The Bible and Christian Ethics

By David Emmanuel Singh

This book contains papers from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies’ quarterly journal, Transformation, on the topic of Christian Ethics. Here, Mission Studies is understood in its widest sense to also encompass Christian Ethics. At the very hearts of it lies the Family as the basic unit of society. All the papers together seek to contribute to understanding how Christian thought is shaped in contexts each of which poses its own challenge to Christian living in family and in broader society.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Regnum Books International
• Release date: Jan 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781908355799

Book preview

Preface

For more than a quarter of a century the journal Transformation has published papers at the interface of Christian thought and action. Indeed in its earliest years Transformation had as its subtitle An International Journal of Christian Social Ethics and provided a platform for leading Christian thinkers and activists to engage with pressing social and ethical issues in widely varying contexts.

Thus the first issue of Transformation in January 1984 published papers from Kenya on The Church and Polygamy by David Gitari, from India on The Use of the Bible in Social Ethics by J. H. Wright, Seeking Theological Agreement by John Stott, and the Wheaton ’83 Statement The Church in Response to Human Need.

This was immediately followed by a second volume on economics and justice with papers on Justice in International Economic Relations with Less Developed Countries by Evert Van Der Heide, Towards a More Just Economic Order: The Case for Free Trade by Rachel Steare, Quinchuqui: A Case Study on Rural Poverty in Ecuador by Laura Glynn, In the Mission of the Church in Light of the Kingdom of God by C. René Padilla, and book reviews of Equality, the Third World and Economic Delusion (reviewed by Donald Hay), The Denigration of Capitalism: Six Points of View, Protestantismo e Repressao (Protestantism and Repression) (reviewed by Gerardo Viviers), and La Fiesta de Liberacion de Los Oprimidos (The Liberation Feast of the Oppressed: A Rereading of John 7:1-10:21) (reviewed by Richard Foulkes).

In quick succession there were volumes addressing issues in human rights, Christ and culture(s), conflict and liberation, race, caste and social structures the nuclear war, drawn from Honduras, Nicaragua, South Africa, India, North America, the Philippines, the Soviet Union, Europe, and wherever Christians were facing up to biblically-based reflection on the ethical dimension of Christian living.

Gradually the emphasis of Transformation shifted from a focus on Christian social ethics to setting this interest within a missional context but the flow of significant papers continued. So, for example, the second volume in 2010 had papers on The emergent Church, socio-economics and Christian mission by Kim Hawtrey, and Do we know what Economic Justice is? Nuancing our Understanding by Engaging Biblical Perspectives by Andrew Hartropp, and in the first volume of 2009, papers on Refugee Realities: Refugee Rights versus State Security in Kenya and Tanzania by Edward Mogire and Transformational Leadership Behaviours and Empathy with Action by Mary Miller.

The editors of this volume were therefore faced with an embarrassment of riches of both depth and breadth. In the end we chose five themes well suited to showing how Christians continue to shape the Christian thinking on ethical issues within their varying contexts. We have left aside the fundamental issue of whether Christian ethics can vary by context (can there be ‘Contextual Christian Ethics’ whereby right Christian action can be context-dependent to some or any degree?) and to allow the voices to speak for themselves.

The themes we chose are: Words and Works, Response to Poverty, Economic Justice, Family, and Environment. This still left the invidious task of choosing papers for the book. There are many others that could, perhaps should, have made it. We encourage readers to explore these riches further by accessing Transformation online where all volumes are available via the OCMS website. We are confident however that all the papers contribute to understanding how Christian thought is shaped in contexts which pose their own challenges to Christian living.

Bernard C. Farr and David Emanuel Singh

December 2011

WORDS AND WORKS

The Ethics of the Hebrew Bible

Eryl W. Davies

Dr. Eryl W. Davies is Reader in the School of Theology and Religious Studies at Bangor University, Wales, U.K.

