The Old and New Testaments

I'm not going to do much on this section. This quote stands out to me as an important one to consider:

For our thought, the point of departure is definitely the New Testament. It cannot be contested that the New Testament understands its proclamation upon the basis of the Old Testament. It is equally incontestable that the way in which the message witnessed to in the New Testament is understood defines the position of the Old Testament. In addition, we only have the Old Testament through the mediation and reception which is made known in the New Testament. There is no other approach to the Old Testament for us than the way paved by the proclamation of the New.

Weber, 287-8.

This is fairly controversial, and probably not something you're going to hear in a lot of modern scholarship. It seems to devalue the Old Testament in and of itself, but I don't think that it does. I actually think it gives it more value by its insistence that it has something to say about the New (and about Christ)! I think the important phrase to understanding this quote is that this approach is 'for us', as in, for Christians and the Church. Obviously, this approach would make no sense to Jews, for instance.

As I flip through this section, there is some really good stuff in here...maybe I'll try to put up some material on it later after all.

The Properties of Scripture

Although these 'properties' of Scripture are varied and understood slightly differently all over the place, it's good to know them. So here they are:

1. Authority:
Jesus Christ is the true Lord and authority of the Church, and yet,

Scripture is authoritative because and in that it witnesses to God as the One who has called his Community in his own actions, in the freedom of his historical activity.

Weber, 271.

The authority of Scripture is not some sort of inherent characteristic, but is as Jesus is Lord of the Church through the Spirit who "was not just the Lord of Scripture in the past, but always is." (Weber, 272) That is, Scripture has authority not because the Spirit injected it with authority in the past, but because the Spirit still speaks through it today. As such a living authority, its authority is not 'at hand' or easily grasped, but must be sought and decided for again and again.

2. Sufficiency:
This property is summed up in that,

Scripture suffices unto salvation and for the right knowledge of God in his activity.

Weber, 274.

This is so because Christ through the Spirit, rather than the Church and/or tradition, speaks through it unto the living and knowledge of salvation.

3. Perspicuity:
This property basically states that Scripture is understandable to everyone because God reveals himself to us through it in a way that we can understand it with the brains, intellect, reasoning, etc. that we are created with. We do not need to rely on a guiding principle or method from the Church in order to understand Scripture. That being said, we still need revelation via the Word of God and the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit for it to be God who addresses us and calls us to faith in Scripture.

4. Efficacy:
This property looks at Scripture's 'effect' on its readers. There is a tension in this property that is difficult to navigate. On one hand, we do not believe that Scripture (as a book sitting on a table, for instance) inherently contains efficacious power that we can wield whenever we'd like, but on the other hand, we do believe that Scripture is effective in a special way as it bears witness to what God has done in Christ and is doing in the Spirit. I think the efficacy of Scripture is put nicely in Weber's discussion of Calvin,

...because the Word is worked by the Spirit and empowered by him, it cannot fall to the earth without effect.

Weber, 286.

Simple and true. The second paragraph on p. 286 sums up the property nicely.

The Canon.

Who decided on what is in the Bible? How did all of that stuff get in there? Weber has a lot to say about this, which I will not engage in here. Its a complex issue because of this statement:

The Church is not able to establish the trustworthiness of the Bible nor certify it because it itself is dependent on the Bible for its own establishment and certification.

Weber, 249. My emphasis.

The important point to be noted here is that "in establishing the canon, the early Church was referring back to the witness of the Apostles," (Weber, 252) that is, the authority over them as they experienced. Thus, the canon is a decision that ensure apostolic succession. Weber lists two guiding criterion for the New Testament: (1)that it presupposes the authority of the Old Testament and (2) that it refers back to the event of salvation, Jesus Christ, the "Word happened" (Weber, 253)

I'm happy with their decisions. Jude is a bit strange.

