Wherever Jesus went, the Pharisees pursued him. They instinctively didn’t approve of him. He was radical, caring; he touched (and healed) the unlovely. He clearly couldn’t be the right sort of Jew. So, they resorted to name calling and labelling. For example, after Jesus cast out demons the Pharisees accused him of doing so in the power of the devil.

It’s very easy to attach labels to other human beings. It dehumanises the object and permits us to despise them. That’s not Jesus’ way.

The term biblicist has been used pejoratively of those who advance a straightforward approach to Scripture. The associated baggage is that such a person really doesn’t understand what they are advocating, or the complexity of Scripture and natural revelation. That accusation, of course, is in itself a naive, un-thought-through position.

So, these are the ramblings of a straightforward (but not simplistic) Bible believer. If the word biblicist is used pejoratively I reject the baggage that goes with it; if it is used to describe a Bible first, approach to the world around us, then I’ll wear that gladly.

There will be more to follow in due course, but, to set the tone: John Frame, a theologian of note has responded to the trite accusation that the Bible doesn’t tell you everything, it doesn’t tell you how to change a wheel on a car, by affirming that it may not tell you how to change a wheel, but it tells you how to do it as a Christian. Those who hold the Bible in high esteem and seek to apply it to every walk of life will understand what that means…