tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post3884191614076142907..comments2024-03-28T09:52:15.415-04:00Comments on Common Denominator: The Interpreter's Tale 2Ken Schenckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09745548537303356655noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-65706869840549682142014-12-02T14:44:55.920-05:002014-12-02T14:44:55.920-05:00This is very well said, thank you for this.
As a...This is very well said, thank you for this. <br />As a new graduate student of Theology, I was initially disgusted at having to learn the historical contexts of scripture. I knew it was coming, yet when it did come it nauseated me. But then in my anguish Jesus reminded me that a consequence of His healing of me included, for the first time in my life, the ability to remember events in relationship to time. Back then for a time I became infatuated with learning church history, and prayed I would be in a situation someday where I could devote some time to it and learn it well.<br />Now here I am. God is good. My nausea has gone away, and I have become joyful again.<br /><br />Part of my disgust is that I didn’t want to give up our daily hours together in scripture, I didn’t want to spend time in other “human” books. I felt it would weaken my faith. But, again, God is good. Jesus has reminded me that He will never forsake me nor leave me. Even when I am reading those other books, He is right there with me reading, too.<br /><br />Also, learning Greek and Hebrew only augments the study of scripture. They offer nuances and meaning that can’t be captured in English. And Latin is vital to understanding early church history because much of the writing of that time have not been translated into English, and again, much of the nuance of meaning is best caught in the original language of the writings.<br /><br />On a final note (I think),I don’t know that the meanings of God’s words change as much as their fuller meaning is revealed over time by the Spirit. That is to say that “Let there be light” in Genesis 1:3 refers to a physical light that lit the universe, and “You are the light of the world” refers to His transcendent light. God made physical light in order to explain to us His transcendent light. Therefore, all along the way, from His physical creation into the New Jerusalem, over time, in scripture the word “light” gains a greater, revealed meaning. His people spiritually grow in direct relationship to what they understand about what they hear Him say; we grow from being spiritual milk drinkers into being spiritual givers of bread to the hungry and water to the thirsty.Susan Moorenoreply@blogger.com