Rev. Steven Flo
In theology, most errors come from the top down in the Church and thinking in terms of “either/or” rather than “both/and”.
For instance Jesus isn’t either God or man. He is both/and.
God isn’t either one God or three persons. He is both/and.
Christians aren’t either sinners or saints. They are both/and.
Salvation isn’t either about grace or good works. It is both by grace through faith, and accompanied by good works as fruit.
The Lord’s Supper isn’t either bread or body, wine or blood. It is both/and.
The kingdom of God isn’t either now or later. It is already present in the church now and will be fully realized later when Christ returns. Both/and!
Prayer isn’t either a personal act of devotion or a communal practice. It is both/and … as we see in the Lord’s Prayer.
Scripture isn’t either human or Divine. It is both/and.
The Christian life isn’t joyful or sorrowful. It is both/and as Jesus teaches in John sixteen, thirty-three:
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
And finally, and here is where error has entered our church today in many circles, and I do not see much correction. It is asserted:
The “Spoken Word” is the living, dynamic Word of God, not the “written Word” per se. The written Word is inerrant and a faithful guide, of course, but only a by-product (as one pastor told me) of the “Preached Word”! The “Spoken Word” is where Christ is at!
After all, they say, God spoke the Word before He wrote it down.
Most people couldn’t read throughout history so God came to them through dynamic “preaching/speaking”!
All half truths to be sure.
But do you see the satanic deception to exalt the one (speaking) and not the other (God’s written Word)? It is an erroneous either/or way of thinking rather than both/and.
It is a diminishing or diminution of the Reformational principle … SOLA SCRIPTURA! (Scripture Alone).
Think about it! Christ’s Church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets (Eph. 2:20). But we don’t have any Apostles and Prophets speaking to us today. They knew their time was coming to an end so God inspired them to “write it down”. Their “Written Word” was just as inspired and faith creating as their “Spoken Word”! Paul, in 2 Tim.3:16-17, bears testimony to this when he says:
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
The “Spoken Word” vs. the “Written Word”?
It is Both/and … not … either/or!
Again, all our teaching and preaching and spoken Word comes from that “Written Word”!
So here is a Rhetorical Question?
How can our “Preached Word” be more inspiring and faith-creating than the very “Written Word” from which it comes?
“Oh,” some theologians say, “if we say that then people may think they can go home and read their Bibles rather than go to church and hear the Word preached!”
That is certainly how some misguided laity might think. But that would be erroneous as well! It is “either/or” thinking rather than “both/and”! For the very Bible that people read devotionally at home also tells them to go to Church (Hebrews 10:25) and remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy (3rd Commandment).
God will bless you BOTH by reading your Bible at home and by going to Church and receiving the full feast of Christ’s love and forgiveness coming to you through His Word (read, preached, and sung) and by receiving His Body and Blood in, with, and under bread and wine in the Sacrament of His Holy Supper.
Some pastors and professors have gone too far.
They have erroneously placed the “Spoken Word” over the “Written Word”…when it should be “both/and”.
I’ve heard some say they despise the song, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the BIBLE tells me so.”
Some have said laity should have God’s Word only “Spoken” to them. Laity should not read the Bible themselves because they will only misinterpret or misuse it. Rather, it should only be “Spoken” to them by the Pastors, who are the “incarnational” representatives of Christ. (A touch of Sacerdotalism here, plus, what do we do with Luther who translated the Scriptures into German for all the people to read.)
Some have said Gideon Bibles should not be in hotel or hospital rooms. Again, laity “reading” the Bible for themselves can’t do much good. It has to be “Spoken” to them. God is only in the “Speaking”.
I recently heard a professor say, “I don’t believe in the Bible. I believe in Jesus.” As though we could know anything about Jesus apart from the written Word.
The Church, then, “Speaking the Word” (the Regula Fide = the rule of faith = the summary of the Gospel) is where they say Christ is with His faith creating power. Not the dead letter of the Book!
But, of course, this is absurd because the Church’s “Rule of Faith” has never been anything but the “Sedes Doctrinae” ( seat of doctrine or clear Bible passages) from that Book (as the 1932 “Brief Statement” makes clear under the topic of “Sola Scriptura”).
I’ve heard some accuse every Lutheran theologian from Chemnitz down to Walther and Pieper and most conservative, Lutheran theologians today of being “Biblicists” (i.e. Bible worshippers = idolaters) for defending the Canonicity and inerrancy of Scripture, for they believe the power of Christ resides not in the inerrant, infallible Book (the Scriptures), but only in the “Spoken Word”.
I pray you can see the problem!
What is the cure?
Exposing this weed to be pulled in the Garden of Christ’s Church.
Recognizing it is the deception of the devil to emphasize one truth (i.e. God speaking to us through His preached Word) and using that truth to diminish another truth (i.e. God speaking clearly to us through His inspired, inerrant, Written Word).
It is a BOTH/AND not an EITHER/OR!
Most errors come to us from the top down in the church. Especially when our pastors and professors think in terms of EITHER/OR rather than BOTH/AND!
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