Introduction

The ethics of the Hebrew Bible has, until comparatively recently, remained a much neglected area of biblical scholarship. When Christopher Wright published his widely read book on the ethics of the Hebrew Bible in 1983, he felt no need to apologize in his Preface for adding yet another volume to the literature, since ‘the subject of Old Testament ethics has scarcely any literature to add to’.¹ One reason for the neglect of the subject in the past has no doubt been the sheer amount of material that needs to be discussed, analyzed and evaluated. Moral considerations feature prominently in Israel’s laws and are evident in many of the denunciations leveled by the prophets against their contemporaries. Several of the narratives contained in the Hebrew Bible raise profound ethical questions, and moral issues frequently recur in the sayings of the wise and in various passages in the Psalms. The task of providing a comprehensive framework within which this complex and often unwieldy material can be organized and understood has, not surprisingly, proved a daunting and intimidating prospect for many biblical scholars.

Moreover, it was recognized that a full treatment of the subject would require an analysis of Israel’s ethical values through many generations and this, in turn, could not be undertaken without a detailed account of Israel’s social and political history. The task of writing an ‘ethics of the Hebrew Bible’ was made all the more problematic by the fact that a variety of ethical viewpoints concerning particular moral issues were probably held by different groups within Israel even within the same period. Consequently, the Bible seemed staunchly to resist any attempt to subject it to a tidy, systematic treatment, and some scholars were forced to concede that the writing of an ‘ethics of the Hebrew Bible’ was an impractical, if not impossible, task.²

But perhaps the main reason for the neglect was the fact that biblical scholars, by training and inclination, tended to be theologians, historians, archaeologists or philologists rather than ethicists, and many were wary about entering into a domain with which they were not particularly familiar. As James M. Gustafson commented, ‘those who are specialists in ethics generally lack the intensive and proper training in biblical studies, and those who are specialists in biblical studies often lack sophistication in ethical thought’.³

In view of the neglect of the subject over the years, the recent resurgence of interest in the ethics of the Hebrew Bible is warmly to be welcomed. The subject is now being recognized as an independent discipline in its own right and is no longer subsumed – as it has been in the past – under the umbrella of ‘theology’.⁴ Of course, the volumes that have been written on this area do not profess to include every aspect of this complex subject, and there is general agreement among biblical scholars that the presentation of the ethics of the Hebrew Bible must be selective, since no volume (however long and detailed) can hope to examine all the relevant issues. Consequently, some scholars have focused exclusively on the legal material,⁵ while others have been concerned to outline the ethical import of the biblical narratives,⁶ or the moral pronouncements of the prophets⁷ or those contained in the Wisdom literature.⁸

But whichever genre has been the focus of attention, biblical scholars have had to decide on the particular methodological approach which is to be adopted. Basically, they have been faced with two options, namely, the historical-critical and the literary-critical approach.⁹

Historical-Critical versus Literary-Critical Approach

Scholars who favour the historical-critical approach believe that it is possible to reconstruct the ethical beliefs and practices of the ancient Israelites on the basis of the biblical text. In effect, the Hebrew Bible is viewed as a window through which the perceptive reader can observe the social world and daily experiences of the people of Israel and Judah and thus come to some understanding of the manner and mores of the peoples of biblical times. According to this view, the task of the biblical scholar is to describe the type of community that produced the ethical norms found in the Hebrew Bible and to illuminate the historical, political and social context in which those norms were originally formulated. The historical-critical approach is therefore interested not so much in the text itself as in the social reality to which it supposedly bears witness.¹⁰

It is now increasingly recognized, however, that such an approach is not without its problems. In the first place, many scholars have questioned whether the biblical account can be regarded as a simple, straightforward reflection of ancient reality, and reservations have been expressed as to whether the Hebrew Bible can be regarded as an accurate record of ‘how it really happened’ (to use the famous phrase of von Ranke). All too often, it is argued, the historical-critical approach has had an air of appearing to know things we are actually very unsure about, and it has tended to state as fact what was merely speculation and hypothetical reconstruction. Moreover, alongside a progressive loss of confidence in the historical value of the Hebrew Bible there has been a question regarding its comprehensiveness, for there is a growing recognition that it reflects merely the ethical values and norms of the learned and educated class in ancient Israel, and that very little can be known about the moral beliefs and practices of the ‘ordinary’ Israelites.

