Can Anyone Read the Bible?

[George Little]

This article in Newsweek recently made me think. http://www.newsweek.com/id/185850

Do we really believe that a person can read the Bible for themselves without a Bible degree etc. and find the truth? Is the truth in scripture able to be clearly understood by a honest seeker?

Can such a person read Luke and Acts and understand gospel and then obey it?

I know the Ethiopian eunuch said that he needed help understanding Isaiah 53 and needed Phillip to interpret it for him. But that was a veiled prophecy. And I do know that Peter said some of the things Paul wrote were hard to understand but those only referred to a small number of things.

I also know that there is a divinely ordained role for the teacher in the kingdom, but I hope we never get to the point like Christian traditions of the past (and a few in the present) who think that they have to interpret everything for the people because the "common" person could not possibly understand scripture.

[George Little]

I agree. The role of a teacher is almost universally spoken to by scripture. It is absolutely vital to the process of getting the message of God to all people.

I just took exception to the tone of those (in the article) who looked down upon an "unlearned" man reading the scripture and coming up with his observations and questions.

The problem with traditional perspectives is that they tend to become codified and orthodox and I think that puts a barrier between the Word and the reader/hearer. I think this applies to both oral and written revelation.

The honest seeker just might have a slant on the message that had been missed because of cultural bias.

The honest seeker almost always finds the truth in the context of a relationship with the teacher. That teacher does his best when he takes seriously the reactions of the seeker rather than rejecting them because of the lack of experience of the seeker.

I appreciate your thoughts and the discussion.

[James Nored]

George, I read the Newsweek article. Probably most Christians--and certainly non-Christians--would be shocked by some of the stories found in the Bible. It is indeed an ancient tome with people and cultures from far away times.

Our fellowship certainly falls within the Protestant reformation tradition of "interpreting the Bible for ourselves." To a certain extent, this is a good thing.

I am, however, going to take a bit of the other side here. Where do we find people in the Bible going off "by themselves" with some Scriptures in hand and coming to belief in Jesus? Of course, they would not have had the New Testament then, but Paul taught Jesus from the Old Testament, so the message about Jesus can be found there.

We love stories of people finding a Bible, reading it, and saying, I want to follow Jesus and be baptized. Or even better in our minds, I've looked at all the other churches and this is the one that matches the New Testament best. All on their own.

I would say that such stories are extremely rare. Here are some things which point against the "self taught" faith.

- The examples we find in the New Testament are indeed of people being taught. I cannot think of any exception.

- People did not have personal Bibles for 1500 years at least. If God's plan was for people to just discover the faith on their own, why would he wait so long to make this even possible? What of those who were born during this earlier time?

- This fails to take into account the role of the community in biblical interpretation. If we believe that the Spirit indwells both individuals and the church, then we need to explore interpretation in community.

- This fails to take seriously passages which speak of the truths "being handed down." In our race to not be Catholic, we risk failing to recognize the positive contributions of historic interpretations. The fact is that there is a gnostic way to read the New Testament. In fact that happened. But those close to Jesus and the apostles said, that is not the way these texts are meant to be read. Our interpretation is in part shaped by those who have gone before us. Without this historic interpretation, we could do what Bultmann did to Scripture.

- Personal experience tells us that people need to have the gospel preached and taught.

So, what do you think of these points? Good discussion!