So what is church?

Many years ago, as revive was starting, we received support from a guy called Steve Sullivan. He had the hair, beard and manner of an Old Testament prophet, except he was very friendly, greeting strangers in the street. I recently read this great quote: ‘The difference between a hero and a saint, is that while they are both admirable people, a hero is someone you want to be like, and a saint is someone you don’t want to be like if you can help it.’ Steve was somewhere in the middle.

The most important thing he taught was that church is really simple. If we could obey all the ‘one anothers’ in the New Testament then we would be doing church. So, to start off this new year, here they are: every ‘one another’ or ‘each other’ that constitutes a command, prayer or recommendation in the New Testament. What do you think?

‘Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.’ (John 13:14)

‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.’ (John 13:34)

‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’ (John 13:35)

My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. (John 15:12)

This is my command: love each other. (John 15:17)

Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. (Romans 12:10)

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. (Romans 12:16)

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8)

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling-block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. (Romans 14:13)

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5-6)

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. (Romans 15:7)

I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. (Romans 15:14)

Greet one another with a holy kiss. (Romans 16:16)

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. (1Corinthians 1:10)

But God has put the body together, giving greater honour to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. (1Corinthians 12:24-25)

Greet one another with a holy kiss. (1Corinthinas 16:20)

Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. (2Corinthians 13:11)

Greet one another with a holy kiss. (2Corinthinas 13:12)

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh ; rather, serve one another humbly in love. (Galatians 5:13)

Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Galations 5:26)

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ. (Galations 6:2)

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. (Ephesians 4:2)

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:18-20)

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:21)

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5)

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:9-10)

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. (Colossians 3:13)

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. (Colossians 3:16)

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1Thessalonians 4:17-18)

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (1Thessalonians 5:11)

Live in peace with each other. (1Thessalonians 5:13)

Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. (1Thessalonians 5:15)

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today’, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3:13)

And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. (Hebrews 13:1)

Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. (James4:11)

Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. (James 5:9)

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. (James 5:16)

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. (1Peter 1:22)

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. (1Peter 3:8)

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (1Peter 4:8)

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. (1Peter 4:9)

All of you, clothe yourselves with humility towards one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble.’ (1Peter 5:5)

Greet one another with a kiss of love. (1Peter 5:14)

For this is the message you heard from the beginning: we should love one another. (1John 3:11)

And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. (1John 3:23)

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. (1John 4:7)

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1John 4:11)

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1John 4:12)

I ask that we love one another. (2John 1:5)

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What is the Bible?

I may have got myself into hot water. And you lovely people too, my revive friends, since we’re in this together.

I said that the Bible isn’t The Word of God. And I said it on Facebook. I was having a long and protracted debate with a conservative evangelical woman and everything came down to this: true Christians believe the Bible is The Word of God.

I don’t believe it is.

This doesn’t mean that I think the Bible isn’t inspired, or that it’s not THE central and defining text (well, collection of texts) for our faith. For goodness sake, it’s the only place we can go to find Jesus! It’s just that the phrase ‘The Word of God’ comes with a lot of baggage that I’m anxious to avoid.

In the Old Testament it is used quite literally to describe the stuff God says, particularly the law and the prophecies of the prophets. In the New Testament it means both of those, plus the message of the gospel, and of course Jesus himself in John 1. Nowhere does any text claim to BE the word, but many testify that they are quoting the word(s) of God. As Swiss theologian Karl Barth puts it, ‘The Bible contains the word of God,’ and ‘…becomes the word of God when we read it in the Spirit.’ A subtle difference.

‘Why is this even important Simon?’

If the Bible is THE Word of God, then it contains everything God wants to say to us. Everything God has ever said to you in prophecy, in the wisdom of a friend, or in the rustling of a tree is a counterfeit, possibly even demonic. It means that – the source of the original argument on Facebook – God has said everything he wants to say about men and women and what they should wear and what they can and can’t do in church, society and family. I just don’t go with that.

So I thought I should let you know what I said, because ‘Baptist Minister doesn’t believe the Bible is The Word of God’ is a great headline, but doesn’t get at the heart of the debate. Oh alright, argument. Or worse.

It strikes me that we need a grown up conversation about the Bible, one that gets out of the box that my evangelical Facebook sister was trying to put me in. We need to be able to make a positive statement about the Bible, not just say that we don’t believe in the conservative evangelical doctrine of an inerrant, infallible, all-sufficient, historically and scientifically true, once-and-for-all and only one WORD OF GOD. I hate saying that, it makes me sound so negative and critical. I want to say something that shows how much I value this thing, how my life has been changed by God’s work in and through it. How much I love the Jesus I find within it. How much I hate other stuff; sometimes because I find it abhorrent, sometimes because it finds me abhorrent.

But what DO we want to say about the Bible?