In view of these difficulties, it is perhaps not surprising that many recent scholars who have examined the ethics of the Hebrew Bible have focused on the literary-critical approach, arguing that ‘story’ rather than ‘history’ should be the main focus of scholarly attention.¹¹ It is important to note that adherents of the literary-critical approach do not seek to devalue or berate the historical-critical approach; it is merely that they recognize its limitations. They believe that this approach has probably taken us about as far as we are able to go and that it is now time to move on and explore the text from a different perspective. Thus, for example, whether the stories relating to David reflect actual events in the life of the monarch is regarded as a secondary (and perhaps even irrelevant) consideration; the important point is that there is much ethical food for thought in these narratives irrespective of their historical veracity. It is sometimes said that whereas the historical-critical approach was concerned to recover or reconstruct the world ‘behind’ the text, the literary-critical approach is focused on the text itself, and the world ‘in front of’ the text – that is, the reader and the reader’s role in analyzing its inner dynamics, its structure, form and recurrent features.

Even the literary-critical approach, however, is not without its difficulties. Such an approach calls for a careful and nuanced reading of the biblical text, for some of the key ethical terms that appear in the Hebrew Bible – ‘righteousness’, ‘holiness’, ‘loving-kindness’ – have a variety of connotations, and what such concepts may mean in one literary context may be quite different from what they mean in another.¹² Moreover, the various literary genres within the Hebrew Bible contain ethical principles which sometimes appear contradictory, and scholars who adopt the literary-critical approach must be sensitive to the unresolved tensions that exist between the various ethical demands. Nevertheless, the literary-critical approach seems to the present writer to be the most promising avenue for future research in this area, for it allows us to attend to the rich possibilities of the text and an examination of the motives and actions of the various characters in the biblical narratives.

The Basis of the Ethics of the Hebrew Bible

Discussions of the basis of Israelite ethics have usually focused on the law.¹³ God’s commands were regarded as binding for the people of Israel, and those commands were expressed in concrete form in the Decalogue (Ex. 20: 1-17). Ethical living required obedience to certain prescriptions and obedience to God was regarded as one of Israel’s highest duties.

The danger of over-emphasizing the law as the basis for Israelite ethics, however, is that biblical morality can too easily be reduced to a set of rules, prohibitions and regulations. A much richer picture of biblical ethics emerges once we realize that Israel’s morality was not simply a matter of obedience to an external moral code. I have argued elsewhere that the moral norms encountered in the Hebrew Scriptures arise out of imitation of God’s character as well as out of obedience to God’s will.¹⁴ The notion of ‘imitating Christ’ has figured prominently in discussions of the ethics of the New Testament,¹⁵ but the concept of imitatio Dei has not received the prominence it deserves in discussions of the ethics of the Hebrew Bible. The clearest expression of this principle is found in Lev. 19:2, which forms part of the so-called ‘Holiness Code’: ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy’. This refrain, which implies that God is not only the source of ethical commands but the pattern of ethical behaviour, is repeated often in Leviticus (cf. 11:44; 20:7, 26; 21:8). Similarly, the prophets conceived of God as possessing certain moral qualities and believed that these same qualities should be reflected in the behaviour of the Israelites towards each other. Thus, for example, Isaiah, at the time of his call, encountered the holy God in the sanctuary (Isa. 6), and this encounter set the tone of much of his subsequent preaching and determined the way in which he was to interpret God’s demands. God’s holiness was the central standard by which Israel’s life was to be judged, and the iniquities that were present in Judah were largely due to the fact that the people had neglected the presence of the holy God in their midst (Isa. 1:4; 30:9-11; 31:1). The Psalmists also frequently reflect on God’s character and imply that this should form the basis of the ethical life of those who worship him. Psalms 111 and 112 are particularly significant in this regard, for the attributes of God set forth in the former are regarded in the latter as being reflected in the life of the true believer.¹⁶

