Wayne Northey: I was raised on the notion of biblical inerrancy — “in the original documents”. For as long as I can remember, such an idea struck as passing strange, since the “originals” were forever lost, rendering the claim Angel-Moronishly silly and non-falsifiably a tad beside the point! And I soon enough learned that the process of textual transmission was replete with interpreters and fallible copyists over millennia, etc… Besides which, I came to understand: Jesus is the Word of God according to Scripture — and not the Bible. In fact, Jesus stands in judgment of the text when at odds with his teaching. “But I say unto you…” is Jesus’ direct challenge. Jesus overshadows as wisdom oracle Moses and Elijah (the Law and the Prophets) as seen in the mystical Mount of Transfiguration scene (an insight from Pastor Brian Zahnd in Clarion Call of Love: Essays in Gratitude to Archbishop Lazar Puhalo). In fact, according to Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 22:35ff:
35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37Jesus replied:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’. 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
which (Torah and Prophets) Paul then reduces to One in Romans 13:9 in summation: You shall love your neighbour as yourself1; that James in turn in 2:8 calls the royal law.
So the New Testament offers an interesting distillation from Ten to Two to One: yielding as the one supreme thing ultimately needful a concentrated dose then lifestyle of love.
Put differently: Jesus is the interpretative grid for living out the Christian life, and that grid’s name is Love. The Personal Mantra on this site’s HOME page spells out further the implications/bottom line. This is why Tradition (the “great cloud of witnesses”) in Anglicanism, Orthodoxy and Catholicism makes most sense in showing how to follow Jesus.
A recent publication by father and son team, John H. Walton and J. Harvey Walton from a conservative viewpoint draws attention to — as does the article highlighted below — the Torah (Law) as setting out “order and wisdom”, and not remotely giving direct prescriptions about life in our modern world. You may read more about their approach in this post: “John Walton’s Finest?“.
Oh! And by the way, I’m left-handed... (CLICK HERE to continue reading)
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