by Jacob Ninan
The church – not any church in particular, but the church in general – has many problems. One of the most serious problems is that a large number of people are assuming they are Christians when they are not (because they have never seen themselves as sinners in the sight of God, repented, put their trust in Jesus as Saviour, and been born again). Another related problem is that a large percentage of people in churches have not read the Bible completely even once and their limited knowledge is also second-hand. Yet another problem that comes out of this situation is that many Christians do not actually believe all that the Bible says or follow it in their practical life.
On the surface of it, many Christians will say that the Bible is the word of God and profess to believe it. So, what we want to do here is to let the Holy Spirit examine us and show us where we really stand and then to help us to go forward in the right direction.
Those who take a conservative approach say they believe that every word in the Bible has been put there by God by inspiring the human authors, and that the word of God was inerrant when it was originally written (while admitting that the process of copying from one manuscript to another through the centuries have added some typographical errors). Most such people confirm that the Bible is sufficient for the derivation of doctrine and practice, and that we can accept it as the final authority to refer to in all such matters.
There are also others who take a liberal view of the Bible, considering it simply as a worthy book to study with many good things to learn from. But they generally apply an intellectual, historical approach towards it, eliminating the cultural settings and picking out the general principles and values it teaches. They do not think that everything the Bible can be used for applying to modern life.
One serious contradiction we can notice among many people who formally hold to a conservative approach is that they actually take a liberal approach in practical life! Is there that kind of inconsistency between what we profess to believe and how we actually live when it comes to our attitude towards the Bible?
What does the Bible say about itself?
It is clear that the authors believed that they were writing under the inspiration of God. Paul says that scripture was 'breathed out' by God for our benefit. "All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work" (2Tim.3:16,17). The purpose of scripture is to equip us to be able to have everything right in every aspect of our life. It teaches us, corrects and rebukes us when we go wrong, and when we walk according to it, it trains us in the ways of God.Jesus referred to the Old Testament part of the Bible which the Hebrews had at that time as the word of God, and quoted from it often to substantiate the authority and relevance of what God had said then to the present day to day life of the people. As many have said, He used scripture like a 'manufacturer's user manual' given to us by our Creator.
Peter wrote that prophecy in the scripture came when men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2Pet.1:20,21). We can also see from there that it is not to be interpreted merely intellectually but as we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal His truths to us. The word of God which was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit needs to be understood now through His inspiration in our own heart. That is why Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus that God should open the eyes of their understanding (Eph.1:18). Without this 'revelation' or 'illumination' from the Holy Spirit, the words of the Bible can remain as 'dead' as any other book to people who read it.
The mechanism of inspiration
While emphasising the fact that it was not mere human writing but inspired by God, many seem to forget that even though it was inspired by God it was finally written down by people! Obviously it was not dictated by God to the authors to write down, but inspiration worked in such a way that the men were able to convey what God wanted to say. Some scholars take an extreme view that God supervised the authors in such a micro level that finally every word they wrote down was exactly wanted. But isn't this practically the same as dictation? But what we see is that there is a variety in the style, vocabulary, grammar, etc., among the different books! What it shows is that God gave the authors a lot of margin to allow them to express in their own words what they had heard from God. Some authors are more accurate and precise in their writing than others, and many use the colloquial expressions such as "All Jerusalem rose up" and approximations of numbers which are definitely not designed to be precise. We can see that when Paul the scholar wrote Romans he had a distinctive style compared to how John the former fisherman wrote. Still, under the inspiration of God, John has written some of the most profound truths in the Bible, even though in a different style.God 'spoke' to different authors in different ways, by directly speaking to them, through dreams and visions, etc. Some portions of the Bible have the very words of God as given to men, but the other parts were written by the authors. In that sense, every sentence in the Bible is not a direct word from God, even though the Bible as a whole is a word God has given to us. God was working sovereignly through the authors, recognising their limitations and honouring their free will, while making sure that what He wanted to convey to us through the generations would still come through. This means that while He did not micro-control every letter or word, at the same time He managed to get His ideas through. This would also mean that we have to take note of the authors' human limitations as we read the Bible and see where the language is precise and where it is not.
Another thing we must keep in mind as we read the Bible is that different books use different literary styles known as genres. All passages cannot be taken literally, as some of them use figures of speech, metaphors or symbols to convey meanings. Some of them are historical narratives, some are poetry that take liberties with the language with regard to accuracy to express certain ideas. For example, a very commonly misunderstood verse from the Book of Proverbs says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit," which should not be understood literally (Prov.18:21). Proverbs are a collection of general observations teaching us wisdom but which are not true a hundred percent of the time like scientific laws. As another example, Prov.22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he grows older he will not abandon it," which cannot be taken as an irrefutable promise from God; it is rather an instruction for us about the seriousness of training our children. When Jesus said that a rich man to enter the kingdom of God was more difficult than a camel going through the eye of a needle, it was a figure of speech known as hyperbole, and not to be taken literally. Passages that describe the appearance of God or Jesus in eternity are to be taken as symbols and not literally.
As a result of this diversity in the way the Bible has been written, we must avoid taking different verses from here and there and applying them directly for our life. We must look at the context within which they occur, and their compatibility with the other parts of the Bible in order to understand how they should be understood.
Application
We have seen God's purpose for giving us His word, "for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work." It is all about transforming our life so that we can fulfil God's plan for our life, and not about just increasing in knowledge. Jesus said that it is those who take action when they understand God's truths who will become wise and become spiritually strong to meet the challenges of life (Matt.7:24). If we keep studying the Bible without seeking to apply it to our practical life, we may imagine that we know a lot of things, but that will not help us in the practical situations of life. In fact, we can deceive ourselves thinking we know so much, while we remain hollow and superficial in actual life (Jas.1:22). We are not to keep different compartments to our life with our Bible knowledge separate from our daily life.We must also make sure, as we saw above, that we are not professing to have conservative views about the Bible while we follow a liberal practice in real life situations! A trend that is seen among many people is that they pick and choose what they like to follow from the Bible. They follow the ideas that are being propagated by the philosophers, psychologists and scientists of the world without even checking to see what God says about them. Then they assume that what these experts say must be true. Some people also think that we must interpret the Bible to be in line with the current trends in the world in order to keep themselves up to date and not regressive.
No. God's word is His manual for humanity. His laws for His people are what will bring them the greatest blessings, and they do not change with the times as do the opinions of different experts! If we deviate from God's laws, we will surely end up in misery, not only in this life but also in eternity. Wisdom for us is to trust in God and to lean on Him instead of our own understanding (Prov.3:5-7). The times are such that we ought to be careful to choose God and His ways and not to trends of this world, even if we might become unpopular before people. When we stand with God, we cannot agree with ideas calling for an artificial unity among all people including other religions, cancelling the headship of the husband at home, women's rights to abort their babies at will, giving 'freedom' to children without disciplining them, accepting LGBTQ as normal, same sex marriages, etc. We would rather be on the side of God than people.
Conclusion
The word of God is to be our benchmark and our final authority for all doctrine and values of life. It is this against which we compare what different people say. They may call us bigots, not progressive or keeping in line with modern developments, fundamentalists, haters of others who differ, etc., but we can see that it is they who hate us. Those who stand with God will ultimately see the blessings that He will pour out on them.