WHO IS UNFAITHFUL TO THE BIBLE?
It’s not uncommon today for Christians to accuse someone of being unfaithful to Scripture or unbiblical. And it is not “innocent until proven guilty” - the accusation itself is equal to a statement of guilt. Once a person is deemed guilty he or she is dismissed. It happens so often we barely give it any thought, but this does not mean we should not think about it. Just the opposite.
It may do us well to consider a few things, and move in a better direction that, in the end, could lead all of us to be more faithful to Scripture than ever. And isn’t that the point anyway? To do this demands honesty and a great deal of humility. Before we judge another’s attitude about Scripture, let’s keep the following things in mind.
We Are All Unfaithful
All of us ignore certain parts of Scripture, consciously and unconsciously, for our comfort. In the same way, we promote other parts of the text that reflect our heart, passion and our ego. Those who rush to judgment and claim someone is unfaithful to Scripture ignore their unfaithfulness. In doing so, they often stand as judge over and above others imagining themselves as a picture of fidelity to the written word.
This attitude is little more than a practice in self-deception. We must always come to Scripture humbly recognizing we overlook, misunderstand and ignore things in the Bible. Maybe this is why we can spot unfaithfulness in others so easily. We know exactly what it looks like, because we do it everyday.
Who Is Really Saying It?
A few months ago a preacher on the radio said, “Now don’t get mad at me, I am just telling you what the Bible says.” I have heard this statement many times, and each time I am immediately suspicious because it’s just not true. The preacher is actually the one speaking not the Bible.
What we hear is what the preacher thinks the Bible says. And the preacher is more than likely reflecting on what he or she has read in dictionaries and commentaries and articles. And those who wrote the dictionaries and commentaries and articles are not “just telling you what the Bible says” but what they think the Bible says.
We can never ignore the time and the zip code in which we live. More than this, we must also recognize our place in culture, our gender, our economic status, our ethnicity, our sexual orientation, our education and the list goes on. Because all these things inform how we see, hear and receive the text. All of us read ourselves into the Bible.
We Don’t Know and Never Will
As we read this Bible we should remember it is deeply complex, mysterious, contradictory, backward, straightforward, comforting, disturbing, primitive-yet-ahead-of-its-time and endlessly knowable. We are invited to throw ourselves headlong into this book, knowing we will never have it all figured out.
Because the more we know about something the more we know there is to know, and the Bible is no different. Why would we ever think we can nail this thing down? The invitation is to discover and rediscover the wonder within the text. It calls for us to humble ourselves and stand beneath the weight of what this book is.
If we can do these things, perhaps we will, not only interact better with Scripture, but better interact with one another. We will come to see the Bible is a feast to be shared, not information to be conquered. Together we will ask questions, challenge previously held beliefs, grasp new understanding, move ahead and expand our awareness all in the direction of being more faithful. Rather than judge one another’s faithfulness, we will journey together and learn more about the heart of God in the book we call the Bible.