It’s a seemingly simple question, and you’d think that with our shared faith in an infallible Bible, we Christians would be agreed on the sort of things that we should aim for in life. And to be sure, Christians do agree on what you might call the fundamental directives of the Christian life. “What does the Lord require of you?” asks the Old Testament book of Micah. “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Those are beautiful directives. But behind them lurk a swath of practical questions that have caused confusion in the church for thousands of years. Is the purpose of our life to live a pure, untainted existence free of the touch (or even sight) of a sinful world? Is it to actively impose that divine justice and mercy on the world around us? Should we resist or even fight back against evil when it encroaches on our lives? Should we hide and wait patiently for Christ to return, trusting him to sort it all out?
There’s no easy answer to these questions, and the church has historically answered them in all kinds of contradictory ways—from the reclusive lifestyles of the desert fathers to the power-wielding Christian empires of late antiquity and the medieval era, Christians have replied to the question of “What does God want us to do?” with drastically different answers.
These questions were on my mind this fall when I received a copy of theologian N.T. Wright’s latest book The Day The Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus’s Crucifixion (HarperOne, 2016). At the time I cracked open the book, I was (like many of my fellow American Christians) trying to find my way through a seemingly impossible maze of political choices. Simply asking “How would Jesus vote?” isn’t enough to help me answer my questions about the faith-fueled political controversies demanding my attention. Is it my sacred duty as a Christian to vote for the political candidate who will increase the influence of Christianity on our laws and culture? Or should I instead pick a candidate purely on their governing competence and simply focus on “loving mercy and walking humbly” in my personal life? Is a net “gain” for Christianity’s cultural influence negated if it requires compromising on other moral values? What’s the tipping point at which I’ve compromised “too much”? My questions are rooted in my privileged American experience, but they’re not fundamentally different from the questions asked throughout the ages and around the world by other Christians.
Like it or not, the Bible doesn’t provide a detailed list of 20th-century American Christian political and cultural priorities. Nor does N.T. Wright’s book tell us who to vote for. But Wright does shed light on the timeless question of how Christians are to be focusing their time and attention by highlighting the revolutionary changes that Christ’s death and resurrection—and the ways that Christ’s sacrifice challenged his own contemporary followers and challenges Christians two thousand years later. Talking about the book of Revelation—which presents a picture of God’s Kingdom that doesn’t match anyone’s expectations, in Bible times or today—Wright reflects on the strange power of a kingdom that paradoxically exerts power through weakness:
Jesus was not the kind of revolutionary who would call for twelve legions of angels, sweep all his enemies away in a moment, and leave nothing to do thereafter…. the revolution he accomplished was the victory of a strange new power, the power of covenant love, a covenant love winning its victory not over suffering, but through suffering. This meant, inevitably, that the victory would have to be implemented in the same way, proceeding by the slow road of love rather than the quick road of sudden conquest….
Did we really imagine that, while Jesus would win his victory by suffering, self-giving love, we would implement that same victory by arrogant, self-aggrandizing force of arms? (Perhaps we did. After all, James and John, as close to Jesus as anyway, made exactly this mistake in Luke 9:54 and again in Mark 10:35-40. Perhaps even Jesus’ mother thought the same way; her great Magnificat, in Luke 1:46-55, sounds quite like a battle hymn.) Once you understand the kind of revolution Jesus was accomplishing, you understand why it would then go on being necessary for it to be implemented step-by-step, not all at one single sweep, and why those steps have to be—every one of them—steps of the same generous love that took Jesus to the cross. Love will always suffer. If the church tries to win victories either all in a rush or by steps taken in some other spirit, it may appear to succeed for a while. Think of the pomp and “glory” of the late medieval church. But the “victory” will be hollow and will leave all kinds of problems in its wake. (p. 374)
Wright’s book is not all about politics, or about the American church specifically. It’s instead an invitation to step back and ponder what it means that the central, defining event of Christianity is an act of sacrificial love and suffering. When we look at God’s Kingdom through the lens of those values, we see that our job isn’t to fight for political power, or cling to cultural influence. The world isn’t slipping farther away from God than it already was, and God hasn’t tasked us with saving it on our own. Politics and culture are the waters in which we swim, and the way we interact with them should be defined by the same selfless love and grace that Christ modeled for us on the cross.
