THE WORD OF GOD: Jesus or the Bible ?

What is the Word of God? Through recent readings, i realized a paramount  truth that shed light on my understanding of the Christian faith. What is the Word of God?

When one asks what is the WORD OF GOD? I am very quick to answer that Jesus is the WORD OF GOD, the Logos, the Fully incarnate WORD.  That is understandably and unarguably the Truth. However, the Bible has often been referred to also as the Word of God, and personally, I had trouble accepting that. Certainly not because i am questionning the validity of the sacred book itself, but because it limits our infinite God  and his abilities in a book. 

Then it begs the question?  Why would the Early Church Fathers (first 300 years of Christianity) who clearly existed before the full fledged canonized Bible (4th century) decide to term the bible "the Word of God". 

Here we have now 1600 hundred years later, Jesus and the Bible both being termed as .... the Word of God. 

Then on this glorious day of easter it became quickly apparent to me that the fully human and fully divine nature of Jesus is what God intended to parallelize in the Bible. 

John starts his gospel on a very high christology depicting Jesus as the Incarnate Word. "In the beginning was the WORD." Surely enough the early Christian fathers understood that very same concept, leading to the dogma of Jesus being truly and fully human and truly and fully divine. ANYTHING ELSE WAS CONSIDERED HERETICAL, most prominently arianism and  . This is the mystery of our Faith. 

How can someone be truly human and truly divine? 

This dual nature, MYSTERIOUS YET EVER SO HOLY AND PURE, resides in one person of the trinity and  resounds again and again throughout scriptures. In Mark 5:30, We observe Jesus (i) fully human - perceiving of His senses, realizing someone had touched him when he asked "WHO TOUCHED MY GARMENT?", (ii) whilst at the same time fully divine to feel  that "POWER PROCEEDING FROM HIM had gone forth" whereby Jesus cures the woman. His question was obviously misunderstood by his disciples who were yet to be revealed THE FULL TRUTH, THE WHOLE THRUTH ABOUT THEIR MASTER'S DUAL NATURE.

Where is this going?

Well Just as God intended for his son to be fully Human and Fully divine, God also intended for the bible to be so.  The Written word of God reflects not only the divine thought, but a human touch. The Word of God depicts truths to us as written by men, conveying the thoughts, personalities and even limitations of the writers inspired by God. Fr James Bernstein writes: 

"This means that the human element in the Bible is not overwhelmed so as to be lost in the ocean of the divine. It became clearer to me that as Christ Himself was born, grew, and matured, so also did the written Word of God, the Bible." It did not come down whole-plop-from heaven, but was of human origin as well as divine. The Apostles did not merely inscribe the Scriptures as would a robot, but freely cooperated with the will of God through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The Early Church Fathers understood that ever so well and were comfortable accepting that truth. The fact of the matter is that God desires to draw close to Humanity, his creation, at every moment, and desires us to be an integral part of  his divine plan of salvation. Dr Kreeft once said: If you are seeking God, most likely it's simply because God is seeking you a lot more than you can imagine. 

To minimize Jesus' humanity diminishes the price He paid for us on the Cross. Similarly to dismiss his divinity questions the credibility of Christianity. Let's not make the same mistakes with the Bible. Its Human element is just as divine as its divinity was rendered sacred by Humans. 

The Parting of the Saints : Peter for Catholics, Paul for Protestants -Part 1

Conversation with a Protestant- "Apologetics from the Inside out" 

Recent discussion with a zealous protestant friend of mine has prompted me to dive in deeper into the field of Apologetics, however from a different approach. Not Who is right and who is wrong, clearly because that never seems to progress. I aim now to understand, and expound on their beliefs (protestants, and catholics) within the confinement that their respective theology allows. 

What Do I really mean by that. Well, everytime we begin to read any book (science, literature, poetry, etc) , often times we have "silent questions", inquiries in mind that allow us to understand the text we are reading in depth. Well, the same applies to the Bible. Catholics and Protestants alike have the bible as their sacred text ( with some differences that i would like to forego here for the sake of my argument). It occured to me that, that there is a fundamental difference in "that silent question" we subconsciously ask ourselves as we read the Word. That question like a vector, controls not only the magnitude of the depth we seek to plunge the mind in, but also controls the direction that we choose to build upon, all the while restricted by the confinement that their respective theology allows. The latter finds itself to be very very crucial in the dichotomy between Catholics and Protestants. 

Well, What's the big deal, everyone asks different subjective questions as they read the Texts even within the same denominations? 

Well Although that is very true, these subjective questions tend to remain within the confinement of what we already believe. These are readily shaped by the theologies we validate upon joining a certain denomination. 

 For example, let's take a paramount  topic in the PC's (Protestant Churches) and CC's (Catholic Church's) theologies:  Saint Peter or Peter (reaffirming my point of which lens are you wearing). This therefore raises the topic of The Pope, Bishop of Rome, successor of Peter, priests and the whole nine yard, but for the sake of time, let's confine ourselves to Peter, the Disciple and his role in Christianity.

Sola Fide and Sola Scriptura, the Two most prominent doctrines of the Protestant Reformation at the root of all our differences, right from the beginning affirmed that : ONLY THE BIBLE  SHOULD DICTATE US AS TO MATTERS OF FAITH, AND ONLY OUR FAITH IN GOD, BRINGS US SALVATION. 

