Personal Syllabus: Part 3B "Amplified Application"

If you were to eavesdrop in our office conversations, you'd frequently hear the phrase, "people often don't know what they don't know." When it comes to business technology, this is a challenge for us as a IT service provider. Very often business professionals are devoted to their areas of expertise and simply are not aware of impending disaster to their computer systems. While I am not intentionally plugging QSS, our goal is to provide businesses with insight and improvements to their IT that should help their entire business flourish.

Yet I'll say it again, we don't know what we don't know. It's almost as if we need an amplifier. The message seems to get lost with all the noise of life. There's so much static and interference that disrupts reception.

The same is arguably true in biblical application. In part 3A of the Personal Syllabus series, I attempted to demonstrate how people learn new things. While much of learning can happen automatically when one is exposed to concepts (for example, from biblical exposition in a sermon), if we're honest we would admit that we miss quite a bit of what is said. Even more frustrating, when it comes to God transforming us by means of applying Scripture, there's so much that gets in the way. It's like barely hearing a radio station from far away and only getting bits and pieces. Eventually we just change the station!

Recently my pastor shared with me an observation over a cup of coffee. He said I have a significant need for affirmation. As I have reflected about that and tried to be honest with myself about it, I believe he was right. Perhaps over time I might have discerned that about myself. God does reveal things when I study the Bible or listen to a sermon and see an area of my life that needs to be more closely aligned to God's holy calling.

Of course, he could have been wrong...or at least only partially correct. As humans we are all finite and cannot really see all that there is to see about anything. We can always improve a theory. We can always see things from a different perspective. That's the essence of growing: discovering something you did not see before. That's what I was trying to portray in discussing Bloom's Taxonomy. The longer we ponder, perceive, press, and otherwise pursue learning, the more we can truly grow. It's a journey.

There is a concept in psychology called the Johari Window. I won't go into details here as much has been written about it. It is simply interesting that we are often blind to our own self and we also fail to see things in others clearly. The window sizes vary depending on how open or private we are, and also the degree where we may even be a mystery to ourselves:

However, as Christians we need not stay in the fog! 

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable (Hebrews 4:12–13, NLT).

We have a faithful and loving God who cuts through all the noise. This is why Hebrews 4:16 is such a wonderful hope in the midst of God's exposition of us: "So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."

At the risk of getting really practical on you, here's a list I hope will help:

1. Rehearse the biblical gospel. The Bible is full of hope that we can change by the power of God applied in the gospel. The most critical path of applying Scripture starts with the power of the gospel. Unfortunately, the clear gospel frequently gets lost in the haze. One book I'd recommend is "What is the Gospel?" by Greg Gilbert. The big take-away here is that only through the power of the gospel at work can any meaningful application take place. Pray as you study Scripture and ask if you have deviated from the gospel. This is the foundation for all application.
2. Regularly confess your sins with the brethren as part of a healthy community. As James 5:16 instructs us, we should not hide our personal sin from others (and notice the mutual prayer associated in that relational matrix). In trusted Christian community we need admit our failures to one another. Luke 17:3 likewise instructs us to forgive a fellow Christian who repents. Intimate personal relationships are key to recognizing areas where we need to grow. By establishing safe places of confession and inviting others to speak into our lives, we will find opportunities for the Lord to grow us up.
3. Recognize that there may not always be a personal application for you in every verse! One church we attended pushed application so hard that it was expected every verse or paragraph must have a personal application. An astute Bible student will see a literary flow to Scripture. Like any good literature, the Bible will develop a narrative or exhortation. If your pastor preaches in small segments (e.g. verse by verse), they may over-reach the authorial intentions vis-a-vis the assumed reader response. In other words, the biblical author certainly had an expected outcome of their writings. Allow the text to function as a complete unit and to flow naturally.
4. Recognize also there was an original expected application. Following from point 3, it is a good idea is to try to identify what the author's original objective was in writing. Keep in mind, as Dr. John Walton puts it, that "the Bible was written for us, but not to us." Good hermeneutics warns the reader to understand the distance between us and the text before we attempt to draw application for our lives. Modern preachers often get stuck in contemporary quadrants of application: relationships, careers, finance, and health. For my part, this has a lot to do with our American ideals and to some degree prosperity thinking. While it's true the Bible does speak to these categories, there can be something quite self-serving in them. In the original context, it was how believers partook of the gospel collectively, demonstrated in personal holiness and showing love for each other in response to what Christ has done.
5. Reflect carefully in an attitude of prayer and humility. This may be the hardest thing to do, since we are so busy we don't usually have the time to meditate on Scripture. Meditation is not a mystical, New Age practice. It's a time of inspecting our lives in light of what Scripture says. Look for things in which you might be obviously resisting a clear command. There are many passages in which the author is making it clear there is a moral choice. Pray through Psalm 19. God will answer that prayer!

