How should we interpret Sacred Scripture? A lot of Evangelicals will claim that the Bible *must* be understood literally, in the sense of non-metaphorically. The people claiming this don’t really believe this – simply open up John 6 and see how quickly they wave away Jesus’ words about the Eucharist as a mere “symbol” – but it’s a common enough claim that a lot of people assume that the Bible must teach it somewhere. There is a sense in which the Bible should be read “literally” (using the older sense of the word literal), but this isn’t it. To give you an example of a particularly poor way of understanding Scripture, I offer the Protestant website GotQuestions?, which claims:
Not only can we take the Bible literally, but we must take the Bible literally. This is the only way to determine what God really is trying to communicate to us. [….] One reason we should take the Bible literally is because the Lord Jesus Christ took it literally. Whenever the Lord Jesus quoted from the Old Testament, it was always clear that He believed in its literal interpretation. As an example, when Jesus was tempted by Satan in Luke 4, He answered by quoting the Old Testament. If God’s commands in Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:13, and 6:16 were not literal, Jesus would not have used them and they would have been powerless to stop Satan’s mouth, which they certainly did.
To claim that literalism “is the only way to determine what God really is trying to communicate to us” means that God is only allowed to communicate with us literally. The author gives absolutely no biblical support for this claim – it’s just an imposition being imposed upon God.
It’s unclear to me how the author gets from “Jesus quotes Scripture in response to Satan” to “therefore the whole Bible is literal.” After all, it was Satan who took a ridiculous and overly-literalistic interpretation of Psalm 91:12 (see Luke 4:11), and Jesus was having none of it. And even if some parts of the Bible are literal (which everyone concedes), how does that show that all parts of the Bible are literal?
Strangely, after claiming that everything must be understood literally, he goes on to say that some parts shouldn’t be:
There are figures of speech in the Bible which are not to be taken literally, but those are obvious. (See Psalm 17:8 for example.)
Finally, when we make ourselves the final arbiters of which parts of the Bible are to be interpreted literally, we elevate ourselves above God. Who is to say, then, that one person’s interpretation of a biblical event or truth is any more or less valid than another’s? The confusion and distortions that would inevitably result from such a system would essentially render the Scriptures null and void. The Bible is God’s Word to us and He meant it to be believed—literally and completely.
In the span of a pretty short article, the author asserts that (1) the Bible can only be understood if taken literally; (2) that some parts aren’t meant to be taken literally; (3) that it’s easy to tell which parts are literal and which are figures of speech; and (4) that anyone claiming to know which parts are literal and which are figures of speech is placing themselves above the Bible.
What a mess of contradictions. If God can only communicate with us literally, why are there figures of speech in the Bible? And if “we elevate ourselves above God” when we say which parts are and aren’t literal, how can we know which parts are figures of speech and which aren’t?
So how should we understand Scripture, and what is the sense in which we can speak of the need to interpret Scripture “literally”? For that, you’ll have to read my article for Catholic Answers: “How to Literally Read Scripture Literally.”
I don’t take the Bible literally. I take it seriously. No Christian really takes the Bible literally, if they are honest. If they did, books such as “A Year of Living Biblically” (A.J. Jacobs) wouldn’t become bestsellers, because all Christians would be living that way.
Every Christian interprets scripture. John Wesley of Methodism said that we bring the faith tradition, our God-given reasoning ability and our personal experience to the reading of scripture, then we consider it humbly in community so that we have checks and balances on our personal interpretations.
If we are honest with ourselves, that is what we all do. We bring our sense of the tradition and our personal experiences to the reading scripture. We can’t help but do this. And God gave us the ability to reason and think through what we are reading – we are meant to use it!
The minute we read the Bible in anything other than the original Greek and Hebrew, we are dealing with interpretation. We are reading someone’s interpretation, as they translated it, that is based on their understanding of the tradition, personal experiences, and unique reasoning. There are words in the Bible for which we have no translation, either because English does not have a word that means the same or because the original meaning of the word has been lost to us. In addition, there are phrases, sayings and situations included in scripture that had deep meaning for those of the original context, meanings that we can only guess at because we live in a totally different context and time. So, the truth is that we all interpret scripture.
If Christians took the Bible literally, then we would all own one pair of sandals, have just one set of clothes, and have no home of our own. (Matthew 10:9-11) Or at least when we are travelling, we would take nothing with us, not even money or food, make no plans for where we are going, and rely on someone’s good will when we got there. In fact, if we were taking scripture literally, we would own nothing, having sold everything to give it to the poor (Mark 10:21) But we don’t do this. We look at the word “sandals” and say, “Well, in Canada, we need to wear winter boots part of the year, so it is okay as Christians to own a pair of winter boots, too.” We have interpreted the scripture.
Very few Christians have sold everything and given all the money to help others. We have homes, a multitude of material possessions, bank accounts, and retirement savings plans. If we followed scripture literally, then we would have none of those. But we all have our reasons for not selling everything, some better than others. We have interpreted scripture! We just need to be honest about that.
I’d love for more Christians to take literally and seriously the words of Jesus, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.” I hear far too much “Christian” judgement of the LGBTQ2 community, of Muslims, of immigrants, and more. It scares me, as a highly-privileged, white, straight woman. The current rhetoric in society must terrify my LGBTQ2, Muslim, and immigrant friends. Too often the excuse of taking the Bible as the literal, inspired word of God just masks a questionable and personal interpretation of scripture.
