Christ the Truth

The 1963 Baptist Faith & Message describes Scripture as "the record of God's revelation of Himself to Man," while the 2000 revision of the BFM describes Scripture as "God's revelation of Himself to Man." Scripture=truth vs. Christ=truth. I heard the controversy surrounding this distinction in my days at East Texas Baptist University and was confused at the subtleties.

In those years, Craig Nash began challenging me to understand truth as embodied in relationships and community and not in systematic doctrines. A reading of Brian McLaren's A New Kind of Christian echoed these sentiments, rebuking the modern tendency to use the Bible as "God's encyclopedia, God's rule book, God's answer book, God's scientific text, God's easy-steps instruction book, God's little book of morals for all occasions." Neo, in the book, noted that "the only people in Jesus' day who would have had anything close to these expectations of the Bible would have been the scribes and Pharisees."

Brian McLaren, and others, capturing the essence of "postmodern" theology, have encouraged a view of the Bible as narrative, not as a benign story, but a book whose writings were fostered to call together and help create a living community, who would seek, and in a way, embody, truth itself. This as opposed to a book to which we can go for "rock-solid answers" and a checklist for right and wrong, good and evil.

As a little kid, I enjoyed carefully moving from one large, craggy stone to the next as I stepped across small creek beds in the woods of Atlanta, Texas. As a teenager, I found myself doing this more than once in Brokenbow, Oklahoma, while fly-fishing. Then, in graduate school, I relished the opportunity to stone-walk down the shore of a small river in Saxon, Washington, on the family land of my friend, Melissa LaMonte. Sometimes, in the stepping, I fell off-kilter into the deep, rushing cold water, getting my socks and shoes wet.

In the midst of all the hustle and bustle of theological reflection, I have grown curious and excited but have also been knocked a bit off kilter. I have been in this off-balanced position for at least four years now as I have sought to find a foundation for truth on which to place my weight. I'm okay with getting my socks a bit wet, and, in fact, I have many times, only to step out again, off-kilter, still not knowing which rock is sturdy.

I need a nice firm stone on which to place my weight. Earl Palmer, my pastor at University Presbyterian Church, Seattle, speaks of this dilemma, and he resolves it by speaking of Christ as the foundation of truth, the embodiment of truth, the ultimate truth.

But where is Christ? Someone help me to place my weight down. I know by grace I have been accepted as his own. I know by faith I can trust in his grace. But, what do I do with the Bible? And, if not through systematic study, how do I understand God at all. And, this whole trinity concept has had me stumped since I first heard of it as a child. If Christ is living and present, is that the same as the Holy Spirit's living presence?

What language do I use to talk about my faith? What concepts can I hold to comprehend the reality of my faith? What can I know about truth that I can put my weight on?

My only answer is Jesus Christ. But, I'm not sure exactly what to do with that answer. And, though I have a sense as to how to approach the Bible hermeneutically, I'm not sure what to do with it once the original meanings are extrapolated; that is, how far do you go in extrapolating truth from this book? What does it mean to walk in truth and love? How do I reconcile the mystery and complexity of God's revelation of truth with that which is meant to be known? Where do I place my weight?