Who's Afraid of the Holy Spirit? (pt. 8)

As I have continued posting to the series from Who's Afraid of the Holy Spirit? I have to say this: the past couple essays were a bit tedious for me to get through. As a result, I'm afraid I didn't have much interaction or thoughts to contribute. Not that there wasn't some good content there, but it wasn't anything really new or exciting to me. I even thought about taking a little break from the series to avoid getting into a rut. But tonight I decided to keep plugging ahead, and I am definitely glad I did after reading Richard Averbeck's essay titled: God, People, and the Bible: The Relationship between Illumination and Biblical Scholarship.

I don't know if anyone else has been following along via the links to bible.org. It's really OK if you're not--I am writing here more for my own benefit than anyone else's. However, this is an essay that is really worth reading for yourself. In my mind it is the best of the lot so far. My thoughts and response are still percolating a bit in my head, but I really want to camp on some of the things in this piece. If you get bogged down with some of the vocabulary in the begining, that's alright--stay with the train of thought as best you can and you will be rewarded with some great insights about the purpose of Bible study and the Holy Spirit's involvement when we approach God's word.

Here are the major points from Averbeck's essay that stuck out to me:

1. All communication is primarily relational and involves meaning, intent, and response.

2. The Bible is a special class of communication in that it was written through inspiration of the Holy Spirit (meaning & intent) and is understood by us through illumination of the Holy Spirit (response).

3. Biblical scholarship needs to be centered in relational communication; meaning cannot be divorced from response.

4. Biblical scholarship needs be grounded in God's intention for us: to grow in love for God and others.

5. Biblical scholarship needs to be an act of worship, done in the presence of God.

6. Biblical scholarship needs to engage the whole person: heart, soul, and mind.

7. Biblical scholarship needs to be done on the Bible's own terms, using the best tools we have, while recognizing our own subjectivity and limitations.