Understanding Scripture
And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. – Nehemiah 8:12
Ezra reading the Law in the hearing of the people – Gustave Doré
The Bible in Pictures, William H. Wise & Co., 1934
Reproduction of a public domain work by Ed Suominen. CC by 2.0
In the 8th century the archbishop, Alcuin of York, wrote in his work, The Virtues and Vices:
“We know what heaven is like when we read the Sacred Scriptures…. and when we read, God speaks to us.”
While this statement is generally beautiful and true for everyone, who by God’s grace, has come to know and trust in the Lord, it certainly doesn’t feel true all the time. In dark and difficult times, even our favorite passages sometimes fail to comfort us. Also, when we are in joyful times and feeling particularly close to our Lord, we can still stumble in perplexity over why God saw fit to include verses like Nehemiah 8:4b: “And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand.” I can’t personally say that this verse has ever felt like what heaven is like or God speaking to me. Yet, I still firmly believe that Alcuin was and is right!
Nehemiah 8:8 offers one of many insights to help us better understand how it is that we can confidently hold to such a high view of Scripture, like Alcuin. We are told there that Ezra and other faithful leaders not only read from Scripture but that they also “gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.” Without faithful preaching and teaching, many parts of Scripture can be quite difficult to understand. If the Scripture had only been read aloud, would the people have all left “rejoicing, because they had understood the words (8:12)?”
Our gracious God provides faithful and good teachers, filled with his Holy Spirit, to help us better get the sense of Scripture (Eph 4:11-16). Often when I learn something new, or clarifying, from good teachers/preachers, it truly gives me a better understanding of what heaven is like, and a real sense of God speaking to me. Better understanding the words of Sacred Scripture is indeed a reason for great rejoicing.
Alcuin offers another insight into how we can revere Scripture as he did. In the same writing, he says, “[T]he whole of Sacred Scripture was written entirely for our salvation.” If we believe what Alcuin says here (as well as Scripture and the Church), then we will read Scripture with this truth in mind. Every section of Scripture somehow points us to God’s salvific-redemptive work, which we know is through Christ. Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me (John 5:39).” Therefore, we must keep this truth in mind whenever we read. If we don’t understand how a section of Scripture points us to God’s salvific-redemptive work through Jesus, then we haven’t fully understood “the sense” of that section of Scripture. Therefore, we should patiently pray for God to reveal that truth to us in his time through continued reading and through learning from faithful men and women of God. When he answers those prayers, we truly better understand what heaven is like and feel God speaking to us.
The better we grasp this understanding of Sacred Scripture, the more we will be able to face those darkest nights of the soul when even the best teachings, even our favorite passages, and even God himself feel distant or empty. For, even if we have trouble believing it in the moment, Jesus loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice unto God (Eph 5:2).” And nothing, not even the darkest nights of the soul, can separate us from the love of God for us in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39)!” This is the Word of the Lord, God speaking to us, Sacred Scripture, that teaches us what heaven is like!
John Laffoon
Deacon
Minister to Youth and Families