4 Days Left

Although I could post once more about the angst I feel going into the dissertation defense, I will spare you. Rather, I'll talk for a few moments about Paul's perspective on the word of God. The Bible is often thought of as the inspired word of God, and perhaps that formulation is adequate. What is inadequate, however, is maintaining that confession without fully embracing the power of the word. Tom Wright points out much the same thing in a little book published in 2005 entitled (Man, I wish I could remember the name of that book). As I stood in the aisle of Barnes and Noble last night perusing its pages, I was struck by two facts. One, Wright's formulation sounded very much like Karl Barth's view of the word, though I think Wright would maintain a greater degree of fealty to the idea that the words (read or not) are inspired by God. Two, this kind of Barthian view that the word of God is the word of God in a far fuller sense when it is preached and mixed with faith in the heart of the hearer (the Aha! moment) seems pretty consistent with Paul's idea that the preached word is the means to save sinners (1 Cor 1).

In addition, this idea resonates well with Pentecostals like myself, though we often don't want to have anything to do with Barth because we've been told for so long that he's liberal and bad, which is, of course, a huge load of hooey (How's that for a theological term?). At any rate, these ideas resonate with me, not because I have abandoned inspiration, but because I embrace the Aha! moments. It is in those times that I come into my closest contact with the ultimate Word, the one that was made flesh.

Blessings to all!