DOCTRINE ONE AND HERMENEUTICAL INTEGRITY
GOD’S WORD
2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21; Psalm 119:105-112; Exodus 33:18; John 7:17; 1 Kings 18; Romans 1:23; 1 Kings 18:21
Devotional By
Major Wayne Ennis
A Salvation Army Officer from Down Under
Box Hill South - Victoria, Australia
We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and that they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.
The Salvation Army Doctrine Book states that “Our first doctrine establishes the Bible as definitive for Christian faith and practice. The inspiration of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21) requires that its authority supersedes all other sources of revelation as the primary source of Christian revelation (Psalm 119:105-112). Its unique authority reveals the thoughts and actions of God. The authority of the Bible tests all other authorities. It is therefore described as a ‘sufficient authority” (The Salvation Army Doctrine Book). If we think for a moment what we are actually saying in the doctrine when we use the phrase ‘authority of scripture’, we must surely acknowledge that what we are saying is that, though all authority belongs to God, God has somehow invested this authority in Scripture.
The Bible is different to every other book because it is ‘inspired by God’ and is therefore true and trust worthy., which means if this is a book written by men inspired by the Holy Spirit then the ‘Divine rule of Christian faith and practice’ and its warning and reprimands concern sin do not fit into applied categories of cultural obsessions. If God is good then his goodness is unrestrained by time on the one hand which also means the admonitions against sin are followed by offers of grace (Exodus 33:19 and following). The God of the Bible deals differently with God when people deal differently with him. To most people this is nothing more than an oddity and can simply be ignored.
If, as the doctrine states is true and God is the Creator of all things and if the Bible is the word of God and therefore has the authoritative seal of Truth and power it has the right to interrogate our lives and culture and not the other way around. When it comes to authority in our post-modern world seeks to deny any higher authority other than the authentic self that has the power and authority to construct its own truth claims and their interpretation.
Because the post-modern world along with post-modern Christian (an oxymoron) have a problem with authority they are only too willing to apply a hermeneutic of suspicion and convivence when it comes to the biblical text and the question as to how the Bible can be such an authoritative book let alone agree to proposition that it actually exercises authority over our Christian faith and practices. When we go down this stream, we wind up belittling both the Bible and the doctrine we supposedly hold to. Such a position goes even further by inferring that God has, after all, given us the wrong sort of book by implying that the real place where God has revealed himself—the real locus of authority and revelation—is, in fact, somewhere else, and it is our job to turn it into the right sort of book by engaging in these hermeneutical dishonest moves, translation procedures or whatever. Some even want to go so far as to say the Old Testament with its sexual morality can be safely denied, even abandoned. By doing so basically means we have become Gnostic Marcionite heretics. I for one don’t want to swim in that river.
The Scripture of both Testaments have a unique job to do, as the doctrine states. As a reader, regardless of whether we believe it or not is called upon to respect the text and faithfully deal with a hermeneutic of trust and integrity. If we are not willing to live by the doctrine, we will find ourselves not receiving God’s blessing instead we only have the acceptances of fallen humanity.
When we accept doctrine one and there by believe it’s premise to be true, we, believe it or not and hand over our right to the interpretation of the Scripture to the Triune God whose word it is and willing will to trust and commit ourselves to the one who said in John 7:17 (ESV) concerning his teaching:
If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
WORLDVIEWS IN CONFLICT.
We believe that our first parents were created in a state of innocency, but by their disobedience they lost their purity and happiness, and that in consequence of their fall all men have become sinners, totally depraved, and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God. (Doctrine 5).
1 Kings 18. Irenaeus: Against Heresy.
Every one of us has a worldview, whether we know it of not. A person’s worldview influences every aspect of their lives. A Worldview is not something you look at, it’s what you look through in the light of the culture that we are living in. Worldviews have stories, symbols, practices, and questions that people live by.
How you answer the important questions of existence will inform how you behave in your day-to-day existence. It manifests tangibly in their religious viewpoints, political allegiances, or moral practices. It also informs how they see the world, their place in it, and the personal standards to which they hold themselves. The term worldview refers to someone’s set of answers to all the big questions of life. This might include assessing whether or not there is a God, what ethical duty human beings have to each other, or how we can know certain things to be true.
Whether we like it or not we need to understand that there are but two basically established worldviews that are in deadly conflict with each other. As our culture works toward normalizing what it means to be human along with any and every sexuality, the conflict actually centers around a biblical or a neo-pagan/gnostic worldview. These two worldviews markedly differ on the fundamental nature of reality. Is everything essentially one? Or does an irreducible distinction exist between the creation and the Creator? Or in our approach to the conflict finding ourselves exchanging the truth of one for thelie of the other and so, find we are worshipping the creation rather than the Creator (Romans 1:23).
Again, whether we like it or not our position on what it means to be human along with our views on sexuality comes from one or the other of these established worldviews, which means we cannot escape the idea that our humanity, sexuality, and theology are intertwined. Thus, what it means to be human along with our sexuality is either form by a pagan/gnostic worldview along with its different sexualities and gods or a biblical worldview alongwith its distinctions and one true God.
The problem we face is that we have those, who claim to be ‘progressive’ working to accommodate both worldviews by joining them together, by insisting on finding ways to embrace both. However, even a slight understanding of either concepts that are completely incompatible and that there are no grounds upon which to build such an accommodating relationship. I think the Olympic opening ceremony ought to be evidence enough to see that what is being proposed by the world is the same old-fashioned pagan religions with its many sexual sacrament and many gods. Paganism’s goal is seeking utopia by normalising itself and its practices while at the same time to deconstruct what it means to be human, that is, ‘created in the image of God’, and its heterosexuality. If paganism succeeds, we will continue to see a flood that will lead to personal, social, and sexual destruction.
The battle against the gods of paganism is not new. Elijah faced it on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18) as did Irenaeus in the second century as he battled it in the church of the day as well as the world (Against Heresy). As we are involved, one way or another, in a serious conflict between a faithful biblical witness and a powerful pagan religious ideology, we too have a choice between two old contradictory worldviews as we battle both in the church and in the world.
Elijah’s question and the people’s silence comes back to haunt us today. By which worldview and its God (god) are we going live by and which gospel are we going to proclaim.
How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 1 Kings 18:21
OUR CORPORATE PRAYER
Keep us, O Lord, from waxing mentally and spiritually dull and stupid. Help us to keep the physical, mental, and spiritual fibre of the athlete, of the man who denies himself daily and takes up his cross and follows Thee. Give us good success in our work, but hide pride from us. Save us from the complacency that so frequently accompanies success and prosperity. Save us from the spirit of sloth, of self-indulgence, as physical infirmities and decay creep upon us. In Jesus Christ's name, we make this prayer.