THE STORY WE FIND OURSELVES IN
THE STORY OF THE SACRED SCROLL
DR. JIM DIXON
2 TIMOTHY 3:10-17
NOVEMBER 20, 2005
Well, in our culture biblical illiteracy is certainly a problem and as you could see from that video, we are dealing with the subject of the Bible today. If you look at the story in which we find ourselves, as we look at this Christian journey, this Christian pilgrimage, this Christian story, we want to see the place of the Sacred Scrolls in our lives.
Our scripture today is taken from the little letter of 2 Timothy, Paul’s words to Timothy as found in 2 Timothy, chapter 3, beginning with verse ten.
In Israel today, in the city of Jerusalem, there is a building called The Shrine of the Book. The building has a huge white dome and the building kind of looks like some kind of flying saucer, some spacecraft that descended from the heavens. The building is one of the most visited buildings in the world. Millions and millions of tourists and pilgrims make their way to that building called The Shrine of the Book. In the last twenty-five years, I have gone there five times myself. Why? Why do people go to this building? Why do they go to this building called The Shrine of the Book? It’s all about scrolls. You see The Shrine of the Book was built for one purpose and that was to house the Dead Sea Scrolls. Most of the Dead Sea Scrolls are found in The Shrine of the Book. There are over eight hundred Dead Sea Scrolls. Some of them are papyrus scrolls. Some are leather scrolls. Some are copper scrolls. They are all very old. Some of them date to the Third Century before Christ. All of them were found in the region of the Dead Sea from Masada to Qumran, and of course many of them were found in 1947 in caves outside of Qumran near the place where the Assyrian community dwelt. Those scrolls found in that cave in 1947 were more than 2,000 years old. Today, of course, the Dead Sea Scrolls are famous. Everybody seemingly wants to see them, and they contain the text of previously unknown works, previously unknown writings, the so-called “war scrolls.” Scholars never even knew they existed. The so-called Temple Scroll—scholars never even knew that it existed and the Manual of Discipline—scholars never even knew that these were ever written, these words. Of course, many of the Books of the Apocrypha have at least fragmentary presence in the Dead Sea Scrolls and that would make the Dead Sea Scrolls a treasure in and of itself, but for some people the Dead Sea Scrolls are sacred scrolls. They are sacred and why?
Because they contain copies of Holy Scripture. In fact, that roll of the Hebrew Old Testament, the whole of the Hebrew Bible, with the exception of the Book of Esther, portions or entire texts, every book in the Old Testament may be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Those texts that have been found are really old. They pre-date prior manuscripts by hundreds of years, in some cases almost a thousand years, and here is the amazing thing. When scholars examine these copies of the Holy Scripture, some of them almost a thousand years older than any manuscript evidence they had ever had, the words were virtually identical to what we already had in the Bible. Identical because scribes, copyists were so faithful in copying the words of the Bible because they consider the book holy. They consider the book sacred.
This morning as we look at our Christian life, this Christian story we find ourselves in, we look at the place of the Bible, the place of these sacred scrolls. Why do we call it The Holy Bible? Why do we consider it sacred? I have two teachings this morning and the first is this. We consider the Bible holy because the breath of God is on it. The breath of God is on this book. The breath of God is on these scrolls.
In Christian theology there is a doctrine called “Infallibility.” Christian theologians speak of the infallibility of Holy Scripture. As the doctrine was originally crafted, infallibility simply meant that the Bible never fails. In terms of its purposes, the Bible is infallible. It never fails. It is a faithful guide to salvation in the path of righteousness. It is infallible. It never fails. Of course, the Catholic Church extended the Doctrine of Infallibility to include the Papal Office and the Eastern Orthodox Churches extended the Doctrine of Infallibility to Ecclesiastical Councils. Generally speaking, Protestants have restricted the Doctrine of Infallibility and they apply it only to the Bible. Sola Scriptura—that was the cry of the Reformation. Of course, Sola Scriptura does not mean that the Bible is the only source of truth. It does not mean that the Bible is the only source of revelation. It does not mean that the Bible is the only source of truth. It does not mean that the Bible is the only source of revelation. The Protestant Reformers were very open to the fact that the Papal Office might speak truth and they were very open to the fact that Ecclesiastical Councils might declare truth and it might be revelatory but, you see, when they said Sola Scriptura they meant, “Only the Bible is infallible truth. Only the Bible is infallible revelation. Only the Bible never fails.”
