Nov 03 2008
Interpretation of the Scriptures
From Archimandrite Sophrony’s biography of St Silouan, Chapter V: The Staretz’s Doctrinal Teaching
“The Holy Scriptures are the word that ‘holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost’ (II Pet. i:21). But the words of the Saints are not completely unaffected by the intellectual level and spiritual state of those to whom they are directed. They were a lively message addressed to real people, and so scientific (historical, archaeological, philological et al.) interpretation of the Gospel will inevitably be unsound.
“The Holy Scriptures have one definite final object but the Prophets, the Apostles and the Church’s other Teachers adapted themselves to the level and understanding of the people around them.
“St. Paul is an especially glowing example here. He never, of course, retreated from his unique vision of God, from his knowledge of God, yet he made himself ‘all things to all men, that he might save some’ (cf. I Cor. ix:19-22). In other words, Paul spoke differently to different people; and if we approach his epistles analytically only, the essential point of his ‘theological system’ will inevitably remain unintelligible.”
So does this mean that there is not a theological system as such, since the Gospel is in its essence relational: it is about my union with God and yours — there is common content, but the relationship will be unique in each specific case? So in the usual argument in the West about how to read Scripture, both sides are wrong: it is wrong to deny that there is a cultural, time-specific aspect to the Scriptures as if everything is universal, but it is also wrong to approach the cultural component as if it were something extraneous, something that should be removed to find the ‘deeper’ ‘spiritual’ truth — there is no deeper, spiritual truth than the relationship with God of any unique, history-bound, culture-bound human person. Archimandrite Sophrony continues…
“The Staretz believed that the way to apprehend the Word of God lay in the fulfilment of Christ’s commandments. This was the Lord’s own teaching.
“‘And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself’ (John vii:15-17). The Lord summed up the whole of the Holy Scripture in one short saying: ‘Love God and thy neighbour’ (cf. Matt. xxii:40). Yet the meaning of Christ’s word love will remain a mystery for the philologist to the end of time. The word love is the very name of God Himself, and its true sense is only revealed by the action of God Himself.”
