Quote on Transformation and Holy Scripture

…. lA] scripture can function directly by itself operating as the instrument of transformation. It is “as if divinity indwelt the words and caused them, through articulation of them, to bring about altered states of being.” Here, scripture becomes “incantatory or sacramental.” Typically, this is how the shrŭti canon of Hinduism works, as also the Qur’an in its capacity as the very communication of Allah. In contrast, the Bible effects transformation by pointing to Jesus as the only means by which fellowship with God becomes available to anyone, and beyond that, by calling into being that fellowship. When the religions of Asia sit down together to answer the question “What is Scripture?,” the Christian answer differentiates itself by calling attention not so much to the “text,” whether oral or written, but to a triune God seeking to himself all the people of the earth.

Havilah Dharamraj, edited by.Gener, Timoteo D.; Pardue, Stephen T.. Asian Christian Theology: Evangelical Perspectives (p. 57). Langham Creative Projects. Kindle Edition.

Sometimes it is easy to forget that different faiths hold Scripture differently. We cannot help it if people of other faiths get confused as to how we revere the Holy Bible, but it is important for us to know what that means (or is supposed to mean) and how other groups may see things differently.

Note above, the author uses the term “shruti.” This is a term used in Hinduism to represent “higher” or more authoritative holy scripture, as opposed to “smriti” for lesser, but still authoritative. Many groups have this same character. Islam seems to have a higher (Qu’ran) versus lower (Hadith). In Christianity, we typically see the Holy Bible as authoritative, holy, and nothing else— at least in Evangelical Christianity. In theory at least, we see all 66 books as equally authoritative. However, in practice we sometimes give more weight to some over others.

I would like to suggest, however, that it may not be ridiculous to consider that Christianity does also have two tiers of special revelation. The lower is the Holy Bible. The higher is Jesus Christ— the Logos… the Word. Of course, most of what we reliably know about Jesus we get from the Holy Bible. This blurs the line between the two. Nevertheless, no matter how important the Holy Bible is to us as Christians, it will never be as true of a revelation about God than Jesus.