Faces

 It took many experts several decades to develop facial recognition software. But a few days after birth a baby instantly recognises the face of its mother. Face recognition is "system 1 thinking" in the words of Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman. Such thinking is instinctive and very fast.

The question arises as to how much "body language" is exhibited by our faces. In his book Talking to Strangers Malcolm Gladwell maintains that what we read in a person's face is dependent on the cultures of the speaker and of the hearer.

Unfortunately much of what we read in facial expressions is fake. I refer to the movies we look at. Even at live performances celebrities often put on their "game faces". In any case, one may ask how authentic the body language is of a face that has been surgically reconstructed.

The Bible records a number of instances when faces took on an extraordinary complexion. Moses' face shone when he came down Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. Jesus' face shone like the sun while on the Mount of Transfiguration. When Stephen was facing his accusers his face became like the "face of and angel". The icons of saints in the early church were painted with halos. Were these painters trying to portray shining faces?

There is no guarantee that a face will be recognised for the innocence and benevolence of its owner. The most loving, honest and upright person who ever lived elicited hatred from religious leaders who felt threatened by him. And the prophet wrote about him that he was not extraordinarily attractive (Isaiah 53:2). Yet he was the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15).

The devil said to God about Job that he would "curse you to your face" if God would stop blessing him (Job 1:11). Was he talking from experience? Is Isaiah 14:14 an account of satan looking into the face of the Son of God and saying "who do you think you are?" Did the snake then trick Eve into enticing her husband to fall into the same trap, namely to arrogantly usurp the position reserved for the Christ? It would seem as if the face of God was not threatening enough to stop Adam from doing just that. We know that Jesus had exactly the opposite attitude (Philippians 2:6-8). And if we are honest enough to admit it, there is something in every human heart urging us to know better than God.

But Psalmists urge us to seek the face of God (Psalm 27:8; 105:4) and blessings are promised to those who do (2 Chronicles 7:14). The blessing the priests spoke over the Israelites includes a plea to God to make his face shine on them (Numbers 6:25).

How do we seek God's face? Do we see his face reflected in the faces of fellow believers? Paul said we are changed into his image when we look at the glory of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). Jesus said the righteous will "shine like the sun" in the Kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43).

The Pentecostal distinctive

 A lot has been written about the inerrancy of the Bible. On the one hand there are those who emphasise the fact that the 66 books of the Bible were written by fallible humans. On the other hand some say every word was inspired by God.

If my source is correct, Muslims believe that the Quran was dictated directly to Muhammad word for word by an angel. That would be why only the Arabic text is regarded as perfectly reliable. Bob Dylan claimed to have written the anthemic protest song ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ in a matter of minutes. When asked by Ed Bradley in 2004 how he wrote the song he said it was from “that wellspring of creativity”.

All of us who regularly pray in a language unknown to ourselves know that at such a time our minds are “unfruitful”, in the words of Paul (1 Corinthians 14:14). We also know that when we prophesy, our minds are not completely unfruitful. That is the reason why Paul said prophesies need to be judged. When our brains are engaged we are prone to making mistakes.

Peter said the prophets of old tried “to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing” and that  “it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you” (1 Peter 1:11-12). Clearly, those prophets did not understand everything they received from the Holy Spirit. A typical example would be David's words “they cast lots for my garment” (Psalm 22:18).

But Luke wrote his gospel after he had “carefully investigated everything from the beginning” (Luke 1:3). His mind was obviously very engaged in his endeavour  “to write an orderly account”. We have to conclude that there is a spectrum of possibilities when one speaks for God. In the Bible the human and the divine cannot always be distinguished.

I do think most Pentecostals and Charismatics will agree that the process by which the Canon of the Bible was compiled was inspired by God. There were and still are many books that have an element of inspiration, for example the apocrypha. I believe this very article I am now writing is inspired by the Almighty. But the 66 books we regard as final authority will not change.