{"id":2670,"date":"2012-08-22T10:34:20","date_gmt":"2012-08-22T10:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/?p=2670"},"modified":"2018-07-20T18:45:26","modified_gmt":"2018-07-20T18:45:26","slug":"reading-the-bible-for-all-its-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2012\/08\/reading-the-bible-for-all-its-worth.html","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Reading the Bible For All It&#8217;s Worth&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Some people really know their Bibles. \u00a0One of them is Steve Hayner. \u00a0Steve is the president of Columbia Theological Seminary, in Atlanta, Georgia, and has taught missiology, pastored churches, and worked at the helm of the student ministries organization, InterVarsity. \u00a0He also has gotten three degrees in biblical studies, and has written a book on the Bible.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The other day Steve preached a sermon for Kairos Church that, I believe, has much to offer to our recent exploration of &#8220;biblical authority&#8221; and what it means to read the Bible well. \u00a0<em>(If you didn&#8217;t catch Monday&#8217;s post, &#8220;Is Rick Warren&#8217;s Daniel Plan An Exercise in &#8216;Selfish&#8217; Bible Reading?,&#8221; you can <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2012\/08\/is-rick-warrens-daniel-plan-just-selfish-bible-reading.html\">here<\/a>.) \u00a0Steve<\/em>\u00a0has kindly agreed to share his manuscript with us, and I hope his\u00a0<\/em><em>insights will be as useful for you as they were for me:<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Psalm 119:105 &#8211; <strong>Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Romans 15:4\u00a0 &#8211; <strong>For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>2 Timothy 3:14-17\u00a0 &#8211; <strong>But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I love the Bible.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>after I began to follow Jesus I got more <strong>hungry to learn<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>earned three grad degrees<\/strong> to learn to study Bible better<\/li>\n<li><strong>wrote book <\/strong>introducing whole Bible<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Qur&#8217;an calls Christians and Jews \u201cThe People of the Book\u201d because we share with Islam a strong view of God\u2019s word as found in the Scriptures.\u00a0 <strong><em>We look to Scripture for firm foundation and truth to live in chaotic\/confusing world<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>But I\u2019ve got to confess, that while I have always loved the Bible and considered the Bible as a key authority in my life\u2014<strong><em>I have not always had a very biblical view of how the Bible should be used.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Most serious followers of Jesus would say that the Bible is their authority for faith and how they live life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The most common ways people study the Bible: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>They <strong><em>mine for<\/em> <em>devotional nuggets<\/em><\/strong> to give hope, encouragement, peace, guidance. [<em>verse pluckers<\/em>]<\/li>\n<li>They <strong><em>search for<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>specific answers<\/em><\/strong> to questions or issues<\/li>\n<li>They <strong><em>select passages to support what they believe<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>None of these are bad. But they are <strong>inadequate <\/strong>ways of studying the Bible.\u00a0 Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>There are <strong><em>plenty of devotional<\/em><\/strong>, <strong><em>encouraging nuggets<\/em><\/strong> in Scripture.\u00a0 But if this was God\u2019s intent, <strong><em>why is there so much other extra stuff<\/em><\/strong>? \u00a0E.g. Thomas Jefferson had a personal Bible where he cut or tore out everything that he thought was superfluous.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Lots of books written around the devotional highpoints. BUT, this is actually a demeaning view of the Bible, because it suggests that God made a mistake by \u201cinspiring\u201d all the parts that aren\u2019t uplifting or immediately applicable.\u00a0 The Bible says that \u201cALL Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness\u201d \u2013 and that we are to pay attention to the \u201cwhole counsel of God.\u201d<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>If the Bible is intended to be our final source for questions about what to believe and how to behave, <strong><em>why doesn\u2019t the Bible answer clearly and completely the very questions we were asking?<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Many people assume that the Bible should and does! But the <strong><em>Bible can\u2019t possibly be as clear and complete about what we think we need to know, because there are so many Christians who disagree about what it says.