Living in the Bible

It is natural as people learn and progress in their faith for them to gravitate to the teachings and developments of others. The Christian tradition has a wealth of material to glean from—from theological systems, to ancient controversies, to interpretations of challenging texts, to foundational doctrines—much of which the modern Christian can ground himself in, to much personal benefit. It is my personal opinion that the anti-intellectualism and simplistic epithets of modern evangelicalism could profit much from an immersion in the robust thought of those Christians who have gone before us.

With that introductory caveat, I want to address the temptation many of us have to allow this rich tradition to supplant the primary place of the Scripture. I have noticed many days pass where I have read much of a certain Puritan or Reformer and read absolutely nothing of the actual Bible. What a mistake! There are days when I read what is often very good, but neglect to feed myself what is necessary.

There is most assuredly a pull towards differentiation. The human side of us does not want us to be “just like everyone else.” We hate the idea of uniformity, we want to be different and distinctive. I do not want to be simply a “Christian” or a generic “evangelical”, I want to be a “reformed Christian” or a “Charismatic Christian” or a “fill in the blank Christian.” Or we like to bring our political alignments into this sacred arena and label ourselves “Conservative Christians” or “Social Justice Christians” or “Patriotic Western Values Christians.” Anything but a plain old “Christian.” And often what we read and watch feeds into our blended brand of Christianity.

C. S. Lewis writes about this very thing in the Screwtape Letters. The senior devil advises his young protégé:

If they must be Christians, let them at least be Christians with a difference. Substitute for the faith itself some Fashion with a Christian coloring. Work on their horror of the Same Old Thing.

And in a world of unending differentiation and setting yourself apart from the crowd, there is truly a horror of the “Same Old Thing.” While this can and often does yield to unnecessary divisions in the church, I am more afraid that this “Christianity with a difference” phenomenon takes us away from the primacy of the Bible. It distracts us from its absolute authority in our lives.

This is not much different from what happened in Paul’s day. In the opening chapter of 1 Corinthians he laments the human divisions which come from a similar desire to be unlike the rest: “My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?”

Perhaps in Paul’s day there was even greater temptation for the early Christians to differentiate their Christianity, if for no other reason than there were actual apostles walking among them. Could you imagine hearing Paul himself speak in the flesh? Or talking with Peter as he visited your church? Yet, even these great men are like men as us; and Paul is reminding the Corinthians of the massive gulf which lies between these human figures and Jesus Christ when he asks “was Paul crucified for you?”

In a short book on the ministry of Martryn Lloyd-Jones, his grandson Christopher Catherwood asks an interesting question: “What determines our belief? We must remember it is sola scriptura, Scripture alone. How much does our denomination influence us? Is it the Bible or is it the views of our favorites from church history that shape our thinking?” Catherwood then shares of Lloyd-Jones’ (a lover of church history if anyone was) actual practice of sola scriptura. He once hosted Friday night discussions at Westminster Chapel and led his congregation in a debate on what Christians should believe and why. “There was one absolute rule though. All responses had to be Bible-based. No human authority was allowed. The Westminster Confession might say it, the Heidelberg Catechism might be quite clear on it, and the Doctor himself might have preached on the issue only a week before, but however powerful or historic the source, it had to be backed by clear reference to Scripture.”

It is quite easy to get so into our unique brand, so into reading “our guys” that we neglect the supreme place the Scripture must have in our lives. This does not mean that we should not read Puritans or theologians, or that we should not have firm opinions in the realm of politics. As I said earlier, there is much value to be found in the rich tradition of Christianity! However, we have to be people of the Book. We have to let it be our food and drink every day. We need to see the world by its paradigms and categories and let it alone drive what we emphasize. As the great Charles Spurgeon once said, “Visit many good books, but live in the Bible.”

Let’s get back to the Same Old Christianity with the Same Old Book.