Galatians 3:24 KJV
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
I read something last night that is worth our serious examination. The author, in studying the works of the Reformers and the Anabaptists, came to see that the Reformers were true Biblicists. They produced the Bible in the language of the common people. They studied the Word of God with a fine toothed comb, analyzing and dissecting each verse into Scriptural "truths." And they argued passionately over the finer points of the truths they discovered. The creed of the Reformers truly was "sola scriptura" (The Bible alone). The Anabaptists on the other hand, while being careful students of the Bible, saw the truths of the Bible as having another, more important value than to give us "truth." The Word of God was meant to "bring us unto Christ." The creed of the Anabaptist would have been more accurately "sola Christos" (Christ alone).
The author makes this next observation about fundamentalists in our own time. The Fundamentalists would say that the Word of God is their sole rule of faith. They are fully and legitimately Biblicists. They study the Scriptures, They preach the Scriptures, they even argue over the finer points of the Scriptures. To the Fundamentalist today, (as with the Reformers of the past) their view of the Scriptures leads them to be passionate about their church (the Reformers divided into a number of church denominations). So today we have preaching that claims to be expressly biblical and we have believers who become completely loyal to their church, but we too have missed the point of it all. The point is not the church. The point is not even the Bible. The point is Jesus Christ. If we have so focused on the church and on the Bible that we have failed to see Christ, we are truly blind.
I wear eyeglasses. Now the point of the glasses is not so I am able to study the finer points of the glasses,
What types of frames I have
Whether my lenses are plastic or glass
How fashionable those glasses may be or even
What the prescription is and how accurate it is for my eyes
The point of my glasses is so I can see. If all I do is look at my glasses, I have missed the point of those glasses. I have made them useless.
So it is with the Bible. If all I do is look at my Bible. If I do not find and follow Christ through it, then I have made my Bible useless.
This is a concern that I have had for many years now. I am afraid that the circles with which I have had to do place so much attention on the church and on being expositionally accurate that they have missed Christ. I am afraid they have become the thing they claim to disdain the most, religion without relationship.
Lord deliver us!
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
I read something last night that is worth our serious examination. The author, in studying the works of the Reformers and the Anabaptists, came to see that the Reformers were true Biblicists. They produced the Bible in the language of the common people. They studied the Word of God with a fine toothed comb, analyzing and dissecting each verse into Scriptural "truths." And they argued passionately over the finer points of the truths they discovered. The creed of the Reformers truly was "sola scriptura" (The Bible alone). The Anabaptists on the other hand, while being careful students of the Bible, saw the truths of the Bible as having another, more important value than to give us "truth." The Word of God was meant to "bring us unto Christ." The creed of the Anabaptist would have been more accurately "sola Christos" (Christ alone).
The author makes this next observation about fundamentalists in our own time. The Fundamentalists would say that the Word of God is their sole rule of faith. They are fully and legitimately Biblicists. They study the Scriptures, They preach the Scriptures, they even argue over the finer points of the Scriptures. To the Fundamentalist today, (as with the Reformers of the past) their view of the Scriptures leads them to be passionate about their church (the Reformers divided into a number of church denominations). So today we have preaching that claims to be expressly biblical and we have believers who become completely loyal to their church, but we too have missed the point of it all. The point is not the church. The point is not even the Bible. The point is Jesus Christ. If we have so focused on the church and on the Bible that we have failed to see Christ, we are truly blind.
I wear eyeglasses. Now the point of the glasses is not so I am able to study the finer points of the glasses,
What types of frames I have
Whether my lenses are plastic or glass
How fashionable those glasses may be or even
What the prescription is and how accurate it is for my eyes
The point of my glasses is so I can see. If all I do is look at my glasses, I have missed the point of those glasses. I have made them useless.
So it is with the Bible. If all I do is look at my Bible. If I do not find and follow Christ through it, then I have made my Bible useless.
This is a concern that I have had for many years now. I am afraid that the circles with which I have had to do place so much attention on the church and on being expositionally accurate that they have missed Christ. I am afraid they have become the thing they claim to disdain the most, religion without relationship.
Lord deliver us!
Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI read these every day.
This one touched my heart especially
since I am trying write about Christ.
Miss Connie