Why History is Good for You

This week I had the great opportunity to sit down with my mom and read through John 1:1-18. We came to this text because we wanted to look at a place where the Trinity is clearly taught in Scripture. After all, we do not hold to tradition because it is tradition, but because it is biblical. When we read through the passage, we tried to set aside what we expected it to say and tried to ask the most bare bones questions of the Words of the text. Why did John open with “In the beginning.” Who is this “He” that was in the beginning with God?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. - John 1:1-4

When we take a step back and try not to assume answers we already know from being familiar with a text, then sometimes the assumed clarity of a text can be more difficult to sort through. Normally, we do not assume that we should call the Word a “He.” This, however, is what should make us keep reading and asking good questions of a text. We find out indeed that this Word is a He and He is the Son of God who became flesh and dwelt among us to deliver us from our sins (John 1:14, 29-34).

What does this have to do with why history is good for you? I spend a lot of time thinking about how to approach the study of history. Some of this is because I am a beginning doctoral student and fear the daunting to of sifting through the various approaches to studying history. Part of this is because I am most concerned to be a faithful minister in Christ’s church and I often consider how the study of history will help God’s people. It occurred to me in a recent conversation that obviously I spend more time “living” in the seventeenth century than most, and I realized this as I rattled off details about the history of the Irish Reformation for which my conversation partner probably had little use. What is the use for this? How does this connect to John 1?

Deeply reading John 1 and the study of history connect because we can be thankful that every generation does not have to sit down with their Bibles afresh and figure out every last doctrine. We can be thankful for history because there are many texts that have been read and reread and explained from the very early years after Christ ascended to heaven. As good as it is, and as refreshing and stimulating as it is to carefully rethink each text of Scripture, we can also rest in the fact that very difficult things have already been clarified for us in days past.

In most cases in our lives, it is bad form to take advantage of other people's work. We ought not to steal business ideas, other’s academic (or popular) writing; we should not let other people do our work for us, whether that be in our jobs or in school. The church fathers, however, want nothing more than for us to use their work. They spent hours and years reflecting on the texts of Scripture, perfecting summary formulations of what those texts teach us. They did so, not simply for their own benefit, but also for ours. They want us to take advantage of their work.

History is good for you because paying attention to history puts you in touch with people who have done the work for you. It is ALWAYS a bad a idea to scrap the history of the church and commit to figuring things out on your own. Mainly, most people who decide to do that have no qualifications to sift those sorts of issues. Secondly, for Christians, God has built us to be a community. He does not want us to figure out the Scriptures on our own. He wants us reading them together. He wants us taking about them together. He wants them preached to the assembled body of believers.

The final thought in why history is good for you is that we should not exclude the Christians of ages past from our conversations. We should remember, as my professor R. Scott Clark often told me, that the dead are people too. We should not capitalize on their failings for our benefit, but we should listen charitably to their precious insights. As the church is a family, we should include all our family members in our conversations. We should listen to history because our family has left us a legacy to cherish.

The study of history connects you to all of God’s work in ages past. We reap the harvest of their labor as we read the Scriptures together and have resting knowledge of what these texts have to tell us.