"If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)What does the Son of God highlight as the key indicator of a true believer? "If you abide in My word."
So critical is this concept that Jesus brings it up multiple times in the ensuing discussion. "You seek to kill Me because My word finds no place in you." (John 8:37) That is, the absence of His word in them is the reason they seek to kill Him. "Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear My word." (John 8:43) Wherein is the communication gap? Not Jesus. It is their resistance to His word. "Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God." (John 8:47) Why are they resistant to God's word? Because they are not of God. Those who are of God embrace His word.
Time again in both the case of the Christian skeptic -- "I'm a Christian, but I just don't buy all this 'the Bible is the word of God' stuff" -- and the case of the Deconvert -- "I was a Christian once, but I no longer believe that" -- the basis for denying God's truth is found in their denying God's word. Jesus told believers that true disciples lived in His word. His intent is clear. If you don't embrace His word and if you don't abide in His word, you are not His disciple. You may "believe" in some sense, but not in the sense of being His follower. Which, by the way, is the definition of "Christian" -- a follower of Christ. Denying God's word is contrary to Christ's version of being a Christian.
6 comments:
A couple of things that might not be explicit, but seem worthy of noting.
First, the importance of Truth and of our being able to know what is True.
Second, it seems like the intent/expectation of Jesus is that His words were more extensive than His audience that day would have heard, and that His words would be available for them and others going forward.
Going forward and prior to as well (since John starts with "the Word").
I thought about including that aspect as well. It simply seems reasonable to conclude that His word, and the Truth contained in it, were intended to transcend the limits of the people who He taught directly and were intended to be communicated to a broader audience.
I'm just wondering. If we conclude that Jesus's "words" refer only to "the sound that is currently coming out of My mouth" and not what was God-breathed before (Old Testament) and what was God-breathed after (New Testament), are we claiming that Jesus is NOT "the Word," the logos, the God who was with God and was God? Wouldn't that necessarily be a denial of His deity?
Since I'm kind of strange in thinking that of Jesus was God from the eternity past I would argue that all of the "words" that are "God breathed" can be attributed to Him. While in this context, I was referring to the specific words used when He was talking to that specific audience. Yet, it seems clear that your expansion is a reasonable conclusion. It also seems reasonable to conclude that to deny Jesus part in the words breathed before the incarnation, would be a denial of His deity.
I suspect that when Jesus spoke to the various people that He spoke to that He knew (in some sense) that His words were intended for more than the specific audience present at the time.
I also think that His assertions about the existence and our ability to grasp Truth get ignored by too many in our post modern world.
It seems that if one argues that the words of Jesus were not intended to be recorded for those who followed that we are left with some strange options to consider. Given that He is communicating Truth, it's hard to come up with a way to communicate Truth that doesn't involve some method of recording said Truth for those down the line.
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