A pastor in my area, a long-time friend of mine and someone I might’ve once considered theologically conservative, said recently to my wife at a gathering that, “not all Scripture is relevant for today.” This infuriated me for a number of reasons, and so I’m going to spend a few lines examining those reasons.
To deny the relevancy of all Scripture, the entirety and breadth of the canon of God’s Word, to say that some may not be culturally relevant (Genesis 6:5-13), is to firstly deny God’s place in culture (Romans 2:15), more importantly to say that culture is denied separately from Christ (Hebrews 1:3), that Christ does not rule as King and define our culture sovereignly (Ephesians 1:20-21, Revelations 1:4-5). As well, it is to deny Christ, or deny Christ’s role as the Word of God (John 1:1-3), complete and perfect, and to deny His teachings which are for all of life (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Thirdly, it is to remove by verbal doctrine or belief some of the Word and to invite a damnable curse upon oneself, and the fires of Hell (Revelations 22:18-19).
Finally, I would have to ask: who then defines what part of God and His Word is relevant for today, for “society?” And by what standard? I was under the impression that, since all of the nations bow subserviently before the Son and His rule (Psalm 22:7, Psalm 86:9, Isaiah 2:2-4), that He then defines societies, and that all of His Word applies to all of life at all times.
We, specks of sand on a beach to large to comprehend, decide the cultural appropriateness of God and His Word, the same God who spoke all that we will ever see, hear, or experience into existence? We, the spoken, decide the fate of the Speaker? I think not.
And sidebar: any culture in which His Word is not absolutely “relevant,” absolutely appropriate, is a culture of nothing less than the damned, a culture of His enemies, of children of the Devil, that Serpent in the garden who questioned the authority, sufficiency, validity, and - dare I say it - appropriateness of the Word of God.
"Relevancy" is such a disgustingly small term for so infinitely great a God, and it is a word that centers around us coming to God, defining God, caging God into our desires and place for Him, not us realizing that all of creation is His, that this is His story that we are a part of, that it centers around Him, not us, and that He, the Thrice-Holy Triune God, is a Lion beyond the stars that will not be caged by specks of sand. The King of the Universe is the Author and Definer of all things, and He and only He defines His own “relevancy,” and woe to him who believes otherwise.
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