I haven’t done justice to Wright’s book, which covers many more topics than these. But if you’d like to check it out yourself, you can pick up a copy in the Bible Gateway Store. The publisher has generously made available a free discussion and study guide for The Day The Revolution Began, which you can download and peruse, either to help you think through the book as you read, or to give you a taste of the book’s contents and approach.
I think Wright’s voice is an important one for Christians to hear. But whether or not you investigate the book, I hope you’ll look at the cultural challenges you face—maybe that’s Election Day next week in the US or something entirely different—in a new light. Our job isn’t to “win”—at least, not in the sense that we usually think of winning. It’s to embrace love, service, and even suffering… and to know that God’s Kingdom is already coming about, and no empire or politician or power can stop that triumph of love.
Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. Hebrews 13:3 (NIV)
“According to statistics, persecution is the daily reality of at least 100 million Christians around the world,” says Godfrey Yogarajah, executive director, World Evangelical Alliance, Religious Liberty Commission (@WEARLC1). “These Christians, who face routine harassment and difficulties, often suffer in silence and isolation. Over the years, the IDOP has served as a platform to highlight their stories and advocate their plight. Moreover, in so doing, the IDOP has also been a source of solidarity and encouragement to persecuted Christians by reminding them that they are part of a larger, global family of believers.”
…We are experiencing all kinds of trouble, but we aren’t crushed. We are confused, but we aren’t depressed. We are harassed, but we aren’t abandoned. We are knocked down, but we aren’t knocked out. We always carry Jesus’ death around in our bodies so that Jesus’ life can also be seen in our bodies…. 2 Corinthians 4:8-12 (CEB)
According to Open Doors USA, in 2015, more than 7,000 Christians were killed specifically because of their faith. Open Doors, with its list of countries where Christians are most in need of prayer, urges Christians and churches to remember those killed and pray for those in more than 60 countries still facing persecution because of their faith. Open Doors will be hosting Facebook Live events this week, featuring interviews with persecuted Christians along with other news, stories and special guests.
“Under Caesar’s Sword” is a three-year, collaborative global research project by the University of Notre Dame to discover and draw attention to the ways Christian communities around the world respond to the severe violation of their religious freedom. These strategies vary widely, ranging from nonviolent protest movements of the kind that Pope John Paul II led in communist Poland, to the complex diplomacy of Christian churches in China, to simply fleeing from persecution en masse, as Christians have in Iraq. The project aims to raise solidarity with persecuted Christians worldwide and to help them respond justly and effectively. Watch the documentary film.
The above slide presentation is a production of the Office of Social Justice, a ministry of the Christian Reformed Church.
The Apostles and First Missionaries are Persecuted
Acts 4:1-22 – Christ’s supremacy threatens the supremacy of the totalitarian and theocratic leadership. (vv. 2, 17)
Acts 5:12-41 – Power and attraction of the gospel arouses jealousy. (v. 17)
Acts 6:7-15 – Success of ministry arouses competition.
Acts 7:54-8:4 – Stephen becomes the Christian Church’s first martyr; persecution breaks out.
Acts 12:1-4 – Herod persecutes apostles for political gain.
Acts 12:1-18 – While Peter is in prison, the church prays.
Acts 13:49-14:7 – Opposition to the gospel forces missionaries to flee.
Acts 16:16-34 – The gospel threatens trade, economic prosperity and the fortune-telling industry (v. 19); false accusations lead to missionaries being severely beaten. (v. 22)
Shame. Open embarrassment, dishonor or disgrace. Manner in which our Lord was accused of being conceived (born out-of-wedlock); also, manner in which his nakedness was openly displayed on the cross. (Hebrews 13:13; 11:26)
For American children with an incarcerated parent, Christmas can be bittersweet as they are separated from their imprisoned parent—often by more than 100 miles.
This is the first time Prison Fellowship has been able to offer a free Bible to every one of the Angel Tree families it serves—anticipated to be more than 140,000 families this Christmas season.
