Being both His Written Words and His Oral tradition!
You had two streams coming down the mountain Sinai, according to the Jewish tradition; one was written, one was oral. In their tradition, there is a passed on continuum in both. You have logos and rhema–we need both to make it! The written word and the illumination, the Christian version of midrashing! To stream off of the truths in the scriptures (our commentaries-at least the ones which have the imprint of His Holy Spirit!); to be illuminated by The Spirit who guides us into all truths, and the many dimensions and nuances of each basic revealed and written truth. The word is living! Our God is the God of the living. Creative interpretive, never static–dynamic-but never negating the laws of Himself. I love that combination of clear perimeters, with creative intervention from the Laws of His Own Being–His Ways. Preaching always seems somewhere in between the two ways of God as well–His known patterns, and His active incarnation and refreshed expression of Himself–He is always willing to continue to make Himself known over and over in so many formats!
God of the written on stone law; and God of the living dialogue. The One who allows us to conversationally, relationally know Him, and ask questions and come into understanding. We are to be both keepers of the written Word, and lovers of the Living Word! So we get fresh interpretations as we go. That’s our way. We are the friends of God. The ones who He explains Himself, and even His written words to! We are the one’s He whispers to, and we gain understanding in the light of His Being, and the situation we are speaking into! He is that kind of God!
He, of course, is the same yesterday and today and forever, so we need not fear, getting a fresh angle on some passage He has had written in the bible. For His Spirit, was promised to guide us into all truth. If we already knew them holistically, we would not be in need of guidance! He is the Word who is incarnating in His little words or poems–us! And, He is not afraid to nuance His own book. Not afraid to open our eyes to another dimension of the same old passage. Hence Martin Luther had faith highlighted for him, so he could see what needed to be re-emphasized! There are times when He uses his written revelation to highlight some fresh truth He desires to apply and amplify into the present situation. The way the Word becomes living again to us. That is the job of the prophetic teacher!
God is not just a revealer in one medium or format. The whole earth is the Lord’s expression. So was the Bible, and so is it when we get fresh revelations from the book. We are partners of illumination–like the Levites in Nehemiah’s time who went around unveiling the meaning of the scriptures; or Philip in the New Testament with the eunuch king from Africa. We are those ones who go around unveiling the inner meaning of the text! That’s part of our role as priestly people.
We are revelers in and of Christ, but also revealers through His Spirit! We are both oral and written prophecies, and prophets! We are ourselves living poetry–His workmanship (poesia, Ephesians 2:10); living dynamic expressions of who He is-of what He is actually like. This fights mere religion or spiritual rules, and takes us into becoming manifestations of Christ’s life on earth. Instances of His Nature–or as Peter put it, “participators in the Divine Nature!” That’s part of being in His Image. We are not static or repetitious art. We are living art, meant to reflect back on who He is. We even come to know who we are, by reflecting on who He is. He is a living God. And we are His living children. Growing into the contours of what we are meant to become in Him!
We are dynamic instruments to reveal who we are in, reflecting back into who has claimed and inhabited us! We are both walking under His Laws of Being, and in His Way and Life. We are both His written and oral expressions on this earth! He is not only a God of rules or principles, but also a God who comes into and fulfills His Laws and Promises. This in Him, and this in us! We are unioners with Christ. Those who are becoming one, in union, with Him–that’s our formation into His Nature–and that is a dynamic living process which illuminates the earth and the heavens! That is sanctification, that is being already and participating in that to which we are becoming in Him! We already receiving the fruits of our salvation! His living words, and brothers and reflectors of His Nature, so that all people can know, choose, and turn towards and into the Living God, whom we serve and ground our being within! Selah.
