One Flock, One Shepherd
Posted on 11. Apr, 2009 by Chip Brogden in Articles & Essays
“Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him: behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a Shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young (Isaiah 40:10,11).”
“And I will set up ONE shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even my servant David; He shall feed them, and He shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a Prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it (Ezekiel 34:23,24).”
“I am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep, and My sheep know Me – just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father – and I lay down My Life for the sheep. I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They will hear My Voice, and there will be One Flock, and One Shepherd (John 10:14-16)”.
The Church is compared to many things in the Scriptures. It is described (among other things) as a Bride, a Body, a City, a Flock of sheep, and a House of Living Stones. Each represents a particular truth, but not the entire truth, so we really should be familiar with each of them that we may adequately comprehend God’s thought for the Church. The Bride represents union with Christ; the Body represents Life; the City represents refuge and peace; the Flock represents unity; and the House of Living Stones represents God’s work and residence among us.
I’d like to talk about the Church as the Flock.
May we see before God that there is One Flock, the Church; and One Shepherd, Jesus Christ. There are not many flocks with many shepherds. God established centuries ago that His preference is One Flock and One Shepherd. How did this come about?
In Ezekiel 34, the Lord complains that the shepherds of Israel were feeding themselves and not the flock. They abused the sheep and took more than they gave. They failed to bind up the broken, or seek out the stray, or protect them from the enemy. They ruled with force and cruelty. They allowed the sheep to fight amongst themselves. They permitted the flock to be scattered and devoured. So the Lord vows that He will get rid of these shepherds and install One Shepherd, David, to care for the flock and gather them together into one place.
Obviously God is not talking about literal shepherds in a literal field in Israel, nor is He planning to bring King David back from the dead to tend to literal sheep. The Lord here is speaking of Jesus Christ, who is known as the Root and Offspring of David. He is also known as the Son of David and the Seed of Jesse. All of these titles mean the same thing. This speaks of His earthly lineage, and it also speaks of His heart towards His Father. David is described as a man after God’s own heart. In the same way, the Lord Jesus Christ is totally in touch with and attuned to the heart of God. He is truly a Son of David.
Just as there is One Body with many members, so there is One Flock with many sheep.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD IS ONE SHEPHERD
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Let us realize that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only One Who totally pleases God in every way. “This is my beloved Son – hear Him.” Jesus Christ alone perfectly satisfies the heart and will of God. He is perfectly obedient to Him in all things. No one else in heaven or on earth is worthy. No one else may take the scroll, read what is written therein, or even look upon it.
Because the flock was abused and scattered by hirelings, the wisdom of God declared that He would shepherd the flock Himself and gather them together again, not just from Israel, but from all over the world, encompassing both Jews and Gentiles, loving and caring for them. Has this happened yet? Yes, the word of the Lord has already come to pass. When did He gather the flock together under One Shepherd? He did it when He raised Christ from the dead and established the Church. Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd Who lays down His life for the sheep.
In John 17, Jesus says, “I pray that they may be one.” This is more than a cry for unity in the Body, it is a cry for One Flock under One Shepherd. May I say that all who share in the Life of the Lord are already gathered together into One. The One Flock is the Ecclesia, the called-out-of-the-world assembly of those who have the revelation of Jesus. The One Shepherd is Jesus. This is so plain that it cannot be missed.
David looked ahead to this day and declared, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” We might put it this way, for the meaning is the same: “The Lord is my Pastor.” How does that sound? How would you like to have Jesus for a pastor? Psalm 23 is talking about the Church, and Jesus is your Pastor. Of course it’s talking about our individual relationship with Christ, but remember He has more than one sheep. It is not just you and Jesus walking around by yourselves, hand in hand. There’s a whole flock in mind here. It’s talking about what it means to be under the Shepherd’s care as one of many sheep. David is describing the One Flock with One Shepherd. How glorious and beautiful was his insight.
Jesus plainly said, “I am the Good Shepherd.” In John 10 He tells us the difference between the Good Shepherd and the hireling. He even says that ALL who came before Him were thieves and robbers. That’s why God sent the Son to Shepherd the flock for Him. No one else is worthy. Apart from Him we are all hirelings. We just love ourselves too much. In the same way that no one is worthy to open the seal and read the contents of the scroll except for Christ, so no one is worthy to shepherd the flock of God but Christ. The Lord declared that He would tend the flock Himself, and so He has done so and is doing so through the Lord Jesus Christ.
THE UNDERSHEPHERDS SERVE THE CHIEF SHEPHERD
Yet, there is such a thing as human beings who are called to the work of the ministry as pastors and shepherds. They are God’s gift to the Church along with apostles, prophets, evangelists, and teachers, to build up the Body and bring them into Christ. Since there is no question that God has chosen the Lord Jesus to be the One Shepherd, why would the Lord see the need for setting pastors in the Church for its edification? What is the nature of a New Testament pastoral ministry?
After Jesus was raised from the dead He commissioned Peter by saying, “Feed My sheep.” Please see that the sheep belong to the Lord Jesus and Peter is being told to feed them. The Lord did not say He would give Peter some sheep of his own to take care of or rule over. He is not giving Peter anything to have as his own. He did not tell Peter to go start a church and begin gathering people together in his own name. Neither did he tell Peter to go get himself elected to take the place of Jesus as the new leader of the disciples. In fact, no one has ever been elected to take the place of Jesus after He was taken up into heaven. Why? Because He is still the Head, and He is still the Good Shepherd. He never laid aside that role. Do you see this? “Feed MY sheep,” Jesus said. Whose sheep are they? The Lord’s sheep.
So now we have some insight into how this works. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, commissions undershepherds to feed and care for His sheep. We know that Christ is our Meat, Bread, Milk, Honey, and Water. So to feed the flock is to bring them to Christ as their Source. This is a holy work. This is much more difficult (humanly speaking) than preaching a three-point sermon once a week.
How is God going about the process of bringing everyone into One Flock under One Shepherd? He is doing this through undershepherds. A true pastor is but an undershepherd, and the Lord Jesus is the Chief Shepherd. There are but two classes of shepherds: the undershepherds, who are many; and the Chief Shepherd, who is One. What does the undershepherd do? The undershepherd serves the Chief Shepherd. He (or she) is supposed to be out herding the sheep into the One Flock, bringing them to Christ, feeding, caring, and watching over the Lord’s possession.
If God intends on having One Flock under One Shepherd then we know that nothing belongs to any individual. Frequently we hear men speak of “my people”, “my flock”, or “my church”, as though they possessed something. Let us see instead that the undershepherd owns nothing, but is a steward over God’s possession. The Scripture plainly says that we are the sheep of His pasture. Everything belongs to the Father, Who has committed all things into the care of His Son, the Good Shepherd. No undershepherd can claim anything or anyone as belonging to him personally. If we only realized this we would immediately begin treating the Lord’s sheep with greater respect and humility. How can a man lord over something that doesn’t belong to him? How can he abuse and mistreat what is not his?
Let me ask you this question: what do you think the Lord will do to an undershepherd who rules the Lord’s flock with cruelty, abuses the sheep, scatters them in all directions, and lets the enemy come in to tear them apart? Will the Lord just shrug His shoulders, or will He visit that undershepherd and avenge the sheep? It is such a holy trust. We must tread lightly with the sheep and minister to them in fear and trembling. We dare not entertain thoughts of doing as we please with the Lord’s possession. It is not a frivolous thing.
THE HIRELINGS WILL BE JUDGED
Here is where many people err. They think to themselves, now that I’m a pastor I’m in charge of these sheep, and they better start submitting to me. They need to support my vision for ministry and give me the honor and glory due my name. And so on. You’ve seen and heard the type. But again, the sheep do not belong to us. Jesus says that the Father gave Him the sheep, and no man can snatch them out of His hands. Certainly He is not going to just turn around and give them away to some earthly man.
This is the spiritual reality. But when we look around, what do we see happening? We see first of all that the flock is scattered and divided. Next, we see that the flock is diseased and wounded. Then, we see that the flock is ruled by individual shepherds. It appears that the earthly facts do not live up to the spiritual reality. On the one hand the promise is fulfilled in the Good Shepherd, and on the other hand the conditions described in Ezekiel 34 still remain.
What usually happens? Many who claim to be pastors parcel up the flock among themselves, fighting over individual sheep, endeavoring to gather them together into their own little fold with themselves as their own little shepherd. They are not working on behalf of the Chief Shepherd, but on their own behalf. Jesus said, “He that is not gathering with Me is scattering.” This is what hirelings do. They claim to be gathering people together but they end up scattering the Lord’s flock. They want the wool and the fat for themselves. They take more than they give. They don’t truly care for the sheep. They are not undershepherds, but hirelings. Read Ezekiel 34 and see if you have experienced this for yourself.
I know all about hirelings because I was one for many years. I did not work for the Chief Shepherd, but for the denomination. I saw the sheep as the fruit of my ministry, not as the Lord’s possession. So eventually the Chief Shepherd removed me from tending His sheep. Later, only when I learned that the sheep indeed belonged to Him, He permitted me to feed them as His undershepherd. This time the hirelings came and removed me. They permitted me access to “their” sheep as a fellow hireling, but not as an undershepherd. For to be an undershepherd of the Chief Shepherd brings shame to the hireling.
How do you think the Chief Shepherd is going to respond to the situation we have today? First of all, do you think He is totally blind to what is going on? Far from it. What will He do with these hirelings? Why, He will remove them from tending the flock and will call the sheep to follow after Him. May I say to you that no man can snatch a single lamb out of the hands of the Good Shepherd. He knows His sheep, and they know Him. When He calls they will come running.
So it happens that when sheep find themselves within something other than the One Flock, penned up in a cage with a hireling, the Lord will call them out and unto Himself, and the hireling will eventually be judged. We don’t have to take matters into our own hands. The Lord will see to it. I am so thankful that He judged me and is making me into what He wants me to be. Now I work for Him, and no man.
THE ONE IN CHRIST TRANSCENDS ALL HUMAN DIVISIONS
We hear a lot of talk about trying to unify the Church, but until we see that we are already One Flock we will just keep on talking about it and never experience it. We must see before God that He has already made us One Flock under One Shepherd. This is not some future event, but a spiritual reality, waiting for us to enter into.
Permit me to say that from the vantage point of heaven there are only two groups of people: the ones with Life and the ones with no Life. And we cannot say someone does or does not have Life by judging them according to the outward appearances of how they worship, where they worship, or what earthly organization they do or do not belong to. God really and truly does not calculate the members of the Ecclesia by looking at the membership rosters of our denominations, counting heads on Sunday morning, reviewing our baptismal records, or seeing how many home church groups are meeting together. You may or may not find Life in any of these places.
We can point to all the denominations, sects, movements, factions, and individual churches as proof that we are not in unity. Outwardly speaking we are divided. Outwardly speaking I doubt we will ever be in unity. Wheat and tares, sheep and goats will continue to be mixed together until they are separated at the end of the age. But we should see that God neither recognizes nor endorses any of our labels, organizations, and associations. It is not that God is for or against the Baptist denomination, or the Pentecostal denomination. He simply overlooks all of it. It is of no account to Him and has no bearing on His eternal purpose. You can be in, out, for, or against whatever you please, but God is not looking at that either. Of course it’s terribly important to earthly-minded folk, but those who are seated in heavenly places with Christ view things differently.
Now when someone says he goes to the First Baptist Church, I can say, “Praise the Lord, brother! Do you have Life?” And when someone says she goes to a house church, I can say, “Praise the Lord, sister! Do you have Life?” And when people say they don’t know where to go or what to do, I can say, “Praise the Lord, brothers and sisters! Do you have Life?” I’m not looking to the outward anymore, but to the inward. You see, if the Life is there, then the Son is there, and that’s all that interests God. He that has the Son has Life. And if they need to get in this or out of that then the Life will instruct them. Who am I? We cannot call unclean what God has called clean. We cannot reject whom the Lord accepts.
Let me state here and now that man, not God, started every denomination, institutional church, and house church on the face of the earth. Some may be following God’s will, some only think they are following God’s will, and most are just doing what they want to do with no thought to God’s will. We aren’t interested now in explaining how or why they do what they do, we simply wish to state that man does all these things, not God. The Kingdom is within you. There is only One Church, and that is the Church that Jesus is building. There is only One Flock, and One Shepherd. Everything else is periphery.
When we see how much of this is man’s doing we are liable to become upset over it all, but God just bypasses and transcends the boundaries we put up between one another. God is just too big to confine Himself to working within one little sect, whether they are “in” or “out” of the religious system. God has never blessed a denomination, and He never will. He blesses people, not movements. He judges people, not systems. He only sees one thing, and that is His Son. He only gives us one thing, and that is His Son. If you have the Son, you have Life. If you do not have the Son, you do not have Life. This is the only thing God is looking for.
GETTING BABYLON OUT OF YOU
This is what I am most afraid of: that we begin thinking anyone who doesn’t have the revelation to “come out of Babylon” is spiritually dead. I made this serious error when God first began to show me the True Church and spoke to me concerning the One Flock. I was still judging by outward appearances. So let me clarify: you can no more come out of Babylon by leaving a church than a leopard can change his spots by leaving the jungle. Babylon is a mindset, a paradigm, a religious spirit, if you will. Some of the people who claim to have left Babylon are still bound by Babylon. They still think, talk, behave, and relate to others as Babylonians. They haven’t really come out, they just stopped attending church services. If that’s all there is to it, how simple it would be! How easy to tell the difference between the “true” and the “false” if that’s all we have to look for!
Just as we are called to be in the world but not of the world, some people are called to be “in” Babylon but not “of” Babylon. Some have been called by God to walk in the midst of Babylon and represent Him there as a Daniel or an Ezekiel. Some have been called by God to come out of Babylon and represent Him in Jerusalem as a Nehemiah or an Ezra. Not everyone is a Daniel, and not everyone is a Nehemiah. Eventually Babylon will be judged and there will be a New Jerusalem. All the “Daniels” and all the “Nehemiahs” will each give an account of themselves to God. So let everyone be where the Lord has called them to be. Most of all, whether we leave or stay, go out or go in, let it be by revelation, not by the words of some earthly man or teacher.
Some emphasize the actual meeting together and are engrossed in the details of where, how, why, and what we’re supposed to do when we meet. I say bring people together who have Life and the rest of it will take care of itself. We know that the Law was given to people who had no Life. The Law must teach us outwardly, but the Life will instruct us inwardly. When we don’t have Life then we have to depend upon a rule or method or tradition or law. Some say that’s too simplistic, just getting together like that. Well, that’s the idea. You see Life just doesn’t start flowing when we come together into some kind of meeting. Life is present at all times. You don’t turn it on and off like a spigot. Community isn’t something we can create in a test tube, it’s a daily adventure and releasing of Life as we go about the ministry of one-anothering wherever we happen to be at that particular moment in time.
