Theology ≠ Scripture

I am not challenging the sufficiency of scripture, I am challenging the sufficiency of our theology, the sufficiency of our understanding and interpretation of scripture. I believe that the scriptures hold a sufficient account of the character and intent of God. I am not so confident about our ability, with full accuracy, to extract that from scripture. So what I’m really challenging isn’t whether the scripture is sufficient, but whether my ability to understand it, or John Piper’s ability to understand it, or Mark Driscoll’s ability to understand it, is fully sufficient. A lot of the time, that’s all people do, to supplement their understanding with some other person’s understanding, ignoring the necessary personal revelation of the Holy Spirit, all the while championing the practice as the sufficiency of the scriptures.

A human’s perception of the world is always flawed. We see white light when really there is a rainbow of colors. We see a solid when really there are billions of separate particles. We perceive us standing still when really we’re moving through our galaxy at millions of kilometers an hour. So it is with our perception of scripture. Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians that only at the end, when we and God meet face to face, will we know fully. He says to them that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has imagined what God has for those who love him.

God intends to change that over our lifetime with Him of course, and He has sent us a helper for that purpose, the Holy Spirit. Therefore we must treat the Holy Spirit as the primary source of understanding in our interactions with the scriptures, just as Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit is the one who will lead them into truth, not a video sermon from a celebrity teacher, or the commentary column in their study bible, or whichever theological faction was prominent at the time.

Be in love with scripture (what God says about Himself), not teaching or theology (what others say about God). They are not the same thing.