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The Presence of God Qualifying Interpretation

all our thoughts? Are we then deifying our rationalism?

Appeals to the direct voice of the Spirit, as if it were superior to the written text,

generate heresies. But rationalism of certain kinds can also produce heresies. Many have
rejected the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity because they claim it is irrational.

I think, then, that it is wisest to confess that we have rationality as a gift, but that it

is a gift to complete persons, who are more than rational. And we affirm that we do not
perceive to the very bottom where our ideas come from. Yes, we hope that they come from
the text. But the text, by processes of association, and by processes even more mysterious,
gives rise to thoughts of very diverse kinds, not all of which were "in" the text in any
obvious way.

If one text evokes thoughts in harmony with the direct teaching of another text that

is not immediately present to us, the harmony we see is one we do not invent. God knew it
before we knew it. And if he knew it, it would seem that he designed the texts such that
together with the operations of our mind and the operations of the Spirit, they could and did
lead to our perceiving the harmony and the connection that we now perceive. So God
intended from the beginning that such should be one effect of this text. And if God
intended it, it is an aspect of the meaning. And we may infer that the Holy Spirit has had a
role in bringing the meaning to our attention. God is present today with his word, not only
to bring to our attention obvious ancient meanings, but to bring to our attention the
harmonies and the connections that he brings into our minds for the first time. We have
indeed lost autonomous control of our own minds. But then we never had it in the first
place.

Thus when the layman sees in Genesis 3:15 that Christ is the seed of the woman

who crushed Satan, he is seeing what the Spirit intended him to see. That is part of the
total import of the text, as intended by God. The scholar does not control this process.

Hardening readers

The Parable of the Sower suggests not only that the word of God can bear copious fruit in
the mind and the life. It also suggests that the word of God can fail to bear fruit. Not all
hearts are receptive soil. And if not, the true meaning of the word of God remains in part
concealed from them. Their hearts are hard. And they may even become further hardened
as they hear, by analogy with Pharaoh. God gives the word "so that they may indeed see
but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand" (Mark 4:12). For those who
resist his word, God can still be present in darkening the mind. "Therefore God sends them
a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be
condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thess
2:12).

Believers do not control their minds, because the Holy Spirit is present to enlighten.

Neither do unbelievers control their minds, because God is present to darken--or to
enlighten, if perchance they come to know the truth (2 Cor 4:4-6).

Scholarly resistance

Most of the scholarly world does not accept the full extent of the mysteries in

biblical interpretation. Why not? There are various reasons. Let me focus on two.