Blind Spots

5

An Ethiopian eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home he was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet (Acts 8:28).

God doesn’t want you reading your Bible … alone.  For good reasons!

Week 3 of our Influence series has begun, and this week we’ll be looking into how the Holy Spirit speaks and shapes us as we listen to Scripture together, in community.  

God doesn’t want me reading the Bible alone, that is, all by myself.  He doesn’t want me reading Scripture only with people who are like me, who come from my culture, class, ethnic group or doctrinal commitment.  God doesn’t even want me reading my Bible only with believers who are alive today!

This week we’re listening to the encounter between Philip, a leader in the early church, and a man identified only as “an Ethiopian eunuch.” 

Philip is of Greek ancestry, and a Christian; the eunuch is Ethiopian, and appears interested in Judaism – he was on his way home from worshipping in Jerusalem, and is reading Isaiah – and Isaiah is a Middle Eastern Jew who wrote more than five hundred years before the time of Philip and the Ethiopian. There are only two people in this little reading group – three, if we include Isaiah – but it is already a diverse group!

And here we are, in 2021, reading this passage.  In so many ways, everything about our situation is different, we are separated from Philip and the Ethiopian by world history, church history, culture, trends in philosophy, theology, education, science and so much more.  Far more diverse—and many more opportunities for blind spots!

The reason God doesn’t want me reading the Bible all alone is because I have blind spots.  The reason God doesn’t want me reading Scripture only with people who are “just like me” is because we have blinds spots.  The reason God doesn’t want us reading Scripture just with people alive today is because our present age has its blind spots.  

One of the primary ways the Holy Spirit exposes and ministers to our blind spots is by pushing us into reading Scripture with the diversity that characterizes the body of Christ.  The Word of God is the Word of God for first-century Greeks and Ethiopians, as well as for twenty-first century residents of the global melting pot.  The Good News of Jesus Christ, the News that Isaiah saw, that the Ethiopian was puzzling over, that Philip explained, is the Good News for today.

But our blind spots influence us, influence how we read Scripture, and how we put it into practice.  Reading-in-community is a powerful vision corrector.

What kind of other perspectives could broaden and deepen our church’s understanding of Scripture?  How could we add those perspectives to our study and application of the Bible?

5 Comments

Thanks, Lana; love the mental image of you (or any one of us) sitting with an open Bible, surrounded by/included in the "communion of the saints," reading alongside us.
Brian and Elaine,
The way I understand what you are saying here, Brian, is that even when we are reading Scripture during our private times with Jesus, we are not actually reading "alone." We all bring with us the teachings / perspectives we have picked up from those who have influenced us over the years--both before and since
we met Jesus.

We need to be willing, therefore, to read Scripture humbly, aware our current understanding is probably not the whole story. (How could it be?! God's thoughts are not our thoughts, His ways are not our ways. Is.55:8-9)

So we welcome others into our Scripture reading times. Others like Alex and Jaime via their Sunday messages. Others like Biblical scholars who bring historical context and Hebrew and Greek language understanding. All sort of Jesus followers from various traditions who share stories of their lived experiences that can be listened to our read. God will use all of these sources and so many more to broaden our understanding.

(At this point I'm chuckling at the picture in my head of the room I'm sitting in packed with people from antiquity to now. From ancient Israel through the early church, the Desert Fathers and Mothers, the Reformation...to Chatham County 2021--all having a perspective to broaden my understanding of our infinite Lord. Not reading alone for sure!)

Btw, there is an example of this in Jan's response to Debbie's Connect Devotional "We Learn Best in Community" Tuesday. Jan shared how she had originally read Ps. 37:4 to mean God would give her whatever her little heart desired. But through talking with other believers, she came to understand He puts in our hearts the desires He wants to be there. Then Debbie, in response, thanked Jan saying she hadn't looked at that Scripture like that before. Right there is reading scripture in community! Now everytime Jan reads Ps.37:4, the community who helped her see is with her. And everytime Debbie reads Ps. 37:4, Jan is with her.
So we welcome others "into" our Scripture reading times.
Thanks very much, Elaine! I should have phrased it better: like you, I am a daily Bible reader, so I did not mean to imply that each of us shouldn't be doing that! Thanks for reading, and yes: thanks for the helpful criticism! Good critiques make for better writing!

And you're right, Terry: we live in amazing times, when the world really is closer than we thing, right in our neighborhood.
At our small group last night I asked if any other person had a question about your statement:
"God doesn’t want you reading your Bible … alone. For good reasons!"
I think I must have taken your thought incorrect. But there was another person that felt the same. We both & others that have personal devotions felt that is vital in our lives & also wished you had mentioned that. We agree that we need to share & this particular story is very important for all of us.....
We have appreciated all your insights on the word & don't mean this as a criticism.
Thanks for all you write & do.
Part of the fulfillment of the Great Commission is sending out missionaries to the ends of the earth. They are a great source of cultural insight when they bring their stories back or pass them on through news letters and prayer requests. Similarly, we have the world moving to our neighborhood and state with the immigration that has occurred over the years (some blessing our church now) and with the many foriegn students that are studying in the US. We need to be listening and learning from them.
ASs for me, I need to be looking at the Scripture to change my life. Too often I look at it to validate what is comfortable for me to continue doing.

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