The Old Adam Lives!

When we read the Holy Scriptures, do we read them as though every single line has huge theological importance?

Do we assign the same level of value to each verse because they are all in the Bible, therefore they must all be weighed the same?

Isaiah 37:36    “And the angel of the Lord went forth, and slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.”

Romans 10:4   “For Christ is the end of the law, that everyone who has faith may be justified.”

Should the two verses above be regarded equally as to their impact on the reader, or hearer?

I certainly don’t think so. And I have a feeling that you don’t either, even if there is some fundamentalist nerve inside you that becomes raw at the thought of viewing scripture in this manner.

I think the verse from Romans has a much greater value for us and I believe that we need to also think this way about the books of the Bible. Some are of greater import than others.

Luther thought that the most important books of the Bible were the Gospel of John, 1st Peter, and Paul’s letters, with Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, coming first.

Conversely, Luther didn’t think too highly of the Book of James.  James didn’t focus so much on Christ and His work for us, but rather put a focus on us, and what we might be doing…therefore Luther called it “the epistle of straw”.

Does this make sense to you, or does something about what I’ve written here make you uneasy, and if so, why?

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The inerrant Bible or the infallible Bible?

Are these the same thing?

I don’t think so. Inerrant means without a mistake and infallible means not capable of being wrong.

 I believe the bible has mistakes in it because of the involvement of man, and I believe that the message of the Bible is not capable of being wrong because of the involvement of God.

The text contains errrors pertaining to the particular order of events as noted by particular commentators. Knowledge of the world and the universe is restricted to particular time frames and may not accurately reflect the current accepted norms. The compilations of thousands of manuscripts certainly lends itself to errors of omission or addition of punctuation, translation, edition, or other miscues of human involvement.

In addition, certain writers of scripture (the Apostle John comes to mind) may have employed literary techniques that were not so much concerned with a chronological recording and a blow by blow accounting of events, but rather tailored stories theologically as to make sure that there was no doubt as to who Jesus was and what He came to do. Not that He made them up, but rather that he modified them to suit his purpose.

So what?

Do the things I’ve mentioned, whether you might agree with them or not, so shake your belief that the Bible is the Word of God that you would consider chucking the whole enterprise overboard if you found them out to be true?

What about faith? What about realizing that God uses earthen vessels? God uses fallible human beings to get His message across in preaching. In the administering of His sacraments. In the written story of His coming and acting for us, that our falliblity might not be held against us.

A Bible with a few factually errant contradictions in it is not a barrier to God being able to deliver His message. As a matter of fact it just increases the realization of our Christian freedom, that our faith does not need to be welded to inerrant notations in a book, the way Moslems view their religious book.

The Word of God is “living and active.” It is not dependant on the perfection of man in any way, shape, or form.

The Bible is the infalible Word of God to believers. It is our guide in all matters of faith and life, but more than that is is the instrument that God has chosen to inform us that His Word is living and active and cannot be contained by the likes of us or anything else, and that He will use it to accomplish His purposes.

         – Steve

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