Why We Shouldnt Read the Bible as Literal
Sometimes Reading the Bible Literally Is Literally Wrong July 18, 2017 Kurt Willems
For most of my life the goal of reading Scripture was information in, transformation out.
It was almost equally if the Bible was an archive of knowledge that could be mastered past the about devoted disciple.
And often I still notice this trend playing itself out in one way or another. In other words, Christian character is often measured by how many verses someone tin can whip out in a freestyle theological debate.
But ii Chonicles 2.7 says…. and then Revelation 24.2 says (oops, that's not in my Bible at least)… and of grade Jesus says in John 7.seven….
Thus________.
(And usually, that "thus" leads to how right the verse slinger is in his or her opinion most a theological affair.)
Unfortunately, this pick and cull method, although for some can be evidence of a passion for God and the Bible, is problematic in many ways.
And, being able to pull out chapter and poesy on a dime isn't a sign of transformation that the Bible itself usually emphasizes. A ameliorate starting point is the "fruit of the Spirit" or the virtues Jesus advocates in the Sermon on the Mount.
Across this mismeasure of character germination, is the way that the Bible gets used in these sorts of situations.
Many of us were trained to take the whole Bible literally.
We were literally taught to literally have the whole thing literally.
Hither's the deal: when yous tell people that the whole Bible tin can be understood by trusting the meaning of the "plain sense" of the text (what it ways to the reader from their vantage point), and so the picking and choosing method of theological interpretation becomes a natural way to work information technology out on the footing.
Simply the Bible isn't designed to be an archive of isolated sayings and stories that we tin pull from to make synthesized arguments for our various opinions nearly God and the church.
Information technology is a library.
It is a set of books.
It has multiple voices with varied vantage points.
It speaks of God differently depending on its setting.
And if nosotros believe that this library we call the Bible is actually inspired by God, we practice right by information technology when nosotros take it on its own terms: not our own.
The Bible isn't something nosotros can excerpt into literal wooden principles or minimize to 1 genre.
We can't make the Bible as well uncomplicated: when nosotros exercise, we squelch the voice of the text to mimic our voice a bit too much.
That can be unsafe, or just a bummer. The Bible offers so much more than plain sense readings!
Depending on your background, what I'm about to say will probably be: 1) review, ii) make new and helpful, 3) make new and intimidating.
I want to requite a uncomplicated but important grid for budgeted annihilation we read in the Bible.
I realize that non anybody who reads Scripture as an act of devotion volition take time to do all of these steps, but all of us accept access to quality resources that do some of the heavy lifting for us.
Let others do the heavy lifting! No shame in that! Especially if yous are not a professional scholar.
You tin appoint scholarship by utilizing tools and methods at your ain stride. 😎
This is why I write here at Patheos and Theology Curator: I desire to remove equally many barriers every bit possible that make it the way of engaging the Scriptures (which ultimately betoken united states to Jesus) with intelligent and humanizing lenses.
Writer's intent.
- Before reading a passage as something to be interpreted, nosotros always want to ask: What was the author trying to convey hither? The Scriptures are always conditioned inside a real situation. Yes, God speaks through the Bible! But, so practise the human authors. Nosotros start with the homo intent to clearly discern the Divine intent. Getting this backways leads to weird places. But, this is a cardinal business that we volition have to circle back to multiple times as we appoint the whole process through. The author's intent, if nosotros can discern it well enough, will get us closer to the Divine intent.
Genre.
- Knowing the type of literature we are dealing with is as important as asking what the author may have been communicating!!!! In fact, this is one of the places where interpreting "literally" can lead to bug. For case, Genesis 1 is probable a 'poetic narrative' or a liturgy. That shapes what nosotros should wait from the text. Taking every line as 'literally how information technology happened' could compromise what the text is actually trying to convey! That'southward ane example of many. Nosotros need to take poetry as poetry, narrative as narrative, parable every bit parable, letters equally letters, imagery every bit imagery, etc.
Words & rhetoric.
- The Bible is written in multiple languages. Nosotros need to discover: i) which language is being used (in the New Testament, information technology's all Greek, for instance), 2) which words are beingness used and how they would exist understood to the item audience, and iii) which rhetorical devices are beingness used in that language and how that shapes the meaning and intent. Words thing. For example, every bit Mark Nanos argues inThe Irony of Galatians, the words and rhetoric Paul uses clearly mimics Greco-Roman methods of ironic rebuke (more on this another day!). Or when in Mark 13 Jesus uses cosmic linguistic communication of destruction that he has in mind the rhetorical strategies involving hyperbole (exaggeration) that often signal toward an earth shattering effect with political ramifications–non the literal destruction of the creation. Both the words authors choose and the rhetoric they apply thing.
Cultural context.
- The Scriptures are embedded in culture! This is so of import. We need to acquire almost geography, religions, empires, customs, contempo history, cultural assumptions, and so much more. For example, as is a theme in my own work, the Roman Empire plays such an important role in the shaping of the New Testament. Why was it destructive to say "Jesus is Lord?" Well, because we know that this was a central claim of the Caesar'southward about their own Lordship. Why was it subversive to say "Dearest your enemies and pray for those who persecute you?" Considering this probable extended beyond frustrating neighbors to the Roman soldiers that treated the Jewish people equally second-course humans. Context shapes everything and it is in the story earth of a text that nosotros start to really uncover the author's intent: to go us closer to Divine intent.
Narrative flow of a passage.
- Where does the passage at manus fit within the larger parameters of the book? How does Mark 13 fit into Mark's overall narrative strategy? What did James say immediately before and subsequently he said "Faith without works is dead"? Within whatever book of the Bible, knowing the flow of that volume is important so we can continue the whole story in listen.
Now that we've done our historical/biblical studies work (yep, you tin can be a scholar!), we now can move into theology (where nosotros do the work of integrating what i part of the Bible says with the rest of it).
This step is a decisively "Christian step."
For those of y'all who aren't followers of Jesus, but savour biblical scholarship, the in a higher place steps are likely where you will end.
For those of us who believe that the whole Bible is inspired, we need to move into these last two stages of the interpretive procedure.
Biblical narrative.
- After doing the above piece of work, hopefully we've gained some insights into what the author of the text was trying to say. Genre, words, rhetoric, and civilisation are all the means through which nosotros discern. Upwardly to this signal we've been historians generally. But when it comes to discussing how a passage fits into the broader biblical narrative (from Genesis to Revelation), we have made a choice that information technology actually matters. So, how does Mark 13 speak to the apocalyptic images in Revelation (in some forms of literalist readings of Scripture, they work together to create a future 7 year tribulation)? How does what Jesus says in Matthew'due south gospel compare to Leviticus?
Redemptive movement.
- This last step that I'yard proposing complements the previous theological motility. But now was ask: Where is the storyline of the Bible headed? A not bad example of this is how the Hebrew Scriptures teach–Don't kill–merely the New Testament goes every bit far to teach–Don't utilise violence. Or where the Hebrew Scriptures (to exist mode to generalizing) basically say–Treat slaves nicely compared to neighboring cultures–Paul tin say– Care for slaves every bit brothers! The Scriptures movement somewhere redemptive. Ultimately, this redemptive motility will end upwardly at a renewed creation.
I promise this gives you something to sit with near how we read the Bible.
Literal interpretations tin exist helpful when we are meant to read things literally. No doubt!
But nosotros need to discover that it isn't as elementary as reading something and making meaning out of what information technology seems to say on the surface.
The Bible is too important of a book for that! In fact, it is a library that points us to a God of love!
Source: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/thepangeablog/2017/07/18/literal-bible/
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