certainly speaking to things to come, it would be a mistake to ignore the Revelation for the things that are now.

“As they do to the rest of the scriptures”

The relationship between the two ‘major’ apostles, Paul and Peter was at times somewhat strained. But the peace of God eventually prevailed between them and Peter in his 2 letter and 3rd Chapter gives the following declaration concerning the new scriptures as from the hands of himself and Paul in regard to the old scriptures with which both them were most well acquainted. “..Paul according to the wisdom given, wrote to you .. of these things in which there are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the scripture, to their destruction.” Peter is declaring that the scriptures which are of old and which were able to bring the likes of Timothy to a saving faith (2 Tim 3:14-15) have it in them to also condemn and ruin those who do not take them seriously, and that the same happens to them who wilfully twist the writings of Paul. Peter equates Paul’s writings with the Old Testament writings in value. How shall the preacher who ignores that unbreakable bond between the testament writings be excused before the Lord?

“Know this first..”

In the introduction to the second letter that Peter wrote there is this information asking us to consider what we are dealing with when speaking of the prophetic word and ministry. “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” 2 Pet 1:20

How does Scriptural interpretation work? First principle is to be found in the interpreter’s reverence for the text itself. Leave it be if you cannot discern the holy from the ordinary. If all text is the same to you and that you are the master over the text then surely you will be unable to comprehend whereof it speaks. Spiritual discernment is a gift of the Spirit, not a course taught in seminary. Unless the word of God has dealt with me first I have no business trying to interpret the word to others. Peter is speaking of not only the prophetic ministry in the early Church but of the entire body of prophetic literature of the Old testament. If you take the Hebrew view as to which books are considered ‘prophetic’ you may be surprised. The historical books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings are included, but Daniel is not. Neither are Ezra and Nehemiah. Remember that the apostles used only Old testament texts to prove that Christ was the Messiah. The awesome insight must dawn on me that the same Spirit who inspired the original prophets is at work in me when I handle the truth. If you have written off the Old Testament you are in no position to call yourself a teacher of the Word.

“As to this salvation”

Were the writers of the Old Testament writing only for themselves and their times? Because that is the impression which the Churches of today give when they ignore most of the Bible, i e the Old Testament. Peter, whose knowledge of the mind of the Lord was greater than most (he had three years of listening to Jesus deliberately fulfilling Old Testament prophecies inside his memory) tells it clearly in 1 Peter 1:10-12 “..as of this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the same Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”
What was then clearly written for us who have come to Faith in Christ through the preaching of the gospel must be given its rightful space in the teaching ministry of the Church, don’t you think? Notice carefully that there is a difference between the preaching that leads to salvation and the feeding of the sheep by teaching. Only some basics need to be known for salvation as declared by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: 3-4, but to grow into full maturity as a Christian involves the whole truth of the word. Psalm 119:160 “The summing up, the head of the word is truth.”

Just as the Holy Spirit says

As an example of how the New testament sees the Old I give you this excerpt from Hebrews chapter 3 :1-11 “Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.  He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.  Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.  For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future.  But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

Warning Against Unbelief

 So, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
    during the time of testing in the wilderness,
 where your ancestors tested and tried me,
    though for forty years they saw what I did.
 That is why I was angry with that generation;
    I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
    and they have not known my ways.’
So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

You see a basic run down of the history of the life of Israel and it is served to us as a distinct warning against following in those footsteps. And notice especially that the words which are from various parts of the Old Testament are declared as the words of the Holy Spirit! Over time it is a notable fact that even those who speak so loudly of the Spirit are ignorant of the role of the Spirit in the written word. And again, if spiritual things are discerned by spiritual people according to 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 one must be baffled by Holiness people with no taste for what is written. “ But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.  But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. ¹⁶ For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.“

What a devastating assessment of the way things were in Corinth and how they have become in many mainline Churches.

