Avoiding the Faith-Shakers

T

here is some truth to the fears of some Christian fundamentalists concerning the dangers of deep biblical studies. Like others, I have experienced the mix of emotions that come from looking at the Bible through the writings of early manuscripts. Some of those emotions include fascination and awe, while others are among those feelings that could ultimately be refered to as faith-shaking.

Recently at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, the faculty led a Saturday seminar called “Seminary or Cemetery”, which focused on the dangers of deep theological studies and how some seminarians risk the danger of actually losing their faith.

I believe I have some insights into how to avoid this danger.

Just as most Christian denominations accept the belief that Jesus is both human and divine, God’s Word is also humanly and divinely written. As for his humanity, Jesus grew in stature and knowledge (Luke 2:52), and, since the invention of Guttenberg’s printing press, God’s Word has evolved from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek into the vernacular of nearly every nation in less than 600 years.

As Jesus, who is the Living Word (John 1:1), grew and developed into the man and rabbi who would fulfill Old Testament prophesies and prove to be God as Messiah, so has the Bible gone through many written developments until it has reached its full ability to speak to all people today.

We know how Jesus learned and grew. He grew and learned as a human being. But how did the Bible grow?

The Bible has gone through many processes to reach us where we are today. Scholars like Bruce Metzger, Gordon Fee, Kurt and Barbara Aland, and even the very controversial Bart Ehrman have done a spectacular job of giving those who want to know the ability to discover how the Bible came to be.

When doubt creeps in to the mind of a well-meaning student of God’s Word, it does so through the very human side of the Bible’s development. For example, when one looks over an early scriptural document and sees the scribbling of a monk in the margin of such an important manuscript, it is easy to think, “Oh my God, a normal person wrote this!” And suddenly, the awesomeness of the written words begins to be stripped of their mysterious power.

I suppose the same thing would happen, if we were to travel back in time to a point in the life of Jesus when he needed a diaper change. We would have to say, “How could God produce something that smells that bad?”

Being human is not anti-God, but the exact image of God without divine perfection. The written words that we read and trust as the very Word of God sometimes include the human stench of flaws produced by the careless hand of a scribe.

The flaws are caused by both human error and intentional changes. Scribes have been known to have problems with their sight and hearing, and they have also made errors in judgment. Among the reasons for intentional changes include spelling and grammar issues, alterations for reasons of doctrine, and the desire to smoothen word flow. All of these are well-known and documented by textual critics who work diligently to correct such flaws and restore the orginal meanings of the text.

And just as Jesus may have stumped his toe or gotten a cold, the scribes were not always completely careful when recording the musings, stories and wisdom of the many men and women of the Bible.

The Word of God is flawless, while the written form of God’s words must be constantly inspected and cross-checked as new manuscripts, historical facts, and the social cultures of biblical stories and people are discovered.

I am not threatened by textual flaws, but encouraged to know that God uses imperfect vessels, like you and me, to share the most important message ever given, even though we may not always pass it along with perfection.

In His dust,
Johnny

Works Cited:

Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman The Text of the New Testamen: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration (4th ed., New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), pg. viii.

 

Writer: Capt. Jonathan Gainey was born in Jacksonville, FL in June, 1969. He has been married to Staci, the daughter of retired Salvation Army officers, for twenty years and they have four children ages 18, 16, 12, and 4. Jonathan was commissioned as an officer in June of 2002, and is currently serving in his third appointment in New Bern, NC, USA. He is working on a Masters of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is the creator and manager of the Flocks Diner website, where his passion for learning and teaching is expressed and shared through writing and a weekly podcast.

1 Comment to Avoiding the Faith-Shakers

1. It seems like many want God’s word to be written, or better, carved in stone. That line of thinking leads to a God who fits within a limited range of understanding. We are so structural in our thinking. I’ve been reading some interesting material that falls within the genre of what some call the “emergent movement”. There are some who consider the emergent discussion to be completely heretical. They say that as if the box on which they stand is the perfect and only container for God to exist in.

   Wayne
wayne Rumsby on May 30th, 2010

Leave a comment