He resolved a journey that had begun in my childhood and he called me into a growing lifelong adventure called the Christian life, and the Bible came along with me on that journey. Why? Because the one I trusted in is the Jesus of history to whom the Bible bears witness in the Old Testament, by its history and expectation, and in the New Testament, in its witness to his life and ministry. I do not know a mystical Christ of faith apart from the concrete Jesus of the first century. Therefore, the cornerstone of Christian theology and its most radical cutting edge is the affirmation of the fact that the “Word became flesh.” (John 1)

God has spoken for himself! Once I joined myself to this man, Jesus Christ, I then joined myself to the Bible, too. The Bible became the faithful and authoritative guide to my journey. There are several important practical results of this discovery: First, all the doctrines of Christian faith and life that I want to know about now gain their importance by their proximity to the Jesus Christ of the Bible and they find their fulfillment in him.

When my faith is rooted in daily study of the Bible, I benefit spiritually and ethically, and I am set free from the unhealthy domination of religious leaders and advocacies. Everything is now testable by the biblical witness.

Best of all, the Bible grants a framework that is focused toward its living center. And just as every theme in its pages finally focuses on Jesus Christ, I learn to focus my daily life on him. We worship not the Bible itself, but the Lord of the Bible who is the Living Word to whom the real people who wrote the Bible point.

Rev.Earl Palmer is Senior Pastor at University Presbyterian Church.  This article is from the July/August 2007 issue of The UPC Times.