<\/em><\/strong> \u00a0Churches are hopelessly split about all sorts of details that seem to the church to be important about our beliefs and behaviors. Thousands and thousands of groups are separated from one another by their distinctive beliefs or behaviors\u2014all of which they claim are \u201cbiblical.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>E.g. Baptism<\/li>\n<li>Style of worship<\/li>\n<li>How we view war<\/li>\n<li>How we define marriage<\/li>\n<li>What we think about capital punishment or abortion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Whole denominations have split over these\u2014and thousands of other issues, and most claim that they know what Bible says.<\/p>\n<p>E.g. I was discussing an issue with a pastor who said, \u201cWell, either the Bible is true or it isn\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0 His assumption was that this settled the issue.\u00a0 If I believed that the Bible was true, I would obviously agree with him.\u00a0 If I didn\u2019t agree with him, it meant either that my view of Scripture was faulty, or that I wasn\u2019t reading my Bible enough.<\/p>\n<p>To compensate, most traditions have come up with a whole series of creedal statements and governing rules and policy guidelines on various issues, precisely because the Bible doesn\u2019t seem to speak adequately enough on these things. Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals\u2014all make pronouncements\u2014write papers\u2014and argue among themselves and with each other.<\/p>\n<p>We often <strong><em>end up with culturally informed views<\/em><\/strong>\u2014<strong><em>thinking they are biblical<\/em><\/strong>. And people end up making up stuff to fill in the places where Scripture is silent.\u00a0 This is true for social and doctrinal issues.<\/p>\n<p>E.g. Satan as fallen angel.\u00a0 A story which most Christians assume is from Bible, but actually comes from 2 Enoch, some Jewish commentators\u2014and made popular by John Milton in <em>Paradise Lost<\/em>.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>What we often <strong><em>think that what we need<\/em><\/strong> (and what the Bible is) is a <strong><em>book of timeless truth<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>that ought to be simple to understand and simply obeyed. <\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>E.g. A. J. Jacobs, <em>The Year of Living Biblically: One Man\u2019s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible:<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Year of Living Biblically is about my quest to live the ultimate biblical life. To follow every single rule in the Bible \u2013 as literally as possible. I obey the famous ones:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Ten Commandments<\/li>\n<li>Love thy neighbor<\/li>\n<li>Be fruitful and multiply<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But also, the hundreds of oft-ignored ones.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do not wear clothes of mixed fibers.<\/li>\n<li>Do not shave your beard<\/li>\n<li>Stone adulterers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Why? Well, I grew up in a very secular home (I\u2019m officially Jewish but I\u2019m Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant). I\u2019d always assumed religion would just wither away and we\u2019d live in a neo-Enlightenment world. I was, of course, spectacularly wrong. So was I missing something essential to being a human? Or was half the world deluded?<\/p>\n<p>I decided to dive in headfirst. To try to experience the Bible myself and find out what\u2019s good in it, and what\u2019s maybe not so relevant to the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But is this how God intended for the Bible to be used? After all, the whole <strong><em>Bible is culturally conditioned<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 It is written in languages of another time, about people and cultures which are quite foreign to us.\u00a0 We believe that God is speaking in the Scriptures, but sometimes what God is saying is not very clear, especially when it comes to narrative or poetic material where the \u201csimple meaning of the text\u201d just doesn\u2019t seem very simple.\u00a0 There are many voices in the Scripture, and at times those voices disagree with one another.\u00a0 E.g. Theology of Deuteronomy: If you obey you will be blessed; if you disobey, bad things will happen.\u00a0 Many books of OT were written to illustrate that point (Joshua, Judges, !&amp;2 Samuel, 1&amp;2 Kings). But that\u2019s not how life often seems to work, so Job, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and others were written with a very different perspective.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So how do we learn to study the Bible better\u2014and let it shape our lives?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. <strong><em>Adjust our view of what we mean by biblical authority.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When we look at what the Bible says about its own authority, what we discover first is that the <strong><em>focus is always on the authority of God<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>God has authority in Creation.