THE TRUE FLOCK IS ONE FLOCK
How do we achieve unity? We do not. Rather, God reveals His Son to us as the Head of the Church. If we see the Head, if we know the Good Shepherd, we will come to know the Body and the Flock. We cannot say we love God if we do not love our brothers and sisters. We cannot maintain communion with the Head if we are separated from the Body. When we follow One Shepherd as One Flock then we will be in one accord. If we are one with the Head, we are one with the Body, even if we are not gathered together. But, if we are not one with the Head, we are not one with the Body, even if we are gathered together in the guise of unity.
Our prayer for the Church is that we would all come to the unity of the faith through the revelation of Christ. All who see Him will be like Him, for they will see Him as He is; and as He is, so are we, in this world.
Today, God’s heart is One Flock with One Shepherd, with the Son filling all in all. May the Church fulfill His desire. Amen.
Rabu, 24 April 2013
BEYOND BIBLE STUDY: FINDING JESUS CHRIST IN SCRIPTURE
Beyond Bible Study: Finding Jesus Christ in Scripture
by Frank Viola www.ptmin.org
Email: violabooks@aol.com
In my personal judgment, many segments of the Christian world today—including much of the emerging church conversation and the house church movement—have lost the centrality of Jesus Christ.
In addition, for many Christians, the Old Testament has fallen out of functional use. Scores of present-day believers do not find anything of spiritual value in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, or Deuteronomy.
The exception would be the legalists who wish to put everyone under the Law, the Theonomists who wish to turn society into a Christian state, and the apologists who wish to prove that the Old Testament is historically accurate.
But for the rest of God’s people, the Old Testament has by and large lost its functional use.
I believe one reason for this is because of the way we have been conditioned to read and interpret the Old Testament. Let alone the New Testament.
The Historical Roots of the Modern Hermeneutic
A lot of what passes for biblical interpretation today is simply looking at a biblical text strictly in terms of its intended meaning at the time it was written.
This approach owes much to the 19th-century German theologian and philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher. Schleiermacher sought to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional Protestant orthodoxy. As a result, he was very influential in the evolution of modern Biblical interpretation, including higher criticism.
Since Schleiermacher, a shift has taken place among biblical scholars wherein the common way to study the Bible is to analyze it just like any other written document. This approach sees biblical hermeneutics as a secular science that’s applied equally to all writings—secular as well as spiritual.
Consequently, according to the modern method, the Bible is interpreted according to the same rules of interpretation that would apply to the writings of Homer, Tacitus, Aristotle and every other historical document.
This approach to biblical interpretation, though not wrong, is built on modern thinking. Therefore, it has great limitations.
Unfortunately, those Christians who apply pre-modern methods of interpreting Scripture are in jeopardy of having their wrists slapped by advocates of modern biblical hermeneutics.
I submit that the modern way of interpreting Scripture is helpful, but it’s not adequate. It’s helpful to interpret a biblical text in light of the author’s original intent in writing it. It’s helpful to understand the sociological and historical context and setting of the people to whom the Bible was written. It’s helpful to learn the original language of the biblical authors.
However, a truly biblical hermeneutic cannot be limited to recovering the meaning that was in the author’s mind nor in grasping the social, historical, and linguistic setting of the text.
There are three reasons for this:
First, the Holy Spirit often had an intent in Scripture that went beyond the author’s knowledge. Andrea Fernandez coined the term sensus plenior or “the fuller sense” to describe this fact. The sensus plenior refers to ”the deeper meaning, intended by God but not clearly intended by the human author, that is seen to exist in the words of Scripture when they are studied in the light of further revelation.”
For instance, the writers of the Old Testament frequently didn’t realize that they were speaking about Jesus Christ when they penned Scripture. Examples of this abound throughout the Bible. Here are two in particular.
Hosea 11:1 says, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”
Undoubtedly, Hosea believed that he was writing about the nation of Israel in this text. Matthew, however, interpreted this passage to have a meaning that related to Jesus Christ.
Matthew 2:13-15 says, “When they [Mary and Joseph] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’”
In Acts Chapter 2, Peter quotes Psalm 16 and puts the words of David in the mouth of Jesus Christ.
Later, when Peter writes his first epistle, he says that the prophets of old prophesied of the coming Messiah without fully realizing the specifics of what they were prophesying about. He goes on to say that the full meaning of their words was intended for us who live in the New Testament era rather than for those who lived in the Old (1 Peter 1:10-12).
Again, the authors of the Old Testament often did not realize that they were speaking about Jesus Christ when they wrote Scripture.
So understanding the author’s intent is certainly part of the task of biblical interpretation, but it’s not the whole task.
The second reason why the modern method of biblical interpretation falls short is because the Bible is a supernatural book. It’s God-breathed. Consequently, it’s a living document.
When we interpret Scripture, therefore, we are not simply interpreting documents as dead objects, like we would analyze tree stumps. We are engaged in a transaction with a Divine book that was authored by a Divine Person who still lives and speaks. Interpreting Scripture, then, is not simply a scientific, secular endeavor. It requires spiritual insight. Paul describes this principle in 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 where he argues that the natural man cannot comprehend the things of the Spirit.
The third reason is that the Scriptures are not a set of disjointed, independent, inspired books. They are a canon. And the books of the canon work together.
Modern methods of biblical interpretation often fail to take into consideration that the biblical text functions authoritatively for the church only as part of a canon. And therefore its meaning is not just the meaning that a particular biblical book has on its own. It’s the meaning it has within the canon. And the canon is centered on and ordered around a single theme. The Old Testament and the New Testament are Act 1 and Act 2 of a single drama.
Thus each book must be understood and interpreted within the framework of the greater whole.
On the heels of these three reasons, I believe that the modern method of biblical interpretation is inadequate to fulfill the overarching purpose of Scripture—which is spiritual transformation and conformity to Jesus Christ.
Toward a Christological Hermeneutic
The Scriptures do not exist for mere study or intellectual absorption. They are meant to renew our minds, touch our hearts, and shape our lives. Put another way, the Scriptures are meant to be performed. The Psalms, for example, are meant to be prayed and sung. The biblical narratives are meant to be meditated upon and responded to. The revelation in the epistles is meant to be embraced and applied.
The vast richness of Scripture can be likened unto an elaborate musical piece that’s written out on a sheet of music. That sheet is meant to be interpreted and then performed.
For this reason, the Bible, like a Divine musical composition, requires the contributions of various musicians to interpret and perform it in harmony with one another.
Each musician may use a different approach to interpreting it. And each may perform it in a slightly different way. But taken together, those musicians comprise an orchestra that creates a beautiful melody, expressing the richness of the biblical message through different sounds, pitches, and tones.
Consequently, amid all the methods of biblical interpretation that exist today, there is one method that cannot be overlooked. Without it, the full meaning of the biblical text can never be grasped. The reason is because this method is centered on the main theme of Scripture. It’s rooted in the grand narrative that links all of the books of the biblical canon together.
This method is what I call the Christological hermeneutic. The Christological hermeneutic is very simple. It’s goal is to find Jesus Christ in all of Scripture.
The Christological hermeneutic is built on the fact that all Scripture has but one center of gravity that links all of it together. And that center of gravity is the Person of Jesus Christ.
This hermeneutic is also built on the notion that the main purpose of Scripture is to present, reveal, disclose, unveil, magnify, glorify, and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ.
Consider this comparison. When an unbelieving Jew looks at the Torah (also called the Pentateuch), he looks at the whole Tanakh, which is what we call the Old Testament. But he sees it as a completely different book than we Christians do.
Why? Because for the Jew, the key to understanding the Torah is to understand the destiny and calling of the nation of Israel.
For us Christians, however, the key is in understanding the destiny and calling of Jesus Christ.
So a Jew and a Christian will find different messages in the same text of Scripture.
For us Christians, the Old Testament isn’t just a Jewish book that’s the preface to a Christian book. It’s one canon, and it’s one canon centered on and ordered around Jesus Christ. And we understand the whole canon that way.
Both Old and New Testaments are fused together to create a single book with one coherent message. And that message is Jesus Christ. He is the glue that binds both Testaments together.
I shall paraphrase one writer who says, The nature of Divine revelation is Christocentric. The mind of God is eternally centered in Christ. All angelic thought and ministry are centered in Christ. All satanic hatred and subtlety are centered against Christ. All human hopes are, and human occupations should be, centered in Christ. The whole material universe in creation is centered in Christ. The entire ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reveal and glorify Christ. For these reasons, the entire written Word, which is inspired by the Holy Spirit, is centered in Christ.
Jesus Himself taught His disciples the Christological hermeneutic. During His earthly ministry, He made plain that He was the subject and full meaning of the Old Testament Scriptures. In John 5:39, He said to the Jews, You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures testify of me! And in verse 46, He said, Moses wrote about me.
A Christian hermeneutic is a Christological hermeneutic. Jesus Christ is the subject of all Scripture. That particular discovery changed my life and radically altered how I read the Bible.
For many years as a Christian, the full meaning of Scripture was veiled to me. The experience was not dissimilar to how Paul described those unbelieving Jews who read the Old Testament:
But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 2 Corinthians 3:14-16
Later, I began to see the Scriptures in a new light. I saw them not as a destination, but as a guide. I began to view the Scriptures as a road map whose goal was to lead me to a greater knowledge and experience of this incredible Christ . . . the despised Galilean, my Lord and Savior.
The Old Testament became God’s picture book for me and for the believing community in which I was a part. Together we began to understand that the biblical narratives found their full meaning in Christ.
Example: In 1992, a small group of Christians and I spent a few summer months in the book of Leviticus. We had one objective: to find Jesus Christ in it. Using this approach, the entire book opened up to us. We saw Christ on every page. As I recall that experience, I remember realizing just how “sweet” Christ is as a compassionate Savior who saves us to the uttermost.
We discovered that each of the offerings mentioned in Leviticus point to a different aspect of Christ in His atoning work. And so do the feasts.
Today, there’s a lot of debate on the different models of atonement. The book of Leviticus, read Christologically, helps shed light on this debate. It shows that the redemptive work of Christ is too rich, too vast, and too multifaceted to be reduced to one or two aspects. Jesus Christ is the reality of the sin offering, the burnt offering, the trespass offering, the meal offering, the drink offering as well as all of Israel’s feasts.
After finding Christ in the book of Leviticus, I couldn’t understand how a Christian could read that book and get anything spiritual out of it unless they read it Christologically.
Before that summer, reading Leviticus was a laborious task that constituted good medicine for insomnia.
Because the Christological approach to Scripture has been so largely forgotten in most Christian circles today, the result is, that on a functional level (not on a formal level), there are whole sections of Scripture that have fallen into disuse and cease to function among God’s people.
It has been said that the way to know a person is through a narrative. The four Gospels function as a narrative disclosing the Person of Jesus to us. But so does the Old Testament. To put it in a sentence: the function of the Biblical narrative in both Old and New Testaments is to set forth the identity of Jesus Christ.
Jesus—the Teacher of Scripture
In his seminal book, According to the Scriptures, C.H. Dodd traces the way that the New Testament authors quote the Old Testament. In so doing, he finds a pattern. The biblical authors all seem to share a common hermeneutic for understanding the Old Testament. Dodd powerfully argues that the source of this common hermeneutic was Jesus Himself. Jesus Christ taught His disciples how to understand the Old Testament Scriptures, and this is reflected throughout the New Testament writings.
Simply put: the hermeneutical key that Jesus passed on to His disciples was to see Scripture as fulfilled in Himself. Note the following texts where Jesus Himself handles the Scriptures in this way:
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself . . . Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. Luke 24:27, 31
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. Luke 24:44-45
Note that the three sections of the Old Testament canon—the Torah (the Law of Moses), the Prophets, and the Writings (the Psalms)—all speak of Jesus Christ. When Jesus unveiled this truth to them, “their minds were opened to understand the Scriptures.”
So again: the real and total meaning of Scripture is found in Jesus Christ—His Person, His mission, and His work. He is the fulfillment of all Scripture—including the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. Consider His own words:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:17
Hans Frei, the 20th-century professor at Yale, marked a new shift for returning to the Christological way of interpreting Scripture that pre-dates the modern hermeneutic. Frei remarked that a Christological reading of the Old Testament is indispensable if we are going to understand history as the story of God revealing Himself in Jesus.
Frei redefined the literal interpretation of Scripture. He argued that the church’s understanding of Scripture is basically found in Jesus Christ.
Herein lies the charter for Christological interpretation.
To understand the full meaning of Scripture, then, one cannot simply adopt a method of interpretation derived from secular hermeneutic philosophy and start applying it to the Bible.
The truth of the matter is that the Bible has its own hermeneutic.
Examples of the Christological Hermeneutic
Let’s look at some examples of how the New Testament authors interpreted the Scriptures Christologically. You will see that they were all good students of Jesus, adopting the method of biblical interpretation that He passed on to them. The Bible is filled with examples of this approach. What follows is only a small sampling of them.
Romans 5:14 - Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
Here Paul says that Adam was a pattern or a picture of Jesus Christ. Karl Barth argued that many Christians have misunderstood this text, taking it to mean that we must understand Christ in terms of Adam. But the text says that Adam should be understood in terms of Christ. In other words, Adam is a shadow of Christ, and Christ is the fulfillment and reality of that shadow.
This doesn’t suggest that Adam was not a historical person. But it does mean that he depicted Jesus Christ. (Reading Scripture Christologically does not dehistoricize the text.)
In the same spirit, Paul calls Jesus “the last Adam” in 1 Corinthians 15:45. (This insight throws considerable light on the full meaning of Genesis 1 and 2.)
In 1 Corinthians 5:7, Paul says that “Christ is our Passover lamb.”
In 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, Paul takes a Christological interpretation of the Exodus narrative saying, For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
According to Paul, Moses portrays Christ—the great deliverer. The passing through the Red Sea portrays water baptism into Christ. The rock that followed Israel was a picture of Christ also. (Note that the rock was struck and out of it poured water. Jesus Christ was struck with death and out of Him flowed living water.)
In John Chapter 6, Jesus presents Himself as the reality of the manna in the wilderness. In John Chapter 4, He presents Himself as living water. Christ is the real manna, the real water, the real rock, and the real lamb—all of which were pictured in the Old Testament narrative.
In Colossians 2:16-17, Paul continues this line of interpretation asserting that the Old Testament festivals, sabbaths, ceremonial foods and drinks were a picture—or a shadow—of Jesus Christ.
He writes, Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Peter carries on this Christological approach when he unveils the real meaning of the story of Noah’s ark, showing it to be a picture of water baptism in Christ (1 Peter 3:20-22).
The book of Hebrews is saturated with the Christological hermeneutic. According to the author, Christ is the reality and fulfillment of Moses and Joshua—He is the new Moses and the new Joshua (Chapters 3 and 4); Christ is the reality and fulfillment of the Sabbath (Chapter 4); He is the reality and fulfillment of the Old Testament high priest. He is the reality and fulfillment of Melchizedek and Aaron (Chapters 5 through 7). The tabernacle and the tabernacle furniture, along with the Old Testament sacrifices were pictures, shadows, and types of Jesus Christ and His work (Chapters 8 through 10).
