How literally should we interpret the Bible?

[DrJon]

The Bible is a wonderful guide to living and, taken as a whole, is so brilliant that I have no doubt it was inspired by God. But some of the rules appear to reflect the time in which it was written. Our knowledge about disease transmission and access to modern medical treatment seems to make some of the guidance obsolete. Also, changing social attitudes make other recommendations appear as anachronisms. For instance, the Bible forbids eating seafood without fins and scales (like lobster and crab) (Leviticus 11:10), advises slaves to obey their masters, even if they are unreasonable (1 Peter 2:17).

I have absolute belief in the words of Jesus and the ten commandments. But I believe that the Bible needs to be viewed holistically and interpreted intelligently. What do others think?

999Miracles.com

 

[Resha Caner]

The Bible is a wonderful guide to living and, taken as a whole, is so brilliant that I have no doubt it was inspired by God. But some of the rules appear to reflect the time in which it was written. Our knowledge about disease transmission and access to modern medical treatment seems to make some of the guidance obsolete. Also, changing social attitudes make other recommendations appear as anachronisms. For instance, the Bible forbids eating seafood without fins and scales (like lobster and crab) (Leviticus 11:10), advises slaves to obey their masters, even if they are unreasonable (1 Peter 2:17).

I have absolute belief in the words of Jesus and the ten commandments. But I believe that the Bible needs to be viewed holistically and interpreted intelligently. What do others think?

When I saw the title for the thread, I was thinking of replying that the Confessional Lutheran view is to read scripture within its context. Read history as history, metaphor as metaphor, poetry as poetry, etc. That doesn't solve the problem because then some people start arguing that certain parts of Genesis are poetry, but it's still a good starting point.

Second, the Confessional Lutheran view is that scripture is inerrant and the final authority. So, we can seek other sources in cases where the Bible is silent. We can even seek other sources to deepen our understanding of things the Bible does speak about. But when the Bible speaks, it is the final authority.

Finally, though, there is a need to understand scripture in its entirety. Basing theology on a single verse is risky. Not always wrong, but still risky. So, in the context of dietary laws, one needs to consider not only Leviticus but also Mark 2 and Acts 10. Some of the ritualistic meaning behind such things was fulfilled in Christ and is no longer necessary. That can also get dicey, but it's an important principle to understand.

And I think that's more where your question is going. You seem to be asking a specific question about moral precepts, not a general question about scripture. In that regard, much of the "we now know" and talk of holism is a way to excuse the fluid nature of society. The fact that societal morals change does not excuse sinful behavior. If you are a slave, it is still necessary to obey your master. That is not because the Bible is condoning chattel slavery, and so the need is to understand why Peter said that - not to dismiss it as archaic.

 

[Hieronymus]

Meh, none of the options fit my view...
Can't vote..

But let me explain:
it's all historical narrative, except when it isn't.

 

[DrJon]

Thanks to both of you for your thoughts. I like the idea of poetry as poetry, metaphor as metaphor, etc. And much of it is historical narrative, but I need to assume that the narratives are in there because they communicate important lessons. I think it comes down to an intelligent reading with an open heart. It's easy to nitpick the Bible with the goal of freeing oneself from inconvenient rules and morality. But it needs to be read with the right attitude.

999miracles.com

 

[Shempster]

This is the way I see it... (don't hate me...I ask alotta Q's)

If you let 10,000 people read the bible front to back and give an explanation, you'll get 10,000 different ideas.
It seems to be that an unbeliever cannot even understand any of it because their "hearts are darkened".
So it would seem that there is a condition for understanding the bible. A condition, or maybe a state of mind?

 

[Resha Caner]

This is the way I see it... (don't hate me...I ask alotta Q's)

If you let 10,000 people read the bible front to back and give an explanation, you'll get 10,000 different ideas.
It seems to be that an unbeliever cannot even understand any of it because their "hearts are darkened".
So it would seem that there is a condition for understanding the bible. A condition, or maybe a state of mind?

Not really. American individualism has invaded every aspect of life, including the many Christian churches in the U.S. So there is this idea that I - the individual - must understand the Bible. Confessional Lutheran churches (as well as Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches) retain the idea of the Church (capital C). Understanding the Bible is a lifelong journey of walking with the Church and remaining in the Word - hearing the preaching & teaching of the Gospel - from a community of people who have also committed to that lifelong journey.

 

[DrJon]

Resha and Shempster,

You both make good points. I agree that people will differ in their interpretation, but, at least among Christians, it will be much less than 100% disagreement. It's very true that if you come to the Bible with a darkened heart you are likely to misinterpret it. Some people are quick to point out that there are contradictions in the Bible as evidence of its fallibility. With an open heart, you would just see evidence of the complexity of its message and of the human spirit. I agree that understanding the Bible is a lifelong journey -- one to be undertaken with a faith community.

