1 Kings 22 / Romans 15 /
“Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction” says Paul in tonight’s New Testament reading. Today’s Book of Common Prayer collect develops that thought, asking us to “read, mark, learn and inwardly digest” the Scriptures. I’ve been reflecting on the verse which says that the Word of God is ‘living and active, sharper than a two edged sword’. Some preachers like me would set you a quiz after that, giving a prize for the person who could tell me the reference – it’s Hebrews 4.12. But, though knowing where things are in the Bible is very useful indeed, I don’t think that our response to Scripture is only about our knowledge of its details. That said, if you can tell me which King in the Bible had an iron bed 13 feet long and six feet wide I’ll be impressed.
That very phrase ‘the word of God’ can be a bit of a problem. It’s an easy phrase to apply to the collected books which make up the Christian Bible, and some people would make your attitude to the Bible – whether you believe it is the literal and never wrong Word of God – a test of the reality of your Christian faith. In Hebrews the context is not about Bible reading, it is about hearing the word of God, not least in the person of Jesus Christ. The phrase does not apply to this – the book – but to our understanding of, and carrying out of, what God says. Those things are recorded in the Bible. But the Word of God is not contained here. God’s word to us is unleashed from here.
At my ordination the candidates were asked: ‘Do you accept the Holy Scriptures as revealing all things necessary for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ’? The answer: ‘I do so accept them’. I was involved in the group which rewrote the ordination service. It was suggested that this question might be reworked. We tried something like ‘Do you accept the Bible as the Word of God?’ and it soon became clear that this would not do. Hardly anywhere does the Bible refer to itself in these terms. The Word of God is used of Jesus Christ, and it is through belief in this Logos, through repentance, forgiveness, through faith in the one sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, through a living relationship with Jesus the Word of God, that we are reborn, made new, given hope, offered new life. The Scriptures point us to the Word. They contain all things necessary for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
And in our readings tonight the Word of God is seen to be alive and active. Micaiah is well known as a prophet in ancient Israel, so much so that the King of Israel could say that he hated him because he never prophesied what he wanted to hear, only what God told him to – not ever to the King’s advantage. Micaiah knows that he has no choice: like all the prophets he knows that when God speaks he cannot keep silent. The word of God will not lie down. “Whatever the Lord says to me, that will I speak.” It’s worth reading to the end of 1 Kings 22. Even by using subterfuge the King of Israel is not safe, and he dies in the battle. The word of the Lord is effective, and true.
Paul, writing to the Romans, quotes the Hebrew scriptures, from the Psalms, Deuteronomy and Isaiah. Looking back to God’s word spoken, written and read, he offers hope to Gods new people. In whatever circumstance they face, the people of God can have hope and joy in believing, for Scripture shows that nothing can separate us from eth love of God in Jesus Christ. Paul knows that these Scriptures have been used by the people of God for a thousand years, and have proved to be true in his own day. They will have been part of his daily diet of believing: they are worship, law and prophecy, and he sees how they are fulfilled in Jesus Christ and his own ministry.
We learn the Bible by living it, not just storing up the facts. This is about interpretation and application, about seeing how in our homes and work places and in our leisure time the Bible’s teaching cashes out. What then does it mean to live in harmony with one another, to love one another? You might even know that ‘love’ in the New Testament is agape: unconditional love. But can you, will you, love unconditionally the person who has just sung that hymn out of tune, who opposed you on the PCC last month? What about your neighbour who has the noisy dog? No amount of knowledge will do any good unless it is applied, and reflected on, and applied again. Similarly, Paul isn’t writing a philosophical essay on the presence of God in words. He is pleading with the Roman church to let the Word of God be active in them – not just to know it, but to speak it. His prayer is that, in so doing, they will abound in hope.
It is amazing how many faithful Christians don’t really know their Bibles. More than once I have been asked, just before a service, whether Isaiah is part of the Old or New Testament. Getting the mechanics right is essential I think. Knowing what period of history a particular reading is from also helps, or the context into which Paul was writing. All of this is to allow our salvation to be spoken to us, and to allow us to speak it to others. So, do read the Bible. It contains all things necessary for our salvation. And if you come across Og, King of Bashan, and his big bed, in Deuteronomy 3.11, all the better.