“Through the Angel Tree program this Christmas, we will deliver gifts to over 300,000 children; better connecting children with their incarcerated parent. Through this partnership with Zondervan, we have the opportunity to place a Bible in the hands of hundreds of thousands of children—and what better way to show kids the true meaning of Christmas than to offer them God’s Word as they open their Angel Tree gifts?” says James J. Ackerman, president and chief executive officer of Prison Fellowship. “We are appreciative of Zondervan, which has partnered with Prison Fellowship to make this possible.”
Every Christmas in all 50 states, Angel Tree mobilizes churches to minister to hundreds of thousands of children by delivering a gift and the gospel message on behalf of their incarcerated parents. Last year, the program provided more than 300,000 children with Christmas gifts. Since 1982, Angel Tree has delivered more than 10 million gifts to children on behalf of nearly 4.2 million imprisoned parents.
“Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program has always been near and dear to the hearts of our team at Zonderkidz,” says Annette Bourland, senior vice president of publishing. “To be able to present the NIrV Adventure Bible for Early Readers in English and the NVI Biblia Aventura in Spanish to young readers who will find comfort and strength in God’s message for them is a tremendous joy for our team.”
Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree is the only nationwide, year-round program that reaches out exclusively to children who have a parent in prison. Through collaborations with local churches and community organizations, hundreds of thousands of children receive a gift each Christmas on behalf of their incarcerated parents. In addition, partner churches meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of prisoners’ families through year-round ministry, such as camping events and mentoring. Click for more information on Angel Tree.
About Prison Fellowship
Prison Fellowship is the nation’s largest outreach to prisoners, former prisoners and their families, and a leading advocate for criminal justice reform.
About Zonderkidz
Zonderkidz™, the children’s division of Zondervan, inspires young lives through imagination and innovation. As a leader in Christian children’s communications, it creates products that awaken the hearts and touch the souls of kids under 16. Zonderkidz is also the publisher of the NIrV (New International Reader’s Version) Bible translation, the 3rd-grade reading level edition of the NIV. For additional information, please visit www.zonderkidz.com.
About Editorial Vida
Editorial Vida, the Spanish division of Zondervan, publishes Spanish Bibles, books, devotionals, and other resources that promote a faithful relationship with Jesus. Vida maintains the largest catalog of Christian products and resources in the Hispanic culture—US, Latin America, and abroad. Vida holds the exclusive distribution rights of the NVI (Nueva Versión Internacional)—New International Version of the Bible in Spanish. For more information please visit www.editorialvida.com.
About HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.
HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc. is a world leading Christian content provider. With nearly 300 years of publishing expertise, the company produces bestselling Bibles, inspirational books, academic resources, and curriculum in both traditional and digital formats. Its two foundational publishing groups, Thomas Nelson (@ThomasNelson) and Zondervan (@Zondervan), house the works of the world’s most renowned Christian leaders. The company is home to Olive Tree Bible Software (@OliveTreeBible), an innovative biblical resource that makes studying God’s Word accessible anywhere, and Bible Gateway (@BibleGateway), the world’s largest Christian website. HarperCollins Christian Publishing (@HCChristianPub) is headquartered in Nashville, TN with additional offices in Grand Rapids, MI, Spokane, WA, and international operations in Mexico City, Mexico, and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Hacksaw Ridge is a movie about the true story of Pfc. Desmond T. Doss, who won the US Congressional Medal of Honor despite refusing to bear arms on religious grounds during WWII. Doss was drafted and ostracized by fellow soldiers for his pacifist stance. But he went on to earn respect and adoration for his bravery, selflessness, and compassion after he risked his life—without firing a shot—to save 75 men in the Battle of Okinawa.
Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard,
that the everlasting God, the Lord,
the Creator of the ends of the earth,
fainteth not, neither is weary?
There is no searching of his understanding.
He giveth power to the faint;
and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
and the young men shall utterly fall:
but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint.
Though he died in 1900, Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical sway on modern thinking persists, inspiring numerous movements that weave the tapestries of contemporary culture: existentialism, theology, nihilistic culture, Nazism, 20th century film and art, atheism, ethical egoism, deconstruction, the hermeneutics of suspicion, and the postmodern age. His stark prophecy that “God is dead, and we killed him” thrives in this accelerating secular age where postmodernists lionize him as a prophetic voice of a new era.
You write, “On a Richter scale of thinkers, the Nietzschean earthquake ranks well above 9.0 with many serious aftershocks.” In what ways has Nietzsche influenced Western culture?
