Terms of Reference for Reading the Bible (Part 2)
In my previous article I posed the following questions: what is the Bible’s purpose? What is the best way to read the Bible? How does the Bible work? What does it mean for the Bible to be the word of God? Authoritative? Inspired? I will answer them below using resources I will cite at the end.
What is the Bible?: The Bible is a diverse library of books that points towards God’s ultimate act of self-disclosure and revelation, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In other words,“…the Old and New testament, is a complete and unified witness to God’s redemption acts culminating in the incarnation of the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
What is the Bible’s purpose?: The Bible’s purpose is to point readers to Jesus. “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me…” Jesus affirms the nature and function of scripture in the Gospels.
“The Bible is a secondary, subsidiary, functional, written word of God, the primary purpose of which is to mediate, to point us to , to give true testimony about the living Jesus Christ”
What does it mean for the Bible to be the word of God?: Christianity is about incarnation. The Word of God is a person- Jesus Christ. Christian Smith writes, “[T]he highest, truest, most real and authoritative divine revelation to humanity is the Word of God, Jesus Christ. The second person of the Trinity (John 1:1–18). Jesus Christ is God’s absolute authentic revelation, the truth to which persons are drawn.”
“The Bible is the word of God insofar as it records and points to Jesus Christ, the Word of God in the fullest sense of the term”
Therefore, the Bible is the word of God in the derivative sense. The Bible is a trustworthy and infallible witness to God’s revelation in the person of Jesus Christ. C.S Lewis writes, “It is Christ Himself, not the Bible, who is the true Word of God. The Bible read in the right spirit, and with the right guidance of good teachers, will bring us to Jesus.”
What does it mean for the Bible to be inspired?: Rev Dr. Chris Corbin writes, “Christians believe the Holy Spirit was active in all stages of the Bible’s production, from the writing and compiling of each individual book, to discerning which books would become part of the compilation of books that are the canon of Scripture, to the translators who worked on the translations we have, to the particular versions that are in front of you today.” The Bible’s divine inspiration doesn’t undermine the reality that human beings wrote, edited and compiled the library books that make up the Bible. God works through human agency.
Rev. Dr Tim Mackie from the Bible Project describes the compilation of the canon that make up the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Bible:
The Table Church also has an ongoing series on the Bible’s orgin story:
What does it mean to have a “High View of Scripture”?: The Nicene Creed and Apostles Creed weren’t created to discuss orthodox views on what the Bible is and how it functions. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a standard formulated to measure an orthodox view of scripture and how it functions. Inerrancy and infallibility have been adopted by some Christians often through the wide reach of American conservative evangelicalism. The belief that the Bible is inerrant was articulated in 1976 (20th century). American conservative evangelicals articulated inerrancy in response to challenges about belief in God brought upon by the enlightenment and evolution. Thus, the presupposition that the Bible must be without error to be authoritative, emerged in a context of deep theological, social, political and cultural anxiety.
Now some Christians would push back and argue that Christians have always believed the Bible is without error. However, that view obscures the fact that the Bible as we know it, wasn’t compiled until the 4th century and so there was not historical consciousness that would have led to questioning the text on points of historical fact. Inerrancy is a framework that is often imposed onto the Bible despite the fact the (books of the) Bible don’t make those claims of themselves.
Thus, having a high view of scripture simply means affirming the truth that the Bible is authoritative in the life of believers and should shape us as Christians. It’s important to recognize that Complimentarian and non affirming Christians don’t have the monopoly on recogizing the authority of scripture in the life of Christians and the Church.
What does it mean for the Bible to be authoritative?:The Bible is our primary source for God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. The value of the Bible is in its ability to help us see Jesus clearly and thus it is essential for Christian discipleship.
“The authority is God the Father revealing the Son for whom the Holy Spirit speaks in Scripture”
The Bible is a medium that communicates how God has moved among the people of God in the past so we may be attentive to how God is moving among us today. Rev Chris Corbin writes, “[the Bible’s] authority, it’s claim on our lives, is that it points us to Jesus and allows us to recognize him at work in us and the world today.”
How do we read the Bible?:As Christians, we read all of scripture in light of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Rowan Williams writes in Being Christian, “Jesus, living, dying, raised from the dead, breathing his Spirit on his Church- it is in his light that you read the rest of the Bible.”
“As Christians read the Bible,…the story converges on Jesus. The full meaning of what has gone before is laid bare in… Jesus. The agenda for what follows is set in Jesus…”
Conclusion: In summary, knowing what the Bible is, its primary purpose puts things into perspective and helps us know how to use it. The Bible is meant to shape and form how we live and think today, as followers of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, the Bible should not be engaged as a hand book or theological dictionary because that is not what it is.
Finally, I will follow this terms of reference with how I now interpret Genesis 2:18–24 and Ephesisans 5:22–33 in light of what I’ve learned of the Bible’s orgin story. It has helped me embrace frameworks that I’d argue are more accurate to how the Bible presents itself. Subsequently, in upcoming articles I will push back against the idea that the vision of gender and sexuality advanced by John Piper, Paul Washer and Matt Chandler is simply “God’s design”.
Thank you for reading. Please share with friends and family. And tweet me your thoughts using the hashtag #ThinkingOutLoud.
Until the ink drips,
Akua B
Resources for further learning:
Book Recommendations
- The Bible Made Impossible:Why Biblicism Is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture by Christian Smith
- Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer by Rowan Williams
- Seven Things I Wish Christians Knew About the Bible by Michael Bird
