More on A Better Way of Reading the Bible

In my last two blog posts, I have asserted that we need a different way of reading the Bible—one that moves us beyond our default what-I-already-believe way of reading it, one that helps us know God and the ways of God, one that helps us hear God’s word for us today. This blog continues that line of thinking. It is adapted from a chapter in the book I am currently writing, The Plumb Line of God: Aligning Our Hearts with the Heart of God.

The Bible is not the final authority for discerning spiritual truth or determining God’s will. It is a vital part of the process, but it is not the ultimate authority. We cannot just say “The Bible says!” The Bible is not the final word on any issue for the simple reason the Bible must be interpreted. It is not enough to know what the Bible says. We must go beyond what the Bible says to what the Bible means.

 Knowing what the Bible means is the task of interpretation.

Interpretation is necessary because …

·        the Bible comes out of an ancient, prescientific, Near Eastern context that was significantly different from our post-modern, Western context. Our Western thinking has been shaped by the Enlightenment with its emphasis on reason and scientific inquiry. Thus, when we read the Bible, we naturally read through these Western lens. We overlook the prescientific, Near Eastern orientation found in every part of the Bible. We fail to understand the biblical authors’ use of story to communicate truth. As a result, we often focus on the facts of the story and miss the truth the story was designed to communicate. We ask questions the text does not answer—questions that lead to speculation while leading us away from the truth the author intended to communicate.

·        of the dual nature of scripture. The Bible has both a human component and a divine component.  In seeking to discern what the Bible means, both components—the human and the divine—must be considered. Interpretation involves distinguishing between what is human and what is divine. The human component means some of the things we read in the Bible are cultural and not necessarily of God. 

·        of the diversity of thought found in the Bible. The Bible does not contain one, consistent understanding of God or of historical events. Instead, it reflects diverse understandings that are often at odds with one another. It also reflects a progression of understanding, moving from a limited, culturally-shaped understanding to a fuller understanding. Some parts of the Bible reflect the cultural thinking of the time period rather than the revealed character of God. 

The failure to understand and respect the ancient, prescientific, Near Eastern nature of the Bible allows us to read our beliefs into the Bible while missing the truth the biblical authors were attempting to communicate. Failure to recognize and honor the dual nature of the Bible leads us to mistake cultural practices and time-bound perspectives for eternal truth. Failure to recognize the limited understanding of certain parts of the Bible will lead us to give equal weight to every part of the Bible and to every verse in the Bible. As a result, we treat partial truth as though it were the full truth, mistaking cultural understandings to be the will of God. 

Every time we read the Bible, we interpret it. We all pick and choose what to believe and what to follow. We recognize some things in the Bible are cultural practices that are not applicable to us today. Even though these practices are what the Bible says, we do not understand the Bible to mean we should do them today. We are interpreting. We are determining what the Bible means for us today.

The issue, then, is how well do we interpret. Understanding what the Bible means calls for our best thinking. It calls us to recognize and respect the prescientific, Near Eastern perspective from which the Bible was written. It calls us to deal with the human dimensions of the text so we can recognize the divine dimensions. Understanding what the Bible means requires us to think theologically, allowing God’s character and God's ways to shape how we think and what we believe. It calls us to follow the example and teachings of Jesus. Understanding what the Bible means calls us to explore scripture with an open mind, always open to more truth than we already know. It calls for a teachable spirit, recognizing that our understanding of truth is always limited, never complete and full.

Failure to bring our best thinking to the task of interpreting scripture means we fall back into our default what-I-already-believe way of reading scripture. The failure to think theologically results in us holding onto our old, pre-Christian ways of thinking. In other words, studying the Bible doesn’t change us significantly. We are simply a religious version of our former selves. Our lives and lifestyles reflect little significant difference from our previous life—or from those around us, for that matter.

The Bible is not God's most complete self-revelation. God’s fullest self-revelation was in Jesus of Nazareth. Thus, the Bible must be read and interpreted through the lens of Jesus and the character of God which he embodied. The life and teachings of Jesus is God’s final word on any issue.