Written for our warning

In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul gives us a prime example of how the OT is interpreted for the new covenant people. “I do not want you to be unaware brethren..” But they are ignorant and have shoved the OT on a back burner so Paul has to be precise and sharp. Firstly every natural and physical event in the life of the people of old has a counterpart in the spiritual life of the New Priesthood of all believers. That most often debated matter of baptism is touched on and the blessings of Christ had a counterpart in their natural experience, but they did not know it. But it was written down for us. “But these things happened as an example for us, that we should not crave evil things as they also craved.” 10:6 And further after an list of misbehaviour familiar even in many a church today He concludes in this manner: “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they written down for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” 10:11. Are we in any better position than they were if we do what they did? Are our circumstances so radically different that we have no need of what was written? No said Paul, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man (human nature); and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation provide the way of escape also that you may be able to endure it.”

What helps us endure it?

Comfort of the Scriptures

“Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.” For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Romans 15:1-4

The scriptures are meant to be for two things of equal importance. Instruction in right living so that anyone aspiring to a godly life may understand his own ways as ordered by the Lord and His Spirit. Or as Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Tim 3:14-16 “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;  so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.“

Notice: all scripture! And Paul is speaking of the entire Old Testament, nothing else. We will never outgrow the Scriptures, never become so advanced in the Faith that we can undo our dependence on the entire revelation of God as given by the Spirit in the Word. As we have received so we learn to walk, one day at a time. It is not enough to have visited the word for a while or be looking in on it now and then. That will simply be as if the word was a more or less important acquisition which I may take or leave at will. Neglecting the word and desiring to be holy at the same time is an oxymoron. If it is to bring about the prognosticated result of a holy life then it must also be the basis for all of life in every way. The sacred things are best learned at an early age before the mind has become a repository for all sorts of other things which therefore by sheer volume crowd out all that is of God. How often are you reminded to “hold fast, hold on, keep”? It takes effort to do so. The lazy person will rather die than stretch out his hand to the bread of life. The Christian world view is the world view of the Bible.

The second benefit is encouragement. The loss of Hope comes as soon as we forget that others before us have traipsed through this valley of the shadow of death before us. Their lives have been told in detail and the stories have been ruthless in their honesty about how frail we are, how close to sin we walk and how faltering our steps are. Never entertain the foolish notion that we have developed and become superior beings over our ancestors. It is a down right lie. (All humanity has done is to put a technological edge to our sinfulness along with a sophisticated set of lies as our defense.)

As seen before we should take heed of the warnings their lives provide, but in equal measure take comfort in that which befell them when they walked with the lord in the Light of His word. It is no happenstance that the same Holy Spirit who caused the scriptures to be written is also called the Comforter. Because the Scriptures comfort those who read them in that attitude: these words are the words of life and truth. The end is humility. We did not make ourselves, we cannot do right by ourselves and we think wrong unless we appraise the fact that in all of creation only mankind is not made in its own image but in the image of God. Nothing else is and nothing else must be raised to the level of the divine.

But you will not come to me

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;  and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.” John 5:39-40 “ Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;  but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is  the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” John 20:30-31
If bible reading is not done in the expectation that it will change lives then it is mere reading but not reading in the “Reader” sense mentioned at the start of this paper. Bible reading is extremely hazardous to the natural man. The Word is sent out to accomplish change and rebirth, restitution and correction, and it will either be allowed to do that or it will be like seed sown on the hard trampled path of human philosophy. Sown but not rooted. It is possible to be well versed in the actual text and to be able to repeat it verbatim in your sleep and yet if it never leads you to a life changing encounter with the living Christ it is all in vain. For the purpose of the word is to come through the Written word to the Living Word. The Scribes and Pharisees of and in all ages set all their glory on knowing what it says while avoiding what it means. What can be more boring than bible reading which stops short of the encounter with the risen Lord? It fails the very purpose for which the Bible was written.