Dr. C. Ivan Spencer: Nietzsche pervades general culture through the arts and humanities, but especially in philosophy, theology, and literature. He inspired existential life patterns that urge and compel us to create ourselves and transform our nature through the tenacity of will, not predetermined formulas or socially constructed patterns of existing as individuals. We must create our essence and choose our own virtues.
In theology, some radical movements are rooted in Nietzsche’s thought. Secular theology derives some of its orientation from the stark Nietzschean prophecy that God is dead and that we killed him. Our secular age no longer centers on transcendent values, believing the divine source for such values has passed away. If God died, so did all wholesome values rooted in God.
In literature, Nietzsche conceives and gives birth to a hermeneutic that annihilates textual meaning. Few understand what has happened here or why. Nietzsche unleashed a category 5 hermeneutical hurricane. Now texts have no meaning other than the meanings powerful people or groups say they have. Thus the infamous hermeneutics of suspicion.
Why has Nietzsche’s philosophy been so readily and widely accepted?
Dr. C. Ivan Spencer: Nietzsche’s ideas take root because they appeal to the emptiness of the human experience and enable a postmodern and existential worldview. They enable an identity shift where one climbs out of the dark abyss of meaningless nihilism and into a self-constructed system of values and significance. His transvaluation project triumphs and fuels our hyper-individualism.
What was Nietzsche’s view of the Bible?
Dr. C. Ivan Spencer: Nietzsche’s view of the Bible differs greatly from Christians today. He grew up Lutheran and experienced the Pietistic faith among his family. His father was a minister. Nietzsche was a professor of the Greek language and worked among many 19th century German scholars doing higher biblical criticism.
He lost his faith as a young man in university. Much of his atheistic thought would view the Bible as another ancient text that people embraced to make sense of their world.
Yet everything evolved: there are no eternal facts as there are no absolute truths. #truth#evolution
How can Christians counter Nietzschean views of the Bible held by people whose worldview is composed of a post-modern belief that there is no absolute truth and that morality varies in every situation?
Dr. C. Ivan Spencer: Christians who believe the Bible believe it because they think God exists. Nietzsche did not believe God existed. Our view of Scripture rests on whether God exists or not.
Most worldview philosophers acknowledge that the answer to the question of God’s existence is an assumption. It is not a matter of science, evidence, or proofs. How one interprets evidence comes from the assumption. Evidence does speak clearly, but it says what one assumes about God.
Some theologians (for example, Calvin) say there’s a sensus divinitatis, an innate sense of the divine that orients everyone to believing in God’s existence. However, our evil heart obliterates this homing signal.
Other theologians (for example, Aquinas) say that evidences of God’s existence make it inescapable.
The easiest way to counter Nietzschean views of the Bible is to recognize that one’s deep assumptions about God generate how we see the Bible. The same applies to Nietzsche.
Why have you written this book and why should Christians read it?
Dr. C. Ivan Spencer: Christians need to be aware of the influencers of the world they live in. To engage our culture, one needs to understand its influencers. I wrote this book so anyone can understand it, not just the specialist or the academic. Nietzsche ranks as one of the undisputed masters who have fashioned this age.
What’s the meaning of the title?
Dr. C. Ivan Spencer:Tweetable Nietzsche captures the unique approach I took to unveiling his ideas. I wrote “Tweets” of his ideas; 140-character quotes that distill his ideas. This makes the book very easy to grasp. Each Tweet and its explanation can be read in 5 minutes or less, making it approachable for fast-paced lives.
You write, “Even if we reject his conclusions, we can learn from him the values of tenacity and intellectual honesty.” Please explain.
Dr. C. Ivan Spencer: Nietzsche lived a hard life of much physical pain, and he didn’t take any drugs to kill it. His intellectual honesty—often brutal—shocks most people. Authenticity is his brand. You won’t like what he says about many things, but he carried his naturalism to its authentic and logical conclusions. If you don’t believe God exists, and you carry that to its conclusions, you wind up with some grim conclusions. He went there and didn’t try to bootleg Christian values back into his worldview the way many atheists do.
What was the end of Nietzsche’s life like without any hope in God?
