I'm a missionary in Japan. The name of my mission agency is WEC International. That's supposedly Worldwide Evangelisation for Christ, but I think I have a better idea about what it stands for...
2006-12-22
`The things you have been instructed'
[In as much as] Many people have tried to set down a record of all the things that were played out here among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word right from the start passed them on to us. So it seemed good for me too to write to you, having researched everything carefully from the beginning so that you, honourable Theophilus, might know about the accuracy of the things you have been instructed. (Luke 1:1-4)
Right at the start of this Gospel, we have a challenge. Why are we reading this? What do we expect to ``get out'' of reading the Bible? Should we expect to get anything out of it?
To think about such questions is to approach the Bible as a personal communication between us and God. In such a view, the Church is sidelined. In contrast, Luke emphasises two things. He speaks about the accuracy and the historical reliability of his gospel. It is right that we read his words in the knowledge that they are authenticated by eyewitnesses and researched by the author, and that we can claim the historicity of the Gospel for ourselves. What we are about to read actually happened, two thousand years ago. But at the same time Luke emphasises that his research was done for the purpose of confirming and reinforcing teaching, to confirm to `Theophilus' that what he has been hearing is indeed true; the Gospel is there, as Newman put it, to prove what the Church teaches. It is not an end unto itself, nor something separable from the teaching of the Church, but stands as the test and the standard of what is taught.
Luke's introduction contends with both the evangelical position which places the Bible above the Church, and with the liberal position which subjugates the Bible to the teaching of the Church. Instead the Bible stands by the side of the Church, in dialogue, informing it and challenging it to remain true. As we continue to read the Gospel, and yes, to use it in our devotions, we must remember to balance the truth of the Gospel and the teaching of the worldwide Church, past and present.
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lathos: Heading down to Oookayama. The おおお joke never gets old.
