A Sacramental View of Scripture

If indeed all things in creation are ways by which God desires to engage us with grace, then it would make sense that Scripture is sacramental. There is a grace intended to be communicated to us through the the pages of the Holy Bible. What is that grace? The grace of God's decision to reveal his will, to speak to his people and his creation. we find the very "speaking" act of God foundational to creation itself (Genesis 1). And its continued sustenance by God's "powerful word" (Hebrews 1:3) shows that God's speech is intended for the beginning, upholding, and renewing of creation.

The analogy of Jesus as the Incarnate Word and the Bible as God's Word is very natural to make at this stage. As Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human, so is Scripture by its nature at the same time the words of God and the words of their human authors. This has ramifications for our hermeneutical views of Scripture. We recognize that Jesus in the flesh sufficiently and fully represented God, but was yet emptied of the full majesty due him. He was subject to death, pain, human limitations, and the very earthy constraints we would not normally associate with God.

Scripture, in like fashion, truly and full conveys what desires for us to know, that his creative power might work in us as we hear him speak in the pages of Scripture. Yet that Scripture has been subjected to very human conditions--limited vocabulary; progressive understanding of the authors, and thus revelation of truth; being conveyed via oral and written sources that are corruptible. Nevertheless, as the Holy Spirit both overshadowed Mary at the incarnation, and resurrected Jesus Christ from the dead, the Holy Spirit inspired the human authors, and breathes through Scripture into us new life.

Thus, the inheritance of Scripture is essential to our spiritual life. We cannot pick and choose the parts we like. We have to recognize that what is conveyed is intended, preserved, and vivified the Holy Spirit. As Christ in his hypostatic union is still one being in essence, though of two natures; Scripture contains a primary intent, found both in the heart of God and the ideas of the human writers. And as we obey one Lord Jesus Christ, taking the fullness of who he is upon our lives, we have no right to change the words of Scripture, neglect portions of it, or interpret Scripture in a manner that causes it to be self-negating.

And as we receive the grace of God in Scripture, our response should be one of thankful faith, manifested in obedience and worship. Then we will see the sacramental fruits of Scripture take root and bring life to our lives.