Dr. C. Ivan Spencer: His last decade descended as a sunset of the mind. In 1900, he died a complete and unconscious invalid, but extraordinarily famous and revered, almost like an atheistic prophet or saint. Unaware of his popular inspiration, his life would soon rip through the German world and fuel its culture in the first half of the 20th century.
What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App?
Dr. C. Ivan Spencer: It’s a great resource for people who need its valued insights into matters of faith, theology, Bible, and the church.
Bio: C. Ivan Spencer (PhD, University of Texas at Arlington) is professor of History and Philosophy at The College at Southeastern, in Wake Forest, NC. He teaches the history of ideas, philosophy, and history. Ivan was the creator of the school’s History of Ideas curriculum and major, and has cultivated the study of the greatest thinkers from the past to the present.
This post is a thematic Bible study on the topic of the New Jerusalem from the NIV Zondervan Study Bible, which includes study tools that specifically focus on biblical theology—the progressive unfolding of theological concepts through Scripture.
We often think of the New Jerusalem as “heaven,” a happy place we go when we die. But this New Jerusalem is just the culmination of a theme that runs from the very beginning to the very end of Scripture: the construction of the City of God.
Two acts of God’s creation frame the books of the Bible: Genesis opens by describing how God created the heavens and the earth, and Revelation concludes by anticipating the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. God begins with two humans overseeing a lush garden and concludes with multitudes of people in a golden city. Resplendent in glory, the new Jerusalem completes what God began when he created the earth. From beginning to end, Scripture unveils a “Holy City Project;” disclosing God’s special interest in eventually constructing a holy city upon the earth, where he and humanity will reside in intimate harmony.
Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden throws life into chaos, allowing their authority to rule over the earth to be usurped by Satan and they themselves to become subject to God’s enemy.
Rather than building God’s holy city as he had originally wanted, rebellious humanity builds an alternative city, traditionally known as Babel (the Hebrew name for Babylon). The city casts a long shadow over the whole Bible. Babel/Babylon is the archetypal godless city. It not only typifies the wonders that humans can accomplish as God-created beings, but also the arrogance of those who turn from God and the vanity of every social enterprise that seeks to exalt the creature over the creator. From Genesis to Revelation, Babel/Babylon features prominently as the symbol of humanity’s attempt to govern themselves in defiance of God.
In contrast stands the city of Jerusalem—also known as Zion—after King David captured it. When the ark of the covenant is brought to Jerusalem, it becomes the capital of God’s kingdom on earth.
King Solomon enhanced Jerusalem’s status by building a magnificent temple there. Jerusalem is the interim holy city where God lives with his people until, centuries later, he abandons the city because its immoral inhabitants defiled it.
Ancient Jerusalem as a holy city merely anticipated something greater to come. As Isaiah reveals, the morally corrupt Jerusalem of Old Testament times will in the future be replaced by a radically transformed Jerusalem, to which the nations will come in peace.
The author of the book of Hebrews links the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) with God’s construction of a unique city to come. And the future experience of all Christians involves this city (Hebrews 11:39-40; 12:22; 13:14). This city is the goal toward which everything in creation is moving; it brings to completion what God began in Genesis.
God’s plan to build his city on earth appeared to receive a major setback when the Old Testament city of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. But this is not the end of the story. The book of Isaiah contrasts a disgraced Babylon, sitting in dust, with a renewed Jerusalem, shouting for joy and knowing salvation.
Recognizing how present-day Babylon opposes God, the book of Revelation exhorts Christians to live here and now as citizens of the future new Jerusalem, anticipating the future existence of a redeemed humanity living together in harmony on a real earth. There is good reason to believe that our existence in the world to come will not be entirely dissimilar to what we experience now, but without the negative impact of evil, sin, and death. Every citizen, without exception, will not only serve and worship God but also reign with him.
Conduct in-depth studies in Scripture on the subjects of heaven and the city of God (as well as other themes of the Bible) with the NIV Zondervan Study Bible; always on sale in the Bible Gateway Store.
Historians and theologians have long recognized that at the heart of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation were five declarations (or solas) that distinguished the movement from other expressions of the Christian faith.
Five hundred years later, we live in a different time with fresh challenges to our faith. Yet these rallying cries of the Reformation continue to speak, addressing a wide range of contemporary issues, including the authority of Scripture.
