The Bible Says

I can remember being a kid and having an acute case of the “why’s”. As in, “Why can’t I have hamburgers for dinner every night?” Or “Why do I have to go to bed now?” At times when my mom was too fatigued or hassled to answer another “why”, she would simply end the debate with, “Because I said so!” Meaning, “I am the Mom. You are the kid. I am the final authority on this matter, and I don’t have to explain it to you. Case closed.”

Not saying this is always bad. Just saying. (I’ve also practiced this technique frequently as a parent.)

But I’ve noticed, especially as I’ve mellowed over the years, that we Christians like to practice a similar tactic with the Bible. After all, the Bible is our final authority, right? So when we say, “The Bible says….”, we often intend it to end whatever debate we happen to be having with whomever. We use it essentially to throw the weight of Almighty God behind our point of view. Once we pull out “The Bible says” to back up our point, we excuse ourselves from having to entertain other opinions or grapple with questions that challenge that point. It’s so…because God says so. (Or so we believe…) Case closed.

I have to admit, I’ve been as guilty of this as anyone else–for many years. And don’t get me wrong–I am not in any way challenging the Bible’s authority. It remains my own plumb line, and I place a high value on it as the inspired Word of God. But in going through an extended season where I had no one to defend my own “point” against (i.e., no one was listening), I realized some foundational problems in using Scripture so flippantly in those kinds of discussions:

FIRST–Not everyone recognizes the authority of Scripture. So using that line as a deciding factor in stating our opinion–and then turning a deaf ear to other’s opinions–simply makes us as Christians look silly and ignorant, and reinforces the growing belief among non-believers that we are closed-minded and arrogant. “The Bible says so” carries no weight with those who don’t see Scripture as an authority.

SECOND–When we say “The Bible says”, we are really saying, “The Bible means.” We so often forget that it is impossible not to interpret the Scripture. We cannot quote something the Bible says without making a direct implication as to what it means. So even when Christians disagree, it is concerning the meaning of Scripture more than its content. To use “The Bible says” in that context doesn’t actually back our point with the authority of Scripture; rather it arrogantly implies that we are the ones who have the correct interpretation, and the other person got it wrong.

THIRD–We are flawed at best in our interpretation of Scripture. We Americans, especially, forget that the Bible wasn’t written in our cultural context, or in our language. So when we take the English rendering of a passage of Scripture too literally, we can draw the wrong conclusions. For example, if we take Jesus’ claim literally that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven,” we might easily conclude that all rich people are going to hell. (Which is why all rich people everywhere should give all their money to the church. 😉 ) It isn’t until we understand that in Jesus’ day the city gates had a small opening called the “eye of a needle”, through which travelers passed at night when the gates were closed, that we have a more realistic viewpoint of what Jesus might have meant by that statement. My point is that not only are we always interpreting Scripture, but too often our conclusions are based on incomplete data about the Scripture. So sometimes the Bible doesn’t actually “say” what we think it does.

FOURTH–All these things aside, I don’t think God ever intended us to hijack His words to defend our own viewpoint. From our twisted perspective, we think somehow we are respecting the authority of Scripture by using it this way. Actually, when we throw the weight of Scripture around carelessly, I think we actually dis-respect it as the living word we claim it to be.

So what does this mean? Are we to stop looking to Scripture as our authority because no one really understands it? Do we stop thinking of it as carrying any weight? Not in the least. To this day, I frequently quote Scripture, and I usually am trying to make a point when I do! I’m only saying that in recent years I’ve come to respect the fact that while I still view God’s word as inerrant…I am not inerrant. It was such a life-changing revelation to me when I understood that everything I believe about what the Bible says is still an interpretation of Scripture at best. It isn’t the authority of Scripture I am discounting–it is our own imperfect perceptions about it.

So these days, when I say “the Bible says”, I’m not trying to pound my view into someone else’s skull; I’m simply letting my interpretation of it be what it is. Even if I’m trying to convince that person of my view–mostly I’m just explaining the conclusion I’ve drawn, and what Scripture I’m looking at to come to that conclusion. But I hold my own theology much more loosely these days, because I understand the frailty of it. It’s a huge reason why I lean today more toward a relationship-based faith than a creed-based faith.

And really, what this rambling boils down to is this: if we were spending more energy grappling with the Scripture to determine how we should live it out, rather than using the Scripture to browbeat others into seeing it our way, we would be a lot healthier as Christians. And we would be showing a lot more respect for the Bible, too. Let’s not reject the authority of Scripture; let’s respect its authority by not pretending we have it down pat. Let’s be slow to use “the Bible says” to reprimand each other, and be quick to let “the Bible say” it to our own hearts.