What the Bible Is… and What It Isn’t

So many times, I’ve seen the Bible used simply as a reference book for the things we should and should not do. It’s been wielded as a weapon to attempt to point out the sins of others. It’s been used as a scientific book to attempt to explain the 4.5 billion years of existence of the Earth.

I love the Bible and its depth, tragedy, love, mystery, and wonder. Its story of God’s love over the course of history and the good news of salvation through Christ is a comforting and hopeful message in a complex world. 

Christians have a variety of different ways that they relate to the Bible and how they consider it in their spiritual lives. Here are a few ways that I think at times we get it right…and wrong.

The Bible is the Inspired Word of God

We find this guidance to us in the book of Timothy: 

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

– New Revised Standard Version, 2 Timothy 3:16-17

It is our foundation for understanding God’s will for His people and contains all knowledge to bring us to salvation.  The Bible is our primary source of spiritual wisdom and understanding.

The Bible is Infallible In Its Truth About Faith & Salvation

When we hear people talk about Biblical accuracies and events, two terms are often mentioned – infallible and inerrant – and the two are very different labels when discussing the Bible.

“Infallibility” refers to the lack of ability for something to be wrong. Something that is infallible never fails to be deceiving or misleading. Infallibility can also be contextual. When someone says they have an “infallible remedy for a cold” it means that the remedy is sure to work and that is without question.

“Inerrancy” is more logistical in its definition and refers to something that does not wander from the truth and therefore has no errors.

As we consider these when we refer to the Bible, we have to place some context around how we use the terms.

The Bible itself is infallible in its truth about faith and salvation. It contains truth across the text of its books, chapters, and verses that guides us on how to treat others, how to nurture and grow a relationship with God, and the ultimate truth of God’s promise of salvation.

The Bible is Not Meant to Be Read Literally

The idea of Biblical inerrancy can get a little tricky. After all – what’s considered an “error”?  The word seems harsh when we bring it up in relation to the Bible. Factually, errors are something that happens when one thing is expected, and yet another outcome happens instead.

If I say that I “need a minute” to get ready to go somewhere and yet it takes me five minutes, does that mean I made an error? Technically speaking, I made an error; I said I would need a minute, but took five instead.  However, most reasonable people would not say that I was generally untruthful as a result.

If we read Jesus’ statement in John 10:9, He states, “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. ” Our rational minds know that Jesus is not a literal wooden gate that can be opened and closed.  We read this passage knowing that it is meant to be interpreted – His intent is to be metaphorical and easier to understand for the masses.

Applying the practice of “Biblical literalism” as an absolute in all situations deprives a reader of understanding the larger nature of God and His story; literal reading can only truly be applied as a practice to one’s life if all passages of the Bible in its entirety are taken literally.

After all – how can one only take some statements literally and justify discarding others?

Focusing on singular passages without understanding the heart of the author, the historical context, and the translations over the course of time deprives us as readers of seeing God’s divine message for the world. 

Unless we subscribe to the idea that all text of the Bible was literally dictated “Creator to the writer”, we must at least be open to the idea that the Bible contains elements of human errancy while still being able to provide insights about the intent of God and allows us room for interpretation and further examination.

We can definitely find inconsistencies across the text of the Bible. We don’t even make it out of the book of Genesis and the creation stories before we find multiple ways that man, woman, and animals were created.

In Genesis chapter 1, we find God creating the Earth and heavens, then animals, then man and woman at the same time.

In Genesis chapter 2, we find God creating the Earth and heavens, then man, then animals, then woman.

There are variations in the tales of the birth of Christ across the Gospels.

And even the story of Jesus’ crucifixion has inconsistencies – in Mark 15:21 we read about a man named Simon carrying Jesus’ cross for him, yet in John 19:17, we are told clearly that Jesus was “carrying the cross by himself”.

Three different accounts of Jesus’ last words appear in the Gospels. John 19:30 states that Jesus said “it is finished” before dying. Matthew and Mark write that Jesus calls out “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”. Luke writes that He said “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” before taking His last breath.

Yet, these inconsistencies, shouldn’t diminish our faith in the Bible’s message. If we get too hung up on the variations of stories and those details, then we’re overlooking the core message laid out for us throughout the text.

The Bible is a Creation Between God and His Children

Let’s face it – God could have “poofed” a perfect book with perfect words and a clear understanding for all of humanity in an instant. It could have been a book without question and critique that made sense in every situation. But over the ages, He has wanted us to understand His will by doing more than memorizing passages.

