The simplicity of Christ

Walking into a ‘Christian’ bookstore should be a very edifying experience. In a store labeled as ‘Christian’ one would think that a Christian should be able to find all sorts of books that are uplifting and faith strengthening. Not only that but it would seem that the Christian’s biggest problem in a store like that would be what they could reasonably afford to buy.

But for the Christian…that isn’t their problem. The biggest problem faced by a Christian in a ‘Christian’ bookstore is finding Scripturally sound products.

My husband recently told me he prefers the simplicity of Christ, referring to Scripture as opposed to all the commentaries. Days after him saying that I find myself thinking of what he said, and what it stands for.

When I sit down to write, I am a fallen person, in a fallen world. I write based off my own experiences, understanding and…beliefs. I’m not about to attempt to write a commentary, but I do sometimes write about certain verses or sections of Scripture, but if I were to write a commentary, everything I wrote would be affected by my beliefs and my understanding of Scripture.

I had a friend that for many years I thought shared my beliefs. But as the years passed our beliefs led us different directions. What had once been a common understanding of Scripture parted ways in understanding until we were standing on opposites sides of the Bible, so to speak.

If I were to write a Bible commentary, my commentary would hold my beliefs. My friend would not agree with much of what I said because I would write in my commentary all those things this friend does not agree with. And if that friend were to write a commentary I would not agree with what she wrote, even though she would be writing of Scripture, because she holds beliefs I do not share.

About a year ago I had a study Bible in my hands. As I flipped through it I discovered that it was a version of the Bible that I did not own. But with a bit of reading I also discovered that is was a prosperity study Bible. The notes within that Bible would have the reader believing that if one wants something, God wants them to have it.

There.

Done.

Wave the magic wand and it’s yours.

Or something like that. Prosperity belief to me seems to make about that much sense. In 2013, 17,000 children under the age of five starved to death. Every. Single. Day. If prosperity was what the Lord wanted…would children die from a lack of food?

But those that hold with the prosperity belief…write prosperity beliefs into any book they write. Even the Bible.

Last year I heard that someone was making a bible and replacing the word God with a person’s name. This book when finished, if finished, will be labeled as a bible but it will not be the Bible. It will not be the Word of God. It will remove a vital part of Scripture and replace it with an idol.

A few years ago I read somewhere that one of the newer bibles is being made gender neutral. They are removing all references to man and woman, male and female, he and she and replacing them with words that have no gender meaning.

To do that…someone is putting their beliefs, or someone else’s beliefs, on the pages of Scripture. They are altering the Word of God and making it…what? A lie?

But they are writing their beliefs into Scripture. Study Bibles contain commentary written by man. Those writers held beliefs. They had ideas. They had a certain understanding of Scripture that may or may not be Biblically accurate and they wrote that understanding in every word of their commentary.

A few years ago I began to wonder which version of the Bible was the ‘right’ version. So much so that I spent way more time researching Bibles than I did reading mine. In fact I got to the point that I didn’t read my Bible because I wanted to read the ‘right’ Bible. I wished that somehow the Lord would hand me the right Bible. I wanted the one that was the most accurate. And in doing so I focused more on which Bible than I did on Christ.

Supposedly the majority of those that lay claim to the title of Christian have not read the Bible all the way through. At one point in my life I decided I didn’t want to number among those that have never read the Bible all the way through. And so I set out to read the entire Bible. I had no timeline in mind beyond…the sooner I get it read the better. I wasn’t reading it to learn anything. I was simply fulfilling an agenda. I wanted to be able to say I had read the Bible all the way through. And so I did.

I read it for the sake of reading. It mattered not which version of the Bible I held in my hands, or what I was reading, only how many books I could mark off the list as having been read. I pushed through the Bible much the way one would push through an assigned book to read. I was reading it to say I had read it and that’s exactly how I read it.

My focus wasn’t on Christ and His Word but on being able to say I had read the entire Bible. It was a feat I wanted to accomplish. And accomplish it I did. I’m still glad I did but I wish I had had a different reason for doing it than the one I had.

My focus in reading the Bible all the way through was man centered. It was earthly. It might could even be said that it was done out of pride. What it wasn’t done for was to learn more of Christ. It wasn’t to grow closer to Him, or deeper in my understanding of the Lord and His ways.

It was all about me and what I could say I had done. Much as one might make a list of the things they want to accomplish in their lifetime or places they want to visit.

See the ocean. Check.

Read the entire Bible. Check.

I succeeded in reading the entire Bible, I no longer numbered among those that have never read the Bible all the way through. Despite my agenda I learned from what I read and grew in my walk with the Lord.

But as I think back on that time, on that hurried reading of the Scriptures, I think of how much more I might have gained from my reading if I had been reading the Bible for the sake of learning more of my Savior and not for the purpose of being able to say I had read the Bible all the way through.

The simplicity of Christ.

What might I have gained in that reading if the simplicity of Christ had been my goal? I have had a fascination with study Bibles for a very long time. I guess I’ve probably been fascinated with them since the very first time I discovered they existed…sometime around the age of 21. There was something about a study Bible that just made it that much better than all the other Bibles I had seen.

I even, upon understanding what I was seeing in Scripture, went looking to buy a study Bible that had reformed commentary in it. Although I didn’t know that that was what I was looking for when I went to the store with the intention of buying a study Bible. What I left with was what might be called a reformed study Bible. I spent too much money on it and although I use it often…I haven’t used it near as much as I thought I would.

What I’ve discovered is that my favorite Bible is actually a very cheap paperback New Testament. At first I favored that New Testament because I liked the way it felt in my hands. Then, the more I used it, the more I liked it. I still liked it for the way it felt in my hands but it became much like an old friend. I read that New Testament over and over. It is the Bible I go to for 99% of my New Testament reading.

When it started falling apart I said I needed to get another one. Instead…I taped it back together and kept using it.

As I think of that New Testament I think of…the simplicity of Christ.

I have that too expensive Bible with the Bible commentary. I have other study Bibles. I have…more Bibles than I need. And yet…it is to the cheapest Bible I have that I go time and time again.

In that Bible is simplicity. There is Scripture and there is nothing else. There is the Lord’s words on paper and nothing to confuse me.

When I bought that reformed study Bible I wanted it for the commentary in it. I wanted the explanations given by the reformed preacher. But since getting it…as the time has passed and I have grown in my understanding of the Scriptures…I have discovered that there are places where I disagree with the commentary in that Bible. There are things I don’t see the way that preacher does.

I have more Bibles than I need. I buy more Bibles when I find them at thrift stores. I am picky about the Bibles I buy but I still buy them even when I know I don’t need them. And yet…the one thing I can truly say I want is a Bible. I very much want a Geneva Bible. I want it for the commentaries it contains and for the ability to compare it to other versions of the Bible.

I want it…and yet I wonder…if it would be like my reformed study Bible. Would it be something that would sit there most of the time as I favor my cheap New Testament?

Would I go to the simple, to the Word of the Lord without man’s interpretations, over that Bible too?

Would I seek the simplicity of Christ over the additional notes of man?