Another possible basis for the ethics of the Hebrew Bible which has figured prominently in recent discussions is the concept of ‘natural law’.¹⁷ The Hebrew Bible evinces patterns of behaviour that reflect commonly held standards of morality and these standards are evidently based on reason rather than revelation. In this regard, the ‘foreign nation’ oracles contained in Am. 1:3-2:5 have been viewed as particularly significant, for it is evident from Amos’ indictment that even nations who have no knowledge of God can be held accountable to him, for they – as much as Israel – were capable of making ethical decisions and assessing the probable consequences of their actions.¹⁸ Of course, the term ‘natural law’ must be used with some reservation, since it might imply the highly developed philosophy of natural law encountered in later Western thought. Nevertheless, the possibility that a ‘natural law’ type of ethic might undergird some of the biblical material may well open up significant new perspectives in our understanding of the ethics of the Hebrew Bible and force us to question some of the presuppositions which have hitherto been regarded as axiomatic. For example, the tendency to regard the ethics of the Hebrew Bible as exclusively revelatory may need to be reconsidered, for it may well be that Scripture bears witness to principles of right conduct that are discoverable through rational calculation.

Relevance

On the whole, few scholars who have written on the ethics of the Hebrew Bible have considered its relevance for contemporary ethical decision-making.¹⁹ The issue of relevance, if considered at all, has all too often been regarded as an optional afterthought rather than as something integral to scholarly engagement with the text. Scholars have readily provided a descriptive account of the ethical values of biblical times and the way in which the people of ancient Israel understood them, but they have generally given little or no thought as to how such values might impinge on modern socio-ethical issues relevant to contemporary communities of faith. Such considerations, it is often argued, have no place within the academy, for the scholar who is concerned to interpret the biblical text should be concerned with ‘what it meant’ rather than with ‘what it means’ (to quote Stendahl’s famous distinction).²⁰

This lack is a matter of regret, for there is always the danger that the study of the ethics of the Hebrew Bible will become a mere academic exercise with little relevance for contemporary discussion and debate. It is essential that the scholarly community and the community of faith enter into sustained and meaningful dialogue with each other, for a biblical scholarship which remains aloof from the concerns of the church will, of necessity, become isolated, introverted and self-serving.

Of course, some biblical scholars who have raised the issue of relevance have taken a decidedly negative stance and have questioned the applicability of the Hebrew Bible to contemporary ethical concerns. After all, it is argued, there are plenty of issues of current concern about which Scripture says nothing – abortion, euthanasia, global warming and genetic engineering – to mention just a few. On the other hand, many of the provisions that are recorded in the Hebrew Bible can no longer be regarded as binding in our own secular, pluralist society, and the fact is that even those committed to the authority of Scripture do not always obey its commands – such as the injunctions proscribing eating meat containing blood (Gen. 9:4) or the laws prohibiting work on the Sabbath (Ex. 20:9-10). The problem of applying the Bible to the exigencies of the present age is therefore twofold: on the one hand, many of the laws and customs recorded in the Hebrew Bible no longer seem relevant to contemporary communities of faith; on the other hand, many of the problems that do arise in the complex, technological age in which we live are such that the Bible offers little or no guidance by which they can be resolved.

It is all too easy, however, to over-emphasize these difficulties. In the first place, it should not be forgotten that although the Hebrew Bible is silent concerning many issues of contemporary concern, it does contain teaching on a whole raft of ethical matters that are still relevant in the twenty-first century – its teaching concerning care for the poor and vulnerable in society, and its strictures concerning justice and fairness, for example, are as relevant today as they were when they were first adumbrated. Further, although there are injunctions in the Hebrew Bible that may appear irrelevant to contemporary society, it may be possible to seek out the underlying principles contained in the biblical text and reapply them in appropriate ways to matters of current concern. The issue of tithing – providing the sanctuary with a tenth of one’s produce – may provide an interesting case in point, since many Christians have adopted this principle as an ideal by which to measure their giving. Such an interpretative strategy is admittedly not without its problems, but it is argued that by rooting out the underlying principles of Scripture, the reader can remain true to the spirit of the biblical text while at the same time making it relevant and applicable in the modern world.