There is another doctrine in Christian theology called Inerrancy, and by virtue of this doctrine, it is held that the Bible is without error. When properly studied in the original manuscripts, in the Greek and the Hebrew and Aramaic, when proper hermeneutics and proper exegesis is applied to the text, when the text is examined in the light of its cultural setting and in the light of its literary gem, the message that is derived is without err. In all matters of faith and practice, in all matters of moral truth and theological truth, you can trust the Bible. It is without err in its moral instructions and without err in its theological instructions.
Of course, more recently fundamentalists have extended the Doctrine of Inerrancy to include matters of history and science and they say the Bible is without err in matters of history and science. That was a doctrine never affirmed by the Church and of course that view was never held by the Protestant Reformers, from Calvin to Luther, and the truth is if you hold to biblical inerrancy and history and science, you get yourself in all kinds of unnecessary debate. Certainly, as I look at scripture, I have no doubt it is infallible. I have no doubt that the Bible never fails. Its purposes never fail. Certainly, I believe in biblical inerrancy. When the Bible is rightly interpreted through proper hermeneutics and exegesis, I believe that the Bible is without err in terms of faith and practice, in terms of moral and theological truth. But, you see, there is a problem with these words, a problem with the word “infallible,” a problem with the word “inerrant.” The problem is these words are not found in the Bible. The Bible does not use these words to describe itself. The concept behind these words may be found in the Bible, depending on how you define those concepts but, you see, the Bible does not include those words.
There is a deeper problem. The deeper problem is that the words “inerrancy” and “infallibility” tend to kind of give you a static view of the Bible and the Bible proclaims of itself that it is not static. It is dynamic. It is active. It is alive. This is not some kind of a carcass you can perform an autopsy on. The Bible is living and active. Of course, the word the Bible uses to define itself with regard to its authority is inspiration. All scripture is inspired of God, but the Greek word is “theopneustos,” which literally means, “God breathed.” That is what the Bible says of itself. “All scripture is God breathed. The breath of God is on this book.” That meant everything to the Hebrew. When they said the Torah has the breath of God upon it, that meant everything, because the breath of God gives life.
In the Hebrew, there were two words for breath, the word “rhua” and the word “nefes.” The Hebrews often spoke of “rhua hija” and “nefes hyem” and both of these expressions meant the same thing, “the breath of life.” It goes back to Genesis 2 where God breathed on man. God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life and He became a living being. When you think of the sanctity of human life, it is all because the breath of God is upon us. The breath of God is on you. The breath of God is on me. When we speak of the sacredness, the sanctity of human life, it is the breath of God. If there is any sense in which we think of all life as sacred, it has to do with the breath of God which brought life. And so, God has breathed on this book, on the sacred scrolls, and it is life-giving.
The Greek word for breath is the word “pneuma.” Like the Hebrew words “rhua” and “nefes,” the word pneuma means, “breath” but all three of these words can also be translated “wind” or “Spirit” and so we think of the breath of God as the Holy Spirit. That is why, in John 20, we see Jesus resurrected and alive and He appears to the disciples behind closed doors. He just appears in their midst and the Bible says, “He breathes on them.” He breathes on them saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” and they were given new life. They were born anew and from above. The breath of God, the Holy Spirit, bringing life. So, we think of this book as sacred. It has the breath of God upon it, God-Spirited. I mean the Holy Spirit prompted men to write. The Holy Spirit guided the books, worthy of inclusion in the Canon, those books that indeed had the breath of God upon them even the selection process. The Church has affirmed those books were guided by the breath of God and so you come to this Book and God breathes on you.
Have you ever experienced that? Have you ever read scripture and God breathes on you? I mean the Word inerrant, the word infallible, they are just not adequate. God breathes on you. Have you ever had that experience? Power that is in the Word.
