Let the Text Speak — An Appreciation of “The Bible as Literature” Podcast
Part 1 of “Let the Text Speak”
On September 24, 2023 The Bible as Literature podcast released their 500th episode. The milestone is impressive, but this itself isn’t the purpose of this present writing. Rather I would like to share what a tremendous impact this podcast has had on myself and my hearing of scripture, and perhaps I can regurgitate some important lessons for the future study of this epic literature.
Firstly, I am not exaggerating at all when I say that The Bible as Literature completely opened the text of scripture for me. As one untimely born in a culture two thousand years removed from the initial authorship, and relying on translations, there was always a part of the Bible that seemed incomprehensible to me. I think many people feel that way about the Bible. As Fr. Marc Boulos, one of the hosts of the podcast, says in the 500th episode intro:
The Bible, too, is old. But it is more than that. It stands out from the crowd in how it has disagreed with all of us, our ideas, and the things we fashion from days of old.
Part of what makes the Bible seemingly incomprehensible to us is the simple fact that what it says is unacceptable to our ears. We want God’s word to be agreeable to us, rather than submitting to whatever is written despite the content therein. Like the opponents of Paul’s gospel, most of us hear scripture with a veil over our eyes in order to deliberately keep the gospel of Christ hidden and out of sight.
Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil (kalymma) over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled (anakekalymmenō) face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. — 2 Cor. 3:12–18
The Greek word for veil is kalymma which is ultimately derived from the verb kaluptó, meaning to hide. The power in this resides in the fact that the New Testament is emphatic that rather than being something hidden and out of sight, the gospel is out in the open and revealed boldly out of what was previously hidden. The Greek word for this in the New Testament is apokalupsis which occurs no less than 18 times in the text. It is also the Greek name for the perpetually misunderstood and abused finale of the scriptural epic, Revelation, which at its onset is presented as the Apokalupsis Iēsou Christou, the uncovering of Jesus Christ.
While the scriptural teaching is uncovered and out in the open, the veil still remains precisely because of our unwillingness to actually listen to it.
This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.” — Matt. 13:13–15; Isa. 6:9–12
Having this veil removed is the grace of God, but it takes participation and effort on our part. To put it another way, we have to endure the teaching on its own terms and fight against worldly distractions lest we prove to be unfruitful in its cultivation within us.
Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty. — Matt. 13:18–23
Having this veil removed also means that we take seriously the Biblical teaching that scripture is written in the sense of the Greek perfect tense. In layman’s terms, when Paul, Jesus, John the Baptist, or any other character in the Bible says the words kathōs gegraptai the meaning is that scripture was written before you in the past and is absolutely complete. Not only is it complete, but its words still apply to the present day. If this is not understood properly, scripture can do nothing for you because the human impulse is always to add to it. It emphatically cannot be added to, as declared by Jesus in the closing remarks of the book of Revelation.
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. — Rev. 22:18–19
If we are truly willing to accept this teaching, it makes scripture the only reference that truly matters. Everything else is just noise. While people delight in supposedly new things the truth is, according to scripture, nothing, absolutely nothing is new. In explaining this phenomenon, Fr. Marc in this same episode intro, explains this teaching better than I can.
The biblical text is epic, expansive, and integrated in specific and articulate ways. After 500 episodes (over 800, if you add in Tarazi Tuesdays), I am convinced that the biblical genre’s complexity is far beyond the reach of contemporary literature and artistic expression. This is not intended as hyperbole. People get excited about modern literature because we always seek “new” ideas. But there are no new ideas. Just old ideas repackaged and half-baked. The well-written old ideas repackaged in some of the new books are useful, but they are still limited with respect to what matters most because, in the end, they all share the same premise as the tired opinions the average person posts online. So you read, hunt for useful knowledge, and test it against your reference, but you are selective with respect to where you place your trust.
As someone who has been an artist from the time I can remember, to be told that I will never have an original idea or story or anything that I create, carries a special kind of sting. I admit, it hit me like a ton of bricks while listening to the episode. I found myself tearing up. Not because I felt insulted, but because at this axial moment in the podcast’s history, I suddenly realized scripture had been made clearer to me in that moment than it has ever been before. The uncomfortable truth of the matter is that God has given us his wisdom once and for all. That’s it. There’s nothing more to discover. We can create our own stories and continue crafting our own art, but this is only to communicate with our fellow humans on deeper emotional levels. It is not to say anything new or original because that is impossible. This runs against the human psyche. What we are given is never enough. People are seldom interested in what scripture actually says and are too busy speculating on matters for which it is absolutely silent. What was God up to before Genesis 1? Why did God even bother to create the world if it was going to be corrupted anyways? Will my pets be in heaven with me? An even worse phenomenon is the whole discipline of natural theology. Here, the objective is to somehow “discover” the scriptural God outside of scripture. The entire premise of natural theology is dynamited by Paul’s evangelization to the Athenians in Acts 17.
