1. Interpreting the Bible
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2. Revelation
Some Christians regard the Bible as a propositional revelation from God that reveals his divine word. They refer to it as the ‘word of God’.
Others see it as a non-propositional revelation which reveals God through the books of the Bible that record individual authors’ experiences of God.
Both of these views consider the Bible to be inspired by God.
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3. The origins of the Bible
The beginnings of the Bible are found in the early Church.
The bishops of the second century CE decided on lists of Christian writings that they believed truly reflected and represented Christian beliefs, values and teaching. Each of these writings was believed to have a direct link with the Apostles or Jesus.
Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon (130–202 CE) proposed a canon of the New Testament. This is essentially the same as the canon that was accepted at the Council of Elvira in the late fourth century CE, and remains the same today.
Modern scholars have questioned Irenaeus’ list: the Epistle to the Hebrews is now generally accepted not to be written by Paul.
Martin Luther questioned the inclusion of James and there are doubts about the Book of Revelation, while John 1:1–14 appears to be a Gnostic text.
On the other hand, writings such as the Shepherd of Hermes would appear to belong in the New Testament but were excluded by Irenaeus.
The bishops also accepted the whole of the Jewish scriptures — the ‘Old Testament’ — believing that they proclaimed Christ to come.
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4. The authority of the Bible
The Bible has always been a source of authority for Christians. However, what it means to claim ‘the Bible is a source of authority’ is one of the major issues for Christian believers.
Maurice Wiles argues in The Authority of Scripture in a Contemporary Theology that authority can have more than one sense.
One view is that authority implies something having the status of a law — hard authority.
However, it is equally appropriate to say that someone is an ‘authority’ on horse racing. In this usage it does not mean that the person is always correct.
This could be called soft authority.
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5. The authority of the Bible
Traditionally, the Bible has been regarded as hard authority. If someone believes that the Bible is the divine word of God, then it has to be regarded in this way.
Christians have different opinions about this. If the Bible is the word of God and inerrant, then it does not need to be reinterpreted for the present day and the teachings are timeless.
If people believe it is divinely inspired rather than the definitive word of God, then there may be a need for interpretation.
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6. Verbal inspiration
If the Bible is indeed verbally inspired, then every word of it comes from God. This implies that every word should be respected and followed as it is God’s word.
The Bible requires the death penalty as a punishment for many offences (see Exodus 21). Today this punishment seems totally inappropriate for many crimes and there would be few Christians who would, for example, wish to enforce the following:
‘Whoever strikes father or mother shall be put to death.’
‘Whoever kidnaps a person, whether that person has been sold or is still held in possession, shall be put to death.’
‘Whoever curses father or mother shall be put to death.’
Since the nineteenth century a literalist approach to the Genesis creation stories has been a matter of dispute among Christians.
Another question is whether the Bible can be disobeyed. If it is the word of God then doing anything other than is written would be punishable by God. However, most Christians do not follow the food laws in the Old Testament and do not worship in accordance with the instructions given there.
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7. Divine inspiration (1)
If, on the other hand, the Bible is viewed as divinely inspired rather than as the actual word of God there are still questions that need to be considered.
The question of disobeying biblical instructions is raised here as it is with verbal inspiration. The issue now is which instructions come directly from God and which do not.
Problems with teachings about morality occur in relation to both the Old and New Testaments. One example is Lot and his daughters:
‘But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.” Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” Genesis 19:4–8
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8. Divine inspiration (2)
Sections of the text, such as some of the teachings attributed to Paul, are at great variance with the views of most Christians:
‘Likewise, tell the older women to be reverent in behaviour, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink; they are to teach what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be self-controlled, chaste, good managers of the household, kind, being submissive to their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited.’ Titus 2:3–5
‘As in all the churches of the saints, women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.’ 1 Corinthians 14:33–35
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9. A Roman Catholic View
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Bible is a propositional revelation from God. It accepts that the Bible is the word of God.
‘The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of sacred scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.’ Catechism of the Catholic Church §105
However, it emphasises the role of the humans who wrote it down. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the intentions of the authors, the culture and circumstances of the time and the literary models in use.
What is interesting is that while the Roman Catholic Church indicates that the Bible is a propositional revelation and therefore believes it to be the word of God, it still teaches that it needs to be interpreted for Christians today. It does not take the Bible literally.
So there are problems whether Christians believe that the Bible is verbally inspired or divinely inspired.
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