Thursday, June 30, 2016

Robertson: too hard to hear

Thursday, June 30, 2016
Meditation:
    For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
    —1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Paul’s argument in First Corinthians 1:18-25 is equally relevant when we come to ask why men cannot understand the Bible. Any attempts to hide behind the excuse that it is too difficult, when what we mean is that its word is too hard for us to bear, meets the just remark of a pastor from Communist Germany: “How can they say that the Bible is difficult, when young Communists are poring over much more difficult and much more technical literature to discover what Communism is all about?”
    Sometimes the Biblical teaching is crystal-clear, but we dare not understand it. The Christian Church has a vested interest in its present forms, and Christian people, like others, have their pleasant prejudices. This unwillingness to hear some new thing, except in times of great disturbance, plays a bigger part in weakening the voice of God through the Bible than we are prepared to admit.
    ... E. H. Robertson (1912-2007), The Recovery of Confidence, London: S. C. M. Press, 1960, p. 60 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 1:18-25; Job 5:12-13; Isa. 29:14; 53:1; Jer. 8:9; Matt. 11:25; Luke 10:21; Acts 17:18-21; Rom. 1:20-22,28; 1 Cor. 3:19-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You reveal Yourself to Your people through Your word.
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