Well we know what that means, and most seemingly seems very Logical. God draws close to us, Men all the time. He therefore in a plan of sheer goodness decides to use Men to write HIS WORD. Hence God being the sole author of the Bible, it would therefore seem fit that He is the dictator of our faith. BRILLIANT! Up to this point we agree!

Validating the brilliance of the scholarship of Martin Luther. But what does it truly entail? How could that doctrine possibly confine our thinking and therefore reshape our"silent question" 

If only the bible should dictate us as to matters of faith as it clearly states in Sola Scriptura, the keyword here being DICTATE, this more than automatically dissolves any authority that "anyone" may claim it has over the church.....BINGO, including the pope. Now while this may seem logical to some minds (confined within the doctrine Sola Scriptura) , It raises a HUGE and ENORMOUS FALLACY, shall i call it a Blasphemy, that which underscores, that the pope, being the head of the church is putting himself on the same pedestal with Our Lord. 

When in Fact, the pope, is the "servant of the servants of God"-

When in fact, the pope's authority and seemingly immense power comes from the fact that he has no power at all to change the teachings of WHOM he serves, including Sanctity of life, a teaching that has recently been under so much controversy ( Abortion, contraception...etc)

When in fact, one of the pope's tasks is to preserve the INTEGRITY  and Pristinity of the very same bible he is accused to overthrow. 

Now the million Dollar question is how could it possibly get to that point, or did the rejection of the authority of the pope was utterly motivated by Man's rebellion to authority? NOT what Martin Luther intended it to be ( a rebel) or do (a reformation)? I elect for the answer of this question to leave it up to the inquisitive mind of the reader, for fear of injecting bias. 

Back to my point about Peter, Well If The pope's authority is undermined, well whoever He claims to have that authority from would therefore be undermined. 

Peter, whose name means Rock (baptized by the Lord himself from Simon), the very Rock God built His church on, Peter!  

-who was to receive the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, the very place we seek to reach: Mt 16:19, 

-Who was given a specific and unique, and special task to tend God's Lambs, Sheperd The Sheeps in John 21:15-19,

-To Whom only God The father revealed the identity of OUR Lord, Matthew 16:16

was given the divine task to forgive sins, and bind things on earth as they will be bound in heaven.

With all these mounting evidences that like a counted few others, Saint Peter uniquely was an important part to God's Divine Plan for Salvation. However we choose to linger on his transgressions

Why did he Deny Jesus? I like to say that it is for that very reason God Chose Man to help Man get saved, To realize that we are sinners, renounce from our ways and pick our cross to follow and uphold the teachings of Christ. Peter in the most beautiful way did JUST that, strenghtened by the Spirit and the very prayer of Jesus HIMSELF (luke 22:32). 

As a protestant, my next question would definitely be: Well that was Peter, and the pope Now is the Pope, nothing to do with the special Gifts of Peter himself? This question reinforces my point that the questions we ask are shaped by the confinements within the walls of the Theology we accepted. 

The answer is "WE BELIEVE". Catholics believe in Apostolic Succession. 

The belief for me stems from the infinite Love that God has for us, and would not allow us to go astray. EVERYTHING COMES FROM THE FATHER, by THE SON, through THE HOLYSPIRIT, That same Holy Spirit guides the Church and all its fervent  and devout followers for many Generations to come. The Pope, as the servant of the servants of the people in the Kingdom of God, imbibs himself with that Spirit of God that reigned, reigns, and will reign over the Church, and sheperd us to the KING! 

The Pope's visible and tangible presence here on Earth, now, leads us to be imitators of Christ by upholding and sanctifying the VISIBLE truths of the CHURCH.  

FROM THE FATHER -

The church- The Temple of God (House of God the father(physical building) jOHN 2:13-22) , The pope as a leader, would ensure, set rules and boundaries that the House of God is not to be disrespected, but rather use for the worship and Glory of God 

 

BY THE SON

The Church- The Body of Christ ( powerful reality of the Eucharist - By eating his flesh and drinking his blood- NOT a  symbol John 6:53) -The pope as a leader, would ensure, set rules and boundaries that the BODY OF CHRIST is not to be disrespected, but rather received in truth, sincerity, and  that we, in being in the presence of CHRIST, KING HIMSELF are heir to the new covenant, HIS Kingdom 

THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Church- Our Soul, where the Holy Spirit resides (Urges us to reflect that shining light by (1)  loving Our God, hence building a visible  environment within which seeking HIS holiness and abstaining from the wages of Sin is made possible daily, and (2) loving our neighbors, the least fortunate one, the unpriviledged the "windows and orphans", Matthew 25- receiving the least of us, The Pope in so doing teaches us how to heed to the demands of the spirit, he creates an environment where Holiness and perfection is seeked by its true followers

IN ALL THREE, ALL THREE IN ONE, ONE CHURCH forever and ever!

Sorry i got Carried away just a bit, but let me close by saying this.

We view things through a lens (in this case THEOLOGY). Conversion from "A", does not validate "B", i.e.  a catholic converting to protestantism doesnt affirm that the former is wrong and the latter is right, and vice versa, it simply means that one reshaped the lens thorugh which he viewed things before, that allows you to ask "reshaped silent questions".  This by no means undermines questioning! 

For it is only by questioning that We seek the truth!

In part II, i will focused on PAULINE THEOLOGY, and why it seems as though Protestants embraced St Paul, at the Expense of Catholics, again trying to expose the two lenses.