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Today's Scripture: John 16.12-14 (CEV)
12I have much more to say to you, but right now it would be more than you could understand. 13The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn't speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen. 14The Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you.
Comments
The Holy Spirit is Sophia ("Wisdom" Personified) of the Old Testament and interbiblical era. She is the Teacher of the Word of God, which is for the true Church the continuance and clarification of the Word, the Logos, Christ. The Holy Spirit is the feminine Person in the Trinity doing this Work. Jesus, the Word, points to the Spirit in this Teaching role, indeed, as One continuing His ministry within His Body, the Church.
We open to the Spirit when reading the Scriptures. Therefore, the reading and interpretation of Scripture, as taught us both by the Scriptures and the Patristic Fathers, is a spiritual praxis, or a Spirit-inspired practice.
The praxis, one aspect of the Christian devotion made up of practical work, according to the Church Fathers, is within and leads to theoria, or the contemplation of theology, matters pertaining to God, and contemplation as union with God.
The New Testament shows how the Apostles and their apostolic communities engaged the Scriptures of the Old Covenant in a manner "spiritually," or "in theoria." This process allowed the churches to see ~ that is, in-sight (not logical, conceptual study) ~ inside the husk of the Scripture the Old Testament pointing to and preparing for the Incarnation of the Word.
Regarding this process of "spiritualization," Gabriel Bunge, Benedictine monk, writes...
"The 'spiritualization' of this Old Testament word of God-in the Holy Spirit opening its horizons toward Christ and his Church-must not be done through toned-down translations and certainly not, as has become the custom today, through omissions! Only inspired 'meditation' is capable of accomplishing this 'spiritualization', which is of course necessary for the Scriptures of the Old Testament in general. The Christian finds the key to such an opening up toward Christ and his Church in the 'typological' manner in which the New Testament-and subsequently the Fathers of the Church-read the Old Testament word of God."
*Earthen Vessels:The Practice of Personal Prayer according to The Patristic Tradition.
Bunge presents two matters that warrant brief reference. First, Bunge accepts that some modern renditions are unfaithful in translation: they tone-down the Scripture. Second, and related to the first point, is lectionary plans omitting Scripture that does not conform with modern sensibilities. I believe both matters are pertinent to spiritual reading of Scripture, and the degree to which Bunge is correct or not is a viable discussion.
Bunge's words lead me to a claim vitally important: Reading and meditating on Scripture as spiritual praxis does not entail a quarantine of the Scripture. Even the parts that violate modern sensibilities form a whole with the over-all Message. The praxis, then, confirms the nature of the over-all praxis of the Church: Christian praxis includes all and is not an expunged practice or partly amputated life. This is to say: The Christian praxis is Incarnational.
What of this "spiritualization" in regard to the Christian use of Scripture? I give a definition that fits with the use in Scripture and the Church Fathers? Spiritualization in use of Scripture is the Holy Spirit continuing the teaching ministry of the Word, Jesus Christ, giving in-sight congruent with the tradition of the Church but with fresh application to the continuing life of the Body of Christ to the honor and love of the Holy Trinity.
Spiritualization is not just any arrived at meaning, or claimed meaning, to Scripture. The Spirit en-lightens the natural self, or natural understanding, to theoria ~ contemplative, or mystical, in-sight into deeper meanings of the Bible ~, meanings never gained in thought or feeling by praxis apart from the Holy Spirit en-lighten-ing. So, in spiritual insight the Holy Spirit lifts the natural mind to receive, in the Fathers, nous, "spiritual truth, mystical in-sight, spiritual wisdom."
Therefore, a basis of contemplation and the contemplative use of Scripture is correspondence between spiritualization as use of Scripture and spiritualization as transformation of person ~ the transformation of natural into supra-natural. The use of the Scripture contemplatively transforms, or spiritualizes, the person, while the person being spiritualized is more enabled to receive in-sight of the Holy Spirit in and through Scripture.
Of course, this raises some interesting issues for the use of Scripture. Here are a few...
1) Any use of Scripture less than a truly spiritual one is less than the example we have from Christ, the Apostles, the Church Fathers, and Church tradition generally.
2) Ironically, this is my experience: nevertheless, most use of Scripture within and outside the churches is not, in the sense above explained, spiritual.
3) The only way to read the Scripture spiritually is to be becoming consciously a spiritualized being.
4) This is hardly taught in the churches now, even though it was central in the Church until the Middle Ages.
5) The use of Scripture spiritually is central in Christian praxis to be being formed in the Image of Christ, which is to say, be being spiritualized by the immediacy and mystery of the Person of the Holy Spirit.
6) The sole way to read the Scripture spiritually is to read and ruminate meditatively as inspired by the Holy Spirit~ as noted by Bunge.
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*Brian K. Wilcox lives with his wife, Rocio, their two dogs, St. Francis and Bandit Ty, and their fish, Hope, in Southwest Florida. Brian is vowed at Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in South Georgia. His passion is living a contemplative life and inspiring others to experience a deeper, increasingly-fulfilling relationship with the Christ. He advocates for a spiritually-focused Christianity and the renewal of the focus on the Church toward prioritizing seeking to meet the deeper spiritual needs and longings of persons and empathic relating with diverse spiritual traditions.
For replies and biographical information, and submission to "The Light Shines" daily devotionals ~ a ministry of Christ Community United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda, FL, see next page:
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