The Mind of Christ – Holy Scripture
The Mind of Christ – Holy Scripture.
“Who is able to understand the mind of Lord Yahweh? Who is able to be His teacher? We, however, have the mind of Christ!” (1 Corinthians 2:16).
“We have…” (Greek, “echomen”), which means ‘are having,’ ‘are keeping,’ or ‘are holding;’ to have and to keep on having, an action in progress; a process that is now taking place; the present state is a continuing state. So the literal translation is, “We, however, are having the mind of Christ.” Through the Holy Spirit, we now are new creatures who were given the capacity to learn how to think like Jesus.
… the mind of Christ.” (Greek for mind is “nous,” which means the highest knowing faculty of the soul; the spirit and understanding behind all we think and do). Through the Holy Spirit, then…
We are being given the capacity to think the thoughts of the Anointed One;
We have the growing ability to reason, to be logical, and to think things through like Jesus;
We are being infused with the ability to understand God’s wisdom;
We are being equipped with the moral intelligence of the Lord;
We are being given access to the reasoning behind the actions of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit;
We are in the process of perceiving spiritual matters as Christ perceives them;
We have an increasing ability to understand life from God’s perspective;
We will be continually inspired to develop the divine common sense and street-smart shrewdness that Jesus was known for;
We are gaining insight into what truly matters according to the thinking of God;
We have a growing ability to reflect and ponder according to the will of Christ;
We enjoy an ongoing co-mingling of our mind with Christ’s mind, until the end, when the new will have completely replaced the old, and those two minds will be indistinguishable.
“Remember what you were taught from your childhood from the sacred Scriptures, which can impart to you wisdom in order to experience everlasting life through the faith of Jesus, the Anointed One! Every Scripture has been inspired by the Holy Spirit, the breath of God. It will empower you by its instruction and correction, giving you the strength to take the right direction and lead you deeper into the path of godliness. Then you will be God’s servant, fully mature and perfectly prepared to fulfill any assignment God gives you.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
The Holy Scripture is God’s brainchild, conceived in the mind of Christ with the Father and the Spirit. In His mercy, God desired to tell us what was and still is on His mind. He allows us access to His thinking through the Bible. Ironically, we cannot read the mind of others, but we have been given the privilege of reading the mind of almighty God. Gaining the mind of Christ through His Spirit allows the unspeakable blessing of understanding the very thoughts of God in His Word. Reading God’s mind has nothing to do with intellectual brilliance or advanced education. In fact, sometimes those gifts can get in the way of true spiritual understanding. “God has revealed to us His inmost heart and deepest mysteries through the Holy Spirit… God’s thoughts and secrets are only fully understood through His Spirit, the Spirit of God… Someone living on the entirely human level can’t understand the revelations of the Spirit because they are only discovered by the illumination of the Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:10-11, 14). The Spirit dwells within us, giving us the mind of Christ, ushering us into a deep understanding of His Word.
Reading Scripture with Both Hands:
(A.) On the One Hand… The term “Old Testament” is offensive and inaccurate. That word “Old” implies it is obsolete, past its usage date, worn out, needs to be retired, irrelevant. Our faithful Jewish brethren have been referring to the Jewish Scriptures as the Hebrew Bible for centuries, and Christians should be aware that calling it the Old Testament is a backhanded way of saying all the inspired books from Genesis to Malachi are outdated. Remember, the Hebrew Bible is the very Scripture that was memorized and believed in by Jesus and all the New Testament authors. It was the Hebrew Bible that was the reference point for all early Christian believers. When Paul said in the above passage that “all Scripture is God-breathed, inspired by the Holy Spirit,” he was referring to the Hebrew Bible!
On the Other Hand… The term “New Testament” has its share of problems as well. Implied is that this is the new and improved version, the Old has been replaced by the New. Put the Old on the back shelf, since only the New is relevant to us now. So one biblical scholar, Dr. Brad Young, has done something interesting. In his translation, he has referred to it as the “Newer Testament.” The Word of God is on a continuum from Genesis to Revelation, and needs to have a seamless connection to the Jewish faith of Jesus, His Hebrew understanding and practice in light of Torah. The New is in the context of the Old and needs to be understood as such.
(B.) On the One Hand… The Bible deserves to be honored, held up high in respect, revered as an unspeakable gift from God. The Scriptures are priceless and are on an entirely different level of significance than any other written document.
On the Other Hand… The Bible is not to be treated as an idol, it is not an object of worship. Knowledge of God’s Word is not intended to replace a personal relationship with Him. As George MacDonald once said, the Bible is the moon in our darkness reflecting the light from the sun. The moon isn’t the original source of light, the sun is. Scripture is merely reflecting the light from its source, Jesus, the Source of light in our darkness. Honor Scripture, revere it, live by it, but don’t worship it. As Jesus Himself declared to the Bible scholars of His day, “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.” (John 5:39-40).
