Brutus came to visit last week. Brutus is the Shepherd mix pup that belongs to Kassi, our son’s girlfriend. For the first 15 minutes of his visit, he scoured the house, nose to the floor, ears perked up, exploring room to room. Cats have a reputation for curiosity, but Brutus couldn’t relax until he’d checked everything over a time or two.
Are you still curious? Do you challenge yourself? Do you still have spiritual and intellectual horizons to which you aspire? One of the dangers for post-modern Christians with our ready access to information, is that we lose our curiosity. Since we can know an answer to nearly any question in seconds, we’ve all but lost the desire to dig into something and really get to the bottom of it. The glut of information has blunted our inquisitiveness. Like a heavy desert after a big meal, we just really aren’t that hungry anymore. Pastors, the longer we serve, the more susceptible we are to this danger.
I Peter is a fascinating little book of the Bible. I love Peter’s rock analogy in the second chapter, particularly since Jesus renamed Simon, Simon petros – the Rock. I Peter 2:2 in the NRSV says:
Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation…
The NIV reads like this:
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation…
I got a little curious in the difference between growing into salvation (NRSV) and grow up in your salvation (NIV).
One, the NRSV, seems to emphasize prevenient and saving grace; the other, NIV, seems to emphasize sanctifying grace. This had me digging in. I was curious. So, I kept digging. The Greek for this phrase revealed something delightful. There is a little phrase in the Greek that doesn’t make it into either English translation. Here is the English of the New Testament
Greek:
Like newborn babies of the word, for the pure milk long so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.
How about that? The phrase, of the word, is kind of lost.
So what, right?
So, this: Peter, the Rock, wants us to remember that God’s grace works in close partnership with his word and his Word. God’s grace through Christ and the scriptures is what both brings us to faith and enables our sanctification.
It’s amazing what a little old fashioned curiosity will reveal.
Stay curious and, Peter would remind us, stay in the word, it is the source of all spiritual growth. I’m eager to see you in just a few days for the 80 th District Assembly of the South Central Ohio District. We have some good things planned, but more importantly, we trust that God will be powerfully present among us. I’ve been praying and fasting. Join me as we prepare for our time together.
