The word “Bible” is simply the Greek word for “book.” The historical-critical scholars attempted to study the Bible “like any other book,” only to torture the text unlike they would do with any other book. But sometimes we Christians approach the Bible like any other book, reading it as we would a novel or a blog post.
We might speak of the “Holy Bible,” the holy book, meaning that this particular volume, though consisting of ink on paper bound between a cover like all others, is set apart from other books. We can think of it as the very Word of God, who comes to us and forms us as we read.
Alastair Roberts has written an article for The Plough entitled Warning: The Bible Is Not Just a Book. He observes,
Much of the writing we encounter is written for distracted and impatient casual readers, neither demanding nor rewarding close, sustained, and repeated attention. . . .We remember, many of us, another kind of reading: the experience of closely reading, alone or with others, a text that seems infinite in its subtleties, meanings, and implications. This craving finds its satisfaction in our engagement with Holy Scripture [which means Holy Writings.]
Holy Scripture is not written as a text to be swiftly consumed and digested; you cannot “have read” Holy Scripture, but must always be in the process of reading, rereading, and chewing it over. The skills and habits this reading requires might not only be unfamiliar to many of us, but might often run against the grain of habits that have become second nature to us.
Holy Scripture, read appropriately, will form, not merely inform us. Our typical habits and practices of reading prepare us for texts that chiefly place themselves at our disposal: they are there for our entertainment, use, or information. While Holy Scripture does teach and equip us to read it properly, we must place ourselves at its disposal, approaching it on its own terms. Modern readers can lightly dispense with words, treating them chiefly as disposable vehicles for ideas or truths. Many Bible studies seek rapidly to move from reading the text to extracting the devotional nuggets, doctrines, or moral teachings within it, at which point the actual words of the text can be left behind. Yet Holy Scripture charges us differently, calling us to tarry with, memorize, chew over, and treasure its words. We are to read them publicly, teach them to our children, talk about them.
Roberts cites what the Word of God says about the Word of God: “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
Furthermore, God created by means of His Word: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible (Hebrews 11:3). And Christ Himself is the Word made flesh (John 1:1-14).
Thus, says, Roberts,
This word of God is not lifeless text on a page, nor even a divinely inspired and thus uniquely reliable recounting of and reflection upon historical events and agents, like a conversation in some heavenly commentary box. Rather, it is a dynamic and powerful actor in history. Indeed, it is a primary actor both within the history it recounts and in the continuing life of the people of God.
It has long struck me that the Bible is inexhaustible. How many sermons have I heard that unpack the same text but with different nuances and different depths of meaning, all of which have blessed me.
Some parts of the Bible are enigmatic, completely defying our understanding. Of course a communication from the infinite God will sometimes overwhelm our little minds. But the difficulty is part of the text and part of its meaning. As Roberts says, “The very obscurity and difficulty, the polysemic and multilayered nature of Holy Scripture, is part of its regal character.”
I get frustrated with modern translations that take an intrinsically difficult passage in the original languages and then translate the difficulty away with some simplistic language in an effort to make it clear. I’ve been reading the King James translation lately, which often does a better job of rendering figures of speech and linguistic ambiguities than modern translations do.
To be sure, the Bible is clear enough in matters of salvation and the Bible interprets itself, if interpretation is what you need to do. But just as we don’t always need to come to a definitive understanding of what we read, we don’t always need to be interpreting everything. The Bible isn’t a puzzle to solve, but a means of grace. It is to be received as Law and Gospel, a dynamic of fear and repentance that opens us up to the assurance of forgiveness and salvation through Christ, who, as the Living Word, can be found everywhere in Scripture if we look closely enough.
Roberts is, I believe, a Reformed theologian. He goes on to explore the “different reading” that the Bible requires and makes possible. To his credit, he does quite a bit with Law and Gospel. I didn’t see that sacramental understanding of Scripture that characterizes Lutheranism, though he perhaps comes close, the notion that the Holy Spirit comes to us as we read, creating faith in Christ.
One caution, though. Some of the liberal theologians who approached the Bible “like any other book” insisted that the Bible is still foundational to Christianity and worth reading. But they denied its truth. Rather, they read the Bible like a novel, picking up on its valuable meanings, just as you could derive many lessons in life from a good work of fiction. The Bible doesn’t have to be true, they said. Just read it for its meanings.
We shouldn’t just read the Bible as a history textbook, a scientific manual, or even as a collection of doctrines, but as a means of grace. But when Jesus prays for His disciples and says to His father, “your word is truth” (John 17:17), He is speaking not of His disciples’ subjective experience but of objective reality, the realm where He is sending them “into the world” (17:18). There is nothing subjective about the Creation, the Incarnation, the Atonement, the Resurrection. Rather, God’s Word has made them happen so that they are both truths and facts. And God’s Word will imprint them on your hearts.
Photo via PickPik, Public Domain, CC0 1.0
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In