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The Place of Historical Reasoning 271
“riches of his glory” are found, Col. 1:27) without reading (or hearing)
the inspired writings. Paul does not believe in a spiritual revelation of
the glories of the mystery of Christ apart from a right understanding of
inspired Scripture.
The Only Pathway to Seeing Glory Is Human Thinking
One had to see the human Jesus in order to see that he was more than
human. One had to see the human enactment of the miracles of Jesus
in order to see the peculiar divine glory of the miracles. And one has to
see the behavior of a follower of Jesus in order to discern the glory of
Christ’s image. In the same way, one must see and interpret the human
language of the Scriptures in order to see the light of the gospel of the
glory of Christ in them. Which means that the only pathway to the
self-authenticating light of the glory of God in Scripture is the path of
human observation and human reasoning.
Notice, it is not just that we must have the Scriptures and that we
must read (or hear) them, but also that we must read them in some
measure according to their original and true meaning. God’s glory interpenetrates
the true meaning of the Scriptures. It is the true meaning
of texts that emits the divine glory. It is not magically attached to letters
and words. It is embodied in the meaning that the words carry. Thus
a false interpretation of some teaching or action of Jesus will not truly
reveal his glory. The apostle Peter says that there are things in the Scriptures
that “the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction”
(2 Pet. 3:16). Twisted Scriptures do not convey the glory of God. They
lead to destruction.
The implications of this are enormous. Parents will labor to teach
their children to read, for this is the normal pathway to the mystery of
Christ (Eph. 3:4). Schools will be established where the skills of reading
in the most careful way will be taught. And we will all make a priority
out of reading the Bible with great zeal and accuracy. As Edwards says,
“If you would with success seek divine and spiritual knowledge, get that
knowledge of divine things that is within your power, even a doctrinal
knowledge of the principles of the Christian religion.” 4 If you want to
4
Ibid.