Sidebar

I cited Dr. Walton above as helping us recognize original author and audience are fundamental. He is known for in recent years for wrestling with Ancient Near East (ANE) issues as it relates to Genesis account of creation. It is not for the faint of heart, but his approach is instructive:

"Rather than re-reading the Bible scientifically or ideologically, we need to allow the Bible to be what it is—not a book of instruction about current issues telling us what to do to fix the world. It is God’s revelation of himself, and he is the one who is fixing the world. We are responsible for taking the knowledge of God that the Bible gives us and applying (not re-reading) it to the situations we face in a fallen world. In this way it can be living and active; dynamic not static."

In sharing this sidebar, I'm aware that I'm opening myself up to criticism. After all, isn't it clear Genesis is a simple story of God creating the world in 6 days, and that evolutionary science is the atheistic alternative in opposition to that account? Walton argues that the ancient Israelites simply would not have been contemplating that question at all, and Moses' purpose for writing the account was to communicate an important message as the covenant was being established -- a message that says God is intent on creating a sacred space and sanctifying a people for himself (http://biologos.org/blog/john-waltons-world-tour-part-1).

Again, we don't know what we don't know. Our blindness to our modern western thinking prevents us from thinking like an ancient Hebrew (or Greek). It may shock you to realize this: there is a huge gap between the ancient world and our contemporary world.

I'm the first to admit it's unsettling to rethink a long-held position -- and I'm by no means settled on a final answer to what Dr. Walton presents. If you take the time to watch his videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR82a-iueWw) or read his books, what I think is more important than his conclusions (with which we can fundamentally disagree), his methodology in going back to the ancient culture of the Bible is sound. Moreover, if we are serious about understanding the Bible for what it really said (yes, past tense), then we need to time travel (as it were) and think in ancient paradigms.

This is a daunting task. Most modern Christians would prefer to think of the Bible as speaking to us (more particularly, me). Yet just as so often the New Testament letters start (e.g. 1 Peter 1:1, "...to the chosen who are residing temporarily in the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia..."), we must needs see we were not the originally intended audience. All that I suggest is we wrestle with the implications of that truth: never forget that we moderns have a much different world than did the ancients. Back to Dr. Walton's theory, he argues that

"...when we read texts like Gen 1 in light of modern science, and in the process neglect the meanings that the words had for the Israelites, we are not reading ethically. Those who would claim that “Let the land produce living creatures” (Gen 1: 24) can be taken as support for an evolutionary process are not reading in light of an Israelite understanding. But neither are those who read the phrase “according to their kind” in the same verse as arguing against evolution. The ancient Israelite text does not have evolution in mind to either accept it or refute it by these illocutions."

Averback, Richard; Beall, Todd; Collins, C. John; Davis, Jud; Hamilton, Victor P.; Longman, Tremper III; Turner, Kenneth J.; Walton, John (2013-05-31). Reading Genesis 1-2: An Evangelical Conversation (Kindle Locations 4200-4204). Hendrickson Pub. Kindle Edition. 

I would simply invite you to do the harder work of wrestling with the Bible in its original setting with the goals the authors had for its intended audience. Then pray that God would show you what eternal principles can be applied to your life. If Walton's approach to Genesis is correct (and I'm not arguing with certainty that it is), one significant application for us is God's design to create sacred space within which he lives in right relationship with his people requires reconciliation. Humanity rebelled and yet God pursued us (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17ff). The direct application:

"Therefore we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as if God were imploring you through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20, LEB).

It doesn't get much clearer than that!