999Miracles.com

 

[SkyWriting]

The Bible is a wonderful guide to living and, taken as a whole, is so brilliant that I have no doubt it was inspired by God. But some of the rules appear to reflect the time in which it was written. Our knowledge about disease transmission and access to modern medical treatment seems to make some of the guidance obsolete. Also, changing social attitudes make other recommendations appear as anachronisms. For instance, the Bible forbids eating seafood without fins and scales (like lobster and crab) (Leviticus 11:10), advises slaves to obey their masters, even if they are unreasonable (1 Peter 2:17).I have absolute belief in the words of Jesus and the ten commandments. But I believe that the Bible needs to be viewed holistically and interpreted intelligently. What do others think?

Spiritually the Bible is without error. But it is written as the human
perspective of God and shows those expected flaws.

 

[SkyWriting]

Some people are quick to point out that there are contradictions in the Bible as evidence of its fallibility.

There are numerous perspectives included to elaborate on the human understanding of God.
People rarely consider a second viewpoint to be a failure.

 

[Emmy]

Dear DrJohn. The Bible is God`s Word to Man, and should be as literally taken as possible. In Matthew 22: 35-40:
Jesus tells us: " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second Commandment is like it: love thy neighbour as thyself." Verse 40 tells us: " On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." God is Love, and God wants loving sons and daughters.
In Matthew 7: 7-10: we can read: " Ask and you shall receive," we ask God for Love and Joy, then we thank God and share all love and joy with our neighbour. ( neighbour is all we know and all we meet, friends and not friends)
We keep asking for Love and Joy, then thank God and share all love and joy with our neighbour. God sees our loving efforts, and God will Bless us.
The Bible tells us: " Repent and be Born Again," we stop being selfish and unloving, and start to love and care, and be always friendly. The Holy Spirit will help and guide us, and Jesus our Saviour will lead us all the way: JESUS IS THE WAY. In Luke 10: 25-28: Jesus was asked: " Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered:
" You read Matthew 22: 35-40: " Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and love thy neighbour as thyself. DO THIS AND YOU SHALL LIVE."
To Love God with heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbour as we love ourselves, ( treat him or her as we would love to be treated) is what God wants from us, that might not come easily to us, BUT GOD WANTS IT FROM US.
We ask and we will receive, God will give us the Love and Joy and we will thank God and start loving and caring.
Love is what God wants from us, and love is what this imperfect world needs. Love is very catching, and a Christian`s weapon is love and forgiveness. I say this with love, DrJohn. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

 

[DrJon]

Dear DrJohn. The Bible is God`s Word to Man, and should be as literally taken as possible. In Matthew 22: 35-40:
Jesus tells us: " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second Commandment is like it: love thy neighbour as thyself." Verse 40 tells us: " On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." God is Love, and God wants loving sons and daughters... Love is very catching, and a Christian`s weapon is love and forgiveness. I say this with love, DrJohn. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

Thank you so much for your post, Emmy. Everything that you cite from the Bible is beautiful and indisputable. But if I claim that everything is to be taken literally some are quick to point out that it contains contradictions and anachronisms.

Jon
http://999miracles.com

 

[Julie.S]

This is how I see it.

There are things in the Bible that if I went out and did them today I would go to jail or worse. I think the Bible has some good stuff in it and good stuff to live by. There are however things that we can not do today also.

 

[SkyWriting]

But if I claim that everything is to be taken literally some are quick to point out that it contains contradictions

There are no contradictions. I checked.

“And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, ‘THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS’.”
—Matthew 27:37

“The inscription of the charge against Him read, ‘THE KING OF THE JEWS’.”
—Mark 15:26

“Now there was also an inscription above Him, ‘THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS’.”
—Luke 23:38

“Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, ‘JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THEJEWS’.”
—John 19:19

These are not opposites. They support each other.

 

[Abraxos]

To take something literally is to apply the same literary standards and rules to the Bible as you would to any other piece of literature.

The Bible contains the common kinds of literature: Prose - Poetry - History - Prophecy - Love Story - Exposition.

The Bible employs common literary devices which are usually comparisons. There are so many kinds of linguistic comparisons and we give them names such as: Analogies - Similes - Metaphors - Juxtapositions - Hyperboles - Puns.

Any student of literature should know the difference between all these literary devices and forms. I would apply the standards of grammar and literature to the Bible as I would anything else of study. When you do that it makes sense, when you violate those standards and rules it doesn't make sense.