Near the end of the epistle, the author of Hebrews summarizes the real meaning of the Torah saying, The Torah is only a shadow of the good things that were coming—not the realities themselves. Hebrews 10:1
The interpretative key to all Scripture is Christ. He is the pattern of the entire Word of God—the lens for understanding the narrative sweep of the Bible. This should not surprise us since Christ is the revelation of God and the incarnation of God’s grand purpose.
As John Calvin aptly put it, “The Scriptures should be read with the aim of finding Christ in them. Whoever turns aside from this object, even though he wears himself out all his life in learning, he will never reach the knowledge of the truth.”
Let’s quickly look at the Old Testament narrative of Isaac. He is a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ. The same is true for Adam, Melchizedek, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, etc. But for the sake of time and space, we’ll just consider Isaac.
* Jesus and Isaac are the only two people in the entire Scripture who are referred to as “the only begotten son” (John 1:18; Hebrews 11:17).
* Isaac is the promised seed (Genesis 17:16). Jesus Christ is the promised seed (Galatians 3:16).
* Isaac's birth was a miracle as it was physically impossible for him to be conceived (Genesis 17:17‑19). Jesus Christ's birth was miraculous as well (Matthew 1:18‑25).
* Abraham was instructed to sacrifice Isaac his son (Genesis 22:1-2). God the Father spared not His only Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16; Romans 8:32).
* The sacrifice of Isaac was on Mount Moriah. (Genesis 22:1-2) Moriah was located on a hill in what would later be called Jerusalem. Jesus Christ died on a hill outside of Jerusalem.
* Isaac was obedient to his father unto death (Genesis 22:5‑12). Jesus Christ was obedient unto His Father unto death (Philippians 2:5‑8).
* Isaac was considered dead by his father for three days (Genesis 22:4). Jesus Christ was dead for three days (1 Corinthians 15:3‑4).
* Isaac carried wood for his own sacrifice (Genesis 22:6). Jesus Christ bore His own cross, which was made of wood (John 19:17‑18).
* After the obedience of Isaac, his mother Sarah died (Genesis 23:1). After the death of Christ, the nation of Israel was set aside (Romans 9-11).
* Abraham gave all things to Isaac (Genesis 25:5). God has given all things to Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:22; Hebrews 1:2).
There are other corresponding points that show how Isaac foreshadowed Christ, but these will suffice.
Hans Frei said that a Christological reading of the Old Testament was in “bad odor today” simply because it was pre-modern. But he espoused it because it’s the only way to find Christ in many Old Testament texts.
Speaking of the Christological heremeneutic, Frei remarks, “Not only Old Testament narrative, but its legal texts and its prophetic as well as wisdom literature are taken to point beyond themselves to their fulfillment in the New Testament. The Jewish texts are taken as types of the story of Jesus as their common antitype—an appropriating procedure that begins in the New Testament, notably in the letters of Paul, the letter to the Hebrews and the Synoptic Gospels, and then becomes a common characteristic of the Christian tradition of scriptural interpretation until modern times.”
In order to grasp the full meaning of the Old Testament text, we must understand the shadows, pictures, and types that the Old Testament narrative contains to reveal Jesus Christ, and His counterpart, the church.
To put it another way, the Christological interpretation of Scripture is a return to the text as it understands itself.
As Rich Lusk put it, “All of Scripture is held together by its testimony of Christ. The Old Covenant Scriptures foreshadow His coming, often in puzzling and paradoxical ways. The New Covenant records His coming and unpacks its meaning. All the types and shadows of the old aeon converge upon Him; from Him emerges a new creation and a transformed Israel.”
Toward an Ecclesial Hermeneutic
Perhaps one of the reasons that some have been reluctant to take a Christological approach to the Old Testament is that they fear the danger of over-allegorization. This fear, however, is rooted in the benighted idea that the Bible can be fully understood by the individual Christian.
I concur with John Howard Yoder in his “hermeneutic of peoplehood.” The biblical text was meant to be understood, not by an individual, but by an interpretative community. That interpretative community is egalitarian—it’s neither comprised of nor directed by a clergy. It is the people of God seeking meaning out of the text by the Holy Spirit together.
All the churches in the New Testament were grassroots, interpretative communities.
An interpretative community that is centered on Jesus Christ will be able to bring out the multifaceted richness of the Biblical text. As each member of the Body seeks to find Christ in Scripture together, all of His glorious aspects can be extracted, uncovered, and grasped. The result is the edification and spiritual nourishment of the community.
As David Buttrick says, “Virtually everything in scripture is written to a faith-community, usually in the style of communal address. Therefore, biblical texts must be set in communal consciousness to be understood.”
The believing community provides a sort of checks and balances, safeguarding the church from over-allegorizing the text and from falling prey to fanciful and bogus interpretations. If someone goes too far in one direction, someone else is present to pull them back in. This is the genius of Christian community.
I do not say this as an arm-chair philosopher. I have lived in such communities for the past twenty years.
Consequently, I am not only arguing for a Christological hermeneutic, I am arguing equally for an ecclesial hermeneutic where the members of a Christian community wrestle with the biblical text together, and seek to find Jesus Christ in them.
This ecclesial approach is completely at odds with today’s common hermeneutic of the individual going into his closet and interpreting Scripture all by himself. Equally so, it’s at odds with the notion that biblical interpretation is the sole property of the scholar who uses his scholarly tools in his personal study as he pours over the text by himself.
John Goldingay isolates the point beautifully when he says, “It can seem as if biblical scholars are the privileged interpreters of scripture. They alone can determine what the Bible means. But the Bible was written for believing communities, not critics, and real biblical interpretation happens when scripture does something to such a community. When the church places special emphasis on an academic and critical approach to scripture, it easily sets up a new type of priestly control of the Christian community by a guild of experts whose work is authoritarian, not in the sense that it cannot be questioned, but in the sense that it is the privileged responsibility of an elite.”
Goldingay goes on to say that the academic approach to Scripture can help a particular community identify its interpretative biases and prevent it from interpreting the Scriptures in light of its own traditions. He sums up his argument by saying, “Interpretation takes place in the context of both the church community and the academic community. We must believe and strive for interpretation that enables these to compliment each other even insofar as they stand in tension with each other.”
Interpreting the New Testament
Note that the Christological approach to Scripture applies to the New Testament as much as it does to the Old. I have heard men and women preach and teach from the New Testament and yet miss the central message of Scripture in the process—which is Jesus Christ.
Contrary to popular belief, the Bible is not a manual for Christian behavior and church practice. It’s a revelation of Emmanuel—the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
It’s all-too common for preachers and teachers today to extract from the New Testament rules, commands, abstract ideas, theories, concepts, and inspiring thoughts, yet fail to present the glorious Person of Jesus Christ.
The New Testament itself teaches that the outstanding mark of New Covenant ministry is the unveiling of Christ. In his comparison of Old Testament ministry verses New Testament ministry, Paul sums up the difference saying, We preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:5
A careful reading of the New Testament clearly shows that its overarching message is Christ. In the Gospels, the subject is Jesus Christ in His earthly life and ministry. In the Gospel of John, we find many hints about His preexistent life. In the book of Acts, we see the apostles preaching Christ. We also see Christ operating through His Body as it expands from Jerusalem to Rome. The epistles reveal the unsearchable riches of Christ and apply the Lord’s mind to crisis situations that confronted the early churches. The book of Revelation is a revelation of Christ in His triumphant victory over the world system.
Yet regardless of the above, it is possible to miss the Person of Christ in the New Testament and instead present something other than Him through them.
To see just how full of Christ the New Testament is, I challenge you to take one of Paul’s epistles and count the number of times he mentions or refers to Jesus Christ. Do this for the first chapter of Ephesians or the first chapter of Colossians, for example. The number of times Paul refers to Christ will astound you.
Paul was a man driven by a revelation of his Lord.
And herein lies the basis of all New Testament ministry.
Consequently, one of the tasks of Christian ministry is to extract Jesus Christ from the Scriptures and present Him in a living way to God’s people.
So the next time you hear a person preach or teach from the Bible, ask yourself: Is this person giving me Jesus Christ . . . are they revealing Christ to me . . . or are they giving me something else?
Jesus Christ is the Christian life. And God the Father has chosen to speak of Him in every age.
Knowing Him, being conformed to His image, and expressing Him in the world with other believers is the goal of the Christian life.
In summary, to properly understand the full meaning of Scripture, two things are necessary:
1. Availing ourselves of all forms of biblical interpretation—including the Christological hermeneutic that the Bible itself contains.
2. Interpreting the Bible as part of an interpretive Christian community rather than as an isolated individual. That community should be willing to draw on the rich history of the Christian church, from the Church Fathers, to the Anabaptists, to the Puritans, to the eastern and western branches of the historic church, etc.
Fleshing It Out
In closing, here are some practical tips that will help you find Jesus Christ in Scripture:
1. Before you read a text, remind yourself of the Christocentric nature of Divine revelation. The Bible contains one revelation and that revelation is a Person—the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, a proper understanding of any text will always lead you to discover more of Christ. Your ultimate goal in reading the Bible is to find Him.
2. Ask yourself when reading a text: “What does this text tell me about Jesus Christ?” That question will get you to the real meaning of the text.
3. If you can’t find Christ in the way that you’re reading a text, then get on different mountain from which to view it. Look at it through a different lens. I suggest you read a book entitled Notes on the Pentateuch by C.H. Mackintosh. The book is an exegetical treasury on the Old Testament that glorifies your Lord. D.L. Moody once said that if all the books in the entire world were to be burned, he would be satisfied to have just one copy of the Bible and C.H. Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch. I have also written a book entitled God’s Ultimate Passion (www.ptmin.org/passion.htm). This book seeks to unlock the grand narrative of Scripture. In it, both Old and New Testaments are unfolded in a Christological way.
4. Interpret the Scriptures with other believers and avail yourself of all the light that the Body of Christ has shed on the Bible in the past and present. Remember: the Bible is addressed to the community of God’s people. And it invites that community to let the biblical narratives shape its vision of the world. Therefore, it’s the ecclesial community that is called to interpret and live out the message of Scripture, not the isolated believer.
5. Discover ways of interacting with Jesus Christ through Scripture. Here are three exercises you can try:
(1) Read the Gospels and the Epistles autobiographically—from the viewpoint of Jesus Christ. This approach owes much to Frank Laubach in his book, The Autobiography of Jesus. It allows the reader to understand Scripture from a whole new perspective and listen to the voice of Christ through it:
Example 1: “When I entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, I said, ‘Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.’ But they laughed at me. After the crowd had been put outside, I went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region. As I went on from there, two blind men followed me, calling out, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David!’“ (Matthew 9:23-27)
Example 2: “For by me all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by me and for me. I am before all things, and in me all things hold together. And I am the head of the body, the church; I am the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything I might have the supremacy.” (Colossians 1:16-18)
(2) Read the Psalms in the voice of Christ. Thomas Merton in his book Bread in the Wilderness said that the main speaker of the Psalms is Jesus Christ.Sometimes it is Jesus Christ in His people. Sometimes it is Jesus Christ in David. But it is always Jesus Christ who is speaking. When you recite the Psalms, therefore, you are in a sense speaking the words of Christ, uniting yourself with Him, being pulled into His presence.
Example: “Father, you are my Shepherd, I shall not want. You make me lie down in green pastures. You lead me beside the still waters. Father, you restore my soul. You guide me in paths of righteousness for your name's sake.” (Psalm 23:1-3)
(3) Praying the Scripture. This approach is ancient, tracing back to the Patristic period. It is known as lectio divina—sacred reading.
Example: “Lord Jesus, I have been crucified with you and I no longer live, but you live in me. The life I live in my body, I live by faith in you—for you love me and you gave yourself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
Sources
According to the Scriptures by C.H. Dodd.
Christ in the Bible (Commentary Series) by A.B. Simpson.
Jesus the Messiah in the Hebrew Bible by Eugen J. Pentiuc.
Models of Interpretation of Scripture by John Goldingay.
Notes on the Pentateuch by C.H. Mackintosh.
Reading in Communion by Stephen Fowl and Gregory Jones.
The Christotelic Spiral by Rich Lusk.
The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative by Hans W. Frei.
The Great Code by Northrop Frye.
“The Hermeneutics of Peoplehood” by John H. Yoder in The Priestly Kingdom.
“The ‘Literal Reading’ of the Biblical Narrative in the Christian Tradition: Will it Bend or Will it Break?”by Hans W. Frei in Frank McConnell’s The Bible and Narrative Tradition.
The Old Testament as the Book of Christ by Martin Kuske.
“The Reasonableness of Typology”by G.W.H. Lampein Essays in Typology.
Typology of Scripture by Patrick Fairbairn.
Virtuoso Theology: The Bible and Interpretation by Frances Young.
Ye Search the Scriptures by Watchman Nee.
Thanks also to my friends, Frank Valdez and Jon Zens.
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The link is: www.ptmin.org/beyond.pdf
If you wish to dialogue with Frank about this article, you may email him at Violabooks@aol.com
Copyright © 2007 Present Testimony Ministry www.ptmin.org
by Frank Viola www.ptmin.org
Email: violabooks@aol.com
In my personal judgment, many segments of the Christian world today—including much of the emerging church conversation and the house church movement—have lost the centrality of Jesus Christ.
In addition, for many Christians, the Old Testament has fallen out of functional use. Scores of present-day believers do not find anything of spiritual value in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, or Deuteronomy.
The exception would be the legalists who wish to put everyone under the Law, the Theonomists who wish to turn society into a Christian state, and the apologists who wish to prove that the Old Testament is historically accurate.
But for the rest of God’s people, the Old Testament has by and large lost its functional use.
I believe one reason for this is because of the way we have been conditioned to read and interpret the Old Testament. Let alone the New Testament.
The Historical Roots of the Modern Hermeneutic
A lot of what passes for biblical interpretation today is simply looking at a biblical text strictly in terms of its intended meaning at the time it was written.
This approach owes much to the 19th-century German theologian and philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher. Schleiermacher sought to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional Protestant orthodoxy. As a result, he was very influential in the evolution of modern Biblical interpretation, including higher criticism.
Since Schleiermacher, a shift has taken place among biblical scholars wherein the common way to study the Bible is to analyze it just like any other written document. This approach sees biblical hermeneutics as a secular science that’s applied equally to all writings—secular as well as spiritual.
Consequently, according to the modern method, the Bible is interpreted according to the same rules of interpretation that would apply to the writings of Homer, Tacitus, Aristotle and every other historical document.
This approach to biblical interpretation, though not wrong, is built on modern thinking. Therefore, it has great limitations.
Unfortunately, those Christians who apply pre-modern methods of interpreting Scripture are in jeopardy of having their wrists slapped by advocates of modern biblical hermeneutics.