Some years ago, I read the story of a woman named Maria. She lives in Chile today. When she was a little girl, she lived in Central Chile in a little village there where she grew up. When she was nine years old, Maria’s mother died. It was very hard on her of course. She loved her mom very much and missed her. Her mother had been a wonderful Christian and it was her mother who had led her to faith in Jesus Christ. Maria’s father was not a Christian. He was very bitter because he had lost his wife. He was not sure whether there was a God but if there was, he was angry. He would never go to church, and he would never read a Bible. He did not ever even want to see a Bible in his house so Maria would read her Bible in her room.
One day when Maria was twelve, her father, who was a coal miner, went to work that morning in the mines as he often did, and Maria knew it was not a normal day. Somehow, she knew her father was not going to come back that day. Before he left, she slipped a little pocket Testament in his coat. He left the house and went into the mines and there was a horrible explosion. The people in the village went to the mine and they began to dig. With panic, they began to dig. They rescued some but eight men died and one of those who died was Maria’s dad. They found the eight men. They were all together and they were in a cavern. They had been sealed in there by the cave collapsing, the tunnel collapsing. The eight men, their battery-driven lights were still on, and they were sitting in a circle, and they had that little Bible out. Her dad had taken that little Bible out and he had been reading it to the men. They gave the Bible back to Maria and there was a note in the back of it and I want to read the note to you. “Dear Maria, Thank you for putting the little Bible in my pocket. I have been reading it to the men here. It gives us strength. The Bible says Jesus died for me. The Bible says Jesus loves me. I want you to know that I asked Jesus to be my Savior and my Master. When you read this, I will be with your mother. Someday we will all be together. I love you. Your Father.’
It’s hard to imagine what it would have been like for Maria to lose her dad when it had only been a short time earlier that she had lost her mom but it’s also hard to imagine the joy that she surely had when she read that note and saw that somehow, in the midst of that cave as men were dying, God breathed. The breath of God is on this book.
I have been thirty years in the ministry. I cannot count the stories I’ve read and the stories I’ve heard about people who read this book and encountered the breath of God. It is life-giving. It gives eternal life.
Maybe you are thinking, “Well, I’ve already accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior and it’s not that important that I read the Bible regularly, but it is. It is important as ever. Do you want God to breathe on you? Do you want to experience the breath of God every day? I know I do. Do you ever feel down? I sometimes feel down. Do you ever feel depressed? Do you ever feel like you have been beaten up or just kind of worn out? Do you ever feel tired? Do you ever feel any need for the breath of God? Read the Book, the sacred scrolls. Do it every day. God will breathe on you anew.
In 1886, a man named Reverend Edwin Hatch wrote a hymn called, “Breathe on Me, Breath of God.” The tune was written by college students at the University of Wales, but Reverend Hatch wrote the words. I remember it. It became one of the great hymns of the faith. I remember growing up and singing that song, “Breathe on Me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew that I may love as Thou hast loved and do what Thou hast do. Breathe on Me, Breath of God. Fill me with life anew.” I remember even as a kid singing that song and wanting God to breathe on me and wanting God to fill me with life anew. I sometimes hum the song now because I want God to breathe on me.
In the Middle Ages, there was a practice called ” Lectio Divina.” Lectio Divina is Latin for “divine reading” or “sacred reading” and it was kind of part of the mystical disciplines of Christians in the Middle Ages. They would read the Bible in a special way that they called Lectio Divina. What they would do is they would read the Bible in a kind of slow contemplative prayer. They would read passages from the Bible, not just psalms but other passages. They would read them as a kind of slow contemplative prayer, and they believed. These Christians in the Middle Ages believed that as they did this, the breath of God was coming upon them, and they were given newness of life.