For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. — Acts 17:23
What does Paul mean by God being unknown by the Greeks? He means that they didn’t have scripture, which was what he was preparing to proclaim to them. If Greek philosophy can only carry you to the unknown, what benefit does it have for those of us who possess scripture? Absolutely nothing. These are among the idols we must smash, lest we be carried away from the Biblical teaching and into idolatry. The moment one attempts to separate God from scripture, their god ceases to be the scriptural God for the simple reason that their god becomes subservient to their own philosophizing. They are no longer submitting to God as revealed to them, but are concocting their own god via their own cognitive faculties. Paul defends his gospel in Galatians 1:16 by emphatically declaring that the gospel was not delivered to him by anyone other than God the Father himself, when he was pleased eudokēsen to reveal apokalypsai his son to him. Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ is written of in virtually an identical manner.
Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed apekalypsen this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. — Matt. 16:16–17
In both cases it is clear that Peter and Paul’s understanding of the gospel teaching is not due the exercise of their own cognitive abilities, or any investigation outside of scripture, but simply God the Father uncovering this to them. The moment Peter interjects his own understanding instead of submitting to what was revealed to him, Jesus sharply rebukes him and calls him Satan and a hindrance, or more accurately, a stumbling block skandalon.
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance skandalon to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” — Matt. 16:21–23
On the topic of smashing the idols created by our own cognitive function, we must also address the anti-scriptural idolization of our forefathers. This is a behavior common to all of us, but if we want to truly hear what scripture is saying, this is yet another idol we must eschew. In my own tradition, that being Eastern Orthodoxy, it is all too common for people, especially converts, to boast in our historical connection with the apostles. Many of us, myself included, joined the Orthodox Church in part because of this historical connection. This is the same draw that alternatively attracts people to the Roman Catholic Church. As attractive as this draw is, it is anti scriptural. The reason being that in scripture, one’s ancestors are never to be seen as role models but rather as past examples of iniquity and disobedience to be used as an example mashal. The illusion that your ancestors were righteous and holy and worthy of veneration merely because they were Israelites, or Christians in your tradition, is mercilessly shot down in the Bible.
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable mashal; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. — Psa. 78:1–8
To assume that Christians are held to a different standard is immediately invalidated by Paul’s complete disregard for the station held by the pillars of the first century Jewish Christian community, James, Peter, and John.
Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation apokalypsin and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in — who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery — to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality) — those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” — Gal. 2:1–14
While this example is sufficient to make the point, it is important to note that this isn’t an isolated incident in scripture. In 1 Corinthians, Paul admonishes the Corinthians for splitting on the basis of their allegiance to different teachers who they are making the reference, instead of the apokalupsis revealed to them by God the Father.
For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. — 1 Cor. 1:11–15
Understanding this concept renders the unending online debates between Catholic and Orthodox zealots as to who truly preserves and honors the apostolic and patristic faith totally hollow and absurd. For Paul, whether Peter was the first Pope is itself irrelevant. If Peter is not walking in step with the gospel teaching, as Paul found him in Galatians 2, he falls under Paul’s anathema in Galatians 1:8–9. Peter’s ultimate redemption is found, not in his appeal to his Petrine authority granted to him by Christ in Matthew 16, but in his obedience to the gospel that was revealed to him and Paul by God the Father.
And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. — 2 Pet. 3:15–16
To most, even this first part of the essay will seem upsetting and for some, even crushing. This is the painful part of scripture. In a world where everyone wants to be validated, scripture invalidates everything about you. It is very uncomfortable and the immediate reaction is to fight against it. But if you really want to hear scripture on its own terms, you have to submit to God’s instruction as it is found. This is only possible by adapting to and adopting the scriptural Semitic. What do I mean by this? I mean, understanding what Hebrew words mean, not in their abstract dictionary definitions, but in their function in scripture. At the start of my journey, I thought the prospect of learning the Biblical languages would be far out of my reach. Scripture is trilingual (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) and I was approaching this as someone who could barely manage a simple conversational exchange in Spanish. I say mashallah for the five decade long scholarly corpus of Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi who ignited my journey in learning the Biblical languages, not by teaching me dictionary definitions which I would soon forget but by showing me the function of these words in the text which I could never forget because everytime I engage with the Bible I encounter them all over again! For the remainder of this essay, I would like to lay out some of the key things I have learned for the past two years in a series of tracts. The first will be expressly about the importance of not only Biblical Hebrew, but the Semitic Languages themselves in understanding the Biblical narrative via the function of the words that drive it forward.
Continue to Tract 1…
