Strangers in an Ancient Land, Part 2

What should we do with the Bible?

(Updated September 10, 2021)

For a teacher to place him or herself in the shoes of a biblical author is as difficult as it is exhilarating. One’s dream, in advance of life application considerations, is to take on the worldview of the ancients, to seek to enter into their very soul, until one, as it were, lives their life and thinks their thoughts.

How much this is even possible is the trick. Nevertheless, one does tend to avoid some common mistakes, including shanghaiing the text to the present day, and making it speak the language of the 21st century. The alternative, of course, is that the voice one hears when studying Scripture becomes, however melodious, merely the echo of one’s own ideas. No wonder James warns, “Not many of you should become teachers, brothers.”

What Should We Do?

One response I get from people discovering the intrinsic difficulty of studying the Bible in its historical context is despair. One forum poster laments,

Tim Mackie, John Walton and Mike Heiser spend a lot of their time and energy discovering the world of the Bible using methods and tools developed from the mid-19th century when excavations began to unearth contextual information about the ancient world.

My question is, what about people who don't have the wherewithal to sift through manuscripts, to learn syntax and grammar, or even to study simple history? Is the Bible nothing for them? Aren't the Scriptures supposed to be for everyone?

Lately I have been getting the feeling that the Bible is only for the well educated.

What about all those centuries between canonization and when archeology began? I know Heiser often mocks "tradition" in his own way, and I sort of get his yearning for accurate understanding. But what would he say to those millions of people who came before, who didn't have access to his information? Did they not get the Bible? Are they simply a convenient stepping stone we jumped over to get to the modern era?

I was heartened by one commenter, Tracy Wagoner, who replied,

To me, the Bible is like an ocean. You can stay shore-side with perfect contentment or you can go miles out.

To be honest, there are times I wish for the days I was joyfully wading near the shore. I'm not sure how to say it other than it was a more innocent faith.

There are times in this journey that are much like taking to the open sea. The farther you get, the scarier it can be. The academic side of biblical study can show you the monsters under your boat.

I would only add that, being inspired literature, this ocean is unique. For, near or far, there are “doors of the sea” ever under your feet, just as there are “windows” in the heavens when you pray. Seek and you shall find means the Scriptures will be fathoms deep, academic or not. I believe that God uses both the simple and the complex to build His kingdom.

Of course, to some who begin riding the academic train, the tome seems more opaque then ever, and the temptation is to simply give up. I’d like to propose that a better response is not despair, but humility. Remember, the hearers of Peter’s gospel in Acts were instructed not to run away from what they’d done, but to face it, to come to Christ!

The agency, vital agency, of the rest of the Body has been mentioned, and it bears repeating. Do sit under a teacher that values the Scriptures. And not only the Scriptures, but the history of the Scriptures. And not only the history, but the culture of the Scriptures. And not only the culture, but the language of the Scriptures. And not only the language but the Spirit of the Scriptures — above all. One typically finds this satisfied only in a constantly evolving and rotating multiplicity of teachers, guides, mentors and fathers, many of whom may have backgrounds that are different, unexpected, even surprising.

The writer of one Proverb adds:

Through wisdom a house is built,
and through discernment it is firm-founded.
Through knowledge rooms are filled
with all precious and pleasant wealth.

A wise man is mightier than a strong one,
and a man of knowledge than one of great power.
For through designs you should make war,
and victory comes from abundant counsel.
(24:3–6)

At the same time, we must confess that the problems we have with biblical understanding are not resolved simply with an airtight historical hermeneutic. The religious elite of 1st century Judaism demonstrated rather tragically that, living in biblical times, being raised in biblical culture and being fluent in all the biblical languages does nothing to guarantee spiritual understanding. How can one expect to do better?

Werner Heisenberg (Nobel Prize-winning discoverer of the uncertainty principle) once said that what we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning. The same can be said about the study of the Bible. For the study of a thing does not simply describe and explain that thing; it is part of the interplay between that thing and ourselves. Therefore—to borrow again from Heisenberg—an “expert” is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in their subject, and how to avoid them.

One of the most thought-provoking passages in this sense is 2 Samuel 22:27.