I have to say, I am not a real mystical guy. The mystical side of Christianity, I have an appreciation for it and some experience in it but I am not a real mystical guy. I am kind of linear and rational and I am not really into a lot of mystical stuff. I think Lectio Divina would be hard for me. But you know, thirty years ago I felt led of God to memorize the Bible. I felt led to memorize the New Testament and parts of the Old Testament and it has been for me, because God has called for me to do it, it has been a labor, but it has also been a joy. I have days when I will recite scriptures that I have known for years. Maybe I am taking a walk or maybe I am just having a cup of coffee but somehow it feels like Lectio Divina to me. It feels like God is breathing on me. It feels very much like the breath of God. I would suggest to you, and I know you have a different call than I have, but we brothers and we are sisters in Christ, and we are all part of God’s family as we have made this commitment to follow Jesus. I know your call is different, but would you consider the possibility of just memorizing a little bit of the Bible. Maybe take a favorite chapter. Maybe Romans 8. Maybe Romans 12. Maybe I Corinthians 13. Maybe John, chapter 3. Maybe I John 1. So many incredible chapters in the Bible and would you consider memorizing one chapter, and it would be a treasure for you, and as you ingrain it in your memory and as you hide it in your heart, it will be like Lectio Divina for you. If you would be willing to do that and give that a try and just kind of, use it devotionally. Memorize a chapter of scripture and use it devotionally and see if you do not get a greater measure of the breath of God. The Book is sacred because the breath of God is upon it and the breath of God gives life
I have a second teaching, a final teaching this morning, and that is this. The Bible is sacred because it leads us in the way of righteousness. It is sacred, the Bible is, because it leads us in the way of righteousness.
All over the world today, followers of Jesus Christ are of course called Christians. All over the world those who believe in Jesus Christ and follow Him are called Christians from the Greek word, “Christianos” which means, “Christ one.” It was not so, however, in the 1st Century. In the early church, followers of Jesus Christ did not call themselves Christians and followers of Jesus Christ did not refer to other followers of Jesus Christ as Christians. In fact, it was non-Christians who referred to followers of Jesus Christ as Christians and it was a term a derision. It was derogatory. Christ ones. Christians. It was a derogatory term applied by non-Christians to followers of Jesus Christ. But in the 2nd Century, Christians, followers of Jesus Christ began to humbly and joyfully take this word of derision and just apply it to themselves and so here we are today, and we are called Christians. Have you ever wondered what followers of Jesus Christ called themselves in the 1st Century? What did they call themselves? How did they identify themselves? How did they refer to the Church? How did they describe Christianity. We know from early literature, without a doubt, they referred to the Church of Jesus Christ as “Hey Hodos,” “The Way.” They called Christians “people of The Way.” Christianity was simply Hey Hodos, The Way.
Why? Why would Christians identify themselves as “people of The Way?” Why would they refer to the Church of Jesus Christ simply as “The Way?” We know that is has in part to do with Torah. It has to do with the sacred scrolls. It has to do with the Bible. Of course, Torah was the Hebrew word used to describe the first five books of the Hebrew Old Testament, the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Eventually they used the word Torah to define all of their sacred scrolls, the whole of the Old Testament, Torah. Early Jewish Christians sometimes referred to the whole Bible, Old and New, Torah. Torah means, “the instruction, the law, the way.”
Of course, rabbis who were entrusted with Torah would recruit disciples and bind them to their yoke and they would instruct their disciples in Torah, and they would say, “Thus says Torah” and they would read, and they would say, “This is the way.” They would describe how the world lives and they would say, “This is not the way. Torah is the way.”
Now you know Jesus came along and He was a rabbi like no other, having all authority in heaven and on earth. He recruited His disciples and He bound them to His yoke which was love and He made an amazing statement, He said “Ego Ami Hey Hodos,” “I Am The Way.” He did not say “This is the way.” He said, “I Am the Way.” He was not saying that He had replaced the Bible. He was not saying that he had replaced Torah. He was saying that he fulfilled it. He was the very fulfillment of the Bible. He was the fulfillment of Torah. He is The Way. In a real sense, the Bible is an expression of who He is in His nature, The Way. The Bible is an expression of who He is. For this reason, the early church simply called themselves “The Way.”
I think today many Christians view their salvation as punctiliar from the Latin “punctus” which means, “point.” I think many Christians believe that they were saved at a point in time. It might have been an altar call. Maybe they knelt at home as I did with my mom when I was a little boy and I prayed with her asking Jesus to come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior, a point in time, a point in salvation. Of course, that is biblical. There are many examples in the Bible of salvation coming at a point in time when you make that commitment but understand that if we would be fully biblical, that point of salvation is the beginning point. It’s the beginning point and it’s a commitment to The Way. If you are not on The Way, it is hard to think of your salvation, hard to describe yourself as saved. Christianity is a commitment to The Way.
