Church Morphing: hermeneutical community

Newbigin called it a “circle” (1). D.A. Carson calls it a “spiral” (2). Others call it a “community.” Whatever one calls it, all are referring to hermeneutics and the need for multiple perspectives in order to move toward God’s understanding of the whole of Scripture.
We are coming to the end of this overview of basic issues that I see as critical to the evangelical church in a postmodern world where people believe that “all is flux, nothing stays still,” and “nothing endures but change” (Heraclitus).

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man." Heraclitus

This entry about the hermeneutical community will introduce nuance into discussions concerning absolute Truth and our understanding of that Truth. My position is that Scripture is perfect and my/our understanding of Scripture is imperfect.

I once shared this (critical realist) finite-understanding-of-the-Bible position with a friend of mine who heads the theological committee of his district. He retorted, “If that is so, how can we understand anything in Scripture with certainty?”

His legitimate concern is that we have an understanding of Scripture that is solid enough to build one’s life upon Christ and sure enough that one is willing to stake one’s afterlife upon Him.
The multiple perspectives provided by differing people-who-are-gifts (Eph. 4:11 apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, teacher), from various cultures and time periods give us an ever greater certainty about our understanding of the Truth that is God’s Word.

I would like to set out some possible markers to distinguish levels of hermeneutical certainty: personal conviction, collective conviction, virtual universal truth, and absolute Truth.
Personal conviction
For “George” it was a sin to play European football (soccer). Now, I don’t know any reputable theologians willing to support that position, but before replying, “That’s ludicrous!” it is helpful to understand George. Before coming to Christ, soccer was his life, an idol that led him into all sorts of vice.

In case you have not yet seen the "Miss France vs. Miss Italy" parody…
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=v7R5Uwjj10E

So, in accord with Romans 14, George developed the personal conviction that for him soccer was sinful. The problem was, contra Romans 14, George imposed his conviction on everyone else.

In talking about differing convictions on controversial issues, I think Paul would say, “The man who [plays football] must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not [play football at all] must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him” (Ro. 14:3).

Concerning personal convictions the essential factor is to be right before God by living according to them by faith, while not imposing them on others.

Collective conviction
Martin, a friend of mine, is the pastor of a Full Gospel church. He does not hesitate to publicize evangelistic events that involve miraculous happenings. Now I do not share his conviction concerning sign gifts, so do not plan on participating in one of his campaigns anytime soon though I can pray that God will work through Martin, possibly in spite of some of the things he does.

But Martin is a man of God and we both preach salvation by grace through faith. So he and I joke together. He says that one day the Charismatics will get me back into the fold (I used to be charismatic). But I rejoin, “When we are both standing before God, we’ll see who is right!” (Of course, it is I ;-)

Photo by Joan Fontcuberta

You see, I have exegeted key passages, consulted commentators on both sides of the issue, and have investigated the theological and experiential history of the miraculous in Christian circles. But even though I can stack up exegetical support, heavyweight theologians and church history to support this “non-charismatic” (a singularly unhappy epithet) collective conviction, I could be wrong about how God works today. After all, there are more evangelical Charismatic and Pentecostal believers across the planet than of my persuasion. And they too, just like me, all know that they are right!

The point is that God has the definitive understanding on the question. And when we are face to face with him we will know who was right, who was wrong, and where each side had understanding and lack thereof. The same goes for controversial questions within a given denomination.

Virtual universal truths
Most all Christians since the second century accept the incomprehensible reality of the Trinity. This doctrine is virtually canonical even though the word is nowhere found in the Bible. It is as close as one can come to absolute certainty without being a direct quotation from the Bible. It is part of that which the ancient Church accepted as semper ubique ab omnibus (“always, everywhere, by everyone.”) Though no one is able to explain “how” God can be Three Persons yet One Essence, it is universally accepted as true and we build our lives by faith in the Trinity based upon this trustworthy understanding.
Absolute Truth
The Bible, in its original form, is perfect. It is an absolutely reliable, “authoritative disclosure of [God’s] character and will, his redemptive acts and their meaning, and his mandate for mission” (Lausanne’s Manila Manifesto, “Twenty-One Affirmations” N°3).
On a planetary scale, the Lausanne Conference practices the hermeneutical community by bringing together believers from cultures around the globe. By prayerfully studying the Scriptures together they help to protect the Church against theological provincialism and pursue that which is virtually evangelically certain, moving toward understanding Scripture the way God does. And they attempt to discern together how our Missionary God’s Spirit is moving today around the world.
So what happens when people disagree on what is Truth and what is understanding? This is what some emergent/emerging church theologians are doing when they challenge foundationalism, accusing the Western Inherited Church of theological provincialism.

To be continued…
(1) Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture, 51.
(2) Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church, 118.