I submit that the modern way of interpreting Scripture is helpful, but it’s not adequate. It’s helpful to interpret a biblical text in light of the author’s original intent in writing it. It’s helpful to understand the sociological and historical context and setting of the people to whom the Bible was written. It’s helpful to learn the original language of the biblical authors.
However, a truly biblical hermeneutic cannot be limited to recovering the meaning that was in the author’s mind nor in grasping the social, historical, and linguistic setting of the text.
There are three reasons for this:
First, the Holy Spirit often had an intent in Scripture that went beyond the author’s knowledge. Andrea Fernandez coined the term sensus plenior or “the fuller sense” to describe this fact. The sensus plenior refers to ”the deeper meaning, intended by God but not clearly intended by the human author, that is seen to exist in the words of Scripture when they are studied in the light of further revelation.”
For instance, the writers of the Old Testament frequently didn’t realize that they were speaking about Jesus Christ when they penned Scripture. Examples of this abound throughout the Bible. Here are two in particular.
Hosea 11:1 says, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”
Undoubtedly, Hosea believed that he was writing about the nation of Israel in this text. Matthew, however, interpreted this passage to have a meaning that related to Jesus Christ.
Matthew 2:13-15 says, “When they [Mary and Joseph] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’”
In Acts Chapter 2, Peter quotes Psalm 16 and puts the words of David in the mouth of Jesus Christ.
Later, when Peter writes his first epistle, he says that the prophets of old prophesied of the coming Messiah without fully realizing the specifics of what they were prophesying about. He goes on to say that the full meaning of their words was intended for us who live in the New Testament era rather than for those who lived in the Old (1 Peter 1:10-12).
Again, the authors of the Old Testament often did not realize that they were speaking about Jesus Christ when they wrote Scripture.
So understanding the author’s intent is certainly part of the task of biblical interpretation, but it’s not the whole task.
The second reason why the modern method of biblical interpretation falls short is because the Bible is a supernatural book. It’s God-breathed. Consequently, it’s a living document.
When we interpret Scripture, therefore, we are not simply interpreting documents as dead objects, like we would analyze tree stumps. We are engaged in a transaction with a Divine book that was authored by a Divine Person who still lives and speaks. Interpreting Scripture, then, is not simply a scientific, secular endeavor. It requires spiritual insight. Paul describes this principle in 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 where he argues that the natural man cannot comprehend the things of the Spirit.
The third reason is that the Scriptures are not a set of disjointed, independent, inspired books. They are a canon. And the books of the canon work together.
Modern methods of biblical interpretation often fail to take into consideration that the biblical text functions authoritatively for the church only as part of a canon. And therefore its meaning is not just the meaning that a particular biblical book has on its own. It’s the meaning it has within the canon. And the canon is centered on and ordered around a single theme. The Old Testament and the New Testament are Act 1 and Act 2 of a single drama.
Thus each book must be understood and interpreted within the framework of the greater whole.
On the heels of these three reasons, I believe that the modern method of biblical interpretation is inadequate to fulfill the overarching purpose of Scripture—which is spiritual transformation and conformity to Jesus Christ.
Toward a Christological Hermeneutic
The Scriptures do not exist for mere study or intellectual absorption. They are meant to renew our minds, touch our hearts, and shape our lives. Put another way, the Scriptures are meant to be performed. The Psalms, for example, are meant to be prayed and sung. The biblical narratives are meant to be meditated upon and responded to. The revelation in the epistles is meant to be embraced and applied.
The vast richness of Scripture can be likened unto an elaborate musical piece that’s written out on a sheet of music. That sheet is meant to be interpreted and then performed.
For this reason, the Bible, like a Divine musical composition, requires the contributions of various musicians to interpret and perform it in harmony with one another.
Each musician may use a different approach to interpreting it. And each may perform it in a slightly different way. But taken together, those musicians comprise an orchestra that creates a beautiful melody, expressing the richness of the biblical message through different sounds, pitches, and tones.
Consequently, amid all the methods of biblical interpretation that exist today, there is one method that cannot be overlooked. Without it, the full meaning of the biblical text can never be grasped. The reason is because this method is centered on the main theme of Scripture. It’s rooted in the grand narrative that links all of the books of the biblical canon together.
This method is what I call the Christological hermeneutic. The Christological hermeneutic is very simple. It’s goal is to find Jesus Christ in all of Scripture.
The Christological hermeneutic is built on the fact that all Scripture has but one center of gravity that links all of it together. And that center of gravity is the Person of Jesus Christ.
This hermeneutic is also built on the notion that the main purpose of Scripture is to present, reveal, disclose, unveil, magnify, glorify, and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ.
Consider this comparison. When an unbelieving Jew looks at the Torah (also called the Pentateuch), he looks at the whole Tanakh, which is what we call the Old Testament. But he sees it as a completely different book than we Christians do.
Why? Because for the Jew, the key to understanding the Torah is to understand the destiny and calling of the nation of Israel.
For us Christians, however, the key is in understanding the destiny and calling of Jesus Christ.
So a Jew and a Christian will find different messages in the same text of Scripture.
For us Christians, the Old Testament isn’t just a Jewish book that’s the preface to a Christian book. It’s one canon, and it’s one canon centered on and ordered around Jesus Christ. And we understand the whole canon that way.
Both Old and New Testaments are fused together to create a single book with one coherent message. And that message is Jesus Christ. He is the glue that binds both Testaments together.
I shall paraphrase one writer who says, The nature of Divine revelation is Christocentric. The mind of God is eternally centered in Christ. All angelic thought and ministry are centered in Christ. All satanic hatred and subtlety are centered against Christ. All human hopes are, and human occupations should be, centered in Christ. The whole material universe in creation is centered in Christ. The entire ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reveal and glorify Christ. For these reasons, the entire written Word, which is inspired by the Holy Spirit, is centered in Christ.
Jesus Himself taught His disciples the Christological hermeneutic. During His earthly ministry, He made plain that He was the subject and full meaning of the Old Testament Scriptures. In John 5:39, He said to the Jews, You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures testify of me! And in verse 46, He said, Moses wrote about me.
A Christian hermeneutic is a Christological hermeneutic. Jesus Christ is the subject of all Scripture. That particular discovery changed my life and radically altered how I read the Bible.
For many years as a Christian, the full meaning of Scripture was veiled to me. The experience was not dissimilar to how Paul described those unbelieving Jews who read the Old Testament:
But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 2 Corinthians 3:14-16
Later, I began to see the Scriptures in a new light. I saw them not as a destination, but as a guide. I began to view the Scriptures as a road map whose goal was to lead me to a greater knowledge and experience of this incredible Christ . . . the despised Galilean, my Lord and Savior.
The Old Testament became God’s picture book for me and for the believing community in which I was a part. Together we began to understand that the biblical narratives found their full meaning in Christ.
Example: In 1992, a small group of Christians and I spent a few summer months in the book of Leviticus. We had one objective: to find Jesus Christ in it. Using this approach, the entire book opened up to us. We saw Christ on every page. As I recall that experience, I remember realizing just how “sweet” Christ is as a compassionate Savior who saves us to the uttermost.
We discovered that each of the offerings mentioned in Leviticus point to a different aspect of Christ in His atoning work. And so do the feasts.
Today, there’s a lot of debate on the different models of atonement. The book of Leviticus, read Christologically, helps shed light on this debate. It shows that the redemptive work of Christ is too rich, too vast, and too multifaceted to be reduced to one or two aspects. Jesus Christ is the reality of the sin offering, the burnt offering, the trespass offering, the meal offering, the drink offering as well as all of Israel’s feasts.
After finding Christ in the book of Leviticus, I couldn’t understand how a Christian could read that book and get anything spiritual out of it unless they read it Christologically.
Before that summer, reading Leviticus was a laborious task that constituted good medicine for insomnia.
Because the Christological approach to Scripture has been so largely forgotten in most Christian circles today, the result is, that on a functional level (not on a formal level), there are whole sections of Scripture that have fallen into disuse and cease to function among God’s people.
It has been said that the way to know a person is through a narrative. The four Gospels function as a narrative disclosing the Person of Jesus to us. But so does the Old Testament. To put it in a sentence: the function of the Biblical narrative in both Old and New Testaments is to set forth the identity of Jesus Christ.
Jesus—the Teacher of Scripture
In his seminal book, According to the Scriptures, C.H. Dodd traces the way that the New Testament authors quote the Old Testament. In so doing, he finds a pattern. The biblical authors all seem to share a common hermeneutic for understanding the Old Testament. Dodd powerfully argues that the source of this common hermeneutic was Jesus Himself. Jesus Christ taught His disciples how to understand the Old Testament Scriptures, and this is reflected throughout the New Testament writings.
Simply put: the hermeneutical key that Jesus passed on to His disciples was to see Scripture as fulfilled in Himself. Note the following texts where Jesus Himself handles the Scriptures in this way:
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself . . . Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. Luke 24:27, 31
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. Luke 24:44-45
Note that the three sections of the Old Testament canon—the Torah (the Law of Moses), the Prophets, and the Writings (the Psalms)—all speak of Jesus Christ. When Jesus unveiled this truth to them, “their minds were opened to understand the Scriptures.”
So again: the real and total meaning of Scripture is found in Jesus Christ—His Person, His mission, and His work. He is the fulfillment of all Scripture—including the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. Consider His own words:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:17
Hans Frei, the 20th-century professor at Yale, marked a new shift for returning to the Christological way of interpreting Scripture that pre-dates the modern hermeneutic. Frei remarked that a Christological reading of the Old Testament is indispensable if we are going to understand history as the story of God revealing Himself in Jesus.
Frei redefined the literal interpretation of Scripture. He argued that the church’s understanding of Scripture is basically found in Jesus Christ.
Herein lies the charter for Christological interpretation.
To understand the full meaning of Scripture, then, one cannot simply adopt a method of interpretation derived from secular hermeneutic philosophy and start applying it to the Bible.
The truth of the matter is that the Bible has its own hermeneutic.
Examples of the Christological Hermeneutic
Let’s look at some examples of how the New Testament authors interpreted the Scriptures Christologically. You will see that they were all good students of Jesus, adopting the method of biblical interpretation that He passed on to them. The Bible is filled with examples of this approach. What follows is only a small sampling of them.
Romans 5:14 - Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
Here Paul says that Adam was a pattern or a picture of Jesus Christ. Karl Barth argued that many Christians have misunderstood this text, taking it to mean that we must understand Christ in terms of Adam. But the text says that Adam should be understood in terms of Christ. In other words, Adam is a shadow of Christ, and Christ is the fulfillment and reality of that shadow.
This doesn’t suggest that Adam was not a historical person. But it does mean that he depicted Jesus Christ. (Reading Scripture Christologically does not dehistoricize the text.)
In the same spirit, Paul calls Jesus “the last Adam” in 1 Corinthians 15:45. (This insight throws considerable light on the full meaning of Genesis 1 and 2.)
In 1 Corinthians 5:7, Paul says that “Christ is our Passover lamb.”
In 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, Paul takes a Christological interpretation of the Exodus narrative saying, For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
According to Paul, Moses portrays Christ—the great deliverer. The passing through the Red Sea portrays water baptism into Christ. The rock that followed Israel was a picture of Christ also. (Note that the rock was struck and out of it poured water. Jesus Christ was struck with death and out of Him flowed living water.)
In John Chapter 6, Jesus presents Himself as the reality of the manna in the wilderness. In John Chapter 4, He presents Himself as living water. Christ is the real manna, the real water, the real rock, and the real lamb—all of which were pictured in the Old Testament narrative.
In Colossians 2:16-17, Paul continues this line of interpretation asserting that the Old Testament festivals, sabbaths, ceremonial foods and drinks were a picture—or a shadow—of Jesus Christ.
He writes, Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Peter carries on this Christological approach when he unveils the real meaning of the story of Noah’s ark, showing it to be a picture of water baptism in Christ (1 Peter 3:20-22).
The book of Hebrews is saturated with the Christological hermeneutic. According to the author, Christ is the reality and fulfillment of Moses and Joshua—He is the new Moses and the new Joshua (Chapters 3 and 4); Christ is the reality and fulfillment of the Sabbath (Chapter 4); He is the reality and fulfillment of the Old Testament high priest. He is the reality and fulfillment of Melchizedek and Aaron (Chapters 5 through 7). The tabernacle and the tabernacle furniture, along with the Old Testament sacrifices were pictures, shadows, and types of Jesus Christ and His work (Chapters 8 through 10).
Near the end of the epistle, the author of Hebrews summarizes the real meaning of the Torah saying, The Torah is only a shadow of the good things that were coming—not the realities themselves. Hebrews 10:1
The interpretative key to all Scripture is Christ. He is the pattern of the entire Word of God—the lens for understanding the narrative sweep of the Bible. This should not surprise us since Christ is the revelation of God and the incarnation of God’s grand purpose.
As John Calvin aptly put it, “The Scriptures should be read with the aim of finding Christ in them. Whoever turns aside from this object, even though he wears himself out all his life in learning, he will never reach the knowledge of the truth.”
Let’s quickly look at the Old Testament narrative of Isaac. He is a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ. The same is true for Adam, Melchizedek, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, etc. But for the sake of time and space, we’ll just consider Isaac.
* Jesus and Isaac are the only two people in the entire Scripture who are referred to as “the only begotten son” (John 1:18; Hebrews 11:17).
* Isaac is the promised seed (Genesis 17:16). Jesus Christ is the promised seed (Galatians 3:16).
* Isaac's birth was a miracle as it was physically impossible for him to be conceived (Genesis 17:17‑19). Jesus Christ's birth was miraculous as well (Matthew 1:18‑25).
* Abraham was instructed to sacrifice Isaac his son (Genesis 22:1-2). God the Father spared not His only Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16; Romans 8:32).
* The sacrifice of Isaac was on Mount Moriah. (Genesis 22:1-2) Moriah was located on a hill in what would later be called Jerusalem. Jesus Christ died on a hill outside of Jerusalem.
* Isaac was obedient to his father unto death (Genesis 22:5‑12). Jesus Christ was obedient unto His Father unto death (Philippians 2:5‑8).
* Isaac was considered dead by his father for three days (Genesis 22:4). Jesus Christ was dead for three days (1 Corinthians 15:3‑4).
* Isaac carried wood for his own sacrifice (Genesis 22:6). Jesus Christ bore His own cross, which was made of wood (John 19:17‑18).
* After the obedience of Isaac, his mother Sarah died (Genesis 23:1). After the death of Christ, the nation of Israel was set aside (Romans 9-11).
* Abraham gave all things to Isaac (Genesis 25:5). God has given all things to Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:22; Hebrews 1:2).
There are other corresponding points that show how Isaac foreshadowed Christ, but these will suffice.
Hans Frei said that a Christological reading of the Old Testament was in “bad odor today” simply because it was pre-modern. But he espoused it because it’s the only way to find Christ in many Old Testament texts.
