Outlined Transcript:
Hi everyone,
In this session, I want to talk about how Christ’s Word is over culture. Scripture, not any other cultural value system, must control how we understand and explain the gospel.
We cannot go to a culture first, study it, and then accommodate the gospel to it in a way that is overly contextualized. Now, it is helpful to be a student of people, a student of the language, and to study culture and look for the nuances of their value systems. That is totally helpful. You must do that as a missionary.
You cannot just come in and speak in English and expect people to understand. You have to dig in, humble yourself, and practice Christian self-denial for many years to learn that target language in order to rightly communicate the gospel.
When a Language Lacks Biblical Vocabulary
You might find, like I said in a previous video, that people may not even have words in their language to translate certain ideas in the Bible.
Some languages, as I mentioned before, do not even have a word for suffering or all the synonyms we have for suffering. Another language I have worked with does not have a word for love. The verb “to love” does not even exist. The only words they can use are closer to “spoil” or “indulge.”
Another language I am familiar with does not even have a word for Jesus in the language. So it becomes an impossible question to ask, “Have you heard of Jesus Christ?” That name does not exist in the language.
Sometimes you have to create words.
You have to take the target language and the target culture and make them subservient, submitted to the Word of God. You have to bring clarity and conviction to that culture through the Word of God.
Sometimes, as a good missionary, theologian, and linguist, you have to become deeply embedded in that language. Frankly, it is a long slog. It is a long haul of denying yourself the privileges and joys of what we might consider classic ministry or regular Bible teaching.
You have to dig in and learn that language. You have to say no to a lot of other great ministry opportunities so that you can learn the language and then rightly translate the meaning of Scripture into it.
The Holy Spirit Speaks Through Human Language
The main thing to remember is that the Holy Spirit speaks through human language, but He communicates biblical truth through human language. He is never confined to the boundaries of human language.
This is why we sometimes have to think about creating new vocabulary and new words that communicate what the Bible is saying.
What is amazing is that at Pentecost, when the Spirit is poured out, He basically reverses Babel. Every language group that was present, as listed in Acts 2:8–11, heard the exact same transcultural message of God and His saving power, but each heard it in his own tongue.
That is a great analogy and illustration of the work of the missionary. We are saying the same exact message of the power of God to save in every language group, in a way that they understand.
The Error of Historicism
There are a couple of errors, modernist trappings, or obstacles you have to watch out for when you cross cultures and try to contextualize biblical meaning.
The first is historicism.
This is basically reading only the ancient culture’s concerns into the text.
What do I mean by that? Some scholars, seminary professors, and guys who write big, thick books will talk about the ancient Near Eastern background and context as the hermeneutical key.
What does “hermeneutical key” mean? It is the interpretive model, filter, or grid through which you understand the Bible.
The error of historicism says that you cannot understand the Bible unless you first get into the minds of the people in the original audience.
Now, is it important to understand what ancient Near Eastern people would have understood when they received the original text or manuscripts? Of course.
But to be honest, a lot of that is speculation because we cannot get into the shoes of people from thousands of years ago. We cannot get into their minds. The best thing we can do is approximate or speculate about what they would have derived from it.
Cultures have changed. Empires have come and empires have been decimated. Languages have disappeared. Whole value systems have been obliterated over the centuries.
Where we are today in the 21st century is a long stretch from where people were 2,000, 4,000, or 6,000 years ago.
Historical Context Is Helpful, but Not Supreme
It is helpful, as best as we can with the tools we have, including archaeology and historical documents, to understand what would have made sense in certain texts. To be sure, those things can be useful.
But unearthing the historical background is not the primary way to understand the Bible, because much of it, as I said, is speculation.
We simply cannot know exactly what it would have been like to be a regular person in Persia walking down the street during the days of Esther and Ahasuerus or Artaxerxes. We cannot know exactly what the early Persian mindset would have been. We can only speculate.
But we can clearly know the emphasis of Esther, for example, because we can read the text in light of the Bible, and the Bible interprets itself.
The Clarity of Scripture
This is what the Reformers and the Protestant Reformation called the perspicuity of Scripture.
I know that is a huge word: perspicuity, perspicuous, or clear.
It means the clarity of Scripture.
Scripture interprets itself.
My Hebrew professor in college used to say that the best way to understand the Bible is not simply through understanding ancient Near Eastern backgrounds. He was a Hebrew professor, a Messianic prophecy professor, and an Old Testament scholar in his own right.
He said the best way to interpret the Bible is to read the Bible again and again and again.
Over time, the Holy Spirit, the mind of Christ, gives you understanding. You begin to see the points of connection. There is a texture to Scripture. The Bible restates truths through different patterns and in different ways over and over again.
Little by little, through the unfolding of the words of the Bible, the Holy Spirit gives wisdom and light.
Scripture Must Remain the Standard
This is something to remember when communicating the gospel: God speaks clearly through Scripture.
Is historical background helpful? Absolutely.
But getting every detail of the historical background right is not essential in order to understand the Bible.
In a way, making that background necessary can become a kind of historical Gnosticism, as though there is some sort of special knowledge you must possess before you can understand what God is saying in the text.
Scripture must remain the standard. Culture is important to understand. Language is important to understand. Historical context can be incredibly helpful. But none of these things stand over the Word of God.
In the next video, we will talk about another ditch to watch out for.