Gematria.
Now the Bible is tremendously more deeper than other books because Hebrew itself has added literary dimensions. What I mean by that is for instance, it has things that we don't really have in English.
For instance, their letters can represent numbers. This is called Gematria. So for instance the word "pregnancy" in Hebrew if you add up the letters converting the letters to the added up number you get 271, and 271 days is the normal gestation period for a woman. So that many scholars of Biblical and Hebrew texts believe is from design because there is so many of these coincidences.

Letters can be Pictographs
Also their letters can be pictographs, and Chinese speakers would know that the Chinese radicals used in their writing are mainly pictographs. So for instance Jesus says, "I Am the Alpha and the Omega" He would've said in Hebrew, "Aleph-Tav". And the "Aleph" is a picture of a bull, which represents a leader or head of the house or a sacrifice. The "Tav" written in the ancient way is a cross. So when Jesus Christ says I am the "Aleph-Tav", it also suggests He's the sacrifice on the cross. He's the leader on the cross. So the meaning, the literally meaning is very rich, very deep.

Anagrams
It also uses and employs anagrams which means letters in a word can be rearranged. Anagrams are words spelled backwards have opposite meaning.
It's very complex in Hebrew because they don't use the vowels so if you use the same consonants and you rearrange them these words give insight to the other words. And alot of times if a word is simply spelled backwards it has the opposite meaning. But it's not obvious that it's an opposite until you start to study the Bible at this level. For instance,

The Hebrew word, "DoR" (Dalet-Resh) = Generation. Generation means advancing, progressing.
But if you reverse it, "ReyD" (Resh-Dalet) it becomes decline.

So in Hebrew it suggests we are moving forward or we are moving backward, but there is no maintaining the status quo. There is no such thing as been static. You are either growing in the Lord, or towards the Lord, or you're falling behind, going backwards. It's called back-sliding. In English the opposite of 'Big' is Gib. Of course in English the opposite of big is small.

Also in Hebrew more so than in any other language, words can be prophetic. In Hebrew the word 'Alah' means 'the curse'. So when we read in Isaiah 24:6 the curse (ALAH) has devoured the earth. Things like that would be missed if we don't employ literally standards and understanding literally devices.

And if someone asks, "Do I take the Bible literary?" Well, there is no other way I will take the Bible. So only by taking the Bible literally as a piece of literature that was written intelligently should be intelligently read, and only then we could understand and truly appreciate it.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

The Bible is a wonderful guide to living and, taken as a whole, is so brilliant that I have no doubt it was inspired by God. But some of the rules appear to reflect the time in which it was written. Our knowledge about disease transmission and access to modern medical treatment seems to make some of the guidance obsolete. Also, changing social attitudes make other recommendations appear as anachronisms. For instance, the Bible forbids eating seafood without fins and scales (like lobster and crab) (Leviticus 11:10), advises slaves to obey their masters, even if they are unreasonable (1 Peter 2:17).

I have absolute belief in the words of Jesus and the ten commandments. But I believe that the Bible needs to be viewed holistically and interpreted intelligently. What do others think?

999Miracles.com

Part of the conformation that the Bible is actually God's word is that it offends/challenges every culture, yet in different areas. For instance, you likely have no trouble believing that God is love and that He forgives sinners. Well in many cultures, that is a stumbling block. They see it as unjust.

"I believe that the Bible needs to be viewed holistically and interpreted intelligently."

This statement needs further explanation.

 

[DrJon]

"I believe that the Bible needs to be viewed holistically and interpreted intelligently."

This statement needs further explanation.

One can find justification for almost anything in the Bible by taking verses out of context and interpreting them word-for-word. But to get insight and value out of it, one needs to read with understanding, in the context of other parts of the Bible, events at the time, and with intelligence. By intelligence I guess I mean "don't be ridiculous." I can read about slavery, rape and atrocities in the Bible and understand that just because they are in there, those behaviors are not being given an endorsement.

http://999miracles.com

 

[jimmyjimmy]

One can find justification for almost anything in the Bible by taking verses out of context and interpreting them word-for-word. But to get insight and value out of it, one needs to read with understanding, in the context of other parts of the Bible, events at the time, and with intelligence. By intelligence I guess I mean "don't be ridiculous." I can read about slavery, rape and atrocities in the Bible and understand that just because they are in there, those behaviors are not being given an endorsement.

http://999miracles.com

In general, I agree with you, except that many people would say that the resurrection is ridiculous. What do you do then?

