Meaning and Relationship

...the Bible has just one meaning. The Bible text. And this meaning is a Person. Just one meaning. But the problem is, yes, it's just one meaning but this meaning is a Person. What does this meaning require? A relationship with the Person. A relationship with the tri-unity of the Person. But this Person, you cannot catch, you know? You can't put this Person in your pocket, to be there so you can say, "Here is the Chief of my interpretation." You know? You can see this tension between having one meaning and having various meanings because if the various meanings don't mean the relationship with the Person, ...throw them out. If the one meaning doesn't have the relationship with the Person, ...throw it out.

The history of the church is about this tension. Tension not with the meanings, but tension with this Person. If we are not in a continuous tension with the Person -- you know, a continuous tension with the Person, because sometimes He is against me. Yes, sometimes, He is against me. You find this in Jeremiah when he says that God is like an enemy to us. (Jeremiah 30:14) And He is against me and I have to accept this meaning also. I have to accept the meaning which is against me, because if I accept the meaning which is against me, I can have the grace to realize that the meaning which is against me, it is for me. The suffering of someone, it is against this person, but it's a big miracle to realize that the suffering, it is also for me.

[AV, (c)2004]