Scripture and Responsibility

During class the week before last, we were discussing how the Bible, as the inspired word of God, is supposed to interact with the reader. We also broached several questions such as; does the written word provide the illumination of salvation? Is an intermediary required between the reader and the text? What role does the Holy Spirit play, if any? If illumination is brought about only by God, then what role do we have as witnesses to God’s glory? What role does the reader play, and how is he or she responsible for the choice to either believe or disbelieve the Bible, which depends on the answer to the previous questions. Ultimately, these questions seem to dance around the theme of responsibility. For, if understanding the Bible is only possible via the Holy Spirit, then the unbeliever can always answer that the Holy Spirit is not providing any illumination, and thus can continue to justify a lifestyle that does not consider or care about God. On the other hand, to posit that anyone can glean illumination of God’s word by simply regarding it on his or her own, then what role does God play, if any, in understanding the Bible? Does that then reduce God’s role in bringing people to salvation?

The first dilemma that I find, and that was also briefly raised during class, is the question of whether or not we are arguing in a circle. We assert that the Holy Spirit is required in order for us to see the Bible as the word of God and, by the Spirit’s illumination, come to know God as creator. Yet we also need the Holy Spirit to draw us to God’s word in the first place, for we are unable to even come before Him of our own volition because of our sinful nature that will not come into the light for fear that it will be exposed. The unbeliever might therefore scoff and accuse us of question begging.

Calvin seems to have dealt with people like myself, concerned with how to answer the non-believer when he writes “Some worthy persons feel disconcerted, because, while the wicked murmur with impunity at the Word of God, they have not a clear proof at hand to silence them… that, until he (the Holy Spirit) enlightens their minds, they are tossed to and fro in a sea of doubts (Calvin, I.vii.4).” Calvin points out that there is no proof that will satisfy the unbeliever of the objective revelation to be found in God’s word because they are unable to be “silenced” until the Holy Spirit speaks to the doubter directly. It is a salient reminder that we cannot bring people into a right understanding of scripture of our own work, and that the work must be done by God Himself.

There is an example of how the Bible can be understood in the Gospel of Luke. When the resurrected Christ meets two of his disciples on the Emmaus Road, He explains to the disciples that do not yet understand how all of the scriptures pointed to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Furthermore, it was not until Jesus broke the bread and gave it to his disciples that their eyes were opened, and they recognized Jesus (Luke 24:25-31). Here we have two followers of Jesus had heard him teach and saw Him die, and yet they did not understand the implications of the crucifixion, the empty tomb, the Old Testament; neither did they recognize Him. On their own, they were unable to piece the totality of God’s Word together to see the fruit it bore in illuminating the revelation of Christ. It was only when Christ explained the Word to His followers and in the breaking of the bread that they understood. It is very significant that it was not only Jesus’ explanation of the scriptures that allowed their eyes to be opened, but Jesus harkening back to the crucifixion with the breaking of the bread. Essentially, what the disciples required was not only Jesus speaking, but Jesus doing.

Calvin hits on this same idea, “It is preposterous to attempt, by discussion, to rear up a full faith in Scripture… For as God alone can properly bear witness to his own words, so these words will not obtain full credit in the hearts of men, until they are sealed in the inward testimony of the Spirit (Calvin, i:vii:4).” These two disciples did not understand the thrust of the Word until not only did Jesus discuss it with them, but broke the bread to remind them of the powerful testimony of how Jesus lived and walked as the Word himself. Therefore, we are not faced with circular reasoning so much as God pursuing us to give us what is necessary to understand His Word.

How am I to understand this inward testimony of the Holy Spirit that I can only receive? Although I never bothered to pick up a Bible until just before my conversion experience, I have had professors pontificate upon the beauty of the Bible who were openly agnostics or even atheists. If even nonbelievers can attest to the beauty of God’s Word, and hold it in some sense of reverence because of that quality, how then does the “inward testimony of the Spirit” testify to me in a way differently than to some of my previous professors? I know from past experience that my own bias is to consider the convictions that God brings about within His people in a more mental fashion. While I may begin explaining the beauty of the parallels between the “I Am” statements in John’s Gospel and those in Isaiah, and the beauty seems obvious to me, I am occasionally met with a “So what?” rejoinder. Thus it sometimes seems that nonbelievers can both witness to the awesomeness of the Bible, or just as often totally dismiss it.