Please briefly explain what the Reformation was and describe the five solas of the Reformation.
Matthew Barrett: The 16th-century Reformation was first and foremost a reform in doctrine. The Protestant Reformers were convinced that the medieval Catholic Church had compromised biblical teaching on essential matters of the Christian faith.
For example, Church tradition was believed to be a second infallible source of divine revelation alongside Scripture. The Reformers argued, however, that as important as church tradition is as an aid, helping Christians understand and interpret the Bible, the Bible alone is inspired by God, without error, and fully sufficient for faith and practice. Therefore, Scripture alone is the church’s final authority. The Reformers concluded that while tradition may play a ministerial role for the church, only Scripture has a magisterial role. This belief, called sola Scriptura, outraged Rome because it meant that the Pope was not the final, infallible authority; that position of prominence belongs to Scripture and Scripture alone.
The Reformers also believed the late medieval Catholic Church had misunderstood in a very serious way the nature of salvation. While God’s grace was necessary for salvation, man’s right standing was based in part upon man’s good, meritorious works, even if they be grace-enabled good works. This created a massive crisis in the life of Luther. No matter how many good works Luther performed, at the end of the day Luther could not escape the fact that he fell short. Luther admitted that he hated the righteousness of God because it reminded him that he was a sinner condemned before a holy God.
Then Luther started studying the apostle Paul, especially his letter to the Romans, and he realized that when Paul refers to the gospel he has in mind a righteousness from God, that is, the righteousness God gives to guilty sinners as a gift. This gift of righteousness is imputed or credited to man’s account upon faith in Jesus alone.
Luther, along with many other Reformers, concluded that man is justified by God’s grace alone (sola gratia), through faith alone (sola fide), in Christ Jesus alone (solus Christus). This discovery changed everything. No longer did the sinner need to perform works of penance or purchase an indulgence certificate; rather, he needed to abandon all efforts at self-righteousness and trust in the righteousness of Christ alone. When Luther’s eyes were opened to these solas, suddenly it was as if he had discovered the gospel for the very first time.
As you might have guessed, rediscovering this biblical understanding of salvation meant all glory, honor, and credit in salvation was to be given to God (soli Deo Gloria). This emphasis on the glory of God, however, was not restricted to the Christian’s initial conversion. The Reformers believed soli Deo Gloria was to change the whole Christian life. Every Christian had a God-given vocation that was to be performed for the glory of God.
Why is sola Scriptura considered the foundation of the five?
Matthew Barrett: Luther’s rediscovery of the gospel happened progressively. When his 95 theses were posted in 1517, challenging the abuse of indulgences he saw in own his day, that was but the beginning of a mature understanding of God’s grace still yet to come. Increasingly, therefore, Luther hit heads with Rome. It was not long before Luther realized that behind the debate over justification was a more foundational debate: who has ultimate authority to decide on these matters? Is it the Pope, church councils, or Scripture? Luther had a very high regard for church councils, but church councils, he argued, were not infallible. Only Scripture is inspired by God and without error. Final authority, therefore, resides with Scripture, argued Luther.
All that to say, if agreement could not be reached on the issue of authority, then it was increasingly difficult to see how there could be agreement on the issue of salvation. Luther believed the Pope and the Bible drew radically different conclusions concerning our right standing with God. Yet if final authority did not reside in Scripture, but the Pope had the final word, then a divide between Rome and Luther was inevitable. Famously, this became the dividing line at the Diet of Worms. Though he feared for his life, Luther boldly declared:
Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they often err and contradict themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise, here I stand, may God help me, Amen (LW 32:112).
Who was William Tyndale and why is his story so important to the idea of Scripture being its own interpreter?
Matthew Barrett: Luther tends to get all the attention when we discuss the Reformation, and for good reason too. But we cannot forget that the ideas of the Reformation were not limited to Luther’s Wittenberg. They were taking root in other territories as well. In England, William Tyndale risked his life in order to translate the Bible into the vernacular.
