This is a preview of the Nicene Creed devo that Tyson Guthrie and I recently wrote. It has been a great joy to watch several Young Life Work Crew, Summer Staff and Assigned Team members walk through the Creed every day. This excerpt is from Day 4 “The Father”…

“The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to humankind.  Don’t miss how big that is…God (infinite) reveals Himself to humans (finite).  In order to communicate truths that are way beyond our grasp, the Bible uses human terms like Father.  We all have fathers.  Some of us have bad fathers, or absent fathers.  Some of us have good fathers.  There are some ways in which earthly fathers help us know what our heavenly Father is like, and many ways in which our earthly fathers will hinder our thoughts of God.  For those of us who don’t know our fathers, or have abusive fathers, the very thought of a heavenly “father” is offensive.  “Why would I want another father?  All they do is hurt me…let me down.”  Even those of us with good, loving fathers can mislead us in our thoughts of our Heavenly Father.  We think of God as basically the same as us…maybe a little older and wiser.  A big cuddly figure who bandages our spiritual skinned knees.  So what does it mean that God is Father?  Three things: He is the Original Source.  He has a Son.  We can be adopted as His Sons and Daughters.”

If you haven’t seen, I am working with a few friends to finish a month-long devotional on the Nicene Creed. Here is a quick sneak peek at Day 1, an Introduction to the Nicene Creed.

“Why is it so important that we live the Christian life in community? As strong, healthy and safe as we think we are, every single one of us is just a phone call away from having our lives completely fall apart. Every single one of us will have times where we doubt and struggle with our faith. Every single one of us will feel so alone that we wonder if anyone else understands what we’re going through. The first word of the Nicene Creed means that God designed Christianity and the Church so that every single one of us is responsible for every single one of us both in times of suffering and in times of great joy. You need me, and I need you.”

If you haven’t seen, I am working with a few friends to finish a month-long devotional on the Nicene Creed. Here is a quick sneak peek at Day 1, an Introduction to the Nicene Creed.

“Why does Christianity need boundaries? Because anyone can make claims about God and the Bible. Especially with the quick and easy access we have to information today, a guy living in his parent’s basement has just as much say as the Biblical Scholar who spent 40 years in study and teaching. The basement blogger and the Biblical Scholar both hold opinions about God, but that doesn’t mean that they are both right. Having and expressing your opinion is not wrong when you are talking about which team is better, or what top looks best with those shorts. When you are talking about the God of the Universe, on the other hand, you must make sure that your “opinion” is right. Otherwise you run the risk of leading yourself and others away from the one True God you claim to believe in.”

One historic use of the word Amen is to affirm that whatever was said previously was in fact true and the Word of God. When a prophet would speak, those listening would weigh whatever was said against what they knew to be true about God based on what He had revealed to them. If the saying was true and affirmed by Scripture, they would say Amen, which can be translated as “let it be true”.

One of the reasons the religious leaders of Jesus’ day wanted him dead was his consistent use of the phrase “Amen, Amen I say to you..” before he began teaching. This was a big deal because Jesus wasn’t saying, “listen to me and then decide if what I say agrees with what God says”, but instead says “The following are the actual words of God…”

A good teacher would not claim to be authoritatively speaking the words of God. People wanted Jesus dead because He claimed to be God. Listening to a man who claimed to be God is foolish, unless he is right. Jesus the Christ was either God or a crazy man who should never be followed. I recognize that believing today that the historical person of Jesus really is who he claims to be can be seen as strange. But this is not nearly as foolish or naive as calling this same man a good teacher two thousand years down the road.

One of the great things about Scripture is that anyone can pick up the Bible and read and understand the redemptive plan God has for his people. The Westminster Confession of Faith affirms (ch.1 section 7) that:

those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation, are so clearly propounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.

That doesn’t mean that there are no confusing sections, chapters or books. It makes sense that when an infinite God reveals Himself to finite man there can be some confusion. So where do you go when you come across a passage that does not make sense? This is a short list of places I turn when I don’t understand Scripture.

1. Try a Study Bible. This is the Bible, along with brief commentary from (usually) respected Biblical scholars and pastors. I highly recommend the ESV Study Bible.
2. Find a Good Commentary. There are thousands of commentaries available. I would recommend speaking with your pastor, a professor or seminary student (who knows who to ask), and checking out review sites such as BestCommentaries. There are at least two “levels” of commentaries: ones that focus on the whole Bible and ones that focus on a specific book. If you are looking to buy a commentary, maybe start with a respected one on the Whole Bible, just the Old Testament, or just the New Testament. If you still want to look deeper at a specific passage or book, look for a good commentary on that specific book.
3. Find a Good Sermon or Lecture. There is a plethora of solid sermons and lectures available for free on almost any topic or passage you can think of. If looking for a sermon, I recommend two places. One is John Piper’s ministry website, where they have archived thousands of sermons from the past 20+ years all available for free. The second is Matt Chandler’s sermon archive available at The Village Church website. Both of these men have had a significant influence on my understanding of Scripture. If you want to learn even more, I also highly recommend listening to lectures available on iTunes U from seminaries across the country, including RTS and DTS.
4. As an added bonus, as I was working on this post The Village Church put out a list of recommended resources as well. You can access it here.

(Photo licensed under Creative Commons and taken by Carson Coots)