Page 38 - THE REVELATION OF THE THIRD HEAVEN and THE MEAT OF THE WORD

the Word that ‘that was there and then and this is here and now and therefore is
inapplicable to our lives’. What then of a tribe, say, that has no experience of, say,
shepherds? How can they access or understand the Word? For the Scripture to be
in their language then the whole idea, concept and meaning of a shepherd must be
fully, and with Holy Ghost inspiration, translated (2 Tim 3:16). This miraculous
process might well use some other, supernaturally chosen, symbol of their culture.
There is no distinction between Holy Ghost inspired, and therefore perfect,
miraculous and supernatural, translation and the ‘original’ inspiration of the text as
it is the same God, Spirit and Word in action communicating the same message
through the medium of diverse languages (Gen 11:7, Mal 3:6). God is not
bounded by language (Gen 11:7, Mal 3:6). The dependency on the ministration of
the Holy Ghost as well as the written Word is attested to by the need for perfect
translation. To access the Word-in-the-material takes the sense of hearing (Rom
10:17) or literacy (Rev 22:18-19) which not all men possess as it is. For these the
Word-as-the-Spirit is available as appropriate to the particular person in question
(Jer 31:33-34, John 14:26, 16:23, Rom 1:20, Heb 4:2, 1 Pet 4:6, 1 Cor 2:14-15).

As the Word is Christ it is both fully human and fully God (John 1:1, 1:14, Rev
19:13). However we can not then qualify the Word by the culture of the writer or
the actor (Rev 22:18-19). A good example is fornication. The modern ‘developed
world’ culture, with contraception, the welfare state, the decline in ‘marriage’;
could be taken to alter the moral position of fornication. This is a perfectly valid
cultural point but utterly irrelevant to the interpretation of scripture (Mat 15:3, 6,
Mark 7:9, 13, Rev 22:18-19). It is perfectly logical, if adopting a culturally
relativistic approach, to then conclude that fornication is not always a sin under the
Law. This contradicts the Word (Rev 22:18-19).

Christ, God, the Word, is fully human and He is eternally so (Rev 22:13),
including by this humanity (John 8:58), all cultures, nations, times, peoples and
tongues thus transcending any cultural, 'time and place' approach to interpreting the
Word as regards action, belief or obedience (Rom 1:20, Rev 14:6, 22:18-19). He is
also beyond and in our time and space (Mat 28:20, Rom 8:38-9, Rev 14:6, 22:13)
and therefore outside of any one culture as well as being perfect, which no human
culture is (Rom 3:10). Christ is not simply in the culture of Nazareth nor is Christ,
the Word, fully human, limited in any sense by any or all cultures (Heb 7:3-4).

As the Word is Christ, God, fully human and fully God, so by the in-dwelling
Spirit within us we are living epistles, embodying the Word (Jer 31:33, 2 Cor 3:3,
Heb 8:10), which yet applies, as a mystery, even though our flesh sins (2 Cor 3:3).