Speaking of the Christological heremeneutic, Frei remarks, “Not only Old Testament narrative, but its legal texts and its prophetic as well as wisdom literature are taken to point beyond themselves to their fulfillment in the New Testament. The Jewish texts are taken as types of the story of Jesus as their common antitype—an appropriating procedure that begins in the New Testament, notably in the letters of Paul, the letter to the Hebrews and the Synoptic Gospels, and then becomes a common characteristic of the Christian tradition of scriptural interpretation until modern times.”
In order to grasp the full meaning of the Old Testament text, we must understand the shadows, pictures, and types that the Old Testament narrative contains to reveal Jesus Christ, and His counterpart, the church.
To put it another way, the Christological interpretation of Scripture is a return to the text as it understands itself.
As Rich Lusk put it, “All of Scripture is held together by its testimony of Christ. The Old Covenant Scriptures foreshadow His coming, often in puzzling and paradoxical ways. The New Covenant records His coming and unpacks its meaning. All the types and shadows of the old aeon converge upon Him; from Him emerges a new creation and a transformed Israel.”
Toward an Ecclesial Hermeneutic
Perhaps one of the reasons that some have been reluctant to take a Christological approach to the Old Testament is that they fear the danger of over-allegorization. This fear, however, is rooted in the benighted idea that the Bible can be fully understood by the individual Christian.
I concur with John Howard Yoder in his “hermeneutic of peoplehood.” The biblical text was meant to be understood, not by an individual, but by an interpretative community. That interpretative community is egalitarian—it’s neither comprised of nor directed by a clergy. It is the people of God seeking meaning out of the text by the Holy Spirit together.
All the churches in the New Testament were grassroots, interpretative communities.
An interpretative community that is centered on Jesus Christ will be able to bring out the multifaceted richness of the Biblical text. As each member of the Body seeks to find Christ in Scripture together, all of His glorious aspects can be extracted, uncovered, and grasped. The result is the edification and spiritual nourishment of the community.
As David Buttrick says, “Virtually everything in scripture is written to a faith-community, usually in the style of communal address. Therefore, biblical texts must be set in communal consciousness to be understood.”
The believing community provides a sort of checks and balances, safeguarding the church from over-allegorizing the text and from falling prey to fanciful and bogus interpretations. If someone goes too far in one direction, someone else is present to pull them back in. This is the genius of Christian community.
I do not say this as an arm-chair philosopher. I have lived in such communities for the past twenty years.
Consequently, I am not only arguing for a Christological hermeneutic, I am arguing equally for an ecclesial hermeneutic where the members of a Christian community wrestle with the biblical text together, and seek to find Jesus Christ in them.
This ecclesial approach is completely at odds with today’s common hermeneutic of the individual going into his closet and interpreting Scripture all by himself. Equally so, it’s at odds with the notion that biblical interpretation is the sole property of the scholar who uses his scholarly tools in his personal study as he pours over the text by himself.
John Goldingay isolates the point beautifully when he says, “It can seem as if biblical scholars are the privileged interpreters of scripture. They alone can determine what the Bible means. But the Bible was written for believing communities, not critics, and real biblical interpretation happens when scripture does something to such a community. When the church places special emphasis on an academic and critical approach to scripture, it easily sets up a new type of priestly control of the Christian community by a guild of experts whose work is authoritarian, not in the sense that it cannot be questioned, but in the sense that it is the privileged responsibility of an elite.”
Goldingay goes on to say that the academic approach to Scripture can help a particular community identify its interpretative biases and prevent it from interpreting the Scriptures in light of its own traditions. He sums up his argument by saying, “Interpretation takes place in the context of both the church community and the academic community. We must believe and strive for interpretation that enables these to compliment each other even insofar as they stand in tension with each other.”
Interpreting the New Testament
Note that the Christological approach to Scripture applies to the New Testament as much as it does to the Old. I have heard men and women preach and teach from the New Testament and yet miss the central message of Scripture in the process—which is Jesus Christ.
Contrary to popular belief, the Bible is not a manual for Christian behavior and church practice. It’s a revelation of Emmanuel—the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
It’s all-too common for preachers and teachers today to extract from the New Testament rules, commands, abstract ideas, theories, concepts, and inspiring thoughts, yet fail to present the glorious Person of Jesus Christ.
The New Testament itself teaches that the outstanding mark of New Covenant ministry is the unveiling of Christ. In his comparison of Old Testament ministry verses New Testament ministry, Paul sums up the difference saying, We preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:5
A careful reading of the New Testament clearly shows that its overarching message is Christ. In the Gospels, the subject is Jesus Christ in His earthly life and ministry. In the Gospel of John, we find many hints about His preexistent life. In the book of Acts, we see the apostles preaching Christ. We also see Christ operating through His Body as it expands from Jerusalem to Rome. The epistles reveal the unsearchable riches of Christ and apply the Lord’s mind to crisis situations that confronted the early churches. The book of Revelation is a revelation of Christ in His triumphant victory over the world system.
Yet regardless of the above, it is possible to miss the Person of Christ in the New Testament and instead present something other than Him through them.
To see just how full of Christ the New Testament is, I challenge you to take one of Paul’s epistles and count the number of times he mentions or refers to Jesus Christ. Do this for the first chapter of Ephesians or the first chapter of Colossians, for example. The number of times Paul refers to Christ will astound you.
Paul was a man driven by a revelation of his Lord.
And herein lies the basis of all New Testament ministry.
Consequently, one of the tasks of Christian ministry is to extract Jesus Christ from the Scriptures and present Him in a living way to God’s people.
So the next time you hear a person preach or teach from the Bible, ask yourself: Is this person giving me Jesus Christ . . . are they revealing Christ to me . . . or are they giving me something else?
Jesus Christ is the Christian life. And God the Father has chosen to speak of Him in every age.
Knowing Him, being conformed to His image, and expressing Him in the world with other believers is the goal of the Christian life.
In summary, to properly understand the full meaning of Scripture, two things are necessary:
1. Availing ourselves of all forms of biblical interpretation—including the Christological hermeneutic that the Bible itself contains.
2. Interpreting the Bible as part of an interpretive Christian community rather than as an isolated individual. That community should be willing to draw on the rich history of the Christian church, from the Church Fathers, to the Anabaptists, to the Puritans, to the eastern and western branches of the historic church, etc.
Fleshing It Out
In closing, here are some practical tips that will help you find Jesus Christ in Scripture:
1. Before you read a text, remind yourself of the Christocentric nature of Divine revelation. The Bible contains one revelation and that revelation is a Person—the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, a proper understanding of any text will always lead you to discover more of Christ. Your ultimate goal in reading the Bible is to find Him.
2. Ask yourself when reading a text: “What does this text tell me about Jesus Christ?” That question will get you to the real meaning of the text.
3. If you can’t find Christ in the way that you’re reading a text, then get on different mountain from which to view it. Look at it through a different lens. I suggest you read a book entitled Notes on the Pentateuch by C.H. Mackintosh. The book is an exegetical treasury on the Old Testament that glorifies your Lord. D.L. Moody once said that if all the books in the entire world were to be burned, he would be satisfied to have just one copy of the Bible and C.H. Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch. I have also written a book entitled God’s Ultimate Passion (www.ptmin.org/passion.htm). This book seeks to unlock the grand narrative of Scripture. In it, both Old and New Testaments are unfolded in a Christological way.
4. Interpret the Scriptures with other believers and avail yourself of all the light that the Body of Christ has shed on the Bible in the past and present. Remember: the Bible is addressed to the community of God’s people. And it invites that community to let the biblical narratives shape its vision of the world. Therefore, it’s the ecclesial community that is called to interpret and live out the message of Scripture, not the isolated believer.
5. Discover ways of interacting with Jesus Christ through Scripture. Here are three exercises you can try:
(1) Read the Gospels and the Epistles autobiographically—from the viewpoint of Jesus Christ. This approach owes much to Frank Laubach in his book, The Autobiography of Jesus. It allows the reader to understand Scripture from a whole new perspective and listen to the voice of Christ through it:
Example 1: “When I entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, I said, ‘Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.’ But they laughed at me. After the crowd had been put outside, I went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region. As I went on from there, two blind men followed me, calling out, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David!’“ (Matthew 9:23-27)
Example 2: “For by me all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by me and for me. I am before all things, and in me all things hold together. And I am the head of the body, the church; I am the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything I might have the supremacy.” (Colossians 1:16-18)
(2) Read the Psalms in the voice of Christ. Thomas Merton in his book Bread in the Wilderness said that the main speaker of the Psalms is Jesus Christ.Sometimes it is Jesus Christ in His people. Sometimes it is Jesus Christ in David. But it is always Jesus Christ who is speaking. When you recite the Psalms, therefore, you are in a sense speaking the words of Christ, uniting yourself with Him, being pulled into His presence.
Example: “Father, you are my Shepherd, I shall not want. You make me lie down in green pastures. You lead me beside the still waters. Father, you restore my soul. You guide me in paths of righteousness for your name's sake.” (Psalm 23:1-3)
(3) Praying the Scripture. This approach is ancient, tracing back to the Patristic period. It is known as lectio divina—sacred reading.
Example: “Lord Jesus, I have been crucified with you and I no longer live, but you live in me. The life I live in my body, I live by faith in you—for you love me and you gave yourself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
Sources
According to the Scriptures by C.H. Dodd.
Christ in the Bible (Commentary Series) by A.B. Simpson.
Jesus the Messiah in the Hebrew Bible by Eugen J. Pentiuc.
Models of Interpretation of Scripture by John Goldingay.
Notes on the Pentateuch by C.H. Mackintosh.
Reading in Communion by Stephen Fowl and Gregory Jones.
The Christotelic Spiral by Rich Lusk.
The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative by Hans W. Frei.
The Great Code by Northrop Frye.
“The Hermeneutics of Peoplehood” by John H. Yoder in The Priestly Kingdom.
“The ‘Literal Reading’ of the Biblical Narrative in the Christian Tradition: Will it Bend or Will it Break?”by Hans W. Frei in Frank McConnell’s The Bible and Narrative Tradition.
The Old Testament as the Book of Christ by Martin Kuske.
“The Reasonableness of Typology”by G.W.H. Lampein Essays in Typology.
Typology of Scripture by Patrick Fairbairn.
Virtuoso Theology: The Bible and Interpretation by Frances Young.
Ye Search the Scriptures by Watchman Nee.
Thanks also to my friends, Frank Valdez and Jon Zens.
NOTE TO WEB MASTERS AND BLOGGERS: you are free to link to this article and quote excerpts from it, but please do not post it on your web site or blog.
The link is: www.ptmin.org/beyond.pdf
If you wish to dialogue with Frank about this article, you may email him at Violabooks@aol.com
Copyright © 2007 Present Testimony Ministry www.ptmin.org
Selasa, 23 April 2013
TIPS HUKUMAN BAGI ANAK
TIP: HUKUMAN ATAS KESALAHAN
1. Ingatlah bahwa tujuan disiplin bukanlah hukuman, tetapi suatu keyakinan batin mengenai apa yang benar (Efesus 6:1).
2. Ingatlah bahwa anak Anda paling membutuhkan Anda ketika ia menjadi suka menentang dan sulit.
3. Ingatlah, hukuman harus setara dengan pelanggarannya. Suatu tindakan yang mungkin membahayakan hidupnya atau pelanggaran moral seperti berbohong atau mencuri, jelas akan memerlukan hukuman yang lebih besar daripada memecahkan piring atau pulang terlambat dari rumah tetangga sebelah.
4. Ingatlah bahwa setiap anak itu unik. Anak yang sensitif mungkin takut dengan suara bernada tinggi. Sementara yang lain, yang kurang peka, mungkin menentang bahkan setelah menerima sebuah pukulan.
5. Sedikit penjelasan tentang pemukulan: Kami melakukannya! Alkitab memerintahkan itu: "Kebodohan melekat pada hati orang muda, tetapi tongkat didikan akan mengusir itu dari padanya." (Amsal 22:15) Walaupun Alkitab tidak mengajarkan bahwa semua disiplin bersifat jasmani, "rotan" menetapkan penggunaan yang tepat.
Tentu saja, kita tidak memukul anak-anak kita untuk setiap kesalahan. Kebanyakan pelanggaran tidak pantas dipukul. Kami juga menemukan bahwa disiplin lain sering kali lebih efektif. Akal sehat menyatakan bahwa memukul pasti menyakiti -- bagi beberapa orang. Akan tetapi, semua orang tua harus memahami bahwa memukul bukanlah menghajar. Menghajar adalah tindakan kekerasan kepada anak. Memukul adalah hukuman singkat, terkontrol, dan menyakitkan, yang dimaksudkan untuk membuat si penerima pukulan menyesal karena ia melakukan pelanggaran yang mendatangkan hukuman. Sering kali, hanya sekali pukulan keras atau dua kali jika perlu.
Ketika memberikan disiplin tersebut, kita memberikan penjelasan sederhana, "Apa yang kamu lakukan adalah salah." Kami tidak menahan diri untuk mengekspresikan kecemasan atau kemarahan kami atas kesalahan tersebut. Namun, kami selalu menegaskan kasih kami sebelum dan sesudah memberikan disiplin. Bagaimanapun, disiplin yang benar adalah suatu tindakan kasih. Demikian pula, hukuman tidaklah benar-benar efektif tanpa latar belakang pujian. Sering kali, kita memberikan pengampunan, "Kamu pantas mendapat pukulan, tetapi kami tidak akan melakukannya kepadamu."
Sebuah penyesalan tentang memukul: Dulu, kami pernah memukul putri sulung kami karena mengikuti saran seorang "ahli" yang menyarankan untuk "memukul sampai mereka menjerit pelan". Sampai hari ini, putri kami mengingat bahwa pukulan itu tidak adil, dan ia benar. Tolong, memukullah dengan cara pandang yang benar. (t/Jing-Jing)
Diterjemahkan dari:
Judul asli buku: Common Sense Parenting
Judul bab: Common-Sense Tips Regarding Discipline
Judul asli artikel: Punishment for Wrongdoing
Penulis: Kent & Barbara Hughes
Penerbit: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton 1995
Halaman: 219 -- 220
1. Ingatlah bahwa tujuan disiplin bukanlah hukuman, tetapi suatu keyakinan batin mengenai apa yang benar (Efesus 6:1).
2. Ingatlah bahwa anak Anda paling membutuhkan Anda ketika ia menjadi suka menentang dan sulit.
3. Ingatlah, hukuman harus setara dengan pelanggarannya. Suatu tindakan yang mungkin membahayakan hidupnya atau pelanggaran moral seperti berbohong atau mencuri, jelas akan memerlukan hukuman yang lebih besar daripada memecahkan piring atau pulang terlambat dari rumah tetangga sebelah.
4. Ingatlah bahwa setiap anak itu unik. Anak yang sensitif mungkin takut dengan suara bernada tinggi. Sementara yang lain, yang kurang peka, mungkin menentang bahkan setelah menerima sebuah pukulan.
