In a series where we study what the Bible says about various spiritual disciplines, what do you call the post where you discuss what the Bible says about the Bible? Entire books have been written about the Bible so we had to narrow down our hopes for this study quite a bit. Ultimately, our process of naming the study lead us to what we are going to discuss here.
We were originally going to call this, “What Does the Bible Say About Studying the Bible?” Then we realized that the word study didn’t really do justice to what we wanted to say. In fact, it expressed a little bit of the opposite of what the Bible wants us to know about the Bible.
When we study something, it’s usually because we hope to gain a complete understanding of it, and through such understanding, be able to control it or shape it in some way. We study things that are outside of us, separate from us, in order to glean information.
When we thought of applying this to the Bible, it just didn’t fit. Certainly, we study the Bible and seek to understand it. But that isn’t all there is to it, is it? The Bible has been given to us so that we can grow in a relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and join in the work God is already doing in the world around us. The Bible reveals the grand story of all things and helps us discover our place in it. The Bible is something to listen to.
To Study or Not To Study
While the Bible certainly has a lot of information, and is worthy of in-depth research where we dive into its genres, history, culture, language, and more, the Bible can’t really properly fit into the category of something that can simply be studied to gain intellectual knowledge alone. You certainly can study it and stop there, but that won’t lead you to the fullness of why we have the Bible or what it is for.
The Bible is God’s revelation to us. It is a collection of stories, wisdom, parables, history, poetry, and much more written by people sharing their experiences and relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible is meant to lead us into a relationship with this living God, not simply give us information about this living God.
The Rabbis say that there are 70 faces to every Torah. Each Scripture verse is like a diamond that reveals something different depending on which angle you look at it. The Bible is a revelation that shows us something about the infinite God of the universe. We can never fully exhaust and understand it from every single angle because we can never fully understand the infinite God from every angle. The beautiful thing about the Bible is that it will say something different to us at different stages and places in life. As we grow and expand, and as we come back to it over and over, it will lead us in new and different ways.
Listening to the Bible
The difficult thing is that we don’t live in the same culture as when the Bible was written. We don’t even experience the Bible as the majority of the original audience experienced it. When the Bible was originally composed and shared, it was largely done so verbally. Someone would share it with others based upon memory or a single person who knew how to read would share what was written with a larger group of people. There weren’t millions of “Bibles” floating around the world like there are today. This is why Revelation says, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near” (Revelation 1:3 NIV).
The difficult thing is that we don’t live in the same culture as when the Bible was written.
Because it was shared in this way, engaging the Bible was seen as a much more communal experience than it is frequently understood today. You were more likely to hear the words read out loud in a group than you were to read them silently to yourself in a study. Since the invention of the printing press, however, and our cultural shift toward individualism, how we have understood the Bible has changed. Rather than being a book written for a people group or an entire nation, we often see it as a list of things applicable to individuals and their preferences.
The Bible, however, is a story that reaches all people and all places. While this obviously includes individuals, when we narrow it down to being ONLY about individuals, we are going to be missing something.
The Bible is meant to lead us into a relationship with this living God, not simply give us information about this living God.
After all, we are all made in the image of the Trinity. Genesis says, “Let us make mankind in our image” (Genesis 1:27 NIV). God is a community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is three persons who through their will, love, and connections, are one God. This means we are made in the image of a community. To understand our own lives and the grand story of the entire cosmos in relationship to God, we must start with community. The Bible is inspired by a community for a community.
Relationship
This community, of course, is rooted in the divine community. Since the creation of humans, God has invited us to be in relationship. The problem, since Adam and Eve, is that we haven’t been very open to this relationship from our end.
The Bible is the story of people re-entering relationship with God. God reveals God’s self and invites us into an intimate relationship. While it’s easy to look at the Bible as a list of what to do and not do, the Bible is actually about how to live as God created us to live in eternal relationship with our Creator. Each verse of the Bible reveals something of who God is and what this means for our life in relationship with God.
When we simply study the Bible to gain information, we might learn a lot about God, but what matters is actually knowing God. There is a reason God frequently uses marriage language when describing God’s relationship with us. Whether through the prophet Hosea who married a prostitute to reveal how Israel had cheated on God with idols, or Jesus who speaks frequently about the marriage banquet we are invited into, God teaches us that God desires an intimate relationship with us.
Our engagement with the Bible, therefore, isn’t primarily about knowledge so that we can simply believe the right things. We engage the Bible in order to live in a certain way in light of who God is, how God interacted with people in the past, and the invitation into that same relationship through Jesus Christ today.
Simple head knowledge that there is one God isn’t enough. After all, “even the demons believe that—and shudder” (James 2:19 NIV). We are meant to know God with an experiential knowing. The Bible repeats over and over that God is a living God. This means God is a person, well three persons actually, that we can be in a real relationship with just like we are in relationships with people around us.
The Bible is inspired by a community for a community.
Each time we hear or read part of Scripture, it’s meant to draw us closer to this living God so we trust God, build faith in God, enter into deeper relationship with God, and grow into the people God created us to be. That is a lot different than simply memorizing Bible verses or having the right beliefs. Those aren’t bad things, of course, but they aren’t enough either.
The Overall Story of the Bible
As we grow in relationship with God, we also realize that God is living out a story that has been unfolding since the creation of all things. This story is a story of redemption and reconciliation. From the moment Adam and Eve decide to walk away from God’s invitation in the garden, God is seeking to bring people back to God’s self.
From Genesis to Revelation, God is inviting us back to God and back to the lives we are created for. When God told Abraham that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you,” this is the story God had in mind.
All throughout the Bible, the story is the one of reconciliation of all things. That’s the whole story of everything in Scripture. When we come to Scripture, it is so we can learn how our story as individuals in communities can join in God’s eternal story of the peace and shalom of all things.
It isn’t about having the right thoughts on a particular doctrine. It is about a wholistic way of living. This is why 2 Timothy says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The Bible reveals for us what it looks like to live a life of reconciliation. The important point is, this life comes out of a relationship with God. The Bible is one of the means by which we can develop the relationship further.
So brothers and sisters, as you come to the Bible this week, may you come with an open heart and open ears. May you come to it not in order to control it or try to nail it all down, but in order to hear God’s beckoning you into a loving relationship. May you be filled with the Holy Spirit as God invites you to join in the good work of the reconciliation of all things. May the Bible help lead you into a living relationship with the living God who loves you so much that He sent His only Son to die for you.
Grace and Peace.
