THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO . . . OR DOES IT?

Randy Klassen

As kids, some of us sang, "How do I know? The Bible tells me so." I was excited to hear that the Bible did indeed tell me much of what I needed to know. Later I saw that it contains a wealth of wisdom about God, about us, and about how we are to live.

I often heard "the Bible says" before a pronouncement that called for divine authority. The preacher wanted to convince the audience that what he believed or wanted us to believe was God’s will. So he backed his belief with the Bible’s infallible authority.

But do any of us who claim such authority really know what we are saying? Are we actually hearing and sharing the heart of God? Or are we using the Bible to support our preferred views about God and conduct?

We sometimes forget that when we use the word Bible we are referring to an amazingly varied library of 66 books written over some 1500 years. Each book was written for a specific purpose, in a unique style, at a particular time in history when its message seemed most relevant.

The oldest stories were orally shared before writing was used, which raises questions about their historical accuracy. In seminary I learned that biblical literature includes poetry, metaphor, romance, legend, proverbs, visions, parables, allegories, prayers, apocalyptic and prophetic parts, historical sections, doctrinal letters, and more.

I enjoyed noting that Jesus used the humor of hyperbole in some of his teachings: "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out . . . and if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off" (Matt. 5:29-30). Don’t take that literally!

Many of the teachings of the apostle Paul we might take literally, but some, such as his reference to women forbidden to teach or have authority over a man, many of us would omit from that list. And it is probably best to leave many of the instructions from Leviticus to a past era. Shrimp and ostrich meat can be good for you, although forbidden in Leviticus 11:10-17. Leviticus also commands that adulterers, homosexuals, and those who curse God be stoned. Exodus includes those who work on the Sabbath in the list of persons to be executed.

There are about a thousand verses in the Old Testament which advocate violence against an enemy. Those do not sound like the "Father" in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son.

Jesus helps us here by saying several times, "You have heard it said . . . but I say to you. . . ." He upgrades the ethical standards, as in Matthew 5:43-44: "You have heard that it is said, ‘you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,’ but I say to you, "love your enemies." A major New Testament theme has to do with overcoming evil with good, but since that is indeed difficult, some people retreat to the Old Testament passages to gain biblical justification for killing the enemy. Then they can claim that "the Bible says so" even though Jesus rejected violence as an option for God’s children.

Part of our problem, I believe, is a misunderstanding of, "all Scripture is inspired by God" (2 Tim. 3:16-17). We think that if God inspired it, the Bible must be flawless. I thought that until I recognized that all of the New Testament was not even written or included in what is called "all Scripture" in this passage.

More important was my failure to recognize the purpose of God’s inspiration, which was to make the Scriptures "useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work." To be trained in righteousness so that we are a people of good works is the emphasis here.

Inspiration did not keep Scriptures from grammatical errors. Mark, who made a few, is grateful. Or from numerical inconsistencies. The writers of Kings and Chronicles thank you. Or from occasional nasty comments, such as "Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock" (Ps. 137:9). David, if he wrote that, might ponder what to do with this in light of Christ.

Or from prejudicial generalizations, "Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons. . . " (Titus 1:12-13). With apologies to the citizens of Crete. Or a male chauvinistic comment like, "Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor, yet she will be saved through childbearing" (1 Tim. 2:13-14). Could the apostle of salvation by God’s grace granted equally to men and women have written those lines? I wonder. Many scholars do. Yet this text is still used to subordinate women.

The fact is, the books in this library were written by fallible men who reflected the hopes or fears of their particular time and place. Their expressions were colored by struggles with God and those whom they were addressing. These writings call us, centuries later, to wrestle with an understanding of what God intended to say to them and now to us. This calls for humble reliance on both sound scholarship and the Holy Spirit to recognize and apply what God is saying to us through this amazing collection.

Ultimately, we believe God has spoken most clearly in Jesus Christ, so we want to acknowledge his lordship over the Scriptures as well as over our lives. Then the purpose of God's inspiration will be fulfilled.

The wonder is that through these fallible writers, God’s Spirit inspired them to say what we needed to hear to bring us salvation in Christ Jesus and enable us to become saved people.

Maybe that is why references to "love" appear over 400 times in this library we call our Bible. Jesus affirmed that love for God and love for neighbor ranked number one and two of all God’s commands. Paul caught that when he said, "The only thing that counts is faith working through love." (Gal. 5:6). That’s it! It may be difficult to put into practice, but I cannot but be impressed by this repetition of the love emphasis.

The Bible tells me so, or maybe, as Christians we ought to say, "Jesus tells me so." After all, for the Christian, Jesus and not a book—even if the best one ever—is "The Word of God" (John 1:14). We need to avoid idolizing it. Unthinkingly applying to the Bible terms like infallibility or inerrancy can amount to "bibliolatry," as Karl Barth called it.

The Word of God is a dynamic revelation of divine truth, not simply scribal inscriptions on paper. We believe that God has spoken in the past through the prophets and can still do so today, if we listen carefully. But God’s clearest and most profound revelation is in and through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is best for me to give my attention to the One I call Lord and, hearing his words, follow where the living Word of God leads me.

—Randy Klassen, Walla Walla, Washington, is retired pastor of the Evangelical Covenant Church and author of Jesus’ Word, Jesus’ Way, What Does the Bible Really Say About Hell, and, with his wife Joyce, of the forthcoming Loving Enemies.