5. Sedikit penjelasan tentang pemukulan: Kami melakukannya! Alkitab memerintahkan itu: "Kebodohan melekat pada hati orang muda, tetapi tongkat didikan akan mengusir itu dari padanya." (Amsal 22:15) Walaupun Alkitab tidak mengajarkan bahwa semua disiplin bersifat jasmani, "rotan" menetapkan penggunaan yang tepat.
Tentu saja, kita tidak memukul anak-anak kita untuk setiap kesalahan. Kebanyakan pelanggaran tidak pantas dipukul. Kami juga menemukan bahwa disiplin lain sering kali lebih efektif. Akal sehat menyatakan bahwa memukul pasti menyakiti -- bagi beberapa orang. Akan tetapi, semua orang tua harus memahami bahwa memukul bukanlah menghajar. Menghajar adalah tindakan kekerasan kepada anak. Memukul adalah hukuman singkat, terkontrol, dan menyakitkan, yang dimaksudkan untuk membuat si penerima pukulan menyesal karena ia melakukan pelanggaran yang mendatangkan hukuman. Sering kali, hanya sekali pukulan keras atau dua kali jika perlu.
Ketika memberikan disiplin tersebut, kita memberikan penjelasan sederhana, "Apa yang kamu lakukan adalah salah." Kami tidak menahan diri untuk mengekspresikan kecemasan atau kemarahan kami atas kesalahan tersebut. Namun, kami selalu menegaskan kasih kami sebelum dan sesudah memberikan disiplin. Bagaimanapun, disiplin yang benar adalah suatu tindakan kasih. Demikian pula, hukuman tidaklah benar-benar efektif tanpa latar belakang pujian. Sering kali, kita memberikan pengampunan, "Kamu pantas mendapat pukulan, tetapi kami tidak akan melakukannya kepadamu."
Sebuah penyesalan tentang memukul: Dulu, kami pernah memukul putri sulung kami karena mengikuti saran seorang "ahli" yang menyarankan untuk "memukul sampai mereka menjerit pelan". Sampai hari ini, putri kami mengingat bahwa pukulan itu tidak adil, dan ia benar. Tolong, memukullah dengan cara pandang yang benar. (t/Jing-Jing)
Diterjemahkan dari:
Judul asli buku: Common Sense Parenting
Judul bab: Common-Sense Tips Regarding Discipline
Judul asli artikel: Punishment for Wrongdoing
Penulis: Kent & Barbara Hughes
Penerbit: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton 1995
Halaman: 219 -- 220
BIMBINGAN ALKITABIAH: MENGAJAR ANAK UNTUK BERTANGGUNG JAWAB
BIMBINGAN ALKITABIAH: MENGAJAR ANAK UNTUK BERTANGGUNG JAWAB
Setiap anak telah diciptakan menurut gambar dan rupa Allah dan memiliki berbagai kemampuan pribadi dan tanggung jawab yang unik, yang diberikan Allah kepadanya. Untuk dapat mencapai segala potensi yang ada di dalam dirinya, seorang anak harus diajar tentang cara menggunakan hikmat dan kasih karunia Allah dalam membuat keputusan-keputusan yang benar.
Menabur dan Menuai
1. Kebenaran-kebenaran tentang menabur dan menuai apa yang dapat Anda lihat dalam Galatia 6:7-9?
2. Bacalah Lukas 15:11-32 dengan mengingat prinsip bahwa kita menuai apa yang kita tabur. Menurut Anda, apa yang dipelajari anak bungsu itu dari pengalamannya di negeri yang jauh?
3. Konsep-konsep tanggung jawab apa yang diajarkan Tuhan Yesus dalam Lukas 16:10-12?
4. Dalam proses pertumbuhan, Allah menjanjikan banyak berkat kepada orang yang menuruti prinsip-prinsip dan perintah-perintah-Nya. Anak-anak kita akan mendapatkan banyak manfaat dari janji-janji ini pada waktu mereka belajar menuruti petunjuk yang diberikan Allah. Dari Amsal 3:1-12, daftarkanlah apa yang diperintahkan untuk dilakukan dan tidak dilakukan, dan apa yang dijanjikan kalau kita menaati perintah-Nya itu. Sediakan waktu khusus dalam minggu ini untuk berdoa bersama-sama dengan suami atau istri Anda, dan mohonlah supaya Allah mengembangkan sifat-sifat tersebut dalam diri anak-anak Anda.
5. Ambillah satu konsep dari Amsal 3:1-12, kemudian bersama suami atau istri rencanakanlah sebuah pelajaran (misalnya renungan bersama) untuk menolong anak-anak memahami konsep tersebut. Tuliskanlah rencana Anda.
Pada waktu seorang anak bertumbuh menjadi semakin besar, maka makin banyak pula tanggung jawabnya untuk mengambil berbagai keputusan dalam segala aspek kehidupannya.
6. Bacalah perumpamaan Tuhan Yesus tentang seorang hamba yang tidak berbelas kasihan dalam Matius 18:21-35. Apa yang dapat Anda pelajari dari ayat-ayat ini tentang menjadi teladan bagi anak-anak Anda?
Pertanggungjawaban
7. Beberapa kebenaran penting tentang pertanggungjawaban tercantum dalam riwayat hidup Kain dalam Kejadian 4:1-16. Bacalah bagian Alkitab tersebut. Dalam ayat 6-7, menurut Anda apa yang sedang dikomunikasikan Tuhan kepada Kain di sini? Bagaimana cara Allah menangani dosa Kain? (ayat 10-12)
8. Perhatikan kembali Kejadian 4:5-12. Pilihan-pilihan buruk apa yang diambil Kain, padahal sebenarnya ia dapat memilih yang lebih baik. Pilihan yang bagaimana yang lebih baik itu?
Menanggulangi Godaan
Kita semua sering tergoda untuk mengabaikan tanggung jawab yang diberikan Allah kepada kita sendiri. Pencobaan-pencobaan ini, menurut 1 Korintus 10:13, ialah pencobaan-pencobaan yang lazim dialami manusia. Akan tetapi, pencobaan-pencobaan dapat dihadapi dan diatasi. Untuk dapat melaksanakan tanggung jawab mereka seumur hidup, anak-anak harus belajar bagaimana bertindak dalam menghadapi godaan, bagaimana memohon dan menerima pengampunan, dan bagaimana menikmati kemenangan di dalam Kristus.
9. Ringkaskanlah proses pencobaan dan dosa yang dilukiskan dalam Yakobus 1:13-15.
10. Bacalah 1 Korintus 10:12-13. Daftarkanlah prinsip-prinsip pokok yang terdapat dalam pasal ini, sama seperti jika Anda sedang menjelaskannya kepada anak-anak Anda.
11. Bacalah Kejadian 1:1-6. Apa buktinya bahwa Hawa dan Adam sendiri yang bertanggung jawab atas dosa memakan buah yang dilarang itu?
12. Allah telah menyediakan jalan untuk beroleh penyucian dan pemulihan jika berbuat dosa. Bacalah 1 Yohanes 1:9 dan 1 Yohanes 2:1-2. Bagaimana hubungan ayat-ayat itu dengan ilustrasi yang berikut ini?
Pencobaan --> proses pemikiran --> dosa --> hubungan yang terputus --> perasaan bersalah --> pengakuan dan pertobatan --> persekutuan dengan Allah.
Dalam ilustrasi di atas, di tingkat manakah dalam lingkaran itu yang dapat kita putuskan sehingga dosa dapat dihindari? Bagaimana caranya supaya kita menang? Bagaimana kita dapat mengajarkan cara untuk mendapatkan kemenangan itu kepada anak-anak kita?
Meningkatkan Pengendalian Diri
Belajar mengendalikan diri merupakan kunci untuk meningkatkan rasa tanggung jawab.
13. Bacalah Mazmur 19:15, Amsal 6:6-11, Amsal 16:32, Filipi 4:8, dan 1 Petrus 2:11. Dari ayat-ayat tersebut, daftarkanlah beberapa bidang kehidupan yang di dalamnya kita harus mengendalikan diri.
14. Bacalah Amsal 25:28. Bagaimana sebenarnya keadaan orang yang tidak dapat mengendalikan diri itu? Coba jelaskan makna dari ayat tersebut!
15. Bacalah Galatia 5:22-23 dan 2 Timotius 1:7. Sumber daya apa yang kita miliki untuk dapat mengendalikan diri?
16. Firman Allah Yang Hidup (FAYH, terbitan Kalam Hidup, Kotak Pos 1061, Bandung 40010) menerjemahkan Roma 8:12-13 sebagai berikut, "Oleh karena itu, Saudara sekalian yang saya kasihi, Saudara sama sekali tidak berkewajiban memenuhi tuntutan tabiat lama yang penuh dosa itu. Sebab, jika Saudara terus mengikutinya, Saudara sesat dan akan binasa; tetapi, jika oleh kuasa Roh Kudus Saudara menghancurkan tabiat itu dan perbuatan jahatnya, Saudara akan hidup." Dari ayat-ayat Alkitab ini, menurut Anda apa yang merupakan kunci untuk mengendalikan diri?
17. Sebutkanlah satu bidang yang di dalamnya Anda perlu lebih mengendalikan diri. Dalam minggu ini, langkah-langkah apa yang dapat Anda ambil untuk memperbaiki diri dalam bidang ini supaya kehidupan Anda dapat menjadi teladan bagi anak-anak Anda?
18. Dalam bidang mana anak-anak Anda perlu diberi dorongan supaya mereka dapat lebih mengendalikan diri? Bagaimana cara melaksanakannya?
Penerapan
19. Sambil berdoa, perhatikan kembali jawaban-jawaban Anda dalam pasal ini. Daftarkanlah hal-hal yang baru Anda pelajari, yang paling berarti bagi Anda.
20. Sehubungan dengan apa yang Anda pelajari dalam pasal ini, jelaskanlah satu keperluan dalam keluarga Anda atau dalam kehidupan Anda sendiri, yang Anda rasa perlu diperhatikan pada saat ini. Ayat atau ayat-ayat Alkitab mana dalam pasal ini yang ada hubungannya dengan keperluan Anda tersebut? Tindakan khusus apa yang akan Anda ambil? Bagaimana Anda akan mengevaluasi kemajuan yang Anda capai?
Saran untuk Proyek Keluarga
Buatlah sebuah bagan untuk pemeriksaan yang menunjukkan berbagai tanggung jawab di rumah atau di tempat lain bagi setiap anak Anda. Izinkan anak-anak menolong Anda saat membuat bagan itu, kemudian diskusikan bersama mereka. Berilah kesempatan kepada mereka untuk mengusulkan perubahan atau tambahan untuk tugas-tugas yang harus mereka lakukan, kemudian perhatikanlah supaya setiap anak mengerti tugasnya dan melakukannya sesuai dengan jadwal tugas mereka.
Diambil dan disunting seperlunya dari:
Judul asli buku: Parents and Children -- God's Design for the Family
Judul buku terjemahan: Orang Tua dan Anak-Anak
Penulis: Para Navigator
Penerjemah: Tim khusus para Navigator Indonesia
Penerbit: Yayasan Kalam Hidup, Bandung 1980
Halaman: 53 -- 63
Setiap anak telah diciptakan menurut gambar dan rupa Allah dan memiliki berbagai kemampuan pribadi dan tanggung jawab yang unik, yang diberikan Allah kepadanya. Untuk dapat mencapai segala potensi yang ada di dalam dirinya, seorang anak harus diajar tentang cara menggunakan hikmat dan kasih karunia Allah dalam membuat keputusan-keputusan yang benar.
Menabur dan Menuai
1. Kebenaran-kebenaran tentang menabur dan menuai apa yang dapat Anda lihat dalam Galatia 6:7-9?
2. Bacalah Lukas 15:11-32 dengan mengingat prinsip bahwa kita menuai apa yang kita tabur. Menurut Anda, apa yang dipelajari anak bungsu itu dari pengalamannya di negeri yang jauh?
3. Konsep-konsep tanggung jawab apa yang diajarkan Tuhan Yesus dalam Lukas 16:10-12?
4. Dalam proses pertumbuhan, Allah menjanjikan banyak berkat kepada orang yang menuruti prinsip-prinsip dan perintah-perintah-Nya. Anak-anak kita akan mendapatkan banyak manfaat dari janji-janji ini pada waktu mereka belajar menuruti petunjuk yang diberikan Allah. Dari Amsal 3:1-12, daftarkanlah apa yang diperintahkan untuk dilakukan dan tidak dilakukan, dan apa yang dijanjikan kalau kita menaati perintah-Nya itu. Sediakan waktu khusus dalam minggu ini untuk berdoa bersama-sama dengan suami atau istri Anda, dan mohonlah supaya Allah mengembangkan sifat-sifat tersebut dalam diri anak-anak Anda.
5. Ambillah satu konsep dari Amsal 3:1-12, kemudian bersama suami atau istri rencanakanlah sebuah pelajaran (misalnya renungan bersama) untuk menolong anak-anak memahami konsep tersebut. Tuliskanlah rencana Anda.
Pada waktu seorang anak bertumbuh menjadi semakin besar, maka makin banyak pula tanggung jawabnya untuk mengambil berbagai keputusan dalam segala aspek kehidupannya.
6. Bacalah perumpamaan Tuhan Yesus tentang seorang hamba yang tidak berbelas kasihan dalam Matius 18:21-35. Apa yang dapat Anda pelajari dari ayat-ayat ini tentang menjadi teladan bagi anak-anak Anda?
Pertanggungjawaban
7. Beberapa kebenaran penting tentang pertanggungjawaban tercantum dalam riwayat hidup Kain dalam Kejadian 4:1-16. Bacalah bagian Alkitab tersebut. Dalam ayat 6-7, menurut Anda apa yang sedang dikomunikasikan Tuhan kepada Kain di sini? Bagaimana cara Allah menangani dosa Kain? (ayat 10-12)
8. Perhatikan kembali Kejadian 4:5-12. Pilihan-pilihan buruk apa yang diambil Kain, padahal sebenarnya ia dapat memilih yang lebih baik. Pilihan yang bagaimana yang lebih baik itu?
Menanggulangi Godaan
Kita semua sering tergoda untuk mengabaikan tanggung jawab yang diberikan Allah kepada kita sendiri. Pencobaan-pencobaan ini, menurut 1 Korintus 10:13, ialah pencobaan-pencobaan yang lazim dialami manusia. Akan tetapi, pencobaan-pencobaan dapat dihadapi dan diatasi. Untuk dapat melaksanakan tanggung jawab mereka seumur hidup, anak-anak harus belajar bagaimana bertindak dalam menghadapi godaan, bagaimana memohon dan menerima pengampunan, dan bagaimana menikmati kemenangan di dalam Kristus.
9. Ringkaskanlah proses pencobaan dan dosa yang dilukiskan dalam Yakobus 1:13-15.
10. Bacalah 1 Korintus 10:12-13. Daftarkanlah prinsip-prinsip pokok yang terdapat dalam pasal ini, sama seperti jika Anda sedang menjelaskannya kepada anak-anak Anda.