(C.) On the One Hand… The Hebrew Bible stands on its own in its importance. Be a scholar of the Hebrew Bible as we read about the Jewish story that led to Messiah Jesus and was fulfilled by Him. Learn from the songs, poems, stories, the unforgettable characters, and the many illustrations that add much wisdom for us today. The Hebrew Bible is worthy of our study, for sure, but at the same time remember it as the historical backdrop that prepared for the story of Jesus.
On the Other Hand… As one becomes familiar with the Jewish roots of the Christian faith, the Person of Jesus Christ seems to pop everywhere in the Hebrew Bible. As if to prove the point that the Christian faith is a fulfilled Jewish belief, read what Jesus had to say on the Emmaus Walk with two of his disciples after His resurrection: “He carefully unveiled for them the revelation of Himself throughout the (Hebrew) Scripture. He started from the beginning and explained the writings of Moses and all the prophets, showing how they wrote of Him and revealed the truth about Himself… ‘Remember how I told you that everything written about Me would be fulfilled, including all the prophecies from the Law of Moses through the Psalms and the writings of the Prophets – that in Me they would all find their fulfillment.’ Jesus opened up their eyes, He unlocked their understanding to receive the revelation of Scriptures.” (Luke 24:25-27 and 44-45).
(D.) On the One Hand… Gulp down the Scripture like craft beer on a hot day. Take in as much as you can as soon as possible to get the Big Picture, the panorama of the Bible, the Big Story from beginning to end.
On the Other Hand… Sip the Scripture like a fine wine. Take your time over a passage that is tasty and beckons for more consideration. Take a small passage, swish it around in your mind to get the full flavor, enjoy the unhurried sensation of thinking deeply about something that is truth itself.
(E.) On the One Hand… Study, study, study the Word. Do your research to get the most out of the studies of scholars, professors, translators, and, maybe even a theologian or two if you don’t mind getting stuck in the weeds a lot. Try to acquire as many Study Bibles as you can afford, because they all offer different insights and research results. Use all the translations you can find as well. Comparing all the different translations of a passage helps to amplify the passage’s meaning. Or if Study Bibles or many Bible translations are not possible, refer regularly to a Bible that is full of cross-references. In our era, of course, one can simply go on Google and you can do much the same research.
On the Other Hand… The Bible is its own best commentary. Let the Scripture speak for itself by methods like the old Jewish way of discovering a passage’s meaning called “Stringing Pearls.” This method involved putting together various Bible passages that relate to what one is studying. There is always a train of thought one can take with a passage and string those biblical pearls of wisdom and knowledge together to deepen the meaning of whatever is being studied. The better one knows the Scripture, of course, the more pearl-stringing one can do. When one becomes familiar with Scripture, stringing the pearls becomes second nature.
(F.) On the One Hand… The entire Newer Testament is inspired by God, and invaluable in our instruction of what the first Christians believed. Acts is an amazing glimpse of what the earliest Christian communities looked like and what various missionary works were done. The letters of early saints like Paul, James, Peter, and John all expand on the deeper significance of the Christan walk.
On the Other Hand… The Gospels are the North Star. A follower of Jesus starts with the gospels and stays with the gospels throughout the Christan life. The life of Jesus is the reference point for everything. His words and deeds trump theology. In fact, if there is a point in some theology that seems to conflict with what we see in the Gospels, stick with the Gospels. Maybe the theological assertion will make more sense down the line. But I recommend studying theology in light of the Gospels, not the other way around. I dare to say that even if a verse or two in the epistles seems inconsistent with what you read in the Gospels, stick with the Gospels until the epistle seems to make more sense in accordance with the life of Jesus. There may even be an apparent contradiction between the Gospel accounts, such as the timing of events. Just hold those inconsistencies loosely. It’s doubtful that they are game-changers. Grow in your love of the Gospels, in simply loving the story of Jesus. You can’t go wrong with that. After the three disciples witness the Transfiguration, they saw “Jesus only.” Let that be our guiding light as we study theology and scripture through the grid of the Gospels. Perhaps Fr. Kallistos Ware gives us the bottom line… “We shall not profit fully from reading the Gospels unless we are in love with Christ.”
(G.) On the One Hand…Pray-read Scripture, using your common sense. There are obvious passages that are not meant to be taken literally. There are times when the reader runs up against so many literary devices it makes the head spin. There is a lot of symbolism, and hyperbole, and metaphor, and simile, and word play, and humor, and allegory, and even a lot of sarcasm thrown in. The reader needs to pray for the mind of Christ while reading the Bible because so much discernment is needed. As much as we want it to be true, the passages of the Bible are not self-explanatory.
