JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

116
There is no reason to open up this issue of canonicity. The claims that have been made
(especially of late by such people as A. N. Wilson, Bishop Spong, the Jesus Seminar, etc.) are
unwarranted and ludicrous. In their deconstruction of the story of Jesus they draw on a variety of
early Christian writings that have been dismissed as apocryphal and irrelevant by serious biblical
scholars. They draw from such writings as the "Gospel of Peter" and the "Gospel of Thomas."
They rely heavily on these fringe writings which favors Jesus as a sage.
Church history informs us that canonicity was a painstaking process whereby the
churches and their leaders did not accept every manuscript that happened to bear the name of an
apostle or that professed to relate previously untold history and teaching. As New Testament
scholar Merrill Tenney puts it:
"The existing canon emerged from a large body of oral and written tradition and
speculation and made its way in the churches because of its inherent authenticity
and dynamic power."78
Karl Barth has pointed out that it was not so much the case of the church choosing which
books belonged to the canon, but rather that the books themselves, because of their intrinsic
authority and power, "forced themselves upon the early church." In the final analysis, the only
task the church fathers had was to recognize this.79
It has been the conviction of the church that this history, provided by the canonical
books, were set in motion, and has been superintended, by God who will not lead His church into
error. Jesus has built, and continues to build, His church upon this canonical Scripture as people
hear their Lord speak in the Old Testament and the New Testament canon.
HERMENEUTICS (INTERPRETATION)
Our theology is supposed to be based upon our principles of biblical interpretation
(hermeneutics). Too often the reverse is true. Cultists in particular read their deviant theologies
into the biblical text rather than allowing the text to speak for itself.
It is the purpose of hermeneutics (the science of biblical interpretation) to provide the
student of Scripture with basic guidelines and rules for "correctly handling the word of truth"
(2 Ti 2:15).
Some people argue that the reason they do not read and study the Bible is because it is
too difficult to understand. While it is true that certain parts of it are difficult, most parts are quite
simple. If you can read the newspaper, you can read the Bible. In fact, there are probably more
difficult words and concepts expressed on the front pages of the newspaper than on most
pages of the Bible.