11. Bacalah Kejadian 1:1-6. Apa buktinya bahwa Hawa dan Adam sendiri yang bertanggung jawab atas dosa memakan buah yang dilarang itu?
12. Allah telah menyediakan jalan untuk beroleh penyucian dan pemulihan jika berbuat dosa. Bacalah 1 Yohanes 1:9 dan 1 Yohanes 2:1-2. Bagaimana hubungan ayat-ayat itu dengan ilustrasi yang berikut ini?
Pencobaan --> proses pemikiran --> dosa --> hubungan yang terputus --> perasaan bersalah --> pengakuan dan pertobatan --> persekutuan dengan Allah.
Dalam ilustrasi di atas, di tingkat manakah dalam lingkaran itu yang dapat kita putuskan sehingga dosa dapat dihindari? Bagaimana caranya supaya kita menang? Bagaimana kita dapat mengajarkan cara untuk mendapatkan kemenangan itu kepada anak-anak kita?
Meningkatkan Pengendalian Diri
Belajar mengendalikan diri merupakan kunci untuk meningkatkan rasa tanggung jawab.
13. Bacalah Mazmur 19:15, Amsal 6:6-11, Amsal 16:32, Filipi 4:8, dan 1 Petrus 2:11. Dari ayat-ayat tersebut, daftarkanlah beberapa bidang kehidupan yang di dalamnya kita harus mengendalikan diri.
14. Bacalah Amsal 25:28. Bagaimana sebenarnya keadaan orang yang tidak dapat mengendalikan diri itu? Coba jelaskan makna dari ayat tersebut!
15. Bacalah Galatia 5:22-23 dan 2 Timotius 1:7. Sumber daya apa yang kita miliki untuk dapat mengendalikan diri?
16. Firman Allah Yang Hidup (FAYH, terbitan Kalam Hidup, Kotak Pos 1061, Bandung 40010) menerjemahkan Roma 8:12-13 sebagai berikut, "Oleh karena itu, Saudara sekalian yang saya kasihi, Saudara sama sekali tidak berkewajiban memenuhi tuntutan tabiat lama yang penuh dosa itu. Sebab, jika Saudara terus mengikutinya, Saudara sesat dan akan binasa; tetapi, jika oleh kuasa Roh Kudus Saudara menghancurkan tabiat itu dan perbuatan jahatnya, Saudara akan hidup." Dari ayat-ayat Alkitab ini, menurut Anda apa yang merupakan kunci untuk mengendalikan diri?
17. Sebutkanlah satu bidang yang di dalamnya Anda perlu lebih mengendalikan diri. Dalam minggu ini, langkah-langkah apa yang dapat Anda ambil untuk memperbaiki diri dalam bidang ini supaya kehidupan Anda dapat menjadi teladan bagi anak-anak Anda?
18. Dalam bidang mana anak-anak Anda perlu diberi dorongan supaya mereka dapat lebih mengendalikan diri? Bagaimana cara melaksanakannya?
Penerapan
19. Sambil berdoa, perhatikan kembali jawaban-jawaban Anda dalam pasal ini. Daftarkanlah hal-hal yang baru Anda pelajari, yang paling berarti bagi Anda.
20. Sehubungan dengan apa yang Anda pelajari dalam pasal ini, jelaskanlah satu keperluan dalam keluarga Anda atau dalam kehidupan Anda sendiri, yang Anda rasa perlu diperhatikan pada saat ini. Ayat atau ayat-ayat Alkitab mana dalam pasal ini yang ada hubungannya dengan keperluan Anda tersebut? Tindakan khusus apa yang akan Anda ambil? Bagaimana Anda akan mengevaluasi kemajuan yang Anda capai?
Saran untuk Proyek Keluarga
Buatlah sebuah bagan untuk pemeriksaan yang menunjukkan berbagai tanggung jawab di rumah atau di tempat lain bagi setiap anak Anda. Izinkan anak-anak menolong Anda saat membuat bagan itu, kemudian diskusikan bersama mereka. Berilah kesempatan kepada mereka untuk mengusulkan perubahan atau tambahan untuk tugas-tugas yang harus mereka lakukan, kemudian perhatikanlah supaya setiap anak mengerti tugasnya dan melakukannya sesuai dengan jadwal tugas mereka.
Diambil dan disunting seperlunya dari:
Judul asli buku: Parents and Children -- God's Design for the Family
Judul buku terjemahan: Orang Tua dan Anak-Anak
Penulis: Para Navigator
Penerjemah: Tim khusus para Navigator Indonesia
Penerbit: Yayasan Kalam Hidup, Bandung 1980
Halaman: 53 -- 63
Rabu, 10 April 2013
MEMBIMBING ANAK BERORIENTASI KEPADA ALLAH
CAKRAWALA: MEMBIMBING ANAK BERORIENTASI KEPADA ALLAH
Diringkas oleh: S. Setyawati
Jika kita amati, arah perahu layar sebenarnya tidak hanya ditentukan oleh arah angin, tetapi oleh keseimbangan dari layar. Ibarat memasang layar dalam perahu, demikianlah yang terjadi ketika kita memperkenalkan anak pada kebenaran Allah. Bagaimanakah respons anak terhadap pengaruh-pengaruh yang ada di sekitarnya ditentukan oleh orientasi anak kepada Allah.
Amsal 9:7-10 membedakan respons dari pencemooh dan orang bijak terhadap kecaman dan didikan, "Siapa mendidik seorang pencemooh, mendatangkan cemooh kepada dirinya sendiri, dan siapa mengecam orang fasik, mendapat cela. Janganlah mengecam seorang pencemooh, supaya engkau jangan dibencinya, kecamlah orang bijak, maka engkau akan dikasihinya, berilah orang bijak nasihat, maka ia akan menjadi lebih bijak, ajarilah orang benar, maka pengetahuannya akan bertambah. Permulaan hikmat adalah takut akan TUHAN, dan mengenal Yang Mahakudus adalah pengertian." Ayat 10 menolong kita untuk mengetahui apakah seorang anak akan menjadi seorang pencemooh atau seorang bijak. Takut kepada Tuhanlah yang membuat orang menjadi bijaksana, dan hikmat yang menentukan bagaimana seseorang menanggapi koreksi atau kritikan.
Orientasi kepada Allah
Semua manusia mempunyai orientasi kepada Allah dan setiap orang pada dasarnya bersifat religius, termasuk anak-anak. Mereka adalah makhluk penyembah. Namun, siapa yang mereka sembah, Tuhan atau berhala?
Seperti orang dewasa, anak-anak tidak pernah bersikap netral. Namun, mereka perlu dibimbing agar dapat menyaring pengetahuan dari luar dirinya sesuai kebenaran ilahi. Roma 1:18-19 mengatakan, "Sebab murka Allah nyata dari surga atas segala kefasikan dan kelaliman manusia, yang menindas kebenaran dengan kelaliman. Karena apa yang dapat mereka ketahui tentang Allah nyata bagi mereka, sebab Allah telah menyatakan kepada mereka." Semua orang seharusnya mengerti kebenaran Allah dengan jelas, tetapi orang-orang yang tidak peduli akan Tuhan menindas kebenaran itu. Mereka tidak mau mengakui dan tunduk pada perkara-perkara yang dikehendaki Allah. Seperti yang dikatakan Paulus bahwa kendati pun mereka mengenal Allah tetapi mereka tidak memuliakan Dia, sebaliknya pikiran mereka menjadi sia-sia dan pada akhirnya menyembah berhala.
Lalu, bagaimana respons anak-anak Anda? Apakah mereka merespons Allah dengan iman atau menindas kebenaran-Nya dengan kejahatan. Jika mereka merespons Allah dengan iman, berarti mereka sungguh-sungguh mengenal Allah dan melayani-Nya. Jika mereka menindas kebenaran dengan kejahatan, maka mereka mungkin akan menyembah dan melayani ciptaan, bukan Sang Pencipta. Inilah yang dimaksud "berorientasi kepada Allah".
Memilih Antara Dua Jalan
Dalam kehidupan ini ada dua pilihan. Pilihan pertama adalah menyembah Allah yang sejati dan memiliki hati yang berorientasi untuk mengenal dan melayani Allah lebih baik. Pilihan kedua adalah menyembah berhala -- hal-hal yang bukan Allah dan tidak dapat memuaskan.
Bagaimana dengan keberadaan seseorang jika ia masih kecil atau anak-anak? Anak-anak barangkali tidak menyadari komitmen keagamaannya, tetapi dia juga tidak bersikap netral. Karena Allah menciptakan anak-anak segambar dengan rupa Allah, maka mereka dirancang dengan suatu kecenderungan untuk beribadah. Daud mengingatkan kita akan hal ini dalam Mazmur 58:4, "Sejak lahir orang-orang fasik telah menyimpang, sejak dari kandungan pendusta-pendusta telah sesat." Bandingkan dengan Mazmur 51:7, "Sesungguhnya, dalam kesalahan aku diperanakkan, dalam dosa aku dikandung ibuku." Kedua ayat di atas menyatakan bahwa anak-anak sejak dalam kandungan sudah mempunyai sifat suka melawan dan penuh dosa. Mungkin ada banyak orang yang mengatakan bahwa seseorang berdosa ketika dia berbuat dosa, tetapi Alkitab menyatakan bahwa orang berbuat dosa karena dia adalah manusia berdosa. Hal ini juga terjadi pada anak-anak, mereka secara moral tidak pernah netral, bahkan sejak dari kandungan.
Jika demikian, apakah memukul pantat sebagai bentuk hukuman kepada anak itu benar? Ya, seperti dalam Amsal 22:15, "Kebodohan melekat pada hati orang muda, tetapi tongkat didikan akan mengusir itu dari padanya." Maksudnya, orang tua harus membimbing anak jika ada sesuatu yang salah dalam hatinya. Pembimbingan orang tua perlu dilakukan bukan semata-mata untuk mengubah struktur rumah tangga, tetapi mengubah hati anak.
Hati Tidak Bersifat Netral
Karena hati anak-anak tidak netral, ia akan cenderung menyembah Allah atau berhala. Berhala-berhala yang dimaksud bukanlah patung-patung kecil, tetapi hal-hal yang mendominasi keinginan hati anak, misalnya rasa takut kepada orang, keinginan-keinginan jahat, berbagai nafsu, dan kesombongan. Selain itu, berhala zaman sekarang juga mencakup kecenderungan untuk berpikiran duniawi dan mencintai perkara-perkara yang rendah.
Anak-anak berinteraksi dengan pengalaman masa kanak-kanak berdasarkan kecenderungan mereka kepada Allah. Apakah mereka merespons kehidupan sebagai anak-anak beriman yang mengenal, mengasihi, dan melayani Tuhan, atau sebagai anak-anak yang bodoh, tidak mau percaya, tidak mengenal maupun melayani Dia. Yang terpenting adalah mereka memberikan respons, mereka tidak netral. Mereka bukan merupakan hasil penjumlahan dari semua hal yang kita masukkan ke dalam diri mereka, mereka berinteraksi dengan kehidupan. Hasilnya, anak dapat memiliki iman sesuai perjanjian yang sejati atau ketidakpercayaan karena ia mengikuti perjanjian dengan berhala.
Kepada Siapakah Anak Akan Beribadah?
Membesarkan anak bukan sekadar memberikan masukan-masukan yang baik, mengajak anak untuk menciptakan suasana rumah tangga yang konstruktif, dan membentuk anak yang memiliki hubungan harmonis dengan orang tua. Ada hal penting lainnya yang harus dilakukan, yaitu yang terkait dengan interaksi dengan Allah yang hidup.
Dalam perkembangannya, di satu sisi, anak bisa diarahkan untuk menyembah dan melayani Allah, serta memiliki pemahaman yang semakin berkembang tentang siapakah sebenarnya Allah itu. Namun di sisi lain, anak bisa juga mencari kehidupan yang terpisah dari Allah. Ketika anak menyakini dalam hatinya bahwa Allah itu tidak ada, dia telah menjadi penyembah berhala. Dalam hal ini, orang tua bertugas untuk menggembalakan si anak dan memperkenalkannya kepada Allah, satu-satunya Pribadi yang layak disembah. Pastikan bahwa anak tidak semakin jauh tersesat. Segeralah menolongnya untuk kembali ke jalan kebenaran Tuhan.
Berbagai Pengertian yang Berguna untuk Membesarkan Anak
Sebagian besar buku "parenting" berusaha membantu kita untuk melakukan langkah terbaik dalam memberikan pengaruh positif untuk membangun karakter anak. Semua rahasia dan gagasan-gagasan kreatif, dan yang paling konsisten dari sudut pandang Alkitab diberikan untuk membentuk karakter anak yang lebih baik. Hal itu memang tidak salah, tetapi kita juga perlu memberikan pendekatan-pendekatan yang benar dan bijaksana terhadap penggembalaan anak dengan menjangkau hatinya (Amsal 4:23). Berdasarkan pemikiran ini, kita harus mengajarkan kepada anak-anak bahwa mereka dapat menemukan kepuasan dan kebahagiaan hanya jika mereka mengenal dan melayani Allah yang hidup.
Pada umumnya, setiap orang ingin memberikan pengaruh-pengaruh yang membangun dan yang terbaik kepada anak-anaknya, memiliki rasa kekeluargaan yang mampu menciptakan rasa aman dan nyaman bagi seluruh anggota keluarga, dan hubungan-hubungan berkualitas dalam keluarga yang sehat, sehingga anugerah dan belas kasihan Allah bagi orang-orang berdosa dan karakter-Nya dapat ditunjukkan. Hal ini sangat baik. Akan tetapi, perlu diingat juga untuk mengajar anak-anak menjaga kebenaran sesuai firman Tuhan. Apabila anak membuat kesalahan, kita berhak memberikan hukuman-hukuman yang pantas dan wajar kepada anak untuk mencerminkan pandangan Allah yang kudus terhadap dosa.
Sayangnya, fakta terkadang tidak terjadi seperti yang kita harapkan. Serapi dan sebaik mungkin kita menjaga kerukunan dan keharmonisan rumah tangga, ada saja kegagalan-kegagalan yang harus kita alami. Karena anak bukanlah sebuah produk dari pengaruh-pengaruh positif dan berinteraksi dengan semua hal yang terjadi dalam hidup, maka anak bisa saja merespons kebaikan dan belas kasihan Allah dalam bentuk iman atau dengan ketidakpercayaan. Bagaimana dengan anak-anak Anda? Apakah mereka semakin mengasihi dan percaya kepada Allah yang hidup, atau semakin mengamalkan berbagai bentuk penyembahan berhala dan mengandalkan dirinya sendiri?
Karena respons anak terhadap kehidupan ditentukan oleh orientasi hatinya kepada Allah, maka kita sejak dini harus mengajarkan kepada anak untuk memiliki hati yang mengasihi Tuhan dan menaati kehendak-Nya. Jangan biarkan sifat mementingkan diri sendiri dan suka melawan otoritas yang ada dalam diri anak-anak sebagai sesuatu yang remeh dan hanya pencerminan dari ketidakdewasaan. Hal itu dapat berkembang ke arah yang lebih buruk jika kita tidak mengarahkan anak ke jalan yang benar.
