ver. : 07 June 2008
When used of the Bible, what is the meaning of :
Autographs
Clear,
Communication
Gospel,
human authors,
Lucid,
Message,
Narrative
Perspicuous
Report
'Scripture interprets Scripture',
Synoptic,
Understandable
verbal icon
window
word.
Word : what God says and does. God spoke, and the universe, light, earth, and life were created. God spoke loudest, clearest, and most transcendently by coming among us in Christ Jesus, being executed and being arisen from death. Word up! People who use the term are usually talking about the Bible, which is the central witness to Christ. They often speak of the Bible as "God's word". It's God's Word for you, but it is more a we-Word than an I-Word. More Christians today are shaping some form of a three-fold description of what is meant by 'Word', in order to try to do justice to how the Bible itself uses the term. Some mainline-renewal Protestants speak of God's word as written (the Bible), spoken (preached, taught, borne in witness), and tangible (Christ as God-with-us, and in sacrament). ELCA Lutherans, in their church constitution, speak of the Word of God as being Jesus, the Gospel message, and the Scriptures. But why are so many people not listening to any word God says in the Word?
Other words in this same field of meaning include :
Gospel, the [ < OE gôdspel (beneficial report) < Greek evaggelion (good news, good report)] It's a term in the same word-field as 'word' and 'report'. The core message of the Bible. In Christian thought, the main reference is to John 3:16 : for God so loved the world
that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall
not perish, but have eternal life. There are many other
things in the Bible, great and wonderful, but they all exist to
create and further this reconciliation with the God who loves us, by God's grace through faith.
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human authors : Christians believe the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit, but also that the Spirit worked through human authors, poets, prophets, editors, collectors, and such. The human character of the authors comes through in the various parts of the Bible. Because the Spirit inspires, the Scriptures will tell you all the truths you need to follow God. Because the authors are humans, there are culturally-conditioned ways of expressing things, there are signs of the writers' own character and vision, and there are different styles and use of words. The Bible's humanness is part of its usefulness and appeal over thousands of years. Whether it's Jeremiah's sense of terror all around, or Nehemiah's testimony of the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls, or the Psalmists' anger and fear, or Paul describing his relationship with the other apostles, the personal, human part of the writing of the Bible helps draw you in. You recognize it, from your own human experience. When the Scriptures show God at work, it's usually through humans. God even chose to become a human for us, as Jesus. In a different way, the Spirit inspires each of us and reveals to us what Christ wants us to know. Then others see Christ in action through us. God uses people along the way from beginning to end, and the Spirit is at every step. Human authors write the words, in part because it is meant to inspire human deeds.
This is unlike the Muslims, nearly all of whom treat the
Qur'an as being written by God in heaven in Arabic and then
given over to Mohammed who transcribed it, instead of being written through
inspired people. To Mormons, the Book of Mormon was
'discovered' by Joseph Smith, but at least in their case someone
was inspired to translate it.
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narrative : [Lat.
narrâre (to tell a story), originally from some form of
Indo-European *gnô- (to know)]. In a 'narrative method' of
looking at the Bible, the context, roots, and
importance of what's found in the Bible is found in its
story line. All parts of the story find their
meaning within the course of this narrative. The method isn't
without its problems. For one : the story is much greater than
the sum of its parts, but you can't really know the story
without grasping its parts, especially when the story develops
from real life. Each passage must have its full due, even when
it seems to go against the flow, even if it does go
against the flow (it may show us a paradox). Even so,
'narrative' approaches focus on what's most important in
the Bible, the story line. For a Christian, the 'story line' of
God's work among human beings is the good news of Jesus Christ
and through Him, the reconciliation of all that exists with its
Maker. The rest of it may be good to know, helpful, and even
God's blessing for you, but it is this story line that's the
'why' for the Bible and each passage in it.
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Autographs : The original written parchments/slabs/papyri used by the
Biblical authors when first authoring the Biblical books.
This is supposedly the 'most purely inspired' --
and thus most 'infallible' -- form of the Biblical books. These
are long since all gone, and were in fact probably all gone within
several generations of being written. Thus, reference to them
in defending the authority of a text is an act of fiction. What we have now is
all we ever will have : a set of written works whose oldest
existing copies are many generations of copying from being
original. It is these Nth generation copies, with all their
occasional scribal errors, expansions, and such that are translated
into the written materials through which the Spirit speaks
today. If we found 'autographs', that would be wonderful, but
we haven't and probably won't. The Spirit works through our
copies, and thus our copyists' errors.
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perspicuous. [ < Latin per- (through) + specere (to look, view); related to Eng. "perspective".] Clearly and directly communicated or presented; lucid, readily understood.
To say the Bible is perspicuous means that it doesn't take any specialized training to get what the Bible (or most any part of it) is trying to tell you. This is not a license to be ignorant. You are still called on to take the time and effort to work it through, but there's no required method for that. True, there are some mysteries, but these confound even the wisest. The unschooled and the retarded often show a solid grasp of the main thrusts of the Bible. That's because the Spirit wants us to know such things. The Spirit is the one who reveals it to us, and the Spirit can work through an awareness, a happening, a life experience, a method of study, or anything else to make clear to us what is being revealed through the Bible. Idiots and geniuses alike can be fools and jerks about Scriptural matters, but they and everyone in between have what it takes to grasp the message.
Other words in this same field of meaning include :
For more on using the Bible, check this out.
the "Scripture interprets Scripture" approaches : Through this approach, what the Spirit is trying to tell us through Scripture is unlocked by, tested by, qualified by, and balanced by, the whole of Scripture. No part of the Bible is slighted or ignored -- but no part of the Bible stands on its own, apart from the meaning of the whole and apart from other specific parts which deal with related matters. Since the Bible is the way the Spirit reaches us, the rest of the Bible is the most reliable resource for finding what the Spirit is saying in any one section of the Bible. This often forces us to accept some amount of vagueness and paradox, since both are found all over Scripture and cannot be wished away. Some (especially fundamentalists) hold that only Scripture interprets Scripture; however, that's not how the people in Scripture used earlier Scripture, and that doesn't help us learn how to live by it today. Narrative methods are a modern reflection of this approach.
Synoptic : Greek, "of one eye". The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called this because they are similar works to each other, for the most part covering the same events and using most of the same sources. The Gospel of John, however, is very different in the order of events, which events are described, and the point of view taken about the life and ministry of Jesus. Therefore John is a Gospel, but not Synoptic. In modern times, Bible scholars have re-discovered the fact that each Synoptic Gospel has its own very special slant. Though they're not anywhere near as different as John's Gospel is, the Synoptics are each different works with their own vision to share.
You can also check the
dictionary.
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Verbal Icon : This is a term spun from Eastern Orthodox ideas. The Orthodox treat certain pictures, paintings, and other visual art of holy people and events of the Bible, especially of Jesus and Mary, as windows from which to see Jesus and the Kingdom of God. The Bible is, in this view, the earthly window onto God's love and God's intent for the created world. More precisely, through it we can discover who God-with-us, Jesus, really is. Just as we can envision spiritual matters by meditating on a visual icon, so also the Spirit uses the Bible as the window through which the Spirit reveals Christ to us. The Bible ranks above visual icons, because it is the source of what is depicted in them.
Anothew word in this same field of meaning is 'window' (some place to look through to see outside or beyond, while having some protection from the weather). The word was originally poetic -- a "wind-eye".
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