\u00a0 God has authority as God calls, loves, pursues, frees, speaks, judges, redeems, heals, and in every way works with people in the world.\u00a0 At the end of Jesus\u2019 earthly ministry, Jesus boldly declares that <strong><em>\u201cAll authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 And, then, perhaps surprisingly, Jesus gives authority to the Apostles, by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 And the church is given authority to work within the world as God\u2019s ambassadors.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The Bible witnesses to God\u2019s work, and attests to how complex and messy this work sometimes is.\u00a0 But the Bible is not some sort of celestial information service or even sure test of doctrinal purity.\u00a0 The Bible always points to God.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>And all through the biblical story God exercises God\u2019s authority through human agents who are anointed and equipped by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 From the very beginning, God brought God\u2019s authority to bear on Israel, not by revealing to them simply a set of timeless truths, but by delegating authority to obedient women and men through whose words God brought judgment and salvation to both Israel and the world.\u00a0 We call that <strong><em>inspiration<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>And this is amplified in the person of Jesus, who lived authority, who claimed authority, and then who gave authority to his followers.\u00a0 Jesus told his followers that they would receive power and wisdom when the Holy Spirit came upon them.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 people are anointed and gifted to continue God\u2019s work authoritatively.<\/p>\n<p>Many of the Reformers in the 16<sup>th<\/sup> century talked about the principle of <em>\u201csola scriptura\u201d <\/em>or \u201cScripture alone\u201d as our final source of authority.\u00a0 But others looked around and said, \u201cNo, that is not the whole picture.\u201d\u00a0 We also need to understand the <strong><em>roles of the Holy Spirit<\/em><\/strong>, of <strong><em>human reason<\/em><\/strong> and of <strong><em>tradition<\/em><\/strong> in matters of faith and practice. And <strong><em>the closer that the Bible, the work of the Holy Spirit, human reason and tradition line up, the more confident that we can be.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>E.g. John 5:39f: part of a story of religious leaders complaining that Jesus wasn\u2019t being \u201cbiblical\u201d and following the rules. \u00a0Jesus said: &#8220;You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>You can study the Bible until you are blue in the face, but you can still miss Jesus, and you may miss what God is trying to do in your life.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When we recognize that ultimately it is God who is authority\u2014and not our understanding of the truth\u2014then it produces a wonderful sense of <strong><em>humility. <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0We recognize that God is God, and we are not! We don\u2019t have all the answers. And so God calls us to look to Jesus, to walk in light of what we know, to thank God every day for the God\u2019s love which we have in Jesus Christ, and to rejoice that because of Christ, <strong><em>it\u2019s OK to not have everything figured out\u2014or to change our minds\u2014or to be just plain wrong\u2014as long as we keep submitting our lives to Christ and to his word.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Adjust our view of authority\u2026and<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. <em>Adjust<\/em> <em>our view of what the Bible is<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Bible is NOT primarily:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A rule book<\/li>\n<li>A textbook<\/li>\n<li>An answer book<\/li>\n<li>A systematic theology book<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What we see in the <strong><em>Bible is largely a narrative of God\u2019s people<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>who are trying to figure out their lives in relation to God<\/em><\/strong>\u2014just like we are.\u00a0 In the process they exercise and also frequently fail to exercise the authority which God has given them.\u00a0 We watch as the Holy Spirit gives them songs to sing, wisdom for their daily lives, ways to approach the problems they face, and messages to proclaim.\u00a0 Sometimes the stories are told so that we can imitate them.\u00a0 Sometimes the songs are given so that we can sing them. Sometimes the teaching is given so that we can be corrected by it. Sometimes what is there serves as a warning that we shouldn\u2019t try that again.<\/p>\n<p>But the point I am trying to make is that what the sovereign God is doing is what God has always been doing\u2014namely to make and remake people and the world through God\u2019s love.