Conclusion

In this brief survey we have been able to outline just some of the pertinent issues relating to the subject of the ethics of the Hebrew Bible. Much research remains to be done in this important field of biblical study, and it is to be hoped that the renewed interest shown by biblical scholars in this area during the last twenty years will continue into the foreseeable future.

¹ C.J.H. Wright, Living as the People of God: The Relevance of Old Testament Ethics (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press 1983) 9. See, also, his recent volume, Old Testament Ethics for the People of God (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2004).

² J. Barton, ‘Understanding Old Testament Ethics’, JSOT 9 (1978) 44; C.S. Rodd, ‘Ethics (Old Testament)’, in R.J. Coggins and J.L. Houlden (eds.), A Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation (London: SCM Press, 1990) 208-.9.

³ J.M. Gustafson, ‘The Place of Scripture in Christian Ethics: A Methodological Study’, Interpretation 24 (1970) 430.

⁴ Cf. W. Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament, ii (London: SCM Press, 1967) 316-79.

⁵ Cf. W. Harrelson, The Ten Commandments and Human Rights (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980).

⁶ Cf. G.J Wenham, Story as Torah: Reading the Old Testament Ethically (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2000).

⁷ Cf. E. W. Davies, Prophecy and Ethics: Isaiah and the Ethical Traditions of Israel (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1981).

⁸ Cf. J. Blenkinsopp, Wisdom and Law in the Old Testament (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983).

⁹ See, further, E.W. Davies, ‘The Bible in Ethics’, in J.W. Rogerson and J.M. Lieu (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) 733-5.

¹⁰ The historical-critical approach is well exemplified in the work of E. Otto, Theologische Ethik des Alten Testaments (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1994).

¹¹ For the literary-critical approach, see M.E.Mills, Biblical Morality: Moral Perspectives in Old Testament Narratives (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001).

¹² Cf. E.W. Davies, ‘Ethics of the Hebrew Bible: The Problem of Methodology’, Semeia 66 (1994) 44.

¹³ Cf. H. Lalleman, Celebrating the Law? Rethinking Old Testament Ethics (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2004).

¹⁴ E.W. Davies, ‘Walking in God’s Ways: The Concept of imitatio Dei in the Old Testament’, in E.Ball (ed.), In Search of True Wisdom: Essays in Old Testament Interpretation in Honour of Ronald E. Clements (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999) 99-115.

¹⁵ Cf. E.J. Tinsley, The Imitation of God in Christ (London: SCM Press 1960); O. Merk, ‘Nachahmung Christi’, in H. Merklein (ed.), Neues Testament und Ethik (Freiburg: Herder, 1989) 172-206.

¹⁶ The two psalms are generally regarded as forming a pair by virtue of both form and content, and they may well be the product of a single author. For a discussion, see W. Zimmerli, ‘Zwillingspsalmen’, in J. Schreiner (ed.), Wort, Lied und Gottesspruch, ii (Wurzburg: Echter Verlag, 1972), 105-13.

¹⁷ Cf. J. Barton, ‘Natural Law and Poetic Justice in the Old Testmament’, JTS n.s. 30 (1979) 1-14; J. Barr, Biblical Faith and Natural Theology (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1993).

¹⁸ Cf. J. Barton, Amos’s Oracles against the Nations (Cambridge: CUP, 1980).

¹⁹ A notable exception is B.C. Birch and L.L. Rasmussen, Bible and Ethics in the Christian Life (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1976).

²⁰ K. Stendahl, ‘Biblical Theology, Contemporary’, IDB 1 (1962) 418-32.

