I’m currently reading Roland Allen’s book Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours for church planting. It is a rich book. Allen is critiquing Anglican mission methods but the way he does it hits on Christian mission methods in general. It also tends to nail how we do church in general.

However, it kind of clicked with something I’ve been thinking about as far as Bible reading goes to. This thought is entirely incomplete so give me some slack if it sounds odd. First let me quote Allen to see if his thoughts can help me frame mine.

Allen is discussing how Paul conducted church discipline:

How did St Paul deal with this very serious difficulty [i.e. fornication in the Corinthian church]? There is not in his letters one word of law: there is not a hint that the Jerusalem Council [Acts 15:22-29] had issued any decree on the subject: there is not a suggestion that he desires a code of rules or a table of penalties. He does not threaten offenders with punishment. He does not say that he shall take any steps to procure their correction. He beseeches and exhorts in the Lord people to whom the Holy Spirit has been given to surrender themselves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to recognize that He is given to them that they may be holy in body and in soul, and that uncleanness necessarily involves the rejection of the Holy Spirit and incurs the wrath of God. (p. 113)

Thus his exercise of discipline was in exact accord with his exercise of authority. Just as he appealed to the corporate conscience to check serious and growing evils in the church, arguing and pleading that the Holy Spirit in them would show them how to apply the principles and strengthen them to use them; so in discipline he showed them the right way, but left them to discover how to walk in it. He told them what they ought to do, but not in detail. He threw upon them the responsibility and trusted them to learn in what way it was to be fulfilled. In the last resort he threatened to intervene, if they refused to do their duty, but it was only after he had exercised all his powers to make his intervention unnecessary. (p. 124)

Isn’t that fascinating that Paul did not appeal to the Jerusalem Council as an authority? That really struck me. Paul trusted God to lead his people as they dealt with these issues. And he did that despite the fact that up to this point they had already neglected to do what they should! Paul seems to believe that with his nudge, the Corinthian church would respond to the Holy Spirit in the end. He trusted that they would exercise Spirit granted wisdom.

Here’s where things are probably going to get fuzzy. I’ve been thinking that when it comes to reading the Bible we should employ a hermeneutic of wisdom rather than only a set of literary rules. The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. Though the Bible is filled with specific command and rules, the majority of the Bible is narrative. How do you apply narrative? It is a difficult issue and so many Christian preachers stick to Paul’s epistles (especially Romans) and when they get to Old Testament narratives they resort to Good Guy/Bad Guy “be like X not like Y” preaching. This almost certinaly is not what the authors had in mind when they wrote.

Instead, when we read narrative, we should be looking for wisdom. Don’t ask me to define it; wisdom is one of those things you know when you see. What we need to see in the narratives is really a number of different things. They are not always present in the same proportions at the same time in each text. We need to see God’s characture, what He likes and hates, how people are faithful to him and his promises, how to live life in a godly fashion, how to care for those God brings us to, etc. These are aspects of wisdom that we can get from narrative.

But what about epistles? Well, like Allen noted above, Paul didn’t give us a “code of rules or a table of penalties.” Had he, it might not work in different cultures as the Church spread across the globe. Though the epistles (and Law too, I suppose) do give dos and don’ts, they aren’t as specific as we’d like. For example, what is the Biblical form of church government? There isn’t a clear cut one, we have to work within the examples and guidelines the Bible sets out. I am attracted to a Presbyterian form of government, but I have to acknowledge that there is a way in which an Episcopal and a congregational for make sense too. We need to exercise wisdom. Again, this is important because in different cultures different forms will work better than others.

So perhaps there is a hermeneutical method that is more wisdom based. What ever hermeneutic we employ, we have to use wisdom so this isn’t anything really new. I’m just wondering if we can’t count on more wisdom and rely more heavily on the Spirit to interpret and apply His word in His people as we see Paul demonstrate in the Allen quotes.

Well, I went to the TEDS bookstore the other day to get some Derek Webb tickets (the remaining tickets had already been picked up!! Grrr) when I saw a 50% off rack. Can’t resist those so I made a couple of laps. I came across Reading the Bible Wisely by Richard Briggs. It was endorsed by Kevin Vanhoozer so I grabbed it. Of course I won’t get to it till the winter break, but I’m hoping that Briggs expounds some on the kind of thing I’ve been thinking of.