We’ve likely all experienced this situation before – a person that we’ve heard mentioned by friends, but never really had a chance to meet and talk to, is one day at a social gathering and we finally get to know them. We’re surprised at how much more we got to connect with them and understand who they were versus the surface-level description friends had given us.

God wants us to develop this same relationship and understanding by asking questions and digging deeper. John Wesley encouraged this type of meditation of the Word.

And this part is important – studying and examination of the Bible and interpreting scripture in a context of a society in the modern day should not be construed as conflicting with the Bible’s role as our primary source of truth.

Searching for truth within the inspired Word of God creates a mature Christian spiritual foundation that is better able to weather the stormy waters.

The Bible Is Not an Operating Manual

Henry Ford is most well known for creating the first affordable car available in the U.S.  Others had come before him in Germany and even in the U.S. But Ford and his process of assembly reduced the cost of car-making to allow more people to own a car in the U.S. In 1908 when it was released, the Model T sold for $850.

The instruction book for the Model T was 45 pages long. By today’s standards, the car was primitive in its design. For example, the following guidance was provided in the 1912 instruction manual under a section titled “Before Starting the Car”:

…see that there is plenty of gasoline in the tank; the shut-off valve in the gasoline feed pipe open; the radiator filled; the proper amount of oil in the crank case; the grease cups, oil cups and other parts requiring lubrication given attention.

See that the hand lever is in a vertical position, the clutch thereby being disengaged and the emergency brake set.

Close the coil switch.

Place the spark lever at about the third or fourth notch of the quadrant – wherever the best results are obtained.

Open the throttle about five or six notches, and prime the carburetor if the engine requires it.

Engage the starting crank firmly and pull up on it. Two or three times will usually suffice to draw the mixture into cylinders and ignite it.

– Instruction Book For Ford Model T Cars (3rd edition). Ford Motor Company. 1912.

These instructions seem archaic when compared to starting one of today’s automobiles. 

Can you imagine being told today that you had to close the coil switch, place the spark lever in a notch of “the quadrant” or engage the starting crank to go to the store?

The 1912 instruction manual for the Fort Model T was relevant to that car made in that year. We don’t expect it to be applicable to every car of every model year.

What might be surprising is that even today we still do most of these things when we start a car. The general process has stood the test of time. Today, when we turn the key, the engine starts. What is needed to start the engine still applies – air, gas, and a spark.

But if we tried to start a car today using only an instruction manual from 1912, we’d likely struggle.

Why? Because the situation changed. We have advancements in understanding that change how we approach the task at hand.

According to historians, the Bible was written over a period of 1,500 to 1,600 years.  Just think about how much has changed in our world from 400 A.D. until the present day and you’ll get an idea of the timeframe of the manuscripts.

The “manual” was written long ago and our practical understanding of the world around us has changed.

The Bible Is a Book About Developing a Relationship

I remember fondly the road trips that my parents and I would take growing up. We drove to vacation destinations or sometimes just to flea markets or outdoor festivals in the rural parts of the state. We listened to 8-track tapes along the way. On longer trips, my mom would pack a cooler to bring sandwiches in.

Over the years, we had several cars that took us on these trips – a green Ford Pinto, a brown Cutlass Supreme, and others.

If I flipped through the operating manuals of any of these cars, I wouldn’t find the memories made on these family trips. I wouldn’t find information about how to enjoy a Sunday drive with sweet tea and the excitement of exploring roads that had never been turned down before. I wouldn’t find anything about the anticipation of the drive to my grandmother’s house to spend with her the week before Christmas each year.

The kitchen mixer manual doesn’t explain how to enjoy making Christmas cookie dough with little ones who are eager to sprinkle and messily decorate.

The TV manual doesn’t detail the laughs and conversations that will be had on Friday family movie night at home.

The strengthening of the relationships and the enjoyment of time spent with one another comes *in between* the written words.

If we treat the Bible as merely a textbook or operating manual, we miss the amazing guidance about the relationship that we can have with Christ.  We miss the story of the promise of salvation and the grace extended to us. We miss out on fully appreciating the love that God shows his children by sending His Son to walk with us.

The words should create a longing in each of us for a greater relationship with God.

The Bible Isn’t Always Specific

The Bible does not, nor should we expect it to, contain specific solutions for all problems we may encounter.

Flip through a manual for a vacuum, a toaster, or a hair dryer and you’ll find a detailed explanation of every button and switch and what every light means on the device.  You’ll find different steps to take when specific troublesome situations arise.

Treating the Word of God – written in a time different from ours –  as a tactical operating manual disregards God’s gifts of scientific and cultural awareness and the progression of knowledge and greater capabilities of understanding mankind – a mankind made in His design.

