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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
It isn’t magic; it’s God’s word! From the beginning of time, God has spoken to man. Even if we do not understand how that was done, if one is a believer he has to accept this as absolute fact. The alternatives to this position leave one in a quagmire of subjectivism and touchy-feely nothingness. On the other hand, if God has spoken, and if His words have meaning, humanity has good reason to think that God can be pleased by our actions of faith. This type of reasoning is primer; it is equivalent to “See Jane. See Jane run. See Spot. See Spot run!” The lamentable fact in our culture is this: Many, many of those who are religious leaders simply do not believe that God spoke in absolutes and/or that His word has definite meaning today.
Paul was of an entirely different stripe. He spoke of the “oracles of God” as though they were real and absolute messages captured from the very mouth of Almighty God. This was in spite of the fact that all of them were written at least four centuries before Paul was born, many of them extending back more than a millennium before the New Testament era. Furthermore, Paul even knew who was granted possession of those oracles. Look at his reasoning: “What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.” (Romans 3.1-2). Stephen, the first Christian martyr, spoke of these historical events, saying, “This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us…” (Acts 7.38). With the risk of appearing totally redundant, the reader is asked to note the fact that Paul and Stephen believed the same thing about God, about His word, and about the historical accuracy of the claim that God’s oracles were committed to the Hebrew nation.
The Hebrews writer chided spiritually immature believers because they had not grown as they should and needed to be taught “…again the first principles of the oracles of God.” (Hebrews 5.12). This statement shows that the basis of all faith is irrevocably connected to the fact that God spoke and that man is expected to be instructed from those God-breathed oracles. With these very principles in view, Peter charged any and all who profess to teach spiritual truths to “…speak as the oracles of God.” (1 peter 4.11). In other words, such a teacher must put forth only those things that are consistent with that which God has spoken. Obviously if God has not spoken, or if His word cannot be understood, or if those oracles are not available to mankind, Peter’s admonition is meaningless; man could not possibly hope to “speak as the oracles of God” if any of the conditions noted should prevail.
Living as we do in the twenty-first century, it seems fashionable in some circles to challenge the veracity of God’s word. However, those who lived during the actual era under consideration did not so much as blink in affirming the legitimacy of the oracles of God. Not to seem too blithe but it just seems to me that the best people to judge such matters were the ones that witnessed these events first hand! Even Monday morning quarterbacks usually don’t criticize much longer than a week after the big game is over; it is preposterous at this point in time to come up with theories that overthrow that which was firmly established by credible witnesses two thousand years ago! Those who examine the evidence in an unbiased manner are still forced to conclude that the oracles of God exist and that they are still intended to be man’s guide from earth to heaven!
Questions:
1. What kind of God would speak in a manner that could not be understood, especially if pleasing Him depended upon understanding Him?
2. To whom were the oracles of God committed? Did this mean they possessed them? If so, were they concrete, real, material items?
3. Why would it usually be the case that an eye witness of an event would be more credible than those who speculated as to what might have happened after the fact?
4. In order to speak as the oracles of God, would a person have to know the oracles of God? What are the implications of this fact?
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