Posts Tagged ‘Christian law’
Trading The Word For The Words
I’ve really been thinking recently about how we have really traded the Lord Jesus Christ (The Word of God) for the Scriptures (the words of God) and that many don’t even see any difference. Here are some ways I think that we have done this.
First, we obey the Scriptures before looking to the Spirit of Christ in our hearts for the answer. You see, the answer is always love for God and neighbor and the answer never defies this. Whatever is best for others is always best for us in the long run. When we truly love people we never do them any wrong and always try to do right by them. This is what God wants from us as well. The main way that we show our love to Christ is by loving His people.
Instead of doing this, we try to obey what the Scriptures say regardless of how it affects others. We prohibit God-gifted women from teaching us because of what the “law” states instead of looking at the reasons that the prohibition was once necessary and the reasons that it no longer is. We put the Scriptures higher than the love that they are trying to promote.
The Scriptures were never supposed to be a rulebook. Their purpose of Scripture is to tell us the facts about Jesus Christ and His Church so that we can live in the realities that they reveal to us. The Scriptures point to Jesus, they are not an end to themselves. We can follow the Bible perfectly and still not get it because the Bible was not meant to be followed. God revealed Himself to us so that we would be able to know what we needed to know to be in relationship with Him.
Second, we read the Bible instead of pursuing a relationship with Christ. We tend to think that they are the same thing. I’ve heard many people say that prayer is when they talk and the Scriptures is how God talks. This couldn’t be more wrong but I have even thought it myself. When I’ve wanted to know something from God I have often went to the Scriptures instead of just asking Him to teach me in His own way. Although the Scriptures might reveal something that could help me (I’m also not suggesting that anyone stop reading the Bible, I read it every day), Christ’s way is to write on the human heart. His way is Spiritual while reading the Bible and trying to obey it is carnal.
Lastly, we truly believe that we have a relationship with Christ because we obey the Scriptures. This is also very wrong. Paul talked about (in 1 Corinthians 13 of course) that if we could speak in tongues of angels and had all knowledge but didn’t have love it was nothing. Do we really believe that? I don’t think that many do. We still think that having all knowledge (orthodoxy) or the right practice (pattern) is the way to relationship with Christ.
This isn’t true. The way to relationship with Christ is Spiritual and no ritual or doctrine is going to get you there. The truth is that Christ has already provided the bridge between you and Him. The old school word for it is “reconciliation” but it just basically means that anything that separated us from Christ is no more. We can have the relationship with Him already when we stop trying to manipulate Him through knowledge and pattern. His Spirit is already in our hearts and when we follow it (and not the revelatory book that showed you this reality) we find that Christ was really there the whole time and we just couldn’t see Him past all the religious garbage.
Written by freeinchrist
December 20, 2009 at 8:00 am
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged with 1 Corinthians 13, biblical authority, bibliolotry, Christian law, Christian spirituality, hermeneutics, Holy Spirit, idolotry, Jesus Creed, John 1, love God love others, New Covenant, new law, orthodoxy, pattern of the church, pattern of worship, patternism, reconciliation, relationship with Christ, relationship with God, religion, rulebook, Shema, Spirit of Christ, women in ministry, Word of God