In my last post, I suggested that one of the aspects of living Christianly is the need to “step into” the historical Christian tradition. In this post, I am going to attempt to show how our tradition (whichever we are a part of) impacts how we read and ponder the Bible. Then, I will show how one tradition of taking the Bible as a text to ponder rather than a rulebook helps shape the way we read the Bible.
Tradition as a Hermeneutical Starting Point
No one comes to a text “blankly;” we all come with certain assumptions about that text. For example, if I go to the bookstore and pick up a copy of The Lord of the Rings, I have certain assumptions about what that book contains.
Pretend for a moment that I have never heard of The Lord of the Rings before. Further, suppose that it has been placed on a shelf in the “European History” section of the bookstore. If I pick up the book and assume that it is European History rather than Epic Fantasy as intended, my reading of the book will change significantly! Our assumptions about a text matter.
When it comes to reading the Bible, our assumptions play a huge role in how we will interpret the text. Consider a few possible assumptions people might have when reading the Bible:
- The majority of the Bible is to be interpreted as literally/straight-forward as possible. (Common in some Dispensational circles)
- The Bible is to be interpreted through the teaching Magisterium of the Church. (A simplification of Roman Catholic teaching)
- The Bible is largely a moral analogy of how to live a good life. (Common in Liberal Christian circles)
- The Bible is to be interpreted Covenantally as the singular story of God’s people. (A simplification of Reformed Theology)
None of these interpretive grids is arrived at from the text. Though each group adopts the lens because they think it makes the best sense of the text, the Bible itself does not tell us which lens to pick. Instead, we step into one of these (or other) traditions as we begin to develop what we think the Bible says.
For example, the Roman Catholic church uses the magisterial teaching to interpret the Bible because they believe that the Bible ultimately leads to the authority of the Roman church. The Reformed tradition rejects the Roman claim, but instead sees covenant as a guiding principle of the Bible and thus reads the Bible as a whole through the lens of covenant.
This does not mean we choose arbitrarily or that we have no basis for choosing. The whole point is that we are attempting to interpret the Bible as consistently as possible. The point I am highlighting is that the Bible itself does not tell us exactly how it ought to be interpreted, so we must adopt some kind of framework that is external to the text.
In a future post, I will delve further into a historically Protestant approach to reading the Bible. In the next section of this post, we’ll discuss a more general and historic way that Christians from many traditions (Protestant, Catholic, and Eastern) have approached the Bible.
The Bible as a Contemplative Way of Life, Not a Just Rule Book
I will note again that I am not saying that there is no “correct” position or that the Bible can mean whatever we want it to mean. The Bible itself has objective meaning; it says what it says. The problem comes in our human frailty. We have a limited perspective (our own) and do not see all of the facts as God sees them.
Instead, because we are limited and cannot find the answers to every possible question, we are left to make assumptions about what we think makes the most sense to us. Some of our assumptions are (hopefully) correct, while many are wrong. The goal of the intellectually honest person is to admit this frailty and continually seek to do their best in trying to grasp at the objective meaning of the text.
I had a professor in seminary who would often say, “The Key to Life is simple: read the Bible and do what it says.” This professor was assuming that the Bible is essentially a rulebook; it provides basic rules to tell us how to live. (A popular saying in the 90’s and early 00’s was that the Bible was “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.”) While I agree with this in some sense, applying this principle is far harder than it sounds.
Certainly, there are some commands in Scripture that are explicit and easy to understand; “Thou shalt not murder” comes to mind. However, much of the text is far harder to put into application.
How does one apply the teaching of the Proverbs, especially when it seems to give less-than-obvious advice? For example, Proverbs 19:4:
Wealth brings many new friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend.
At first, this seems straightforward: wealth brings friends while the poor are deserted. However, a question we can ask is, “What are the Proverbs suggesting here?” There are wealthy people who have many friends but who are morally degenerate, and there are poor people in tight communities that love the Lord. Clearly, this Proverb is not always “true” in that it is not a hard and fast rule; it is a Proverb!
Here’s another puzzling passage: Ezekiel 23. If you are unfamiliar, the passage describes Israel and Judah as two adulterous sisters. The passage has rather graphic descriptions of promiscuous sex used to describe the unfaithfulness of these two nations. How does one apply that to their life?
I think the answer must be that we can’t directly apply these passages because they aren’t meant to be directly applied! Instead, they are meant to be pondered and contemplated.
One of the earliest Christian writings, the Didache, tells us that there are essentially two paths in life: The Way of Life and the Way of Death. The Way of Life is found by the person who can reflect on the teachings of the Scriptures and the Apostles. (The Didache was written before there was a collected New Testament…this often meant you must gather with other Christians and listen to your pastor in order to learn what the apostle’s wrote) Following the Scriptures and Apostles includes following rules, but it is not simply that. The Way of Life includes reflection and learning the principles of life, not simply the rules.
Therefore, I would instead suggest, as much of the historical tradition has suggested, that the Bible is not “basic instructions before leaving earth” but a text to be pondered throughout a lifetime. Rather than simply providing a list of do’s and don’ts, the Bible offers a mirror for us to reflect on ourselves, our sins, and our discipleship with Christ. As we read its words over and over again, the flaws in our character our revealed so that we might become continually more sanctified over a lifetime of faithfulness.
In sum, how we read the Bible depends largely on what we assume the Bible to be. Our assumptions shape our interpretations and what we think the purpose of the Bible is. Historically, the Bible was not viewed purely as a rulebook but as a thing to be pondered and reflected upon throughout one’s life.
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