With the pure You show Your purity; with the crooked You twist and turn.

Scripture appears to be something like a diamond or prism, with so many facets of potentiality that it is not clear they can ever be exhausted. How one turns it, or the angle on which it is approached, governs wither it shall gleam. To echo one popular meme:

Two people read the same bible.
One sees reasons to love,
The other, reasons to hate.
One sees unity,
The other division.
One finds prejudice
The other equality.
One discovers compassion.
The other indifference.
One, goodwill.
The other, malice.
Two people read one book.
One book, two views.
The book is a mirror.
The reflection is you.
— N.W.

Undoubtedly, this is what is meant in saying that the Scriptures are “alive”. The text is inspired, yes, but not in the way of a tactless juggernaut —it is powerful, and reacts powerfully, not unlike a chemical experiment, to the life of the reader.

A Servant Cares to Communicate

Communicating this life appears to involve two things:

1. Truth
2. Love

Necessarily, fortunately, God chose to take the initiative on our behalf in both of these. For, following John 3:16, God so loved the world that in order to deliver truth to man he chose to limit himself to the language of men — yet ultimately stretched its bounds to the breaking point in becoming its ultimate expression: the Son of Man.

One precedent for this is found in Exodus 34:6, where we find God passing Moses atop Mt. Sinai and proclaiming, “Yahweh, Yahweh! A compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in kindness and good faith, keeping kindness for the thousandth generation, bearing crime, trespass, and offense.”

This introduction to the divine character (along with its expansion by David in Psalm 103) encompasses what some have called the Disposition of Messiah. According to this test of ministry, how something is said is just as important as what. One is invited to ask, was the teaching, the exhortation, the prophecy or the prayer voiced in a manner consistent with the character of Messiah? Were the words of Christ used to administer something he never intended, or in a way in which he’d never intend?

Barring starvation, no one would eat a meal strewn carelessly, or maliciously, across their living room floor, no matter how gourmet. A good meal ought to be thoughtfully presented, on a plate, with at least a modicum of contextual cutlery. Just so, the word of God communicated well renders both love and truth as friends, never combatants.

However, there are those who, ignoring age and covenant, would iron flat the Bible’s contextual landscape. Early one morning, many years ago, I climbed a mountain in India with a team. Reaching the top, we paused to pray, whereupon one teammate turned her face to the unwitting city below, opened her Bible to Jeremiah, and began to pronounce upon it the judgments of God upon Jerusalem.

I was speechless, but after the shock wore off, I had a chance to think about it. I realized that day that no New Covenant Christian, in good faith, ought to co-opt a prophet and cite him in a manner that effectively silenced Jesus, or Paul.

Indeed, in his commentary on Luke 24, Matthew Henry remarks:

Beginning at Moses, the first inspired writer of the Old Testament, Jesus expounded to the things concerning himself. There are many passages throughout all the Scriptures concerning Christ, which it is of great advantage to put together. We cannot go far in any part, but we meet with something that has reference to Christ, some prophecy, some promise, some prayer, some type or other. Christ is the best expositor of Scripture, a golden thread of gospel grace runs through the whole web of the Old Testament; and even after his resurrection, he led people to know the mystery concerning himself, not by advancing new notions, but by showing how the Scripture was fulfilled, and turning them to the earnest study of it.

The Bible, then, appears to be something like a gondola, gliding along the river of God, in waters which themselves wind their lively way among regions universal and since the primordial ages of mankind. In this sense, we readers are travelers, poled along and guided by inspired authors who sing out their sacred songs from the stern. Still, are we not free to enjoy the scenery ourselves, to sing of it ourselves? Yes, yet showing honour by deferring our “cover” songs to the originals, in wisdom. Yes, keeping in mind that the river’s courses prove less turbulent when plotted from their glacial headwaters. For in submission to the Source, and via the illumining power of the Spirit, Scripture shines with true beauty.

Thank you for reading! Besides being a fellow stranger in Scriptureland, I’m a graphic designer and Bible instructor who believes in the power of fellowship in communicating the written word. May the peace of Jesus rest on you today.

Strangers To a Strange Book, Part 1 ← P R E V I O U S