Okay, so it doesn’t go back that far, but the king’s book has arguably done more to shape the Western World through the past four centuries than almost all other books combined. And its influence has been mostly positive.
Among the negative effects have been the frequent skirmishes over its interpretation and application.
Back when the church hierarchy filtered the Bible’s meanings, the hoi polloi were simply offered the choice to believe or disbelieve. But when it fell into the laps of the early Protestants (and centuries later, the Post-Vatican II Roman Catholics), the privilege and requirement to interpret it fell upon all who chose to read it.
Them’s been fighting words. Nowhere more have the fights raged than among Presbyterians. We glibly speak of the inspiration of Scripture, but what we mean by that appears to run the gamut, at least if you listen to the simple summary terms used for explaining the Bible’s authority: inerrant; infallible; plenary verbal inspiration; Word, not words; witness.
All these labels would have been welcomed by Aristotle and other Greek philosophers. They loved to organize their thoughts categorically in summary fashion. But for us, such reductionistic terms have assembled more weaponry for battle than understanding for faithful living.
One way for us to celebrate this birthday and to honor the biblical tradition would be to pause in our battles over such terms and instead do what its translators had in mind: read it on its own terms.
The terms that present in Scripture include a variety of genres. Most Presbyterians know enough to distinguish between poems and speeches, parables and historical narratives, prophetic utterances and letters, apocryphal symbolism and pedagogical instruction. Statements, questions, judgments and suggestions in the text naturally get interpreted in light of the particular genre we are reading.
Presbyterians also know to ask some obvious questions. Who wrote this? For whom was it written? What circumstances prompted the writing? What specific issues were being addressed? What do the words actually mean?
Presbyterians also distinguish between timeless points — “from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt” — and situation-specific ones — “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpas in Troas.”
Presbyterians also know that life-guiding principles need to arise out of biblical points made repeatedly and emphatically. Statements or commands expressed in passing and infrequently deserve less emphasis.
Presbyterians also know that when passages of Scripture seem to contradict broader principles in Scripture, they need to dig further to find out why, leading them sometimes to draw conclusions that don’t match the particular presenting text. Obvious example: opposing the owning of slaves today even though, on occasion, slaves were commanded to obey their masters.
And Presbyterians also know that behind all this there is a God who breathed the Scriptures into existence. No, those 66 books did not drop from heaven. Rather they were God-breathed (theopneustos – II Tim. 3:16) into and through human writers who fully participated with God in their writing. As such, they evidence a unique status in all of literature and, accordingly, do convey to us the very word of God.
As such, most Presbyterians understand that they are called to believe the promises in the Scriptures, to trust the proclamation of the Gospel expressed there, to obey the commands uttered there, to follow the wisdom taught there, and to worship the Trinitarian God revealed there.
The operative term here is “most Presbyterians.” When we resist the kinds of labels that only an ancient Greek philosopher or modern argumentarian can love, most of us hunker down with the Bible – even the King James Bible – and thoughtfully listen for the living Word of God as we read the written Word of God. How awesome that the creator of the universe loved us enough to provide a book that invites us to read, to learn, to believe.
—JHH
