Scripture–in some ways–is a reflection of God’s mind, which means that understanding Scripture can never be completely mastered. Like a big city, there is something new and unexplored around every corner for the reader. In other words, reading the Bible is a great adventure of exploration and discovery.

The main foundation of solid biblical interpretation is to read it as the Word of God. Humanity sits under God, so his Word must sit in authority over us. This means that the meaning of the text must come from the text, not imposed upon it from outside. The temptation of all Christian denominations is to map their theology on to the text of Scripture, using the Bible as a series of proofs for their own correctness. But this is turning our theology or thoughts in “sacred scripture”, not allowing the real sacred Scripture to speak for God.

One key to checking our own theological and cultural biases in the attempt to allow God’s Word to speak for itself is to read it in community. Hearing what people from different backgrounds hear when they read Scripture helps us read and hear Scripture from outside our own echo chamber.

Practically speaking, correct biblical interpretation depends on reading the Bible not as isolated sayings, verses, or stories, but as one complete story, and we cannot understand any story–especially the story of Scripture!–outside of the whole story. And the importance of understanding the historical background of the text is also vital to correctly interpreting it. This takes work–digging into the cultural and historical backgrounds of the text means learning from scholars who study the backgrounds of the Bible. But this will keep us from making the Bible mean something it doesn’t, turning it into a decontextualized inspirational message to me.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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For Christianity, marriage is much more than a convenient way to order society and build and protect families. Marriage is at its heart a reflection of two deeper theological realities: first, it reflects the eternal relationship that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have. In other words, God has given his human creatures the gift of marriage so they can look like the Trinity, bearing God’s image in the husband-wife relationship. And second, marriage reflects the love Jesus has for his church.

Because of this, marriage takes on a significance that far exceeds its romantic possibilities, or its economic or social utility. God wants us to remain faithful to our spouses because he is a faithful God.

There are times when the Bible permits divorce–in cases of adultery, abandonment, and (many in the church agree) physical abuse. But outside of these cases, God expects husbands and wives to practice love and faithfulness for each other.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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To comment on this episode, visit https://saintjamesglencarbon.org/cacg-ep117.

For lots of Christians knowing when they were saved is very important, and knowing the date they were baptized or the date they first believed becomes a way to assure themselves of the security of their relationship with God. There are two questions behind this issue: first, am I saved because of a decision I’ve made or a decision God has made.

Chuck and Aaron talk about how our salvation is completely founded on God’s decision to rescue us, and even when our initial realization of the truth of the Gospel resulted in what looked like us deciding to believe in Jesus, it was really God working in our hearts to give us the faith to believe.

And the second question: am I saved in one moment or is it a process? So many people have a different experience–some were baptized when they were infants and have never stopped believing the Gospel, some were baptized, drifted away from faith in Jesus, and then came back to him over time and or in one dramatic moment, and some were never baptized but as adults became converted to Christianity, again either in one moment or as a result of an apparent process. And while all these experiences are difficult, one thing remains the same–those who have been saved by Jesus have spiritual life now.

The best way to tell if you are physically alive is not to look at your birth certificate but to check your pulse, and the best way to know if you are a child of God is whether or not you have faith in his son Jesus.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

Subscribe to the show at https://cacg.saintjamesglencarbon.org.

To comment on this episode, visit https://saintjamesglencarbon.org/cacg-ep116.