Getting the Message: A Plan for Interpreting and Applying the Bible by Daniel M. Doriani

Author:Daniel M. Doriani [Doriani, Daniel M.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: P&R Publishing
Published: 2017-07-08T16:00:00+00:00

View 2. Let God Do It

According to view 2, because application is problematic, it is best left to God. Application that actually produces decisions for God is the work of sovereign grace. We are too blind to our own compromises, too dedicated to our own agenda, and too ignorant of the real needs of others to apply the Word of God successfully. It is difficult for men “to be faithful to the text and also true to life in this present age.” We must, therefore, leave application to God, for true application is, as Karl Barth put it, the result of a “direct encounter between man and God.”10

Some leave application to God for another reason. They are afraid that if we take it upon ourselves to decide how to behave, we will enter a vortex that will suck us down into the abyss of legalism. Say one word about observance of the Lord’s Day, for example, and pharisaism will soon be knocking at the door. Any attempt to prescribe behavior, they imagine, will soon center on works and nullify the gospel. Others contend that the Bible presents principles for life, not laws. Precise application betrays the spirit of Christian living, and trades the believer’s freedom for fussy little rules.

A few adherents of the biblical theology movement avoid application for another reason. With its healthy emphasis on God’s covenant and his sovereign redemptive work in history, it opposes the moralistic use of the Bible. According to this school, the teacher’s goal in telling the story of Abraham or Solomon is not to show us what sins to avoid and what good deeds to emulate. Teachers should not offer moral lessons about what God rewards and punishes, for Scripture is God’s self-revelation, given to move people to faith. God is the “prime agent” in every story. The Bible is God’s self-revelation, given so that he and his people will “exchange the deepest love of their hearts.” Therefore, “God must be made central” to every story. If, however, we speak of Mary’s or John’s love for Jesus, or Judas’s hatred, we must not focus on Mary or Judas, but on “the One who awakened such love . . . [and] arouse[d] such great hatred.” To stress the role of Mary and Judas as examples of love to be imitated or sin to be avoided is, according to this school, to stray from the gospel into a man-centered religion.11

Here again, we must weigh merits and demerits. The “leave it to God” view rightly points to the inherent capacity of the Word to touch our lives and to remain perpetually contemporary, far beyond our efforts to make it relevant. This view also knows a preacher’s limits. Eloquent speakers can persuade people to change their behavior, give money, or sign up for a program. But no speaker, working alone, can change the human heart (2 Cor. 4:1–7). The triune God applies Scripture.

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