The Word of God
When one reads any book in the collection of books we call the Bible it is inevitable that we have behind our reading some idea of the authority the book has. Is not the Bible the 'word of God'?
One view is that the whole Bible is the inerrant word of God. This is quite common amongst small Protestant denominations, and it must first be noted that among those who hold this view there are many disagreements about what the Bible actually teaches. The trouble is that if you think of the Bible as containing many 'proof texts' you are left with choices. Different proof texts produce different answers; not about the essentials of doctrine perhaps, but certainly about topics such as church administration. The ordination of women is a good example, as is infant or believers' baptism.
Many exclusive sects were founded on a precise collection of proof texts, each having the common attribute of declaring that they, and they alone, are the 'true' church.
So even believing that the Bible is the inerrant word of God does not guarantee a positive outcome.
The Bible is a compilation around the central theme of God's creation, of humans having a special part of that creation, of there needing to be a healing process for the spoilt creation, and how this healing has been and will be delivered. There are family chronicles, pure narrative history, prophetic utterances of messages from God, a moral code, a set of instructions for worship which may or may not have been superseded, and finally the drama of one claiming to be God incarnate and offering an indwelling of God's spirit.
The Bible's description of itself is that scripture is theopneustos, literally 'God-breathed'. It claims that God has spoken, once through the prophets, now through a Son. But it has been recorded by human beings, with all the capacity we humans have for honest mistakes. So it is not wrong to treat any part of the Bible that is historical narrative with the same scrutiny as we would the writings of Heroditus or Tacitus or Gibbon. The letters of apostles were viewed by the early church as definitive, inasmuch as these men had been given a greater authority than any other they knew. There were several accounts of the life of Jesus, some obviously compiled with ulterior motives; so only four were recognized as having apostolic authority.
My view is that we have no better guide to the dealings of God with mankind than the books of the Bible. Some are simply of historic interest, but all are important. We will need to be intelligent to understand which parts are pure poetry, which parts are symbolic, which parts have been superseded, and which parts are pure revelation of as much truth about things eternal as we are capable of receiving. We are to love God 'with all our mind'.
Paul addresses this problem of how the truth about God has such different receptions. His preaching of God's salvation being offered through a crucified and risen saviour had been rejected by different groups of people as foolishness, or worse. But it had been received by some. What could account for this difference? Here is his answer:
Now the natural man doesn't receive the things of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can't know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual discerns all things. [1 Corinthians 2:14-15] In other words, we can only discern the truth from any part of God's revelation if we have the assistance of God's Spirit.
This spiritual discerning can happen when we read some part of God's word. There develops in our mind the conviction that this bit is really true. I have experienced this since I first, as a committed atheist, read the Gospel of John in order to qualify for a debate with a clergyman at my university. To my huge surprise I found myself drawn to the carpenter's son, and had to admit defeat. Since then I have been able to listen to 'the voice' and - I hope - learn more and more about my place in the plan of the one and only 'I AM'.
Genesis sets the scene. The cosmos has a purpose, we humans have a purpose, and after the invasion of evil God began the healing process by choosing a single man, then a single family, then a particular place, from which to build a whole nation who would receive the blessings of Yahweh, and exhibit the right way to live to everyone else. This nation was to be the source of healing for the whole of mankind. Without the foundation laid in Genesis, we would never be able to understand the totality of God's plan. It is only the beginning, but an essential beginning.