Albert yang masih muda adalah anak yang suka mencuri. Dia bahkan berbohong pada saat-saat yang sulit. Dia sering mencuri uang orang tuanya, namun ayahnya tetap berpendapat bahwa perilakunya hanyalah cermin ketidakdewasaan (ketidakmatangan) anak-anak. Albert memang belum dewasa, tetapi itu bukan alasan bahwa dia tidak dapat dipercaya. Alasan dia tidak dapat dipercaya adalah karena dia adalah orang berdosa. Albert berusaha untuk menjadi berarti walaupun kehidupannya tanpa Allah. Melalui penyembahan berhala dalam bentuk perlawanannya terhadap otoritas atau kekuasaan Allah dan melalui ketetapan hatinya untuk menjadi penguasa bagi dirinya sendiri, dia menjadi anak yang tidak pantas dipercaya. Ayah Albert tidak dapat menolong anaknya, kecuali dia menyadari bahwa perilaku Albert mencerminkan hati yang telah menyimpang dari Allah. Hanya dengan pengenalan yang benar akan Allahlah yang dapat membuat anak tetap memiliki karakter yang benar, bukan sekadar memberikan pengaruh-pengaruh yang positif saja. Contoh yang dapat kita gunakan adalah Yusuf (Kejadian 50:19-21) dan gadis pelayan istri Naaman (2 Raja-Raja 5:6-7).
Kesimpulan:
Hal utama yang perlu diingat orang tua adalah bijaksana dalam menata pengaruh-pengaruh yang positif, yang membentuk kehidupan anak-anak dan secara aktif menggembalakan hati mereka agar berorientasi kepada Allah. Jangan lupa untuk membawa anak-anak kita dalam doa agar Allah bekerja di dalam dan di seluruh upaya kita serta di dalam respons anak-anak kita, untuk menjadikan mereka orang-orang yang mengenal dan menghormati Allah.
Diringkas dari:
Judul buku: Shepherding A Child's Heart: Menggembalakan Anak Anda
Judul asli artikel: Perkembangan Anak Saudara: Orientasi yang Mengarah kepada Allah
Penulis: Tedd Tripp
Penerbit: Yayasan Penerbit Gandum Mas, 2002
Halaman: 47 -- 56
Diringkas oleh: S. Setyawati
Jika kita amati, arah perahu layar sebenarnya tidak hanya ditentukan oleh arah angin, tetapi oleh keseimbangan dari layar. Ibarat memasang layar dalam perahu, demikianlah yang terjadi ketika kita memperkenalkan anak pada kebenaran Allah. Bagaimanakah respons anak terhadap pengaruh-pengaruh yang ada di sekitarnya ditentukan oleh orientasi anak kepada Allah.
Amsal 9:7-10 membedakan respons dari pencemooh dan orang bijak terhadap kecaman dan didikan, "Siapa mendidik seorang pencemooh, mendatangkan cemooh kepada dirinya sendiri, dan siapa mengecam orang fasik, mendapat cela. Janganlah mengecam seorang pencemooh, supaya engkau jangan dibencinya, kecamlah orang bijak, maka engkau akan dikasihinya, berilah orang bijak nasihat, maka ia akan menjadi lebih bijak, ajarilah orang benar, maka pengetahuannya akan bertambah. Permulaan hikmat adalah takut akan TUHAN, dan mengenal Yang Mahakudus adalah pengertian." Ayat 10 menolong kita untuk mengetahui apakah seorang anak akan menjadi seorang pencemooh atau seorang bijak. Takut kepada Tuhanlah yang membuat orang menjadi bijaksana, dan hikmat yang menentukan bagaimana seseorang menanggapi koreksi atau kritikan.
Orientasi kepada Allah
Semua manusia mempunyai orientasi kepada Allah dan setiap orang pada dasarnya bersifat religius, termasuk anak-anak. Mereka adalah makhluk penyembah. Namun, siapa yang mereka sembah, Tuhan atau berhala?
Seperti orang dewasa, anak-anak tidak pernah bersikap netral. Namun, mereka perlu dibimbing agar dapat menyaring pengetahuan dari luar dirinya sesuai kebenaran ilahi. Roma 1:18-19 mengatakan, "Sebab murka Allah nyata dari surga atas segala kefasikan dan kelaliman manusia, yang menindas kebenaran dengan kelaliman. Karena apa yang dapat mereka ketahui tentang Allah nyata bagi mereka, sebab Allah telah menyatakan kepada mereka." Semua orang seharusnya mengerti kebenaran Allah dengan jelas, tetapi orang-orang yang tidak peduli akan Tuhan menindas kebenaran itu. Mereka tidak mau mengakui dan tunduk pada perkara-perkara yang dikehendaki Allah. Seperti yang dikatakan Paulus bahwa kendati pun mereka mengenal Allah tetapi mereka tidak memuliakan Dia, sebaliknya pikiran mereka menjadi sia-sia dan pada akhirnya menyembah berhala.
Lalu, bagaimana respons anak-anak Anda? Apakah mereka merespons Allah dengan iman atau menindas kebenaran-Nya dengan kejahatan. Jika mereka merespons Allah dengan iman, berarti mereka sungguh-sungguh mengenal Allah dan melayani-Nya. Jika mereka menindas kebenaran dengan kejahatan, maka mereka mungkin akan menyembah dan melayani ciptaan, bukan Sang Pencipta. Inilah yang dimaksud "berorientasi kepada Allah".
Memilih Antara Dua Jalan
Dalam kehidupan ini ada dua pilihan. Pilihan pertama adalah menyembah Allah yang sejati dan memiliki hati yang berorientasi untuk mengenal dan melayani Allah lebih baik. Pilihan kedua adalah menyembah berhala -- hal-hal yang bukan Allah dan tidak dapat memuaskan.
Bagaimana dengan keberadaan seseorang jika ia masih kecil atau anak-anak? Anak-anak barangkali tidak menyadari komitmen keagamaannya, tetapi dia juga tidak bersikap netral. Karena Allah menciptakan anak-anak segambar dengan rupa Allah, maka mereka dirancang dengan suatu kecenderungan untuk beribadah. Daud mengingatkan kita akan hal ini dalam Mazmur 58:4, "Sejak lahir orang-orang fasik telah menyimpang, sejak dari kandungan pendusta-pendusta telah sesat." Bandingkan dengan Mazmur 51:7, "Sesungguhnya, dalam kesalahan aku diperanakkan, dalam dosa aku dikandung ibuku." Kedua ayat di atas menyatakan bahwa anak-anak sejak dalam kandungan sudah mempunyai sifat suka melawan dan penuh dosa. Mungkin ada banyak orang yang mengatakan bahwa seseorang berdosa ketika dia berbuat dosa, tetapi Alkitab menyatakan bahwa orang berbuat dosa karena dia adalah manusia berdosa. Hal ini juga terjadi pada anak-anak, mereka secara moral tidak pernah netral, bahkan sejak dari kandungan.
Jika demikian, apakah memukul pantat sebagai bentuk hukuman kepada anak itu benar? Ya, seperti dalam Amsal 22:15, "Kebodohan melekat pada hati orang muda, tetapi tongkat didikan akan mengusir itu dari padanya." Maksudnya, orang tua harus membimbing anak jika ada sesuatu yang salah dalam hatinya. Pembimbingan orang tua perlu dilakukan bukan semata-mata untuk mengubah struktur rumah tangga, tetapi mengubah hati anak.
Hati Tidak Bersifat Netral
Karena hati anak-anak tidak netral, ia akan cenderung menyembah Allah atau berhala. Berhala-berhala yang dimaksud bukanlah patung-patung kecil, tetapi hal-hal yang mendominasi keinginan hati anak, misalnya rasa takut kepada orang, keinginan-keinginan jahat, berbagai nafsu, dan kesombongan. Selain itu, berhala zaman sekarang juga mencakup kecenderungan untuk berpikiran duniawi dan mencintai perkara-perkara yang rendah.
Anak-anak berinteraksi dengan pengalaman masa kanak-kanak berdasarkan kecenderungan mereka kepada Allah. Apakah mereka merespons kehidupan sebagai anak-anak beriman yang mengenal, mengasihi, dan melayani Tuhan, atau sebagai anak-anak yang bodoh, tidak mau percaya, tidak mengenal maupun melayani Dia. Yang terpenting adalah mereka memberikan respons, mereka tidak netral. Mereka bukan merupakan hasil penjumlahan dari semua hal yang kita masukkan ke dalam diri mereka, mereka berinteraksi dengan kehidupan. Hasilnya, anak dapat memiliki iman sesuai perjanjian yang sejati atau ketidakpercayaan karena ia mengikuti perjanjian dengan berhala.
Kepada Siapakah Anak Akan Beribadah?
Membesarkan anak bukan sekadar memberikan masukan-masukan yang baik, mengajak anak untuk menciptakan suasana rumah tangga yang konstruktif, dan membentuk anak yang memiliki hubungan harmonis dengan orang tua. Ada hal penting lainnya yang harus dilakukan, yaitu yang terkait dengan interaksi dengan Allah yang hidup.
Dalam perkembangannya, di satu sisi, anak bisa diarahkan untuk menyembah dan melayani Allah, serta memiliki pemahaman yang semakin berkembang tentang siapakah sebenarnya Allah itu. Namun di sisi lain, anak bisa juga mencari kehidupan yang terpisah dari Allah. Ketika anak menyakini dalam hatinya bahwa Allah itu tidak ada, dia telah menjadi penyembah berhala. Dalam hal ini, orang tua bertugas untuk menggembalakan si anak dan memperkenalkannya kepada Allah, satu-satunya Pribadi yang layak disembah. Pastikan bahwa anak tidak semakin jauh tersesat. Segeralah menolongnya untuk kembali ke jalan kebenaran Tuhan.
Berbagai Pengertian yang Berguna untuk Membesarkan Anak
Sebagian besar buku "parenting" berusaha membantu kita untuk melakukan langkah terbaik dalam memberikan pengaruh positif untuk membangun karakter anak. Semua rahasia dan gagasan-gagasan kreatif, dan yang paling konsisten dari sudut pandang Alkitab diberikan untuk membentuk karakter anak yang lebih baik. Hal itu memang tidak salah, tetapi kita juga perlu memberikan pendekatan-pendekatan yang benar dan bijaksana terhadap penggembalaan anak dengan menjangkau hatinya (Amsal 4:23). Berdasarkan pemikiran ini, kita harus mengajarkan kepada anak-anak bahwa mereka dapat menemukan kepuasan dan kebahagiaan hanya jika mereka mengenal dan melayani Allah yang hidup.
Pada umumnya, setiap orang ingin memberikan pengaruh-pengaruh yang membangun dan yang terbaik kepada anak-anaknya, memiliki rasa kekeluargaan yang mampu menciptakan rasa aman dan nyaman bagi seluruh anggota keluarga, dan hubungan-hubungan berkualitas dalam keluarga yang sehat, sehingga anugerah dan belas kasihan Allah bagi orang-orang berdosa dan karakter-Nya dapat ditunjukkan. Hal ini sangat baik. Akan tetapi, perlu diingat juga untuk mengajar anak-anak menjaga kebenaran sesuai firman Tuhan. Apabila anak membuat kesalahan, kita berhak memberikan hukuman-hukuman yang pantas dan wajar kepada anak untuk mencerminkan pandangan Allah yang kudus terhadap dosa.
Sayangnya, fakta terkadang tidak terjadi seperti yang kita harapkan. Serapi dan sebaik mungkin kita menjaga kerukunan dan keharmonisan rumah tangga, ada saja kegagalan-kegagalan yang harus kita alami. Karena anak bukanlah sebuah produk dari pengaruh-pengaruh positif dan berinteraksi dengan semua hal yang terjadi dalam hidup, maka anak bisa saja merespons kebaikan dan belas kasihan Allah dalam bentuk iman atau dengan ketidakpercayaan. Bagaimana dengan anak-anak Anda? Apakah mereka semakin mengasihi dan percaya kepada Allah yang hidup, atau semakin mengamalkan berbagai bentuk penyembahan berhala dan mengandalkan dirinya sendiri?
Karena respons anak terhadap kehidupan ditentukan oleh orientasi hatinya kepada Allah, maka kita sejak dini harus mengajarkan kepada anak untuk memiliki hati yang mengasihi Tuhan dan menaati kehendak-Nya. Jangan biarkan sifat mementingkan diri sendiri dan suka melawan otoritas yang ada dalam diri anak-anak sebagai sesuatu yang remeh dan hanya pencerminan dari ketidakdewasaan. Hal itu dapat berkembang ke arah yang lebih buruk jika kita tidak mengarahkan anak ke jalan yang benar.
Albert yang masih muda adalah anak yang suka mencuri. Dia bahkan berbohong pada saat-saat yang sulit. Dia sering mencuri uang orang tuanya, namun ayahnya tetap berpendapat bahwa perilakunya hanyalah cermin ketidakdewasaan (ketidakmatangan) anak-anak. Albert memang belum dewasa, tetapi itu bukan alasan bahwa dia tidak dapat dipercaya. Alasan dia tidak dapat dipercaya adalah karena dia adalah orang berdosa. Albert berusaha untuk menjadi berarti walaupun kehidupannya tanpa Allah. Melalui penyembahan berhala dalam bentuk perlawanannya terhadap otoritas atau kekuasaan Allah dan melalui ketetapan hatinya untuk menjadi penguasa bagi dirinya sendiri, dia menjadi anak yang tidak pantas dipercaya. Ayah Albert tidak dapat menolong anaknya, kecuali dia menyadari bahwa perilaku Albert mencerminkan hati yang telah menyimpang dari Allah. Hanya dengan pengenalan yang benar akan Allahlah yang dapat membuat anak tetap memiliki karakter yang benar, bukan sekadar memberikan pengaruh-pengaruh yang positif saja. Contoh yang dapat kita gunakan adalah Yusuf (Kejadian 50:19-21) dan gadis pelayan istri Naaman (2 Raja-Raja 5:6-7).
Kesimpulan:
Hal utama yang perlu diingat orang tua adalah bijaksana dalam menata pengaruh-pengaruh yang positif, yang membentuk kehidupan anak-anak dan secara aktif menggembalakan hati mereka agar berorientasi kepada Allah. Jangan lupa untuk membawa anak-anak kita dalam doa agar Allah bekerja di dalam dan di seluruh upaya kita serta di dalam respons anak-anak kita, untuk menjadikan mereka orang-orang yang mengenal dan menghormati Allah.
Diringkas dari:
Judul buku: Shepherding A Child's Heart: Menggembalakan Anak Anda
Judul asli artikel: Perkembangan Anak Saudara: Orientasi yang Mengarah kepada Allah
Penulis: Tedd Tripp
Penerbit: Yayasan Penerbit Gandum Mas, 2002
Halaman: 47 -- 56
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