“All things have been committed to me by my Father.  No-one knows the Son except the Father, and no-one knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him”

 

Jesus,

Matthew 11:27

 

What is the Bible?  And why, in the wisdom of God, did He give it to us?  All this talk about the Bible could easily give rise to the question: Isn’t our faith about a Person (the Word) rather than a book (words)?   If we give the Bible the sort of primacy within the Church that we have been thinking about over the last couple of weeks, then aren’t we in danger of becoming ‘Bibliolaters’, committing a kind of idolatry with the Bible? 

 

Let’s start with Jesus.  We celebrated Christmas not so long ago, and as a part of that we reflected on Jesus (as ‘the Word become flesh’) being the exclusive revelation of God.  One of the famous Christmas passages is rooted in John 1:18, “No-one has ever seen God, but God, the only Begotten Son, who is at the Father’s side has made Him known’.  This is a glorious truth, which we find echoed again and again in the pages of Scripture (see Jn.14:6-9; Col.2:8-9; Heb.1:3; I Tim.2:5).  Indeed, it is something that Jesus Himself teaches: “…no-one knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him…” (Matt.11:27).  What fantastic good news – that Christ, who is the exact representation of His Father has condescended to reveal Him to us!  We can have tremendous confidence in this.  After all, ‘God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in [Christ]’ (Col.1:19). 

 

But there is a problem, isn’t there?  It’s great that the Son reveals the Father, but: How do we know who the Son is?  What is Jesus like?  What does He say and why does He say it?  How does He treat people?  What did He do when He was Incarnate?  How do we make sense of Him?  At one level the problem is simply that we weren’t around when Jesus walked the earth in His incarnation.  But the problem is more profound that simply one of time and geography – after all, a lot of people who did see Him didn’t seem to understand Him.  In the first part of Matthew 11:27, Jesus teaches that ‘No-one knows the Son except the Father…’.  That seems to be a conundrum.  No-one knows the Father except the Son, but no-one knows the Son except the Father.  The Son reveals the Father, but how can we know the Son?  To know the Son we would need to know the mind of God the Father…

 

Which is exactly what the Apostle Paul says we do know in I Corinthians 2:10-14.  Paul painstakingly spells out for us that the mind of the Father has been revealed to us by His Spirit (2:10).  Paul rejoices in the fact that the Holy Spirit “All things have been committed to me by my Father.  No-one knows the Son except the Father, and no-one knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him”

 

Jesus,

Matthew 11:27

 

What is the Bible?  And why, in the wisdom of God, did He give it to us?  All this talk about the Bible could easily give rise to the question: Isn’t our faith about a Person (the Word) rather than a book (words)?   If we give the Bible the sort of primacy within the Church that we have been thinking about over the last couple of weeks, then aren’t we in danger of becoming ‘Bibliolaters’, committing a kind of idolatry with the Bible? 

 

Let’s start with Jesus.  We celebrated Christmas not so long ago, and as a part of that we reflected on Jesus (as ‘the Word become flesh’) being the exclusive revelation of God.  One of the famous Christmas passages is rooted in John 1:18, “No-one has ever seen God, but God, the only Begotten Son, who is at the Father’s side has made Him known’.  This is a glorious truth, which we find echoed again and again in the pages of Scripture (see Jn.14:6-9; Col.2:8-9; Heb.1:3; I Tim.2:5).  Indeed, it is something that Jesus Himself teaches: “…no-one knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him…” (Matt.11:27).  What fantastic good news – that Christ, who is the exact representation of His Father has condescended to reveal Him to us!  We can have tremendous confidence in this.  After all, ‘God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in [Christ]’ (Col.1:19). 

 

But there is a problem, isn’t there?  It’s great that the Son reveals the Father, but: How do we know who the Son is?  What is Jesus like?  What does He say and why does He say it?  How does He treat people?  What did He do when He was Incarnate?  How do we make sense of Him?  At one level the problem is simply that we weren’t around when Jesus walked the earth in His incarnation.  But the problem is more profound that simply one of time and geography – after all, a lot of people who did see Him didn’t seem to understand Him.  In the first part of Matthew 11:27, Jesus teaches that ‘No-one knows the Son except the Father…’.  That seems to be a conundrum.  No-one knows the Father except the Son, but no-one knows the Son except the Father.  The Son reveals the Father, but how can we know the Son?  To know the Son we would need to know the mind of God the Father…

 

Which is exactly what the Apostle Paul says we do know in I Corinthians 2:10-14.  Paul painstakingly spells out for us that the mind of the Father has been revealed to us by His Spirit (2:10).  Paul rejoices in the fact that the Holy Spirit searches ‘…even the deep things of God’.  Only the Holy Spirit of God could know the ‘thoughts of God’.  And Paul can barely contain his excitement as he declares that ‘We have [received]…the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us’ (2:12).  The Apostles and Prophets lay a foundation for authentic Christianity because they are the ones through whom the Holy Spirit of God reveals the reality of the Son of God (see Ephesians 2:20; 3:5; & 4:11-13).  So, it works something like this:

 

(i)                  our faith is built on the reality that the Father knows the Son,

(ii)                …and that the Father has revealed the Son by His Holy Spirit

(iii)               …so that the Son can reveal the Father to those ‘whom the Son chooses to reveal Him’. 