We take Bible translation for granted today, given the numerous excellent Bible translations we have readily at our fingertips, but in the 16th-century it was the Latin Vulgate that dominated the scene. The average churchgoer, however, may not have had the ability to read Latin. Even if he did, the Vulgate became increasingly untrustworthy for those sympathetic with the Protestant cause. Biblical scholars like Erasmus had exposed the Vulgate for mistranslating the original Greek, and sometimes its mistranslation only further perpetuated Rome’s faulty view of salvation. Add to this the fear in Rome that if the Bible was placed into the hands of the people, in their own native tongue, the authority of Rome as the infallible interpreter of the Bible would be undermined.
Enter William Tyndale. Tyndale was educated at Oxford and lived in Cambridge when Luther’s writings were burned in 1521 at both London and Cambridge. With Luther’s revolutionary ideas swimming around in the heads of young theologians and Erasmus’s groundbreaking work in the Greek text freshly printed, the atmosphere was ripe for further advances. The people were hungry to read the Bible, even if the legal authorities said otherwise. Tyndale felt a deep-rooted conviction that he was called to make God’s Word available to God’s people. John Foxe recounts a telling encounter with Tyndale that reveals his single-minded passion:
Master Tyndale happened to be in the company of a learned man and in the communing and disputing with him, drove him to that issue that the learned man said, “We would be better off without God’s law than the pope’s.” Master Tyndale hearing that, answered him, “I defy the pope and all his laws,” and said, “if God spare my life, ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth a plow shall know more of the Scripture than thou doest.”
Sadly, Tyndale would be strangled and burned at the stake, but not before he translated the New Testament into English from the original Greek.
Why is Tyndale’s story so important to our understanding of sola Scriptura? Tyndale believed Scripture possessed the words of eternal life. By bringing the Bible to the common person in the common language, the Word of God was, often for the very first time, piercing the hearts of the people, igniting gospel reformation that the church had for so long been without.
How can Christians best communicate the concept that the Bible is absolute truth when living in a “truth is relative” culture?
Matthew Barrett: The “truth is relative” culture we live in today is one saturated by a postmodern worldview. According to postmodernism, truth can no longer be “Truth” with a capital “T” but only “truth” with a lower case “t.” In other words, no longer do people believe there is absolute truth. Truth is relative. For the postmodernist, the ultimate sin is claiming one knows the truth. Naturally, postmodernism is anti-authority. It’s little surprise, then, that postmodernism is a self-professing enemy to biblical authority.
In the Christian worldview, we, as readers, are subservient to God, the divine author. Meaning and truth are not determined by us (the readers), but by God, the divine author.
How should we, as evangelicals, respond? We must return to sola Scriptura. The God of the Bible not only speaks, but claims to speak the truth, even sending his Son who is the way, the truth, and the light (John 14:6), the Logos who speaks the truth with authority (John 1:1), a truth that liberates the enslaved (John 8:32).
Historic Christianity has argued that Scripture hands to us not just any narrative, but the metanarrative that interprets reality and judges all other competing narratives. This claim lies at the heart of sola Scriptura and the Bible’s claim to authority. The Bible gives to us the supreme, final, truthful, objective, clear, and sufficient metanarrative, and this claim makes sola Scriptura offensive to the postmodernist mind. For many evangelicals, postmodernism and historic Christianity could not be more antithetical.
How has the modern Protestant church, including evangelicals, veered from the concept of sola Scriptura?
Matthew Barrett: The battle over biblical authority that started in the early 20th century is far from over. There continues to be an ever-growing number of books published on the subject every year, many questioning Scripture’s authority, inspiration, inerrancy, clarity, necessity, and sufficiency.
In God’s Word Alone I use the label “evangelical Bible critics” to refer to certain evangelicals today who are critical of Scripture (in varying degrees) but nonetheless still identify themselves in some sense as “evangelical” (or at least did so at one time). For these thinkers, the Bible is primarily a human book, and since it was written by humans it naturally errs. Historical errors and contradictions, they argue, are present throughout (for example, Moses didn’t write the Pentateuch, Paul didn’t write many epistles bearing his name, the flood and exodus never happened, Nineveh never repented, Gospel writers contradict each other, the prophecy of Christ’s return is mistaken). But these errors are not only historical in nature, but theological and ethical, as the Bible espouses values that are sinister and evil. Even Jesus’s teachings, they claim, were not immune from the fallen condition. Therefore, the Bible, being fallen and broken, has a dark side. Nevertheless, they qualify, Scripture is still God’s Word and authoritative in its main message, since God accommodates himself to error, redeeming and sanctifying man’s broken word. So the argument goes.
