MORE ABOUT SCRIPTURAL WORSHIP

Following up on my last post about Scriptural worship, I want to say a few more things.

Paul says, in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (ESV). 

The International Children’s Bible simplifies the reading, “Do the best you can to be the kind of person that God will approve, and give yourself to him. Be a worker who is not ashamed of his work—a worker who uses the true teaching in the right way” (ICB).

So, it’s essential to handle the text of the Bible correctly, soundly, or healthily, all of which means, we interpret the text to mean what it actually means. We practice exegesis, which means we draw meaning out from the text, not eisegesis, which many people practice, which means they read their own ideas into the text and so interpret it as saying things it doesn’t actually say. Just a little elementary word dissection will help us grasp what we mean when we say we must interpret Scripture soundly. Consider:

Inter (“between”) + Pret (Latin, “to perceive”) + ation (“process of”)

Interpretation is the process of situating your mind between the ancient text and the modern reader or hearer and bridging the gap so that you can understand the ancient text accurately (what it meant in its original context) and thus apply its meaning to the present context. Scripture doesn’t change its meaning over time any more than God changes. God is perfect (Matt 5:48). He doesn’t change because He’s already perfect. His written word is the revelation of Christ, Who is the Living Word (Heb 4:12). Christ Jesus is God being a man, in other words, He’s perfect. So, the written word is and forever remains perfect (Psalm 18:30). It cannot be changed, and God has strongly warned against any attempt to twist or change its meaning (2 Pet 3:16).

Handling scripture correctly requires understanding the two covenants (Old and New) and three religious eras (also called “dispensations”) in which the events and teachings in Scripture are found, and knowing how to distinguish between them, recognizing that the Old Covenant (or Testament) was fulfilled and removed from being God’s present will and that the two preceding eras foreshadowed and have been fulfilled in Christ and the church age as well. The Bible isn’t hard to understand once you know a bit about how it’s put together, and knowing this is essential to understanding what Christ’s will is and how to follow His example properly.

The three eras, ages, or dispensations of true religion revealed successively as God moved humanity (through His chosen people) toward the reception of His completed will (the closed canon of 66 books of the Bible) were the Patriarchal Age, or the Age of Father-Rulers (Noah, Abraham, Jacob, etc.), the Mosaic Era, or the 1,500 years the nation of Israel lived under the Law of Moses until Christ cam, fulfilled it, and did away with it. Jesus’ followers no longer live under the Patriarchs or under the Law of Moses, both of which required perfect obedience for people to be justified in God’s sight, we live under the Law of Christ, which is the same thing as the Law of Liberty, or Law of Faith. There’s a lot to say about this, but it’ll have to wait for another series. I’ll sum this section up like this:

The Bible was revealed progressively through three systems of religion built on the foundation of true spirituality:

1. Step one guided humanity in its infancy. God called, led, and revealed the principles of His will and the beginnings of His grand eternal purpose to the ancient fathers of the nations, ultimately choosing to make His covenant to save the whole world from sin with Abraham, the symbolic father of all who walk by faith in the true God. 

2. Step two, the era ruled by the Law of Moses, shaped humanity (especially Israel, to whom the Law was given) in its childhood phase. The more than 600 laws thoroughly instructed all who would listen in truth and falsehood, righteousness and sin, justice, and injustice, and ultimately proved that no human being is righteous or godly enough to earn eternal salvation because all sin and break God’s Law at some point. The Law and the Prophets revealed many prophecies about the Messiah who would perfectly obey God’s will and so earn the right to save sinners, and that Messiah, or Christ, is Jesus. He’s the unique Son of God, preexisting in the infinite form of God, He was made human via the virgin birth. He kept the Law completely, satisfying God the Father’s requirements of it, and thus earned the reward of High Priesthood and Kingship over all God’s inheritance, and with it, the right to save from sins and grant eternal life to all who trust in Him.

3. Step three, the Christian era or Church Age, is the age of Christ’s reign through completed Scripture, through the faithful churches. It’s the dispensation currently in force, revealed in the 27 books of the Bible’s New Testament, and, thus, is where we learn how to worship by faith rather than Law in spirit and truth about which I wrote previously. The New Testament governs the adulthood of the human race. 

The Age of the Fathers lasted until God gave Moses the Law (Rom 5:13). The Mosaic Age endured until Christ died and rose and established the church (Gal 3:24). The Christian or Church Age is current and will endure until the end of this world (Matt 28:20). This means the whole Bible as understood according to the New Testament is the authority that teaches all who care how to worship God in ways He desires and will accept. So, there should never be any worship wars, since God hasn’t left it up to human opinions, desires, or the changing mores and values of the times to determine how to worship acceptably. That was all revealed nearly two millennia ago. The faithful follow the ancient order and celebrate its simplicity, its effectiveness at achieving God’s aims through it (the spread of His glory, truth, and the transformation of believers into His likeness more perfectly), and its accessibility across all cultures.

---JLP

Image by Didgeman via Pixabay.