Scripture Has a Theological Context

Since I conceive of God as impassible, Spirit, simple, then my conception of God differs from someone who sees him as passible and similar to us (though much greater) on a scale of being. When we think of God, we think of two different entities. It's not the same.

Granted, many people think of God as "greater" than us but on our scale of being today. It is a problem, but the real issue lies with how we talk about God from the Bible. If history is our only context when we interpret Scripture (and not theology/metaphysics), then it is evident that we will only speak of God who participates in history in ways similar to us (though much greater than us).

That still results in a God unrecognizable to Christian theology as expressed in creeds and confessions. Pastoral theology then cannot stop at teaching Scripture within its historical context. It must take the next step to interpret it within its theological context---the reality of the triune God and incarnate Christ.

Augustine

It strikes me that Augustine does just that when he preaches through the Psalter since he understands the Head-body relationship of Christ as a context to read and apply the psalms. Some psalms speak of the Head (Christ), others the body (the church), still others both.

Augustine in this way directly applies Scripture to his audience via the theological context of the Psalter. He does not in any way ignore the historical context(s), but he does not stop there.

For Augustine, to understand the meaning of a text, a person must grasp both the historical and theological contexts of Scripture: in other words, one must read Scripture contextually.

Ireneaus

Take another example. Ireneaus in Book II of AH finds the gnostic idea of God incoherent because it breaches Scriptural revelation and, importantly, compromises who God is. Ireneaus knows God to be simple, spirit, entirely intellect.

And so the Word must be in him in a simple way, which not tips his hat to later trinitarian theology but also shows that he conceives of God like any other Christian theologian would have: a real, simple, God who is above all concepts.

Scripture and theology do not conflict in Ireneaus. They work together as the context for theological reflection. And he, like others, leads us to confess that God is simple, impassible, and above all concepts.

It is only through love, Irenaeus argues, that God condescends to use human language to reveal himself to us. But we must not, he argues, see this language as exactly describing him (an impossibility) but as being a form of loving communication for our salvation.

All this to say, we should read Scripture contextually which includes both historical and theological contexts so that we lead people to God in Christ as Scripture pictures him.