Jesus is THE Lens!

Like most people, I suppose, most of the criticisms leveled at me are, if I admit it, quite fair.

Am I too quick to argue and defend my ideas rather than listen? Sure.

Do I have a — completely undeserved — aristocratic bent from time to time? Yes, I own that.

Do I love words to such an excessive degree that I frequently use far too many of them to make my point when fewer would do perfectly well? Ok…ouch! But yes, this is 100% true.

It all the more shocks me then that the criticism most often charged against me is not at all true:

“Matt, you’re just cherry picking scripture to make God in your image rather than allowing yourself to be confirmed to His.”

The accusation is indeed so inaccurate that I, perhaps naively, wonder if it is because I have not adequately explained myself. So let me give it a whirl…

ALL SCRIPTURE [γράφω - graphē] IS INSPIRED (literally ‘god-breathed’) is a far cry from equal, inerrant, infallible, or universally applicable. Scripture never bestows those attributes upon itself. In deed, a cursory study of church history reflects the doctrine of inerrancy being an outlier until the 19th century. Remember, Adam was referred to as being ‘god-breathed’ and what a pile of contradiction he was! Whereas THE Word of God, which John 1 makes immensely clear is not the scriptures, but is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone, is indeed perfect.

And that same Word who is perfect possesses a nature that is defined as love. Not ‘loving’, which would be a mere adjective among many other adjectives that describe Him, but LOVE, a noun depicting essence and identity.

The most common form of heresy present today just so happens to be espoused by those quickest to level the charge against others: western evangelicalism. Their penchant to elevate scripture to the place of The Word promotes text (graphē) to a position of, at best, equity with Jesus, or at worst, superiority thereto. To devalue the Godhead by elevating anything to equality of worth with it is not only a textbook example of heresy, but is perhaps the worst form of all.

All interpretation of a text — whether scripture or any other — requires a lens through which it is to be understood. In theology that lens is called a hermeneutic.

Here is my lens: Jesus.

Jesus: the sum total of what the Godhead — Father, Son, and Spirit — has to say about Himself.

Jesus: who alone has seen the Father and made Him and His ways visible to us.

Jesus: who we can encounter in a real way without having interacted with His physical personage on the earth (remember, St. Paul learned from Jesus AFTER the ascension).

Jesus: through whom we are connected to the Father, Son, and Spirit in the great ‘circle dance’ of union and wholeness expressed in the Greek word, ‘perichoresis’.

Jesus: who frequently took Old Testament passages and clarified their meaning, pointing out where those who wrote them down got it wrong, a result of trying to understand God through a veil over their hearts.

Jesus: who, as Bill Johnson so beautifully expresses it, is perfect theology.

So, do I ‘cherry pick’ scriptures to find those that make me feel good or somehow grant permission to validate my choices and behaviors? Not. At. All.

Just like every single person who encounters scripture, I interpret it through a lens. But my lens is not church councils, traditions, Greek or Roman mythology, or 19th century fundamentalism.

My lens is Jesus.

Just Jesus.

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Passages for Further Study:

Hebrews 1:1–4 (NASB95)
1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

1 John 4:7–8 (NASB95)
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NASB95)
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. ['inspired' = θεόπνευστος (theopneustos) = breathed upon by God; of divine influence]

2 Corinthians 3:15–18 (NASB95)
15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; 16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

John 1:18 (NASB95)
No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

John 1:18 (TPT)
No one has ever gazed upon the fullness of God’s splendor except the uniquely beloved Son, who is cherished by the Father and held close to his heart. Now he has unfolded to us the full explanation of who God truly is!

John 1:18 (AMP)
No man has ever seen God at any time; the only unique Son, or the only begotten God, Who is in the bosom [in the intimate presence] of the Father, He has declared Him [He has revealed Him and brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him and He has made Him known].

John 14:8–10 (NASB95)
8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.

Matthew 5:21–22 (NASB95)
21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ 22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

Colossians 2:9 (NASB95)
For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.

Colossians 2:8–10 (The Second Testament: A New Translation)
8 See that there will be no one who plunders you through philosophy and hollow deceit consistent with humans’ convention, consistent with Kosmos’s categories and not consistent with Christos, 9 because all the divine fullness resides in him bodily, 10 and you have been filled out in him, Who is the head over all rule and authority.

Colossians 1:15–23 (NASB95)
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. 21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

Colossians 1:15 (TPT)
He is the divine portrait, the true likeness of the invisible God, and the firstborn heir of all creation.

Ephesians 4:11–16 (NASB95)
11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.