On the Other Hand… Pray-read Scripture, engaging your imagination. The Bible is a literary masterpiece, and is full of creative works of the imagination. Whenever one reads the Bible, one will become enthralled with some of the best poetry and song-writing in history. Then there are short stories, biographies, parables, myths, visions and dreams, and unexplainable events like Joshua making the sun stand still. My advice? Sit back and enjoy the Bible’s literary creativity that was all inspired by a profoundly imaginative God.
(H.) On the One Hand… Acquire as much factual knowledge of Scripture as possible. “Rightly handling the Word of truth” involves having a grasp of biblical details. Bible stories and principles have been cultural reference points for a long, long time, and have been accepted as the litmus test to determine if someone is truly educated. Biblical scholarship may be a handy tool in going deeper into its meaning, though it didn’t seem to help the scholars in Jesus’ day that much. When it comes to Scripture, know your stuff, but limiting the Bible to a religious encyclopedia of data and facts is a major problem. Factual biblical knowledge is much-needed grist for the mill of wisdom and love.
On the Other Hand… The biblical meaning of “know” is not centered so much on impersonal head knowledge and is considered much more than a mental activity. To know, “yada,” was more than to comprehend or understand something, more than learning information and facts. Yada implies an intimate knowledge, a deep personal union, a profound experience with the truth. Acquiring knowledge is akin to “knowing” someone in a personal and intimate way. “Whenever you read the Gospel, Christ Himself is speaking to you. And while you read, you are praying and talking to Him.” (St. Tikhon, Orthodox, 1783). Biblically speaking, we don’t really know something or someone until it becomes a part of us, and is something that changes us in some way. To know is to be able to live it out, to experience participation with that which is known. Reading Scripture and understanding it reflects a personal relationship between the reader and the living truth of what is read. As the Orthodox Church puts it, when we read Scripture, we are “spiritually engaged in creative dialogue” with God Himself.
(I.) On the One Hand… The letters on every page of the Bible are dead and lifeless to those who choose to be limited to their natural mind, those who refuse to allow the Holy Spirit to bring those words to life. The aggressive scoffer and skeptic are, biblically speaking, mindless in a spiritual way, not even remotely open to the truth of Scripture. The natural mindset considers Scripture to be mere foolishness, they are blind to the mysterious truth of Christ. What is needed here is a divine intervention to bring those words to life.
On the Other Hand… Those words in Scripture actually have spiritual energy, are full of life. It’s as if those simple dead words on the page are resurrected by the Spirit, and God’s vibrant voice rings out from every page. There is a compelling power to God’s Word as it speaks to the reader. Just as Jesus the Living Word rose from the tomb, the Spirit of God breathes life into the words of Scripture, which in turn breathes new life into the reader. Each passage can take on a life of its own through the Spirit of God, and is able to speak into the heart and mind of the reader. Miraculous encounters with God have occurred countless times with the inspired words of the Bible, when the words just seem to jump off the page and into the mind and heart of the reader.
(J.) On the One Hand… I believe that the complete Bible, all 66 books contained in both the Hebrew Scripture and the New Testament, is the divinely inspired Word of God. Amazingly, the Bible is coherent and hangs together in a unified vision, even though it was written over the space of 1,500 years by 40 different authors. Even with all those separate books, Scripture is still referred to as one Book, the Bible. As an act of faith, believers depend on Scripture as being reliable and entirely trustworthy, a guiding light for our minds and hearts. Holy Scripture is the final authority regarding Christian faith and practice.
On the Other Hand… In Scripture, God’s divine thoughts are humanly expressed. The authors were all imperfect human beings supernaturally moved by the Holy Spirit. They had their own God-given personalities, vocabulary, life experience, historical contexts, giftedness, and style of writing. Besides all that, the authors enjoyed a wide variety of spiritual maturity between them at the time of the writing. I believe God wanted to honor their humanity and be a part of the inspired revelation. So, it is doubtful that the authors were simply receiving dictation during the inspiration. The authors of Scripture were surely cooperating with God while not mechanically writing down word-for-word like a mindless robot. The believable result of this profound interplay between the mind of God and the mind of the authors is nothing less than the truth of the Lord. Yes, Holy Scripture is simply true, and eternally so.
A Final Thought on Scripture from An Inspired Bible Teacher:
“The Bible is holiness in words. The words of the Bible are like dwellings made with rock. The Bible is the light of God given in the form of language. How is it conceivable that the Divine should be contained in such brittle vessels as consonants and vowels? It is as if God took these Hebrew words and breathed into them of His power, and the words became a live wire charged with His spirit. Just as it is impossible to conceive of God without the world, so is it impossible to conceive of His concern without the Bible. If God is alive, then the Bible is His voice.” (Abraham Joshua Heschel, God In Search Of Man, 1955).