It is without controversy that the Bible is the most prominent and influential literature ever written. It continues to outsell anything else with no distant second. So, what is the Bible, and what are we supposed to do with it? The only viable acknowledgment is to accept it for what it is: God’s revelation of Himself to humanity, written in collaboration with humans over a span of 1600 years. We must further assume that God revealed Himself in the way that He desires – and even demands – to be known by humans.
Critics of the Bible are constantly preening over finding the contradiction, inconsistency, or problem passage that will diminish Scripture and boost their egos. Maybe, like in life, some contradictions are not meant to be resolved. Does the emphasis have to be on problem-solving, or is the greatest impact of challenges and curiosities the resulting conversations about them? Let us beware of flying too close to the flame and becoming incinerated by our pride. Instead, let’s revel in the apparent ambiguities and tensions.
The Bible inherently demands that you read it on its own terms. It does not always behave in the way we think it should. It often leaves us with more questions than answers, but it does prod us toward asking the right questions. It provokes a process of wrestling, doubting, imagining, and aggressively discussing its mysteries. It is living and breathing, captivating and confounding, yet it equips us to engage and participate in God’s creative, loving, and redemptive work in this world and in the cosmos. We begin to love the Scriptures for what they claim to be and not for what we want them to be. They are multidimensional and intimately connected to the complexities of human existence. As individuals, we will always be learning how to read the Word more effectively.
Our western methodology seeks to demonstrate or reconfigure the words of Scripture to accommodate our needs, wants, feelings, and desires. We have such a propensity for diagramming and charting truth and for breaking it down into compact self-help formulae and mundane performance lists or memes.
God’s methodology of revelation is historical narrative, mixed with music, drama, poetry, and passion. He speaks to our hearts as well as our heads and hands. The Bible is charged with life: good and evil, generosity and greed, spirit and flesh, love and hate. It is both fixed and flowing. It is a curiously captivating mystery.
As mentioned, reading the Bible suggests – and even requires – a fluid sort of discipline. This allows us to adjust and adapt to the text. Both the Old and the New Testaments describe this: in the Old Testament, it is called “wrestling” (Genesis 32:24-30*); in the New, it is referred to as “binding and loosing.” (Matthew 16:19 & 18:18)
Jesus expected His followers to involve themselves in the constant process of discovering what it meant to live in the reality of the Scriptures (the written Word) and in the reality of His incarnation (the living Word). They were to make calculated decisions of what following Christ in their present world and culture would look like. And this is just as true and necessary for believers today. We must be convinced and transformed by an understanding that the Bible is as alive as it is true. It is a wildly uncensored account of people experiencing the living God. We must let go of any teaching or methodology that does not sync with the words and the way of Jesus and embrace what it means to be authentic people of God. The implications of this responsibility to “bind and loose” are as exhausting as they are exhilarating. We must be willing to “wrestle” with the entirety of God’s word as a community of Christ-follower!
Watch out for people with a limp; they may have had an encounter with God.*
You will be faced with passages that seem difficult or contradictory! When you come to them, consider these realities:
- In essence, the whole Bible is a “problem passage.” Consider how it all came together. It is pretty wild, and we’ve got to assume that it will forever be much bigger than us and far beyond us.
- The revelation of God has a “trajectory” to it. Scripture is understood progressively on a multitude of issues. In the Old Testament, Israel was on the cutting edge of justice for its time, but God continued to incrementally coerce them forward.
- There are ambiguities and nuances in the original languages in which Scripture was written. We must “stay at the process” as we translate God’s Word into current languages.
- Pastor and writer, Jeremy Hall, made two insightful comments regarding our need to become skillful at comparing Scripture with Scripture during this process. “The Bible is never in contradiction with itself; it is always in conversation with itself.” Also, “The Bible contains its own counterpoints [contrasts] throughout its internal dialogue.”
- The historical context is vital to understanding the Scriptures, but we must realize that limitations and nuances always exist in a study of history.
- The Bible contains its own principles of interpretation within the text. We must learn to recognize and respect them over a lifetime of study. Biblical interpretation is as much of an art as it is a science. It is a pilgrimage we walk as well as a fortress we defend.
- There is always more woven into the fabric of Scripture than is initially obvious. There are certain threads that run through the entirety of Scripture.
- The God of the Old Testament is the same God as in the New Testament. Jesus Christ is the fulcrum, and the Word is the lever that helps us to ‘lift’ or understand the massive weight of the truth of who God is.
- An obedient, consistent, intentional, and lifelong pursuit of God’s will always manifests in the ability to read and understand the Bible more effectively.
And in conclusion…
The more you read, study, obey, and explore the Word of God, the more interesting , provocative, timely, dangerous, progressive, convicting, funny, compelling, mysterious, strange, personal, inspiring, divine, subversive, explicit, honest, paradoxical, ruthless, hopeful, and enjoyable it confirms itself to be.
The Bible finds coherence in Christ and the people of God.
We are not required to handle it all. It is beyond our ability to grasp, and as a result, the Gospel will not be crushed or diminished. And the mystery which provokes the greatest consternation should be… that He loves you and me.