READ THE BIBLE LITERALLY?
Dear Friends,
The other day I watched a Youtube video by an atheist. He liked telling his viewers some of the things the Bible says. He was very good at making the Bible sound ridiculous. He would then roll his eyes and say, “All those Christians who take the Bible literally are supposed to believe this.” He would also say, “Some of you will say I’m not reading this in its context. But aren’t you supposed to be reading the bible literally?” A couple of comments.
First, some Christians do read the Bible this way, so the Youtuber’s comments are fair for them. I have had conversations with Christians who quote the Bible to prove their point. When I say that they have taken the verse out of context, they reply, “But I take the Bible literally. So should you.” For these Christians, to take the Bible “literally” means treating the Bible like a bag of marbles. Each verse is like a marble. To read the Bible “literally” means pulling out a marble and treating it like a marble. Ironically, Christians who hold to this understanding of the Bible easily fall into the trap of “picking and choosing” marbles and then arranging them in a pattern of their own choosing. They end up imposing their human system on the Bible.
Second, some orthodox Christians who desire to read the Bible “literally” are attempting to deal with a real problem. I have to be brief and use broad generalizations; big books have been written on this topic. There have been heresies from the very early days of the Christian movement. By and large these heresies misread and misinterpret the Bible, but treat the Bible as what it claims to be. Heresies and false teaching continue to this day, but about 150 years ago something new developed, and this “new” thing has only grown. At the heart of this “new thing” was an attempt to undermine the Bible based on more “advanced” thinking, or “science”, or ideology. I will give you two examples. I sat through a day of talks where the speaker claimed that the Gospel of Matthew was really a book written to encourage the working class and the poor and to undermine the powerful. It was written as if it was a biography about Jesus, but really that was just so the Roman Imperial power would not notice what was really being said. So Matthew was not really saying anything about an historical Jesus, but was part of a Christ movement advocating liberation and social reform. A second example is from a full course I took years ago. I was told that we can learn nothing from the New Testament about Jesus. Nothing in the New Testament is historical, or if it is historical, it is irrelevant. The New Testament and the Gospels are about the Christ of faith. Miracles did not happen. The miracle stories are just stories intended to help us encounter Christ. Furthermore, no Gospel was written by the person whose name was attached to the Gospel. Each Gospel developed out of a community of faith, and each community had its distinct teaching and Christology.
These two stories are emblematic of this ongoing 150 year old movement. For this movement, the Gospels are not biographies of Jesus the Christ written by eyewitnesses and/or based on eyewitness testimony. Do not take Luke literally when he explains what he has done (Luke 1:1-4; Acts 1:1-3). Do not take John literally when he explains what he has written (John 20:30-31; 21:24-25). It is in this context that some orthodox Christians began to say that you need to take the Bible literally. By the way, the famous atheist Christopher Hitchens had cutting comments about “Christians'' who undermined the Bible as I have described. He thought they surrendered everything and were too easy for him to tear apart in debate. He would rather take on a figure like Doug Wilson who would defend the Bible and historic Christainity.
Third, to read the Bible as if there is no genre or context is to misread the Bible. In other words, the Bible is not like a bag of marbles. Whatever is intended by the phrase “read the Bible literally,” it must include taking into account things like genre and idiom. Whether spoken communication or written, all speech involves genre, and context always matters. In your day to day life you unconsciously recognize when the speaker is: telling a joke, saying a poem, exaggerating, giving directions, saying what happened, using a metaphor, speaking scientifically, being silly, etc. You recognize when people take something out of context and complain. You understand that you have to hear the whole story to start to understand a scene or a chapter. You do not watch a fantasy movie in the same way you watch the news (although maybe you should sometimes:)) What you do unconsciously all the time in our day to day life you should do intentionally and carefully when you read the Bible. Just as you can get things wrong in modern day life, so you can get it wrong with the Bible. But to be fully human is to press on, to seek to understand. This is especially true of reading the Bible. No nonsense about Luke having the genre of allegory - it is a ridiculous idea. Read the Gospel of Luke as the careful history he intended to write. It is this important truth that some orthodox Christians, maybe hamfistedly, are trying to defend, when they ask you to read the Bible literally. This is not an eye rolling ridiculous project, but deeply human and wise - a key way forward to greater understanding.
Please pray that I will wisely read, mark, learn and inwardly digest God’s word written. Please pray that Messiah will be a community of good readers and hearers of the Bible, so that we will do what the Bible teaches for the good of this city, our own personal flourishing, the salvation of many, and the glory of the Triune God.
George+