spirit and the word: The world-creating function of the text, The

Theology Today, Oct 2000 by Grenz, Stanley J

Christians are a "people of the book." Our communal identity is bound up with a set of literary texts that together form canonical Scripture. Yet one of the most consistent complaints aired by thinkers across the theological spectrum today is that Scripture has grown ominously silent in the church., And many suggest that the antidote lies in a rediscovery of the Bible as text. But what does this mean? In what sense does the Bible function as "text"? This article looks at the question of the Bible as text from a theological perspective. My goal is to draw from contemporary theological and philosophical insights so as to set forth an understanding of the manner in which the Spirit speaks through the Word, so as to sketch a doctrine of Scripture that can contribute to the renewal of the role of Scripture in the church.

THE WORD AS MESSAGE AND TEXT

The point of departure for the doctrine of Scripture in Reformed theology is what Bernard Ramm denotes "the Protestant principle of authority."2 This principle received its definitive articulation in the Westminster Confession of Faith: "The Supreme Judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of counsels, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other than the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture."3

Reflective of the Reformation concern to bind Word and Spirit together, the Westminister statement clearly links the Bible with the Holy Spirit. Bringing Scripture and Spirit together provides the foundation for understanding in what sense the Bible is to be read as text, while undercutting any notion of the Bible as being inherently authoritative. The Protestant principle suggests that the authority of Scripture does not ultimately rest with any quality that inheres within it as such (for example, its divine authorship or inspired character). Instead, the Bible is authoritative in that it is the vehicle through which the Spirit speaks. Hence, the authority of the Bible is in the end the authority of the Spirit whose instrumentality it is. The Bible is Scripture in that the sovereign Spirit has bound authoritative divine speaking to this text. Following the lead of the church of all ages, we look to the biblical texts to hear the Spirit's voice. But how does the Spirit speak through the text?

The Message Behind the Text

Modern theologies, whether liberal or conservative, generally build from the assumption that the Bible discloses an underlying divine revelation that constitutes the authoritative biblical message, which in turn is the voice of the Spirit. One popular approach finds the revelation, and hence the biblical message, in the sacred history to which the biblical documents point. Donald Bloesch, to cite one example, asserts, "From my perspective, the ultimate norm is the gospel of God based on the mighty acts of God." He then adds, "Revelation took place in a particular history in the past, the sacred history that constitutes the content of the Bible. It is this sacred history that can be described as the objective locus of revelation.The Bible is the original witness to the mighty acts of God."4 Bloesch's words echo the position of Canadian theologian Douglas John Hall, who speaks of "original revelation" as a sequence of foundational events.5 Other theologians focus on the more general idea of the intention of the authors of the biblical writings. The authoritative revelation located behind the text is the message that the authors sought to communicate. Much of modern exegesis, following a program pioneered by Friedrich Schleiermacher, concentrates on the task of determining authorial intent as the vehicle that can connect us to the biblical message.

These various attempts to engage the revelation behind the text are helpful in that they comprise a warning against positing a simple, one-toone correspondence between the revelation of God and the Bible, that is, between the Word of God and the words of Scripture.6 Viewed from the perspective of the New Testament writers themselves, ultimately "the Word of God" is both christologically and pneumatologically focused. It is the Holy Spirit announcing the good news about Jesus Christ. This word the church speaks in the Spirit's power and by the Spirit's authority, and thereby is connected to Christ himself.7

Nevertheless, while the biblical message as a whole ought to provide the shaping influence for, and to stand in judgment over, all our theological expressions, modern discourse about a biblical message that supposedly lies behind the texts brings us up short. Because no exegetical method can facilitate us in grasping the biblical message in its entirety, the "biblical message" is somewhat a misnomer. As Colin Gunton observes, "The biblical message, in the sense of a finally adequate or even provisionally complete account of biblical teaching, is a chimera."8 Equally unsatisfying is the more limited expression "a biblical message." This designation gives the impression that we simply choose from among the many messages we supposedly find disclosed through the various documents of the Bible.