Evangelicals must be ready to spot the loopholes in such claims. I explore many in God’s Word Alone, but let’s consider just two. First, while the “evangelical Bible critics” look at apparent Bible “problems” and conclude that the Bible is not inerrant but nonetheless remains the “word of God,” skeptics (for example, Bart Ehrman) look at the same Bible “problems” and conclude that the Bible most definitively is not the “word of God.” On this point, ironically, evangelical inerrantists and skeptics have much in common over against “evangelical Bible critics”—they agree that if the Bible errs, it cannot be the authoritative “word of God.”
Second, for “evangelical Bible critics,” not only is the historicity of the biblical accounts called into question, but the very theology and ethics of the Bible are questioned. We should not think that “evangelical Bible critics” have a problem with minor issues. Rather, their criticism of Scripture is with the Bible’s own theology and ethical instruction; indeed, the Bible’s own worldview.
Needless to say, sola Scriptura will be seriously compromised and abandoned should evangelicals go down this path. What we need, then, are evangelical Christians bold enough to take a stand for biblical authority, even if it means being laughed at by “evangelical Bible critics” today. In doing so, evangelicals defending sola Scriptura will find the 16th-century Reformers to be their greatest allies.
What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App?
Matthew Barrett: I have benefitted in the past from Bible Gateway. I especially appreciate how Bible Gateway makes the Bible, in a variety of translations, so accessible to Christians everywhere. God has blessed us with technology in the 21st century and it’s a great responsibility. It’s encouraging to see Bible Gateway using this technology to advance biblical literacy.
If readers would like to learn more about your new book, as well as The 5 Solas series, where can they go?
Matthew Barrett: Over at Credo Magazine you can read endorsements for the book from thinkers like Albert Mohler, D. A. Carson, and Kevin Vanhoozer. There you’ll also find other articles I’ve written explaining what sets the book apart and how it can help Christians today apply the doctrine of sola Scriptura today.
Brokenness doesn’t only find us in the big things—like illness, hardship, or grief. It also finds us in the every day stinging moments when we feel forgotten, or under-appreciated by our loved ones, or sense the inevitable change that years of living has marked on our hearts. We’re fragile and we know it. Sometimes, living with Christ in a messed-up world feels less like victory and more like walking uphill. How do we walk in a way that both glorifies Jesus and bears witness to our weakness?
Below are the time stamps for the interview above at which point Ann begins to answer each question.
04:00 — Tell how The Broken Way has changed and formed your life.
05:30 — You wrote The Broken Way out of a raw, honest, and vulnerable place. Tell us what you hope readers might find in its pages.
08:50 — In The Broken Way you say “koinonia is about more than a cup of coffee and small talk; it is the fellowship of the broken sharing brokenness.” In One Thousand Gifts you wrote that eucharisteo always precedes the miracle. And in The Broken Way you write “koinonia is always, always, always the miracle.” Unpack that for us. What is koinonia and why is it the miracle that we need?
12:16 — Speaking of vulnerability, you tell a lot wonderful stories in The Broken Way. You alluded to the story that opens the book about you cutting when you were a teenager. Tell the audience, of all the stories you tell, what is your favorite story.
22:00 — Thank you for telling the story of your adopted daughter’s brokenness in terms of her heart surgery. What encouragement would you offer other parents of children with heart disease who struggle with the question of, “Why my child, God?”
24:10 — What is the one thing you would say to someone with a fairly tragedy-free life who is struggling with doubt about God?
26:00 — You said this on Twitter: “When the church isn’t for the suffering and broken, then the church isn’t for Christ. What is a practical way of suffering for good?
Named by Christianity Today as one of 50 women most shaping culture and the church today, Ann knows unspoken brokenness and big country skies and an intimacy with God that touches wounded places. Millions do life with her at her daily photographic online journal, one of the Top 10 most widely read Christian websites: www.annvoskamp.com
The Bible Gateway Blog features the latest news, announcements, and reflections from Bible Gateway. We hope what you find here will add to your understanding of and appreciation for the Bible.
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