The Centrality of the Word

This is the first of my five-post reflection series on my time at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. I hope to share with you how with the manifold prayer and support of Seven Mile the seminary has been a blessing to me in order that you might be blessed and encouraged in your own faith journey as a part of this church plant, Seven Mile Road, just north of Boston in 2009 (soon to be 2010!). This first post revolves around the centrality of the Bible, the word of God, at Gordon Conwell. Feel free to comment about how the word of God has worked powerfully in your life and reflect with me again on the glorious treasure that is the canon of Scripture, the word of God written.

As we begin here are the seminary’s positions on the Bible and it’s place in the curriculum at GCTS:

From the GCTS Statement of Faith: The sixty-six canonical books of the Bible as originally written were inspired of God, hence free from error. They constitute the only infallible guide in faith and practice (taken from www.gcts.edu)

From the GCTS Mission Statement: Article 1—To encourage students to become knowledgeable of God’s inerrant Word, competent in its interpretation, proclamation and application in the contemporary world.

Since arriving at the seminary in 2007 I have been immensely challenged and enriched by this Word-centered approach. In addition to rigorous English language courses in both the Old Testament and New Testament, I have been on a 3-year language acquisition journey spending the majority of my time in the Greek and Hebrew texts of the Bible.

In respect to Biblical studies, I have had a blast. Don’t get me wrong, learning these languages is incredibly time-consuming and difficult; it basically consumes my life. At the same time, however, what better gift to receive than the time and care of experts in the languages teaching the courses which better equip me to understand, explain, and apply the Bible through intensive study of the texts in the original languages as well as in preaching and teaching.

In this respect Gordon Conwell is top notch. The Greek department is strong. Built on the foundations of the former GCTS Greek chair and renowned scholar Bill Mounce who has written the best-selling “Basics of Biblical Greek” published by Zondervan and currently carried on with great effectiveness and diligence by Dr. Ed Keazirian. As for Hebrew, the current chair, Dr. Gary Pratico, is the author of the textbook (also by Zondervan) “Basics of Biblical Hebrew.” You may have read the NIV Archaeological Study Bible by Zondervan, which I just recently found was basically spearheaded by GCTS and includes the work of several GCTS profs.

I have been able to study under a host of world-class scholars, many of whom are either currently also pastors, were formally pastors, and/or are heavily involved in their churches at the street level. This is no ivory tower type of stuff, where the emphasis would be on heavy thought and discourse detached from a prayerful disposition and emphasis on devotion; academia is not exalted over ecclesia (the greek word for assembly, gathering, or church). No, every class begins and many times ends in prayer and devotions and I’ve even seen professors tear up over a grammatical insight that reveals some glorious truth about our triune God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So how shall this encourage our church and Bible-believing churches like ours in New England and beyond? Well, be encouraged my friends. As evangelicals we believe in the Bible and its power; we’ve also personally experienced it. Right in our backyard there is a powerful gathering of scholars, ministers, missionaries and men and women bound for the business world or “secular jobs” who are being trained to be ministers of reconciliation to the world. These people, however, are not the only ministers. All of us, when we comprehend the apostolic inerrant truth of the Bible, and speak it and live it in the midst of our particular “slices of life” as Jeremiah Morris called it, become ministers of reconciliation, ambassadors for Christ, heralds of hope (2 Cor. 5:17-21). Gordon Conwell is training men/women to be ministers to the ministers of reconciliation so that all of us, as a people, might be contributing to God’s proclamatory apostolic reconciling Gospel work in a way that is in conformity with the written word.

As tough as an experienced college coach is on one of his players, so too are the professors at GCTS, with grace but high expectations, pushing their students toward a Word-centered and Bible-based ministry. The goal is to turn out Word-Centered, Scripture-loving, weeping-for-joy-at-the-glory-of-the-written-word ministers. This is the Word of God! Thanks be to God for it because through it we plug into the eternal things and feed on its glorious truths unto sanctification and transformation into the image of Jesus. The Bible says about itself that: it is Living and Active (Hebrews 4:12), it is Inspired by God (2 Tim 3:16-17), and it is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16). I have been blessed to be surrounded by classmates, professors, and an administration that is on fire for God’s word. In a moment of doubt or confusion, one need just look around to be reminded the power of the word that birthed in us all the desire to be at GCTS in the first place. It is that prevalent. This to me is a remarkable grace.

Rejoice because though we the church may feel bound by all sorts of political, ecclesiological, sociological chains, yet as the Apostle Paul says “The Word of God is not bound!” In fact the LORD God says through the Prophet Isaiah, “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isa. 55:11).

I am thankful that in our backyard exists a seminary that continually helps us to open the rich treasure of God’s Word, the Bible, and that this is not just for the interests of scholars, or even full-time ministers, but for all of us, the ministers of reconciliation, the church. Be encouraged, God’s Word may seem absent in New England but surprisingly, New England is home to one of the countries most Word-centered theological seminaries. Reason 1 that I’m thankful for the manifold support and guidance of Seven Mile for tracking with me and pastoring me through seminary is the Word Centered atmosphere of Gordon Conwell. Be encouraged. If there is anything that can change this culture it is God’s Living Word and the Word is front in center at GCTS. May we continue to sit under it (never over it) in order to continually be changed by it and to bring many into a relationship with freedom of the Gospel.
–John Frederick