Hopefully that doesn’t lend itself to a version of “I know art when I see it…” with respect to coming closer to the word of God.

By no means. What I mean is that the Bible is written by different authors because of their individual takes on the truths God revealed them, and this explains the stylistic and thematic distinctiveness of the different portions of Scripture.

The onion vs. hologram question is quite interesting. Allow me to contribute the art gallery view, in which the Bible contains pictures of various sorts: paintings on canvas, molded sculptures, photographs of varying quality of different subjects, each seen through the lens of its artist. This is closer to my view.

Hopefully that doesn’t lend itself to a version of “I know art when I see it…” with respect to coming closer to the word of God.

It is Christ Himself, not the Bible, which is the true word of God. The Bible, read in the right spirit and with the guidance of good teachers will bring us to him. When it becomes really necessary (i.e. for our spiritual life, not for curiosity or controversy) to know whether a particular passage is rightly translated or is Myth (but of course Myth specially chosen by God from among countless Myths to carry a spiritual truth) or history, we shall no doubt be guided to the right answer. But we must not use the Bible (our fathers too often did) as a sort of Encyclopedia out of which texts (isolated from their context and read without attention to the whole nature and purport of the books in which they occur) can be taken for use as weapons.

From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis: Volume III, p.246.

Looking forward to the rest of your new series!

The onion vs. hologram question is quite interesting. Allow me to contribute the art gallery view, in which the Bible contains pictures of various sorts: paintings on canvas, molded sculptures, photographs of varying quality of different subjects, each seen through the lens of its artist. This is closer to my view.

Regarding the “third heaven” there are two leading ideas: 1. Some think that Paul was caught to some level of heaven but not the hightest heavens (because there are 7 heavens); and 2. there are three levels and Paul was caught up to the hightest heavens.

The latter is what I believe.

I had written earlier about whether the Bible could be considered an onion or a hologram. In the former model, a core Truth has been layered over with centuries of interpretation, divine or human, but is still capable of being revealed if we peel back those layers. In the latter, the whole of the Truth is reflected in every part of the canon without the need to discard layers of interpretation.

“Sorry about another tangent on my own blog, but has anyone done a useful study on Paul’s comments about being “caught up as far as the third heaven” (2 Cor 12:2)?”

Paul would have revealed what he was allowed to reveal. To venture beyond what Paul revealed is only speculative. I’m sure you would agree.

“Scripture is useful for all the things Paul said it was (2 Tim. 3:15-17). We should not make anything too small (minimize); however, we should make every effort to view it at its actual size.”

While not accusing you of Barthian theology, all of Scripture points to the Word, yes. But we must keep such a view of Scripture that none is actually minimize.