 

Paul goes on to link this directly to the Scriptures as the means through which the Father reveals the Son by the Holy Spirit: ‘This is what we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words’ (2:13).  This is an extraordinary statement.  Not only is the content of the Apostle’s teaching the revelation of God, but the words used to convey that content have been specifically chosen by the Holy Spirit in order to teach us ‘the deep things of God’.   Paul is deeply aware that he is speaking something that does not have its origin in his own will and ingenuity, but that he is speaking from God, and is being carried along by the Holy Spirit (see II Peter 1:21). 

 

We close the loop with a final question: What are ‘the deep things of God’?  We should all be able to answer this now: Christ Jesus our Lord.  The Apostles are the last in a long line of those whom the Father has used by His Holy Spirit to reveal and point to His Son through His words.  The Father alone knows the Son, and He reveals His Son to us by His Spirit through the Scriptures.  That is why Jesus can make the claims He does about His own relationship to the Bible (John 5:39; Luke 24:44 etc.).  The Father has revealed His Son in the Scriptures (Jn.5:37-40); and now that the Father has revealed His Son by His Spirit, the Son is able to reveal the Father by that same Spirit (I Cor.2:14) to those whom He has chosen.  Hence Paul finishes with the almost unbelievable claim: ‘We have the mind of Christ’ (I Cor.2:16).  The Scriptures are a beautiful and essential act in our Trinitarian God’s gracious self-revelation of Himself to the Church.  To speak of knowing Christ apart from – or even contrary to - the Bible is nonsensical.  And to speak of knowing God apart from Christ would be utterly incomprehensible.  IN fact it would be a whole different religion!

 

This is the Word of the Lord.  Indeed we declare: ‘Thanks be to God’.

 

searches ‘…even the deep things of God’.  Only the Holy Spirit of God could know the ‘thoughts of God’.  And Paul can barely contain his excitement as he declares that ‘We have [received]…the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us’ (2:12).  The Apostles and Prophets lay a foundation for authentic Christianity because they are the ones through whom the Holy Spirit of God reveals the reality of the Son of God (see Ephesians 2:20; 3:5; & 4:11-13).  So, it works something like this:

 

(i)                  our faith is built on the reality that the Father knows the Son,

(ii)                …and that the Father has revealed the Son by His Holy Spirit

(iii)               …so that the Son can reveal the Father to those ‘whom the Son chooses to reveal Him’. 

 

Paul goes on to link this directly to the Scriptures as the means through which the Father reveals the Son by the Holy Spirit: ‘This is what we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words’ (2:13).  This is an extraordinary statement.  Not only is the content of the Apostle’s teaching the revelation of God, but the words used to convey that content have been specifically chosen by the Holy Spirit in order to teach us ‘the deep things of God’.   Paul is deeply aware that he is speaking something that does not have its origin in his own will and ingenuity, but that he is speaking from God, and is being carried along by the Holy Spirit (see II Peter 1:21). 

 

We close the loop with a final question: What are ‘the deep things of God’?  We should all be able to answer this now: Christ Jesus our Lord.  The Apostles are the last in a long line of those whom the Father has used by His Holy Spirit to reveal and point to His Son through His words.  The Father alone knows the Son, and He reveals His Son to us by His Spirit through the Scriptures.  That is why Jesus can make the claims He does about His own relationship to the Bible (John 5:39; Luke 24:44 etc.).  The Father has revealed His Son in the Scriptures (Jn.5:37-40); and now that the Father has revealed His Son by His Spirit, the Son is able to reveal the Father by that same Spirit (I Cor.2:14) to those whom He has chosen.  Hence Paul finishes with the almost unbelievable claim: ‘We have the mind of Christ’ (I Cor.2:16).  The Scriptures are a beautiful and essential act in our Trinitarian God’s gracious self-revelation of Himself to the Church.  To speak of knowing Christ apart from – or even contrary to - the Bible is nonsensical.  And to speak of knowing God apart from Christ would be utterly incomprehensible.  IN fact it would be a whole different religion!

 

This is the Word of the Lord.  Indeed we declare: ‘Thanks be to God’.