A More Christlike Word

title: A More Christlike Word: Reading Scripture the Emmaus Way

author: Bradley Jersak
publisher: Whitaker House
date: 2021

Bradley Jersak has written a helpful book on reading scripture. Christians believe the Bible is important, that it teaches, among other things, truth and points to who God is and what he is about. But having said that, Christians differ on how we read the Bible.

Jersak opens Part 1 with the clear and vital statement:

The emphasis of this book, and especially part I, is that Jesus is the Word of God and the Christian Scriptures faithfully testify to him. To speak of the Word of God is to proclaim Jesus Christ as the author, finisher, and final authority of Christian faith.

In other words "The Word of God" is not the Bible, it is Jesus. Jersak introduces us to the “Emmaus Way,” a Jesus-directed approach that unveils the Bible’s mysteries, that helps us smell the aroma, taste the goodness, hear the gladness, see the glory, and touch the wounds of the human God in the ages of the Scriptures.

In a day when there is a lot of talk about deconstruction, Jersak asks four important questions (p198):

  1. 1. If God is love, why did he sacrifice his Son on the cross?
  2. 2. If God is love, why does he punish people in hell?
  3. 3. If God is love, why did he kill people in the Old Testament?
  4. 4. If we challenge the above, how is the Bible relevant anymore?

In "A More Christlike Word" Jersak helps us read the Bible (especially the Old Testament) with less literalism and a clearer understanding that to see God, we need to look to Jesus. Jersak's conclusion that God's Love is unchanging and revealed as totally Christlike is what we need to hear in our violent, shifting, messy world.

Some thoughts

Reading and interpreting the Bible begins with a humble heart. We need to be open to the Holy Spirit who prompts and guides our understanding. Our interpretation is not necessarily "inspired, inerrant, and infallible." We need to be humble and recognize that we don't know everything.

We need to recognize that Scripture is made up of my genres. Understanding genre is important to hearing what Scripture is saying. Some is literally, some historical, some poetic. We need to let Scripture interpret Scripture.

We also need to read the Bible as a big story. Jersak, rightly I would say, sees Jesus as the end revelation of the texts. He does this by proposing the trilogy of seeing the Bible through the Christlike God; Christlike Way; and Christlike Word. 

Jersak has written a helpful guide for an evangelical world that is increasingly weary and poorly equipped to deal with the many questions and doubts about the difficult passages of the Bible. 


#AMoreChristlikeWord

Disclosure: 

I received this book free from the Speakeasy blogging book review network.
My review is an honest, unbiased review reflecting my own opinion of the work.
I was not required to write a positive review of this work.

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