The Internal Testimony of the Holy Spirit

The thing about Scripture is the fact that its being the Word of God is not provable. There is no criterion that can "prove" it, except for the Word of God itself. This is unavoidably circular reasoning. This is where the doctrine of the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit comes in. Weber defines the doctrine in that God speaks and "proves" the Word to us in it, stating that

God is the One at work in the Holy Spirit, not only when the Word is heard but also in the fact that this Word calls forth response from us.

Weber, 241-2.

As the answer to the circular reasoning mentioned above, this understanding of Scripture with the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is, as Barth states in note 40 on p. 243, "at its weakest point" also "its indestructible strength." One could object that anyone could simply invent the Spirit speaking internally and thus claim that God has specially given his Word. Weber holds off this idea by insisting that,

The testimony of the Spirit is perceived by me as an "I" to the degree that I hear it through the Community or in the Community.

Weber, 247.

I think that's good enough for now.

God!

Here we are! We made it through our first part (the self-disclosure of God) and we are on to our second major part (the Triune God). This is excellent. I feel energized for this section.

I realize that I have not put up a post in a while. I want to put together one or two posts that put out the main points, terms, and definitions of what we've read since then. Look for it soon.

Also, I want to make sure that you all know that you are all totally free to post something yourselves...summaries, questions, developments, whatever.

Enjoy the reading! This looks to be great reading.

Theopneusty!

"Theopneusty" is the term that Weber uses for speaking about the understanding of the inspiration of Scripture that he prefers and puts forth here. I've never heard it before, and doubt I ever will again...so don't whip this word out and expect people to know what you're talking about! The important point here is a proper understanding of "inspiration," which "only suggests...the actual working of the Holy Spirit." (Weber, 229)

What he is talking about in this concept is that there is a balance in Scripture, which suggests that the Bible is neither simply human words, nor is it simply the Spirit's authorship. Rather,

its worthiness is to be found in the fact that God's Word in the Bible takes the form of human words which are abbreviated in their reality by absolutely nothing.

Weber, 233.

Thus, we should understand Scripture as the work of the Spirit "in and on man". (Weber, 234) As Scripture is the word of the witnesses to the event of salvation, it is also a work of the Spirit in that it is an instrument in making this salvation known, real, and effective in us. At the same time, and this can only be understood because the Spirit operates at another level than human operation, the word of the witnesses are still human words...their witness still speaks. Weber sums up "theopneusty" by stating that,

Scripture as the compilation of the Word witnessed to is "breathed through by God," that is, it is God's gift and work in the Holy Spirit, because Scripture as the unabbreviated word of man is the Word in which God confronts us unequivocally, for life or for death, because he presents himself to us in it.

Weber, 235. My emphasis.

In proclamation, this Word calls forth decision from us. This "decision is made in light of the Word which is perceived in the words of the biblical witnesses, by virtue of the relationships of these words to the Word happened." (Weber, 235) Thus, in this understanding of Scripture it becomes essential to inquire about the relationship (in the broadest sense of the word) between the Scriptural statement/text/verse/story and the salvation event (Jesus Christ).

That's all for now...I'll try to get some stuff up on the 'Internal Testimony of the Holy Spirit' later or tomorrow.

Word and Spirit

It's been a few weeks since I've had time to sit and put together another blog post. There's a lot we've read through in the last few weeks. I'm going to try to take a big sweeping crack at a summary in these next few posts, highlighting what I see as the important details.

He starts the chapter by talking about the root of the problem in the doctrine of Scripture. In short, the problem is that theologians and the Church haven't done a great job historically at balancing the fact that the Spirit actually works in and through Scripture, with the fact that the Spirit also cannot be bottled up in Scripture, personal experience, or the Church. As soon as the Church tries to bottle up the Spirit, be it in an inherently inspired understanding of Scripture(think evangelical-type the-Bible-is-the-infallible-inspired-word-of-God), the ambiguity and individual exclusivity of personal experience (think mysticism), or in the structure, teaching, office, or sacraments of the church (think Catholic understanding of papal infallibility, official teaching on par with Scripture, etc.), it has misunderstood the Spirit all together. This is what is at heart and what is at stake in a proper understanding of Scripture.