Speaking of being reasonable, even slavery needs to be thought through. Not all slavery mentioned in scripture was chattel slavery. Much slavery was voluntary as way to pay off debts. The life of these slaves is not to seen through the lens of past US slavery. Apples and oranges.

What you might be understood as saying is that your reason i.e. "you" have the final say. The problem with that is that God can never contradict you. His word can never correct you where you are wrong. There is also an authority problem there. Who is King?

There are countless wing nuts who rip rip verses out of context as a rule rather than an exception, and they give Christianity a bad name, so I am sympathetic to your concerns; however, when we come across a text that we don't particularly like, we must be willing to say that we are wrong and He is right before we immediately dismiss something God thought best to include in His written revelation to us. A current hot-button topic is regarding homosexuality. Do we let God determine what's right, or do we use our reason to say, "don't be ridiculous", love is love?

 

[DrJon]

In general, I agree with you, except that many people would say that the resurrection is ridiculous. What do you do then?

Speaking of being reasonable, even slavery needs to be thought through. Not all slavery mentioned in scripture was chattel slavery. Much slavery was voluntary as way to pay off debts. The life of these slaves is not to seen through the lens of past US slavery. Apples and oranges.

What you might be understood as saying is that your reason i.e. "you" have the final say. The problem with that is that God can never contradict you. His word can never correct you where you are wrong. There is also an authority problem there. Who is King?

There are countless wing nuts who rip rip verses out of context as a rule rather than an exception, and they give Christianity a bad name, so I am sympathetic to your concerns; however, when we come across a text that we don't particularly like, we must be willing to say that we are wrong and He is right before we immediately dismiss something God thought best to include in His written revelation to us. A current hot-button topic is regarding homosexuality. Do we let God determine what's right, or do we use our reason to say, "don't be ridiculous", love is love?

Thank you for your well-considered post. Yes, I understand that by using "reason" it is possible to pick and choose rules as you go along. If you don't believe in Christ's resurrection then you really can't consider yourself a Christian and all bets are off. However, Jesus was looking for people to have a real relationship with Him and to act out of love for God. Sometimes you do things that don't make sense to you personally, but you are motivated by love and trust.

I don't know any Christians who consider eating lobster a sin. They have used their reason to make a decision about that injunction in Leviticus.

http://999miracles.com

 

[tucker58]

The Bible is a wonderful guide to living and, taken as a whole, is so brilliant that I have no doubt it was inspired by God. But some of the rules appear to reflect the time in which it was written. Our knowledge about disease transmission and access to modern medical treatment seems to make some of the guidance obsolete. Also, changing social attitudes make other recommendations appear as anachronisms. For instance, the Bible forbids eating seafood without fins and scales (like lobster and crab) (Leviticus 11:10), advises slaves to obey their masters, even if they are unreasonable (1 Peter 2:17).

I have absolute belief in the words of Jesus and the ten commandments. But I believe that the Bible needs to be viewed holistically and interpreted intelligently. What do others think?

999Miracles.com

"But I believe that the Bible needs to be viewed holistically and interpreted intelligently." "What do others think?" Well as one of those "others", "viewed holistically and interpreted intelligently", to me seems to drift into the relm of the "oxymoron". It seems to me that the Holy Scripture when taken in its entirety defies intelligent interpretation if one looks at things closely. And the concept of intelligent interpretation is going to be open to question even by two folks that are of the same academic disipline. Now don't get me wrong , because I do agree with what you are saying as an "ideal" to the approach to studing Holy Scripture. But only as an ideal. Because Holy Scripture when taken in its entirety defies intelligent interpretation and that which is considered intelligent interpretation by one person is not considered most of the time intelligent interpretation by another person. What do I "believe" relative to the Holy Scripture (and your Holy Scripture has things in it that mine doesn't which is ok)? I believe that it is the Word of God when viewed holistically and when viewed not holistically. And that interpreted intelligently means that you are not going to completely understand it unless God Himself explains it to you. And this is with the understanding that if God does personally explains it to you that it is not going to mean the same things that most others think that it means. This is because God's explanation will be in concepts and understandings that are beyond the ability of words (spoken or written) to convey.

 

[DrJon]

Thank you for your thoughts, Tucker. I say "holistically" because there are many things in the Bible that, taken in isolation, are inaccurate or reflect the era in which it was written. For instance, the Biblical value of pi is 3, reflecting knowledge at the time:

"And he [Hiram] made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one rim to the other it was round all about, and...a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about..." — 1 Kings, 7:23 & 26

As far as intelligence -- it's true that intellectualism can get in the way of faith. Maybe "wisdom" is a better word.

http://www.999Miracles.com