Hi Andrew,

I agree with everything that you said. It’s just that I’m not sure that that’s exactly my point. The sentence is part of the overall argument.

I think that I’m trying to deal with the perception that theology belongs in the ivory tower and that gospel preachers aren’t theologians. Any statement of the truth apart from the actual words of the Bible is an attempt at contextualization and is inherently risky.

Good preachers need to be good theologians in order to take good risks and communicate well.

Aren’t there certain timeless truths that are relevant to every human society and condition? It seems to me that there are quite a few of these floating around that need no contextualization at all.

Some spring to mind:

1. We are all born.
2. All who are interested in this question are currently alive.
3. We will all die
4. We will certainly pay tax.

And that is before we even begin to ask questions about what the Bible teaches. When I start to think about timeless truths in Scripture, the list just gets longer and longer.

1. We were all created.
2. We will all die, except for those who don’t.
3. We will all rise from death (with the exception of the exception mentioned in ‘2.’)
4. We will all be judged.
5. We will all be judged by God.
6. The Lord Jesus, who was born about the time of the birth of Christ, lived, and then died not long after the birth of Christ, is the one who will judge us.
7. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
8. Anyone who begs the Lord Jesus for forgiveness will be spared the judgement of God.
9. We all have hairs on our head.
10. They are all numbered.
11. We are more important than the hairs on our head.
12. There are people who are leaders.
13. God put them there.
14. We should respect our leaders.

This list is a bit random, and not really in order of importance. I’m of the opinion that they are all timeless truths taught by the Bible, and that they represent the atom at the tip of the iceberg of timeless truths that the Bible teaches (although I do believe that atoms and icebergs also represent truths that need some degree of contextualization, or at least explanation, in order to make sense).

But if I were a conservative theologian, I think I would stay with those timeless truths, and possibly try to discover a lot more, until I ran out of them.

Maybe a parallel could be drawn with translations of the Bible?

Most (all?) of the folk reading this probably rely on the ESV as their primary translation.  It is as near as possible to a literal translation as I (a layman) understand it, while still being readable.

The Message on the other hand (and at the other extreme) probably has its uses, but preaching/teaching is most likely not one of them.  (Door-stop comes to mind.)

What am I trying to say then?  The more you contextualise, the risk of diverging from the truth of scripture.  Of course it helps to suggest how to put Bible theory into practice, but is there much risk in that?

I think a good preacher/teacher preaches from a good translation of the Bible and primarily pulls threads together from other places in the Bible to help our understanding of the chapter/verse he’s talking about.

All that said, I’m not a preacher, so stone me if I’ve missed something

Grimmo,

You must be using the word ‘contextualization’ in a way that my cultural upbringing hasn’t led me to expect.

What do you mean?

Grimmo,

And a fine meaning it is, too. I see its relevance to the calm/charm distinction you drew, but not to one of the 15 or so timeless truths I listed.

Gordo,

I don’t think I can put it much better than Rob!

Yes, but you have failed to deal with the fundamental point. Even if they are sinful delusions that need repenting of, you still have to explain what you mean.

And unless you just spend your whole time just reading the text of the Bible out loud, you are taking part in contextualization. (In fact, I hope you’re reading aloud from the Greek and Hebrew Gordo).

But let me put it another way. When you preach, do you illustrate? Do you seek to apply the text? Do you use different words to speak to the undergrads at Cumberland from the ones you use at the morning congregation at Carlo?