\u00a0 <strong><em>God uses the Bible as a Spirit-inspired book to mold our lives\u2014not merely to give us a few answers to difficult questions.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>N.T. Wright, a NT scholar and the Anglican Bishop of Durham, invites us to think about God\u2019s work in the world as an unfinished drama.\u00a0 The Bible, he says, is like the first four acts of a great play: 1) Creation; 2) Fall; 3) God\u2019s work with Israel, and 4) then God became flesh in Jesus\u2014are all included.\u00a0 What is provided is a wealth of background, characterization, and an exciting drama. The assumption is that more will follow from these first acts.\u00a0 The first acts will establish the framework of where the plot will go.\u00a0 The characters in the next acts of this great story of God\u2019s work\u2014that\u2019s us\u2014will\u00a0 pour over the first acts\u2014we will enter into the <strong><em>whole<\/em><\/strong> story, work through the twists and turns in the plot, and learn that the parts that we now play in God\u2019s drama must flow from what has gone before.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>We are God\u2019s people\u2014being shaped by God\u2019s living and written Word.<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>The Bible is inspired by God to shape the Church and help us to live out Spirit-guided lives for the sake of God\u2019s mission in the world.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We don\u2019t consult the Bible merely to ask, \u201cAre we allowed to do this or that?\u201d or \u201cWhat must we believe to be sound in our doctrine?\u201d\u00a0 Rather <strong><em>God wants the church to lift up our eyes to see what God has called us to be and to do as we follow Jesus into God\u2019s great work in the world.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 <strong><em>God uses the Bible as a primary means of calling and equipping the church for God\u2019s work of love, reconciliation, compassion and justice.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>N.T. Wright says:\u00a0 <strong><em>\u201cAll of this is designed as a plea to the church to let the Bible be the Bible, and so to let God be God\u2014and so to enable the people of God to be the people of God, his special people, living under his authority, bringing God\u2019s light to God\u2019s world.\u00a0\u00a0The Bible is not an end in itself.\u00a0\u00a0It is there so that, by its proper use, the creator may be glorified and the creation may be healed<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>[N.T.Wright, \u201cThe Laing Lecture,\u201d 1989.]<\/p>\n<p>The God of the Bible is calling us all to be transformed and shaped by the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures, and then to carry on God\u2019s work into the world.\u00a0 So we study the Scriptures.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>We study ALL the Scriptures. <\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>We acknowledge that some of it doesn\u2019t make sense yet, and that we don\u2019t have it all figured out right away. <\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>We pray and meditate on the Scriptures. <\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>We preach and teach the Scriptures.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Over time, our lives are shaped and reshaped by God\u2019s Spirit through the Scriptures.<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>AND we become more like Jesus. <\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>The Bible \u201cis there so that, by its proper use, the creator may be glorified and the creation may be healed.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Helpful books:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Scot McKnight, <em>The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How you Read the Bible. <\/em>Zondervan, 2008.<\/li>\n<li>Christian Smith, <em>The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture. <\/em>Brazos Press, 2011.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some people really know their Bibles. \u00a0One of them is Steve Hayner. \u00a0Steve is the president of Columbia Theological Seminary, in Atlanta, Georgia, and has taught missiology, pastored churches, and worked at the helm of the student ministries organization, InterVarsity. \u00a0He also has gotten three degrees in biblical studies, and has written a book on&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":461,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,180,119,43,25,15,249],"tags":[719,445,1005,1006,1008,1007],"class_list":["post-2670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity-and-culture","category-christianity-in-politics","category-church","category-humor","category-jesus","category-mission","category-preaching","tag-biblical-authority","tag-biblical-womanhood","tag-how-to-read-the-bible","tag-living-biblically","tag-missio-dei","tag-narrative-theology"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - 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