Augustine was the Bishop of Hippo Regius and the greatest of the Latin Church fathers. You know him as St. Augustine or St. Augustus. He was born on the coast of Northern Africa in the Roman Province of Numidia, and he was born into incredible wealth and into academic elitism and he was brilliant. His father’s name was Patricius, and he was not a Christian. His mother, Augustine’s mom, was Monica, and she was a Christian. She was a devout believer. Augustine was born in 354. He was born in the fourth century. His mother was devout. She never ceased to pray for her son, and she needed to because he was wild. He lived an immoral life. Particularly he was into sexual immorality. He used prostitutes. He used women for his pleasure and gratification. He had a kind of sexual addiction, and he could not conquer it and he hated the Bible. He viewed it as myth.
In the year 384 when he was thirty years old, he was given a professorship in rhetoric in the city of Milan and so Augustine went there and became a professor of rhetoric in his brilliance. He taught students and continued his immorality. Every once in a while, he would go to the cathedral and he would hear Ambrose preach and he’d ask himself, “What if he’s right?” “What if Ambrose is right and what if this is really sacred scrolls? What is the Bible is The Way?” He would kind of dismiss it. He could not change anyway. He was out of control.
One day in the year 386 when Augustine was 32 years old, he was taking a walk in his gardens on the grounds of his estate. As he took his walk in the gardens, suddenly he heard a little child’s voice saying, “tole legge.” He knew there were no children in his garden, no child’s game that used these words, “tole legge,” “take and read.” They knew that somehow, he was hearing in this little child’s voice the voice of God, “take and read.” It was a mystical moment for this fallen man and he knew what he was to take and read. He knew he was to take the sacred scrolls and he went into his house, and he found a copy of the Book of Romans and he began to read it and the Holy Spirit came upon him. God breathed upon him, and he was convicted and in a radical conversion, he asked Jesus into his heart to be his Lord and Savior. But he knew that that was the beginning point. He had now made a commitment to the way. He had made a commitment to the way, and it would be hard because his life was immoral, but he began that commitment to Jesus and The Way. As the years passed, he sometimes fell but he got back up and walked with Jesus. He became one of the greatest theologians of the world, a brilliant man. If you have ever read his confessions, you know his brilliance. If you have ever read “The City of God,” you know his brilliance and yet it was St. Augustine who said, “The Bible is really simple. It’s really very simple. The Way is really simple. It is very simple. It all about love. All of the sacred scrolls are all about love. All of the Bible is about love, what it means to love God and what it means to love your neighbor. Of course, it was not St. Augustine who first said that. It was Jesus who first said that. It was Jesus who quoted the Shema, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, strength and mind, ” Deuteronomy 6. It was Jesus who quoted Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” It was Jesus. It was Jesus who said, “All of the way, all of Torah, all of the law is summed up in love.” It was Jesus who said that.
I’ve got to laugh today when I hear people say, “Hey, I don’t need the Bible. I don’ need religion. I just try to love people.” Have you ever heard anybody say that? Have you ever heard anybody say, “Hey, I’m okay. I just try to love people.” But the problem is you can just do it your own way then. You can define love however you want to define love but, you see, if you come to the sacred scrolls, you learn what it means to love, what it means to love God, what it means to love your neighbor, how God views love. That is why the Bible is sacred as it leads us on the way, the way or righteousness.
I know most of you have heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a great theologian who fought against the Nazi Holocaust. The year was 1936 when Dietrich Bonhoeffer spoke to the German people, and he proposed a new way to read the Bible. He said to the German people, “Instead of studying your Bible, let the Bible study you. People thought about that and thought, “What does that mean?” “Instead of studying the Bible, let the Bible study you.” He said, “Instead of questioning the Bible as the German people did, let the Bible question you. And perhaps Bonhoeffer created a false polarity. I mean, after all, you can still study the Bible and the Bible study you. You can ask questions and still let the Bible question you. I think we all know what he meant. Let the Bible stand over you. The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, joints, and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. Let the Bible question you. Let the Word of God study you.
In this journey and this story we are in, if you would be on the way, you have got to be in the Bible every day and let the Bible study you. Let the Bible change you. So, this morning we think of God’s Word as sacred. It is sacred because the breath of God is upon it. It is sacred because it leads us in the way. Let us look to the Lord in a word of prayer.