It Is They Which Testify on My Behalf

There are numerous debates within the Church on how to regard the Bible. It is beyond the scope of this post to consider all of the nuances to the debate. Nevertheless, I think it is important to identify two fundamental (and common) errors that Christians make when thinking about and living with Scripture.

The first error is to think that the Bible is God. This is usually referred to derisively as “biblicism.” If being a “biblicist” means taking the Bible seriously, then all Christians should be biblicists. However, if being a “biblicist” means equating the Bible with God, then Christians should run from this error.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus identifies the problem with such biblicism: “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on My behalf. Yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.” (John 5:39) This error undoubtedly continues among us today. It is quite easy to read the Bible, learn its lessons, and dress ourselves up in all the nice outward trappings of being a good Christian. We can even go so far as to order our lives according to biblical principles, trying to live according to "Judeo-Christian values."

And yet we can do all of that while at the same time refusing to come to the living Jesus. We can achieve all sorts of appearances and feelings that we are indeed Christian, while simultaneously withholding ourselves from God. This is the error of we who “search the scriptures” and yet refuse to come to Jesus so that we might truly have life. It is the attempt to be a Christian without Christ.

There is an opposite error to that of biblicism, and this opposite error often grows out of a desire to not be a biblicist. Because the Bible is indeed not the same thing as the living God, we jump to the conclusion that the Bible is contrary to God. This error expresses itself in a number of ways, chief of which is the dismissal of the Bible’s authority. When we come across things in the Bible that are difficult to understand or run contrary to our current way of thinking, we conclude, “Well, since the Bible is not the same as God, I am free to reject those parts with which I disagree.”

This is a gross mistake. We must recall that Jesus referred to the scriptures as “they that testify on My behalf.” True, the testimony is not to be confused with the One to whom they testify. Nevertheless, we do not know the living Jesus apart from such testimony. We have a tendency (I’m guilty of it myself) to imagine God in a way that is pleasant to us, and then to reject the parts of Scripture that disturb this preconceived image. Yet this preconceived image of God is nothing more than an idol, and it must be rejected if we are to know the living God to whom the Bible testifies.

So there we have our two errors. We are not to be biblicists who refuse to come to the living God, nor are we to reject Scripture because it contradicts whom we think God should be. The Bible is not God, but it does indeed point to Him.

There is one more question to consider. If the Bible testifies to Jesus and does not in fact reveal Him, then how is He revealed? The Bible itself addresses the issue in the story of the men on the road to Emmaus. The risen Jesus encountered these men and “interpreted to them the things about Himself in all the scriptures.” (Luke 24:27) Even this, however, did not reveal Jesus. The account continues: “When He was at the table with them, He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight.” (Luke 24:30-31)

The men on the road to Emmaus then went on to tell “what had happened on the road, and how He had been made known to them in the breaking of bread.” (Luke 24:35) Jesus, it is important to note, still reveals Himself to us in the breaking of bread. He reveals Himself to us in the Meal celebrated among Christians. It is called by various names: the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, Eucharist, etc. The important thing is not the name, but the One who reveals Himself to us in the breaking of bread. As we eat the bread together, we hear these words: “This is my body, given for you.” This is the One to whom the Bible testifies. We know Him because we are guests at His table. Furthermore, we know Him because He is our Bread of Life.