Tuesday, November 08, 2011

The Scriptures which speak

It occurs to me that if the first part of Psalm 19 is about the speech of creation, the second part is about the speech of Scripture.  This may seem more obvious (although it is less clear in the Psalm!) - but how often do we treat Scripture as if it were just an artefact upon which we can work our wonders of interpretation and exegesis?  What difference would it make if we expected Scripture to be the locus of personal communication from God?

Again, the issue comes down to what we might call the epistemic stance which we take toward the world.  Are we expecting to come face to face today with a world which is at the deepest level personal and therefore communicative?  Or are we expecting to be the only subjects in a world of objects?  Theologically, this latter seems to be an expression of a sinful mindset.  If the world is empty of meaning until I arrive at it - if Scripture is just a text until I interpret it - then I am king in my own universe.  And I can express that even as I come to read the Bible.

The universe presented to us in the gospel is charged with personality; the Scripture given to us is filled with living communication.  Are you listening?

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