Category Archives: Bible

Does the Bible have to be a book?

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bible_in_handsWhat makes a Bible a Bible? Is there something sacred about having the Bible in a bound book? I’ve gotten to where I mainly read the Bible on my computer, so much so that I’ve embarrassed myself by going to preach somewhere and having to ask to borrow a Bible. In the class that I’m teaching at ACU, when I ask someone to read a passage, half the time they pull out an iPhone and say, “What version do you want?”

I feel a tinge of guilt now and again when I notice that I’m not wearing out the pages on my Bible; wasn’t that always the sign of someone who studied a lot? Still, I know that carrying a bound Bible is something relatively new; most Christians throughout history have not done that. For centuries, most people didn’t even have their own personal copies of the complete Bible. They certainly didn’t have bound editions to carry with them to church.

What do you think? Is there something unhealthy in moving away from the Bible as a book, or a printed book, at least?

My God can beat up your God

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All right, I’m troubled. I was reading some of the comments on a popular blog, and I started wondering if we were on the same planet. Many of those commenting come from my faith heritage, but…

Basically they were saying that some of the things the Bible says can’t be true because those things don’t fit their view of God. One person wrote: “These – the violent stories – were how the people understood God and how they looked back and interpreted their actions but I think we can say with confidence that God was not interested in killing every living thing. Unless we are willing to say that the God of the OT is not the God revealed to us in Jesus Christ.” That’s not my God, they’re saying, He doesn’t act that way. So whoever wrote the Bible was wrong.

Reminds me of Job and his friends. Nothing about what God was doing fit their theology, so they tried to make things fit. The friends blamed Job. Job blamed God. Then, in the end, God stepped in (or, as the commentators on that blog would say, some Hebrew wrote what he imagined God saying… but I digress). In Job 41 and 42, God basically says, “I’m God. You’re man. I don’t have to make sense to you.”

That troubles us, but it’s true. Fact is, if God is as much bigger as us as we think He is, we shouldn’t be able to fully understand Him. To use a crude example, it’s like cockroaches trying to explain humans. What we do probably doesn’t make much sense to them. In cockroach terms, man is inexplicable. Shouldn’t God be hard for us to explain?

Here go a few principles that come to mind:

  • God is not limited by human logic. Just because something about Him doesn’t make sense, that doesn’t mean it’s not true.
  • God is not limited by the “laws” of science and/or nature.
  • God is only limited by His nature. He is holy, so He can’t sin. He is truth, so He can’t lie. [I have problems fitting love and hate into this; any ideas?]

Bottom line: My God is so big that I can’t fully understand nor explain Him. When revealed truths conflict with my preconceived notions, it’s my notions that need adjustment.

If your God isn’t that big, then my God can beat up yours!

“My Word will not return unto me void”

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“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Is 55:11 KJV)

This verse is sometimes used to say that giving people a Bible is enough, for it is God’s Word and God’s Word will not return void. Personally, I don’t think that’s what this verse is saying. I think that “my word” here refers to God uttering a decree; when God says something it will happen.

Still I have long held to the belief that anyone can and should be able to understand the Bible on their own and, through that understanding, learn the truth and become a Christian. While still believing in the power of God’s Word, I have some doubts about that exact process. Here’s why:

  1. As I’ve been discussing recently, God’s Word was not originally delivered in book form, not originally distributed to the masses in book form as it is today. Therefore, that cannot have been God’s original plan. It could be a way for people to come to the truth, but it’s certainly not intended to be the most important way. In fact, this whole idea didn’t spring up until the last few centuries, when printed Bibles were readily available.

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  2. The Bible never makes the claim that everyone can just read it and understand it. As troubling as that sounds, it’s true. Faith in biblical times was not built around people sitting at home reading God’s Word. They had to come together to do it. And they didn’t have trouble with the idea that someone would need to explain it.Look at Nehemiah 8, when Ezra stood and read the Book of the Law to the people following their return from exile. Notice that the Levites were explaining the meaning as Ezra read: “Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.  And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.” (Nehemiah 8:7-9 ESV)

    Look also at the eunuch’s words in Acts 8: “So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.” (Acts 8:30-31 ESV) Philip didn’t reprimand him saying: “Of course you can understand. Anyone can.” He taught him.

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  3. I cannot think of even one example in the Bible where evangelism is done by giving someone a Bible. Again, look at Philip and the eunuch. The eunuch had the Bible in his hand, yet Philip was sent to teach him. I believe in the Bible and the power of the Bible. I just don’t see where God says, “Hand out these books and people will become Christians.”

