Thankfully, one does not have to be a biblical literalist to take the Bible seriously. Indeed, taking a passage literally may lead to taking it less seriously than it deserves.
Scripture
Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.
*Romans 15.4 (NLT)
You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.
*II Timothy 3.15 (NLT)
Story One~Taking the Bible literally?
David H.C. Reed tells of being preceded by a speaker at a meeting who announced he was a "Bible-believing Christian." Reed says, "I wondered what other kind there might be,..." The speaker continued to define his position, saying that he took literally every statement in the Scripture. Reed comments, "I had a strong temptation to ask him: 'Give me a hundred dollars.' If he said resisted I would have quoted a Bible verse from the very lips of Jesus: 'Give to him that asketh thee.'"
*Preaching About the Needs of Real People
Story Two~Shall we burn witches?
David H.C. Reed tells the following experience:
A prominent layman once complained to me that our seminaries were not turning out students who believed the Bible. When I asked what he meant by "believing the Bible," he replied, "Accepting what it says quite literally." When I asked if that would apply to a text from Exodus which reads "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," he muttered something about that being an exceptional case.
Comments
Scripture is a wonderful, sufficient written word for followers of Jesus living the In-Christ-Life, but it is a terrible~and, now, widespread~idolatry when replacing Christ, the Living Word.
The wonder of Scripture is that it contains inspired principles for living a truly human and Christ-like life. However, persons depart into three groups in interpreting the Scripture.
1) There are those who treat Scripture as a timeless deposit of propositional truth.
They do this without regard to the social custom and life conditions, as well as religious law, that pertained to the time and culture. They believe, so they say, all one must do is pick up the words of the page and apply it today. Their inconsistency, however, is that they themselves ignore much of the Bible, for they know that all of it cannot be directly, literally applicable today. Coming up in "Bible-believing" churches, I am very sure of the small number of persons among the so-called "Bible-believing" and "biblical literalists" who have even read the Bible from cover to cover. That itself betrays the lack of adequate understanding many have about the nature and purpose of Scripture.
2) There are those who treat Scripture has fully a human-edited, socially-shaped, and culturally-conformed religious document.
Rationalistic presuppositions disallow these persons affirming any process of divine inspiration in formation of the Scripture. These persons treat the Scripture like a body-without-spirit. To these persons Scripture is nothing more than a relative source among other sources of potential truth. These persons are the opposites of the propositional-literalists.
3) There are those who see Scripture as a divine-human library wherein inspiration-within-history provides a sufficient source of truth for following Christ.
a) divine-human
Scripture is not simply words directly from God but a process of revelation that passed through the personal and community experience of communities the Scripture was written for over centuries of time. This opposes views of verbal inspiration that negate the vital, influencing role of the human person and communities.
b) library
Scripture is formed in such a way, in specific divisions, by the faith communities that finalized the canon ("official collection of Scripture books") to show they esteemed it as a library to be read as a single Book. No passage stands alone for interpretation. Each part is interpreted in light of the message of the Whole. This counters views that the Scripture is a propositional Book.
c) inspiration-within-history
Scripture is inspired in an incarnational way. This entails the shaping of locally-applicable material within the context of nonlocal, timelessly-applicable Truth. This counters those who both deny divine inspiration and interpret Scripture devoid of the shaping of history both in form and content.
d) sufficient source for truth
This is the position~when coupled with e) below~ of The United Methodist Church, whom I serve as a pastor, and it differs from some other Protestant groups: among whom are those who teach the Scripture is without error.
Scripture, for example, is not sufficient for determining how the world began in a scientific manner or precise details of how the world will end, if it will end. Therefore, much of the argument around creation and end times are not addressed precisely, scientifically, and historically by Scripture. They are addressed, however, symbolically and truthfully, or meaningfully.
Scripture is sufficient. Scripture is not actually a history book, a science book, a religious book, or a doctrine book.
e) for living a truly human and Christ-like life
Scripture, in its Christian form of Old and New Testaments, embodies the history, tradition, and life of a specific group of peoples. This people-in-Christ share among themselves, in all their diversity, a common confession regarding central claims of the Christian faith. One of these claims is that Universal Spirit intervened in history in a specific, spiritually transformative way, and for all time, in Jesus Christ~the Incarnation (this entails that Jesus is God-Embodied, not just the greatest teacher of all time, or a great spiritual leader~I can find no other truly Christian affirmation of Jesus Christ than God-Incarnate). The Christian, then, substantially is one who follows the Word, Who is Christ and God-Incarnate.
Scripture, then, when viewed as taking shape through the words and genres of faith communities, interpreted in the context of the whole Scripture~which allows the discernment of timeless principles~and with the aid of the discerning Holy Spirit, allows the discernment of the essential wisdom to follow Christ as Lord, Friend, and Savior.
Now, this writing may have opened up as many questions as it offered to answer. However, hopefully it is a beginning point for your thoughtful prayer and reflection.
A final comment.
Scripture is a community Book. Scripture, therefore, is only properly approached with a respect for that centuries-old lineage and is to be interpreted in the light of the interpretive legacy of the Judeo-Christian communities historically.
Suggestions for Reflection
1) What role does Scripture have in your daily life?
2) Did the above writing help you? If so, how?
3) What questions did the above writing leave unanswered for you?
4) Has your view of the intent or nature, or both, of Scripture evolved over time? If so, how?
5) Have you read the Scripture through completely? If not, will you do that this year? (For Read through the Bible in a Year programs, contact this author)
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