The Sons of Issachar: Knowing What Israel Should Do, Part 18

In the past few weeks, we have examined the parameters of the intersection of witness and art.  Prior to these, we looked at the necessity (and value) of theology and the place of Scriptural content in Art.  In this post, we will begin an examination of the meaning of the form of Scripture, and what implications that form has for us as artists.

Scripture itself has, of course, come to us in written form, as 66 books which encompass a number of literary forms such as poetry, historical narrative, parable, apocalyptic writing, etc.  (All of which we will examine, Lord willing, in future weeks as to their specific meanings to the artist.)  The amazing thing about this is that, despite the multiplicity of writers and styles, written over several millennia and multiple cultures, God Himself used these diverse writers, backgrounds, and styles to supernaturally and sovereignly reveal Himself and His character and ways both to the human writers’ original contemporaries and to us (cf. 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-32; Isa 8:20; Deut 17:19; 1 Cor 10:1-11; etc.).

In point of fact, it is Scriptural passages like 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:21 that have caused Christians to believe that the Bible is “God-breathed,” and thus inspired by the Spirit of God Himself, and that show that God supernaturally overcame the short-comings of the human authors of Holy Writ to produce a book that is inerrant, infallible, and absolutely authoritative for mankind, able to equip the man of God for “every good work.”

This means that God used people to accomplish the high and spiritual purpose of creating for the benefit of mankind His Word written.  In past posts of this series, we saw that God used symbol in creation itself (all created things symbolize the Creator in some fashion), and the Incarnation of Jesus Christ (both fully God and fully Man simultaneously) and the Sacraments Christ instituted, to reveal His Spiritual Reality through physical things, showing (among many other purposes) that created things and creatures are meant to be (and inescapably are) conduits and vehicles for the revelation of the Holy Creator-God.

The fact that God used human authors under the inspiration of His Spirit to reveal His Eternal Word likewise shows us that God intends for the created order, for patterned matter to carry and communicate spiritual content (e.g., God’s fingerprints).

For existence of the Bible, a physical, ordered imprint of God’s Spiritual Word teaches us that we as humans are capable of being used by God to reveal Himself.  This does not mean that any vehicle which God utilizes to reveal Himself will be anywhere remotely near to the unique, inerrant, infallible revelation of God as He is revealed in Scripture (a man named Marcion attempted, in the early centuries of the church’s history, to teach that people could create works equal to Holy Writ, and was swiftly and justly recognized as a heretic and enemy of the Faith).

However, while it is true that any revelation of God that comes through our creations will not be infallible or anywhere near the revelation of God in Scripture, it is also true that vital spiritual content can be communicated through human activity and artifacts.  This can, for artists, be specially underscored by the fact that the Bible encompasses a number of literary artistic forms (poetry, parable, etc., as mentioned above).

This further means that God not only used human authors, but also that He used humans skilled as artists.  Solomon, David, and Asaph were skilled poets, Moses a narrative storyteller of the highest order, and so forth.  Though today we cannot be used to enscribe infallible revelation through our various arts, we can still be used of God to communicate Truth about who He is and what He is like.  The traditions and history of the Church are replete with instances and examples of godly Christians who glorified and revealed Christ in and through their art.  Let us today, with the vision of Scripture filling us, do our part to extend the traditions of godly art into the future.

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