The Holy Spirit in Word and Works: A Study in John 14 to 16

Vinay Samuel

Rev. Dr. Vinay Samuel was the Executive Director of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies and is now heading the Oxford Centre for Religion in Public Life

Introduction

In the chapters 14 to 16 of John’s Gospel the key theme is the work of the Holy Spirit in relation to an unbelieving and hostile world and in relation to the disciples of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is described as counsellor (14:15, 26; 15:26) and the Spirit of truth (14:17; 16:13). The stress is on the Holy Spirit’s work as the Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit’s work in relation to the world is to convince and judge the world of its guilt in relation to Christ. The Spirit does this as the prosecuting spirit of truth. In relation to the disciples, the Spirit is the comforter who will not leave them orphaned but is preeminently the Spirit of truth who leads them into all truth. The Spirit’s work is to confirm, interpret and build on the words of Jesus. The teaching of Jesus becomes the text of the Holy Spirit.

There is also recognition of the role of the Holy Spirit in enabling the disciples to perform greater things than Jesus. The gift of the Spirit will enable the disciples to do miracles. The study of the passage will highlight the emphasis of the Gospel writer in relating the work of the Holy Spirit to word and works.

The Spirit of Truth

The Spirit’s relation to truth became important in the context which the Fourth Gospel was addressing. It was a context of plurality of religious claims. While a metaphysical oneness of truth was seen as self-evident, no particular religious tradition, narrative or dogma was accepted as universally applicable unless it was promoted through military power. Such a context of competing truth claims and bias towards relativising any such claims is addressed by the Gospel writer with the teaching of Jesus concerning the role of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth.

Human society and culture have no place for truth as the Bible defines it. In the Hindu-Buddhist culture in which I have lived you do not question the context of any belief against a standard truth. You do not attempt to reveal the truth behind any myth or religious narrative. You accept them as they are and where necessary point to other truths both to relativise any claim to universal truth by one, and also to draw out the common ground of all religious narrative. Such a view of truth will spread with Modernity and the Market. Most truths will be accommodated, diluted and distorted. There will be hardly room for a truth which applies to all people and is above all contexts.

Law Suit of Cosmic Dimensions

The passage deals with the work of the Holy Spirit in a world which is hostile to Christ’s disciples and which rejects the truth of Jesus’ teaching. The Holy Spirit is a counsellor, an advocate and the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit is described as engaged in a lawsuit of cosmic dimensions (16:8). Earlier the Gospel focuses on Jesus’ legal battle with an unbelieving world: this is the verdict: Light has come into the world but men loved darkness instead of light. (3:19). Jesus is described as having come to judge the world (9:39). The Father has entrusted judgment to the Son (5:22). The battle is not only with the world in general but is also specifically with the unbelieving Jew (8:42- 58). Jesus reveals the unbelieving Jews’ origins in the devil, the father of lies as evidenced in their inability to recognise truth, let alone understand and accept it. The Jews counter-attack by accusing Jesus’ origins. He is a Samaritan and is demon-possessed. The law suit shifts to another level in 12:3. The ‘ruler of the world’ is judged. The lawsuit now reaches cosmic dimensions.

From Chapter 13 the focus is on the Holy Spirit seen as prosecuting counsel, who argues his case against the world which rejects his teaching. In relation to the unbelieving, Christ-rejecting world, the Spirit takes on the role of the prosecuting attorney out to prove the world’s guilt.

The defendant is the world; the cosmos - a moral order in rebellion against God. It is a world which God loves (John 3:16) and considers redeemable. The teaching of John’s Gospel pictures the world as without faith, full of hatred and in active rebellion against God. Contemporary cultures are also marked by violence, bitterness and hatred. In many areas of the world violence and hatred are directed at the disciples of Jesus. In the above passage, the main cause for the world’s hatred is identified as the fact of the Incarnation. In Jesus, God has become visible in the world. He takes the world on. He becomes part of the world and yet remains free from its corruption and sin. The world cannot stand to be reminded of the possibility of truth, grace, goodness and purity in human history. The incarnate response represents that possibility visibly and so by his very presence judges the world and rejects its assumption about the nature of truth and goodness. The disciples who represent such a Jesus are understandably the objects of hatred and vilification.

