The Bible Made Impossible - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - "Accepting Complexity and Ambiguity"

The essence of this chapter is that we should accept that there are complexities to the Bible that are beyond our ability to figure out and that we learn to be content with ambiguity as followers of Jesus. I'll attempt to hit some highlights in the chapter...

Embracing the Bible for What it Obviously Is
Quoting Peter Enns, the author writes that we should "confess at the outset, along with the historic Christian church, that the Bible is the word of God (written). That is our starting point, a confession of faith, not creating a standard of what the Bible should look like and then assessing the Bible on the basis of that standard...Once we confess that the Bible is God's word, we can look at how it is God's word."

So for example, instead of saying, "Here is what God must have given us in the Bible, so let's make it so," it would be better to say, "Here are the Scriptures that God in his wisdom has delivered to us. Bless his name. How ought we best to read and understand them?" This is a humble and trusting attitude towards God and His wisdom and love for humans in giving us the Bible.

I was blessed by this quote from Gordon Fee (respected Bible teacher and theologian): "God did not choose to give us a series of timeless, non-culture-bound theological propositions to be believed and imperatives to be obeyed. Rather, he chose to speak his eternal word this way, in historically particular circumstances and in every kind of literary genre. By the very way that God gave us this Word, he locked in the ambiguity. One should not...insist that he give us his Word in another way or...rework his Word along theological or cultural prejudgments that turn into a minefield of principles, propositions or imperatives but denude it of its ad hoc character as truly human. The ambiguity is part of what God did in giving us the Word in this way."

The author recommends that we evangelicals embrace a view that has been in the church's history - the view of God's accommodation or condescension to human limitations concerning scripture. In other words, many church fathers and theologians throughout church history (see Smith's note recommending books on this topic) have believed that God took seriously the "qualitative difference" between created and fallen humanity and his own absolute transcendence. "It suggests that in the process of divine inspiration, God did not correct every incomplete or mistaken viewpoint of the biblical authors in order to communicate through them with their readers. That would have been distracting. The point of the inspired scripture was to communicate its central point, not to straighten out every kink and dent in the views of all the people involved in biblical inscripturation and reception along the way."

Living with Scriptural Ambiguities
The reality is that scripture is sometimes confusing and incomplete and ambiguous, but the biblicist insists that it is clear, easily understood, coherent and complete as God's revelation of His ways and will for humans. The truth is that Bible doesn't have all the information that we'd like it to have and some of the information it has is difficult to make sense of at times. "There is no reason whatsoever to openly acknowledge the sometimes confusing, ambiguous, and seemingly incomplete nature of scripture. We do not need to be able to explain everything all the time. It is fine sometimes simply to say, 'I have no idea' and 'We really just don't know.'"

The one greatest truth of all that we do need to know (that God in Christ came to earth and lived and died and rose to new life in order that we can rise to life in Him) is abundantly clear in the Bible! The revealing of this truth is God's primary purpose in giving us the gift of scriptures.

Smith goes on to confront our compulsion to force harmonization of scriptures, saying that we do better to allow for the tensions and inconsistencies. "Harmonization is usually not necessary. A postbiblicist, genuinely evangelical approach to the Bible can be content simply to let the apparent tensions and inconsistencies in scripture stand as they are. God is not shaken from heaven. Christ is not stripped of authority..."

Distinguishing Dogma, Doctrine, and Opinion
A key element in dealing with scripture is that of distinguishing between what is true dogma, what is doctrine, and what is mere human opinion. "Some Christian beliefs are nonnegotiable for any believer...The most central, sure, and important of these beliefs we may call 'dogmas'. Those occupying the middle range of centrality, sureness, and importance are in this scheme called 'doctrines.' Those which are the least of these let us call 'opinions.'"

Smith gives some examples of confusing these categories such as the pushing of some Christians of the "penal satisfaction doctrine of atonement" to the level of dogma to the point that they see those who don't adhere to that as outside the bounds of orthodoxy. Or the charismatic/Pentecostal/holiness streams' belief in a second experience that tends to view those who don't agree with this as lesser or second-class Christians.

"Doctrines" carry less weight than "dogmas", and "opinions" carry less weight than doctrines and dogmas. Learning to distinguish between these will save us from dismissing and excluding and ignoring brothers and sisters who see things differently than we do and will foster greater unity in the body of Christ. (I recommend again a great talk on this by Greg Boyd: http://whchurch.org/blog/3819/toppling-the-house-of-cards.)

The biblicist belief and assumption that scripture is simple and clear on all points to all people at all times makes it difficult to let go of our doctrines and opinions for the sake of sincerely loving and accepting our brothers and sisters who do agree on dogma.

Living on a Need-to-Know Basis
This final section of the chapter brought to mind again the contrast between the tree of knowledge and the tree of life. As fallen humans, and particularly western "enlightenment" people, we don't like to be in the "dark" about anything. Living by the tree of life means dependence on God for our "knowing" and implies trust in His unfailing and perfect love for us. Can I trust that He will make known to me what I need to know when I need to know and be at peace meanwhile with not knowing when that is His way? Smith says that "academics and intellectuals, perhaps especially evangelical biblicist ones, are particularly keen on getting answers to their questions, providing research findings, figuring out the systems, nailing down the loose ends, getting all the pieces on the table and put together...The problem is, God often does not cooperate with us. In his wisdom, God has chosen to reveal some of his will, plan, and work, but not all of it." 

The author challenges us to accept and enjoy that there is mystery in God, saying that this doesn't mean embracing problematic forms of subjectivism or mysticism..."It means readily embracing the awesome, sometimes partially understood, often known-yet-still-inscrutable story and reality of God's work in history and the cosmos through Jesus Christ."

We'll tackle the next chapter ("Rethinking Human Knowledge, Authority, and Understanding") next week. Grace and blessings on you this week!