God works through people and through relationships. He always sent a prophet. He didn’t just hand Moses a book. Jesus wrote no book. People need God’s Word, but “Bible-only” evangelism isn’t God’s way.

The Good Book

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Another confession. I don’t open the Bible as often as I used to. That is, I don’t take it off the shelf and open it. I read it on my computer. I have a Bible program installed which I have configured to open 5 versions at once, three in English, two in Spanish. I also have three sets of study notes open under it. It’s a convenient way to study, plus I can easily copy and paste passages that I need to use (I do a 20-minute radio program five days a week and often need to copy fairly long sections of scripture).

This wouldn’t be so bad, except that I do encounter times of guilt. Guilt that my bound Bibles aren’t getting “well-worn” like they used to. Guilt about the dust build-up on the pages (I know… dust can be removed with a cloth). And it can be really embarrassing when I do what I’ve done several times lately — gone somewhere to preach and realized that I didn’t bring a Bible!

The Good Book. I’ve grown up surrounded by the idea that a black bound book is the proper presentation for the Word of God. Funny thing is, how long has anything like that been around? A few centuries at best. Paul would not have thought of the Bible as a book. So much of it would have been in separate scrolls. That could even be what Paul was talking about when he asked Timothy to bring him his scrolls and parchments (if so, we now have scriptural precedent for forgetting your Bible).

Besides interesting trivia, I think it might say something about the way God’s Word is to be taken in, the way it is to be heard, the way it was communicated. If you don’t have 66 books bound into one, if much of your “Bible study” must be done from memory, if you can’t flip back and forth and compare one passage with another, you study differently. You read differently.

A question to my co-chefs in this kitchen of half-baked thoughts: What implications does this fact have for Bible study? Our Bible study. If we were to study as Christians would have in the first few centuries, what would we do?

Hear the Word of the Lord

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I have a bad habit. Well, I have several, but one of them happens a lot during Bible class or sermons. I find myself listening impatiently to the reading of a text, waiting to hear what the preacher or teacher has to say about it. “Yeah, yeah… I’ve read that text. What are you going to do with it?” Nasty habit, that one.

At the same time, I’ve developed a growing awareness that I’m not receiving God’s Word in the way it was intended. I read it. Even when someone is reading from the text, I have to open the book and read it, or I feel like I’m not really participating. But God’s Word was meant to be heard. The Bible continually talks about hearing the Word of God. “That’s a metaphor,” you say. (If you didn’t say it, say it now, just for the effect) I don’t think it’s just a metaphor. For the greater part of history, God’s people heard the Word read to them or quoted to them. Many of them couldn’t read. Of those that could, few owned a personal copy of the Scriptures. If they did, it was probably just a portion, like the Ethiopian eunuch owning a scroll of Isaiah. They had to hear God’s Word. And the books that make up the Bible were written to be read aloud. They were intended to be heard as much as read, or even more so.

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:19-21) I’ve often heard “quick to hear, slow to speak” quoted, but rarely has it been pointed out to me that the context is that of hearing the Word of God (if you don’t believe me, go to James 1 and continue reading). I’ve found the opposite is often true in our assemblies; we preachers are anxious to get the hearing done so we can start speaking!

“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.” (1 Timothy 4:13) Somehow, when men added to the Bible by creating a list of “five acts of worship,” preaching replaced the public reading of Scripture. They are two separate activities, and if either of them has a stronger scriptural base behind it, it is the reading of Scripture.

“So what?” you say. (I hope you’re remembering your lines) Well, I think we need to get back to an emphasis on hearing God’s Word. Especially in our assemblies. We need to de-emphasize the human element and emphasize the Word of God. Here are some suggestions:

(1) Emphasize “stand alone” Bible reading. Not part of a sermon or a class. Not followed by commentary. Just a reading of God’s Word.

(2) Teach our people how to read out loud. It’s not hard, but it takes some thought and practice. Learn to read with feeling and sense, without inserting drama that overshadows the words themselves.

(3) Teach our people how to listen. More than teach, I guess it’s exhort them to do so. To make the effort to listen when God’s Word is read.

(4) Make use of modern technologies. It’s now easier than ever to listen to God’s Word, with it available on cassette, CD, mp3, etc.

Take time to hear the Word of the Lord.