The hatred of the world is principally directed at Jesus, as the teaching and life of Jesus contradicts what the word stands for and judges it. The Disciples of Christ are not the primary target, though they do enough to earn ridicule and caricature. They become the target as they represent the possibility of universal truth, of goodness, of love for neighbour, of a unity that overcomes human-made barriers and of the reality of the transcendent in the midst of history.

The Spirit and the World

The Holy Spirit is described as the Spirit of Truth in relation to the world. In essence and action the Spirit is characterised by truth. It is truth about Jesus (John 16:14). It is truth that Jesus is God’s truth and grace. The Spirit will testify about Christ to the world. The word marturesai (15:26) could be better translated as will make an accusation against the world. The work of the Spirit is to expose and identify the sins of the world. This is as visible a work of the Spirit as the Spirit’s work in demonstrating the works of God. In 15:26, the Spirit’s accusation against the world is supported and reinforced by the witness of the disciples. Their existence and continuance in faith is part of their ‘witness’ which accuses and judges the world. Their proclamation of the Gospel is the witness they bear. Their unflinching and sacrificial faith announces that in history a people can maintain their identity and character as the people of God. They can resist the attacks and distortions of the world. The Spirit’s testimony against the world is integrally linked to the testimony of the people of God. The Spirit’s testimony is neither unhistorical nor magical. It takes flesh in the people of God.

In 14:17, Jesus teaches that the world cannot accept the Spirit of truth as it neither sees him nor knows him. The world sees Jesus, knows him and rejects him. The Spirit is invisible to the world and the world can close itself to the Spirit as it cannot see its reality or relevance. But the witness of the Spirit as seen in the life of the community of God’s people is palpably real. It is visible and relevant and cannot be avoided. The world can either accept or reject. It cannot bypass it.

The Spirit judges the world of sin, righteousness and judgment (16:8-11). There are no definite articles for these words. They focus on values and standards operating in the world. The ideologies that shape the world and the system and structures that make it work are the object of the Spirit’s judgment. The Spirit exposes the ideas and structures of the world as sinful against the backdrop of a community of Jesus’ disciples who live out the teachings of Jesus and uplift him before the world.

The Spirit of Truth and the Disciples

The Spirit shapes the lives of the disciples through the revealed truth (15:26; 16:13). The Spirit illumines the words of Jesus in the light of the future. The Spirit provides the eschatological framework for the words of Jesus. This protects the word from apostasy as the disciples apply the word to their present and it also protects the disciples from spiritual sterility and coldness. The transmission of the truth of Jesus and the teaching of Jesus through the community of disciples is monitored, corrected and facilitated by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit enables the disciples to apply the words of Jesus to their future. As the disciples live out their life in the world, the Spirit applies the words of Jesus to their contexts. The words of Jesus become life-giving in the context but never get trapped in a given context as it is the Spirit who directs their application to a context and their transmission into the future.

The Holy Spirit creates the world of the Bible for any context. In the Gospels, truth and the words of Jesus are inseparable. Words are not seen as reflecting an eternal reality out there. Such an assumption of absolute truth as beyond all human words and narratives is a philosophical concept not shared by New Testament writers. The Gospel narrative, the biblical narrative itself is regarded as the truth. However that narrative is dynamically related to the Holy Spirit, who not only inspires the writing of scriptures but continues to be related to their usage by the people of God. The Spirit uses the biblical narratives to create a biblical world. This world of biblical narrative becomes for the disciples, the stable, meaning giving, life-directing world. The Spirit enables biblical narrative to be both applicable to a given context and maintain its universality and integrity throughout history.

The biblical world is available universally in all cultures and through all history. The common enterprise of the people of God in different cultures is the study of the world of the bible as we enter it from our particular cultures. Our particular insights demonstrate the power of the biblical world to judge and transform all our particular worlds. Powerful insights and