Oh Foolish men and slow of heart

“ And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”  Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” Luke 24:25-27 “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day,  and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Luke 24:45-47

Here is the ultimate stumbling block. When anyone ignores the written word of the Old testament that person cannot claim to know the Anointed One at all. Neither can anyone claim to “love Jesus” while refusing to follow Christ through from Genesis to Malachi. Because Jesus himself has declared that His story, ‘His History’ is told spread out over the whole of the Scriptures, and by now you know beyond a shadow of a doubt what that means. But as you see from the further teaching you must not only be willing to read but you must also be given the open mind so that you can understand what the testimony to Christ has always stated. The Bible can be studied in a multitude of ways and will then give many different results. But the only biblically legitimate way is to “Seek me and you shall find.” That is also the only really meaningful way. How wonderful it is when we find that people no longer want God only for what He can do for them, but for God’s own sake. “And as they looked around they saw Only Jesus”. “Sir we would like to see Jesus!” It is not mere head knowledge that changes a man. He cannot see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. The Scripture says it.

For whoever is ashamed of my words

“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Luke 9:26
Come now, look at the stern words of the Word about the importance of His words. Will there not be many who will be standing before the Throne of God or the Judgment seat of Christ with reddened faces? For their neglect of all that I have set before you in this short treatise? The warning against standing up as a teacher in the Church that you will find in James letter is very soul searching. “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. ” James 3:1f But if, as so many preachers today are doing, they neglect most of the Old Testament and have done lots of “ctrl-alt-delete” also of the NT, how will they stand on that great day? And further, what will they say to those in their charge who have been misled and shortchanged, those many who have not been given the benefit of “the whole counsel of God? What will they say before the Almighty God? ” I did not think it important. My seminary explained it away?” Will that go down well?

” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Man shall not live by bread alone

 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:1-4

As soon as the Son of God and Son of Man has been publicly acknowledged by the Father at his baptismal service (End of Chapter 3) the trial of that relationship began. I have never known anyone who did not have some such trial as a Child of God. Being unsure of one’s salvation, doubting whether I really am a child of God will come to each and everyone who leaves the kingdom of Darkness and flees to the light. Ina series of gruelling tests He who in all things was tempted as we are faced a series of testing questions which correspond to that which is of the world. “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.  The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:15-17 Three short phrases covering virtually every known temptation were thrown at the Lord in his physically weakened state. And Jesus rises to meet each one with a written word from the book of Deuteronomy. The fifth book of the OT. Each temptation is met head on with a quotation from a book that the majority of modern day Christians have never read. But Satan, the arch enemy of God and man made in God’s image responds immediately and without further ado changes tactic. The word is that sword, and that only sword which brings Satan to heel. He even quotes a Psalm in his unabashed attempt to bring down the Prince of Glory to his own level. And here the Word of God shows the proper way of dealing with the Word. Scripture must needs be verified by scripture, scripture explains scripture, scripture brings out the meaning of other scripture. No scripture stands alone, and any “one verse theology is by definition not enough.“

It is simple, but quite obviously not obvious. Or else the “one verse theologians” would long since have ceased to plague the congregations. Bible study is time consuming. Bible study is hard work and it is easy to understand that people want easy ways to get much knowledge with minimum effort. But here is the catch. The word became flesh before it manifested itself to human flesh. The prophet became his message, he did not merely come to deliver it.

The sum of it is?

“The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” Eccl 12:13-14 And although this applies to all aspects of life, it is particularly relevant for anybody wanting to understand the relationship inside the Bible in respect of the two halves OT and NT. I have tried to point out to you the proper mode of attention in a number of passages to how the NT views the OT. Dare you deny the evidence for a whole Bible where every part is interdependent on every other? Will you continue to build sermons on one verse here and one verse there? Will you continue to read the bible in “Hop scotch fashion”? Will you give ordinary literary credit to biblical authors so as to treat their works as coherent and complete writings and therefore stop using statements taken out of context as if that part represented the whole?

There is a difference between a teacher of the word and a town crier. There is a difference between a Herald of the King and the messenger warning of a plague. There are differences between the former covenant and the later and last covenant. One of the Hebrew words for teaching is the word ‘ bin’ which is descriptive of the distance between things, in other words knowing those that are the same and those are are apart. There are holy things and ordinary things. He or she who lacks discernment must not pretend to teach. Treating the bible in shameful ways crucifies the Living word once again.

Teddy Donobauer

Doncaster August 20th 2024