Society has many times come in conflict with the Bible throughout the ages and thus we must be careful in using it as an absolute arbiter for specific issues except in explaining God’s full and never-ending love for us. 

If we reduce the Bible’s use to only the “let me go see what it says about” situations, then we miss the beauty of the message in its entirety. We also run the risk of turning off those who are just now developing a relationship with the Holy Spirit and who feel that the Bible contains specific answers to life’s challenges.

The Bible Isn’t a History Textbook

The Bible contains information about the time of the authors and the social constructs and perceptions of the day. Any detail that it does provide, however, is certainly a valuable resource for historians regarding the development of the society of man.

But if we treat it like a book that is supposed to detail the history of man in totality, then we miss what science has enlightened us about and more importantly, the intent of God’s message.  

There’s a popular phrase about social media and our need to seemingly post photos of everything we do – “if you don’t post it, did it really even happen?”

If it’s not stated in the Bible, we don’t really think it didn’t happen. We know that there are pieces of history that aren’t captured Biblically. We shouldn’t discount what we know today due to our God-given gift of scientific discovery because we can’t find it in Scripture.  Albert Einstein once wrote that “if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will go its whole life believing that it’s stupid.” We have to see the Bible for what it’s intended to be.

God isn’t a lecturer in a college history class. I consider the elements of history that are included in the Bible as relevant to the message at hand and not intended to document all of the development of mankind.

The Bible Isn’t a Weapon

In 1952, author C.S. Lewis responded to a woman by the name of “Mrs. Johnson” who wrote to him to ask if the Bible was infallible.  He responded:

It is Christ Himself, not the Bible, who is the true Word of God. The Bible, read in the right spirit and with the guidance of good teachers will bring us to Him. When it becomes really necessary (i.e. for our spiritual life, not for controversy or curiosity) to know whether a particular passage is rightly translated or is Myth (but of course Myth specially chosen by God from among countless Myths to carry a spiritual truth) or history, we shall no doubt be guided to the right answer. 

But we must not use the Bible (our ancestors too often did) as a sort of Encyclopedia out of which texts (isolated from their context and read without attention to the whole nature and purport of the books in which they occur) can be taken for use as weapons.

– C.S. Lewis. The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 – 1963. HarperOne. 2007.

All too often we find God’s word being used to control others. It has been used to advance political agendas. It has been used to keep groups of people from having full human rights and the dignity that comes with that. It’s been used to justify slavery and racism, to justify the unfair treatment of women and divorced people, and to defend the treatment of God’s LGBTQ+ children. Even the bishop of the Nazi-supporting German Christian Faith Movement invoked Romans 13 as a reason for the people of Germany to submit to Nazi leadership.

Think of weapons this way: weapons fill the wielding party with a perceived power because of a fear created in them by those being conquered.

In Isaiah 2:4, it was foretold that God would turn “swords into plowshares” – a changing of weapons into something that would create fruit from the soil. Even John Wesley’s first rule of Methodism was to “do no harm”.

It is certainly much easier to take something from someone else than to build and create using your own skills. It is easier to control others using the words of the Bible than it is to look inward and challenge ourselves to seek God’s will.

Jesus was once asked about following what is written in Mosaic law in Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22 — that an adultering woman (and man) must be put to death.  It was written law, so Jesus was challenged about the situation as a test of sorts:

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him.

Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

– New Revised Standard Version, John 8:3-7

Jesus refused to use the Bible as a weapon but instead used it as a mirror.

The Takeaway

As Christians, we must do everything in our power to bring people to Christ. When we use our foundational text as a way to segregate, divide, or oppress, we don’t exemplify Christ’s unconditional love. Using the Word of God with the intent to discriminate against any of God’s children is behavior that does not align with Christ’s teachings. Judgment is not ours to enforce.

While we may not be throwing stones physically, creating inequity through the use of Biblical passages is just not cool.  How can that make anyone feel proud to be a Christian?

Riverchase UMC members, when you hear people talking about pulling away from the United Methodist Church because they feel that scripture isn’t going to be followed in the future for one reason or another, or that the United Methodist Church isn’t “Biblical”, just remember that it’s likely that few of us are completely “Biblical” in the strictest terms.

The Bible isn’t an owner’s manual. The Methodist movement was built on us contemplating scripture deeply, not taking the easy way out and just seeing it as words and “do” and “don’t do” statements.

We’re all Biblical as Christians. Believers just approach the text in different ways.

But I choose to approach it in ways that will enlighten and bring people to know Christ and the hope of a life with Him.