Returning from the mailbox, you flip through the stack that is your recent prize. You begin the important task of separating the pertinent letters from the ones that will be quickly discarded without even being read. Postcards and invitations in one stack, ads in another; bills, the things you wish you could throw away, on the right; another pile that is placed closest to the trash belongs to the mis-delivered. A Mr. So-and-So has not changed his address in years and you have been the unfortunate recipient of many christmas cards and questionable magazine subscriptions. You notice that this piece of mail is actually an unpaid bill. You open it and read that failure to pay this bill could result in some jail time. Breathing a slight sigh of relief, you throw it away without second thought, because this piece of mail isn’t addressed to you. Unfortunately, this is the same approach many people have in reading the Bible.
Popular hermeneutics influenced by the Enlightenment, liberalism, and modernism, have developed a particular ontology of the Word. It is one that declares that these texts are primarily historical documents rooted in their unique historical and sociological context. Present day readers must attempt to be objective, and transport themselves into that particular historical context to really understand the text. To clarify, I am not saying that this “historical-grammatical” approach is wrong, as if history shouldn’t be used in interpretation. I do however think that an overemphasis in these areas, by some very well intentioned people, have made theology a profession, and interpretation an expertise. The common reader has been distanced from Scripture as the “professionals” have held it high above their heads.
Bible reading in the Church has thus felt like reading someone else’s mail. A particular phrase I heard growing up was, “This book isn’t written to you, but it is written for you.” This distinction allowed me to draw moral principles from the text, but not necessarily feel its urgency, because, well I am not living in the 1st century. A person who receives someone else’s overdue bill can draw moral principles from it (don’t forget to pay your own bills), but will never feel the urgency that they would normally feel if it was their overdue bill. With this approach, the drama of it all is unfelt and often discarded for the easily understood list of do’s and do not’s.
A few verses to consider:
“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.” 1 Corinthians 10:17
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. . .” Hebrews 4:12
“It was revealed to them [the prophets] that they were serving not themselves but you . . .” 1 Peter 1:12
With these verses in mind, we can begin to read Scripture in a new light. Scripture can be read with a new ontology, one that declares that Scripture is primarily a confessional document of the Church that is rooted in the context of the risen Christ. Scripture is not simply a record of the times God has spoken or has done things in the past. In Scripture, God is speaking, and He is revealing who He is and what He desires for His people in the present tense.
The Bible is not a collection of other peoples’ mail, nor is it just some historical record of how an ancient people thought about God. The Word is not to be held high above the peoples’ head by the professionals. Scripture is a living thing—a medium through which God comes down to us. In our Bible reading, we are able to encounter God in a fresh way because God is presently revealing himself. The Word of God is thus both for and to the people of God.
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