To call Scripture the “norming norm” is to say that there is something unique about the Bible. It’s not that my culture, my sociology, my world are unimportant. In fact I would argue that we may learn all sorts of truths about God in our world, through our culture, and that what truths we learn are in fact authoritative. Yet, there is still something unique about the Holy Bible. As the norming norm the Scriptures have the right and authority to interpret my context.
Sociology is not irrelevant to good theology. John Calvin very wisely stated that the two most important types of knowledge are knowledge of ourselves and knowledge of God. But what’s interesting to note for our purposes, is that it’s not easily discernible which one comes first. As Calvin himself stated in the Institutes:
Nearly all the wisdom which we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But, while joined by many bonds, which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern.
Both are in fact necessary for the other. To know God we must know something about ourselves and to know something about ourselves we must know something about God. The two forms of knowledge are mutually informing (we might even call this a twofold knowledge). John Frame applies this same tension to the world around us. He notes that knowing true things about God requires, at some level, a knowledge of our world. He writes:
Knowing God involves knowing His world for several reasons. (1) Just as knowing God’s authority involves knowing His law, so knowing God’s control involves knowing His “mighty works,” that is, His works of creation, providence, and redemption. The world itself is a mighty work of God, and the whole course of nature and history come under that category as well. (2) Furthermore, we know God by means of the world. All of God’s revelation comes through creaturely means, whether events, prophets, Scripture, or merely the human eye or ear. Thus we cannot know anything about God without knowing something about the world at the same time. Also, (3) God wants His people to apply His Word to their own situations, and this implies that He wants them to understand their own situations. We have a divine warrant for studying the world. To know God obediently, then, we must know something about the world as well. (The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, 64).
So my culture matters. Sociology is important for theology. And yet we must still acknowledge a unique place of authority for Scripture.
The Scriptures, as the norming norm, determine how I should think about my cultural context. My sociology must submit to God’s Word, my ethics must submit to God’s Word. All things, indeed, must submit to God’s Word. As I engage in the world around me I must continually be seeking to interpret it through the framework of the Bible. It holds sway over my life and my view of my life. Without the norming norm we have no hope of truth, no hope of resolving a host of cultural conflicts. Allow me to elaborate on this last point.
Social theories all suggest what they believe is wrong with the world and what, in turn, will redeem it. So, Marxism, for example, stated that “sin” was a malformed social system. The solution, then, was a complete restructuring. Feminism too sees the need for a social restructuring, but the two do not view the problem the same nor do the offer the same model of restructuring. How do we advance the conversation? There are of course glimmers of truth within each social system. Social systems garner appeal because they do get at aspects of the truth about the situation. But without the Scriptures to inform our interpretive process, without the norming norm to guide us to a proper identification of the problems and solutions the conversation reaches a stalemate. We cannot advance cultural reform and restoration apart from God. Not only because we need the gospel to redeem us, but also because we need help in viewing the world rightly. God’s Word, then, holds authority over my sociology.
This series has been all about wrestling with modern challenges to inerrancy. Frequently throughout the series I have returned again to the primary point that when we assume an impersonalist worldview than we will easily find conflict with the Scriptures, because, after all, the Scriptures do not assume an impersonalist worldview. At one level this post encapsulates all those previous posts. My world must submit to God’s Word if I am going to honestly be able to wrestle with His truth. My cultural lens needs to be informed by His Word in order to understand both God and myself correctly. Both my world and His Word are important, but the one is normative in ways that the other is not.
Sparrow & Heart Soul Care 