Calvin serves to remind me, however, that “There are other reasons, neither few nor feeble, by which the dignity and majesty of the Scriptures may be not only proved to the pious, but also completely vindicated against the cavils of slanderers (Calvin, I.viii.13).”

My immediate response to this passage was to claim that Calvin had contradicted himself immensely, by first asserting that no one can use a formal or rigorous proof to produce a “firm faith in Scripture,” and then claiming “other reasons” through which “the dignity and majesty of the Scriptures may be not only proved…” The greater context of this passage tells us that Calvin is arguing for the doctrine of Scripture as being worthy given the sacrifices of the martyrs since the inception of the Christian church, which, among with “other reasons” may attest to the “dignity and majesty of Scripture” as being provable to the pious, not the impious, or those who do not already believe. Furthermore, while the dignity and majesty may be proven only to the pious, this stands in contrast to the believer attempting to bring about a proof, for the nonbeliever, of the holiness of Scripture.

Calvin is making an important distinction here, and this distinction is based upon the heart of the person who is searching the Scripture. “These (the aforementioned other reasons)… cannot of themselves produce a firm faith in Scripture until our heavenly Father manifest his presence in it, and thereby secure implicit reverence for it (Calvin, I.viii.13).” The willingness to regard Scripture as holy, and be illuminated by it, is brought about by God changing our hearts and securing an “implicit reverence,” a reverence that we are willing to grant a priori at that point because of how God has manifested in the Scripture, and therefore changed us. The reverence is the key because, even without it, we may be willing to grant that the Bible is an awe inspiring book or a work of distinct beauty. We may also intellectually understand the Bible without reverence, but without an appropriate attitude of the heart, brought about by actually beholding God in Scripture which can only be done if He “manifests his presence within it,” we will not be able to ascertain Scripture as inspired by God.

I have found this wrongness of human attitude towards God to be prevalent in the Gospels. Jesus compares His generation to children in the marketplace who, when John the Baptist called for repentance, they wanted someone more joyful, like Jesus. The same generation, when Jesus preached, wanted someone dourer, like John the Baptist (Luke 7:31-35). The problem the people had been not an intellectual one; it was much bigger than that. Indeed, no matter if God gave them a joyful message or a mournful one, they were committed, in their hearts, to refusing that message.

Just as people may understand the teaching of John the Baptist or Jesus and yet refuse them, so may people yet understand and cherish the Bible on a purely intellectual level as a masterpiece of ancient literature, yet still refuse to heed what it says. The holiness of the Scripture can only be attested to by the revelation of the Holy Spirit in the life of that person who is reading it; only then is Scripture illuminated, in the course of a person’s life and not during some mere intellectual exercise. That is why Calvin attests that only God can bring about “the conviction which revelation from heaven alone can produce. I say nothing more than every believer experiences in himself, though my words fall far short of the reality (I.vii.5).” Calvin’s existential appeal is something that I have also found to be true. My assertion that the Scripture is what the Scripture claims itself to be, the inspired and illuminated Word of God, has only come about by seeing God demonstrate His truthfulness continuously in my life, and in the lives of others. A friend of mine recently joked that I was a fundamentalist who never questioned the Bible, which is ironic considering my skeptical background. And yet that friend was, in a way, pointing out that my conviction showed on the outside, something that was not a part of me until God revealed Himself to me, creating that change.

We are left with the question of the role of the witness to Christ towards those who have not yet been brought to God by the illumination of the Holy Spirit within that person. If God does all the work, I may ask, what is my role? Is there any work left for me to do? Raising this question, however, runs the risk of a false dichotomy; that where I am working then God is not working, and where God is working then I am not. “Still, the human testimonies which go to confirm it will not be without effect, if they are used in subordination to that chief and highest proof, as secondary helps to our weakness (Calvin, I.viii.13).” As Calvin has previously pointed out, there is no substitute for the conviction that the Holy Spirit brings about in the hearts of people, and the Holy Spirit may certainly use our witnesses to help someone along in their search for God, but that secondary role we play points to the glory of God. The Great Commission is a good example of this, calling us to preach Christ to the world beneath the umbrella of God’s sovereign will and the work of the Holy Spirit.

The problem of Christians arguing in a circle is not a true assessment of the spiritual situation we are in. Although we are incapable of reaching God on our own, He yet provides for us the conviction within our heart to see and experience His revelation to the world, within His word, and thus allows us to respond freely to Him should we seek Him out.