I love the Bible and I take the Bible seriously. I read it, seek to understand it, pray about it, wrestle with what it says, discuss it with others, and let the words of scripture shape my daily life. It is an ongoing journey, which I love and which challenges me to live more fully the Way of Jesus.
What I learn from the Bible is that God is love! Love is used more than any other word to describe the Divine. Perfect love casts out fear; there is no fear in love (1 John 4:18). It is (and has been) convenient for those who want power to talk about taking scripture literally and to then be the only ones allowed to say what scripture means. It creates fear in the heart of the regular person, who dares to think differently about scripture. But God is love, and perfect love casts out fear. So we shouldn’t be afraid to question scripture, to bring our own experiences and interpretations to scripture, and to work within a community to understand what God is saying to us today, in our context, through the words of scripture.
Together, let us boldly engage the Bible, for it is an amazing book through which God can shape our lives and bring about hope, justice, peace, and most importantly love in our world – and does the world ever need it!
April 9, 2019 ©Susan Lukey 2019
Last modified on Saturday, 03 December 2022Seriously, who (specifically, which biblical author, either directly or indirectly) said anything that gives you the impression the bible shouldn't be taken literally? Doesn't the bible itself say (Revelations 22) that adding or removing from scripture will result in harsh penalties?
-Rev Melissa Fain-
The Bible is a book we should take seriously, but not literally. There is a wealth of knowledge behind it's leather bound cover, so why don't I take a literal view? Here are five reasons why:
I love the book too much. Usually when I see an article about biblical authenticity, the words are littered with disregard. I get it. For me, the Bible was a mystical document. The stories were taught with joy and wonder. I know not everyone had that experience. For some, the Bible is only a dusty tome. For others, the Bible is a razor sharp sword, that has wounded them. Still others see a book of fairy tales and nothing else.I'm here to say, the biblical stories have changed my life for the better. That happened because the adults who taught it were humble enough to say, "I don't know," or "What do you think?" You can't make those statements if all the answers are already there, or if the biblical hate is literal. You can make those statements if you believe God is just as alive today as when those stories were written.
I love the biblical canon so much, because the bible reminds us that God is with us. When you are a scared eight year old, needing to call 911 because your stepdad just threatened to kill everyone, "God with us," seems more important than "God was there." BUT- learning "God was there" through the Bible, helped me see "God with us" when I was eight.
The Bible is not a weapon. The people who treat the Bible like a dangerous weapon can usually tell a personal story where the Bible was weaponized against them personally. I too have stories. I did not hear them until I was a young adult, but they hurt none-the-less. Literal readers often are not contextual readers. Contextual readers of the Bible, see the Bible like an entire pane of glass. They tend to look at entire chapters instead of piecemeal verses.
Taking out single verses to throw at someone, is like letting that glass drop to the ground and fragment. They were never meant to be read that way, and they cut. What people take from having those fragments thrown their way is that the Bible cuts. Well, the Bible was never meant to be used in that manner. It was meant to be looked through in it's entirety.
The reason biblical literalists don't consider the context, is because they are taught every part of the Bible can be used to educate. I actually do believe this, but unlike them I'm looking for contextual clues. I'm trying to understand a fragment as it relates to the entire pane of glass. Most literalists don't consider how they need something to understand the text, because that would somehow lessen the power of the scripture. To me, it weaponizes the beauty of the scripture.
We are already working with a fragment. I've spent years trying to wrap my head around this idea, but it still makes absolutely no sense to me. If one were to take the Bible literally, that means the way the stories were written were the literal way they happened. Only, the entire picture is never there. We are an outsider to the biblical narrative. There is so much we take for granted! We rarely know the emotional feelings of these biblical titans. We have no idea what is going on around the scene. As in, what are people doing while Jesus writes in dirt? What is Jesus writing in the dirt? Also, Internal dialogue is often lost. We can draw the assumption that Job cursed God with his heart, but we have no internal dialogue from Job.
Before the words were written down, these stories were told verbally as sacred tellings. There was inflection, and cues that were lost once the ink hit the papyrus. Then we don't consider the God moments lost because of the context. Like Paul writes to those who can read. That's the rich in the Christian circles. We will never know what he said when he talked with the poor, if he talked with the poor.
When one considers how much is not said in the Bible, it baffles me how literalists can't understand why people can come to differing points of views.
Shadenfreude. German is an interesting language to me. First, it's interesting how English connects. Then, there are so many words that can't really be translated easily. Shadenfreude is one of those words. Literally means "pity joy." One cannot get the full meaning just from a literal translation. The full definition is happiness in the misfortune of others. Even this doesn't really encapsulate the full meaning. The Broadway musical, Avenue Q, did the best job defining this word to an English audience. "Did you ever laugh when a waitress falls, and drops a tray of glasses?" It's that feeling you get when you realize someone else's misfortune makes you feel better about your own life. It's petty, I'm not here to condone that specific word, and how it's used.What I want to do is use it to explain how some words don't translate well. Not all words have a one to one translation ratio. Not only do we have a translation of the actual events to a verbal story, to written dialogue, but as an English audience, we have the Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic story being translated to English.
More than that, there are Greek and Hebrew texts of the Hebrew Bible. Both are really old. Both are important. At times, they contradict one another. While you read your NIV, NKJV, NRSV or whatever translation you have chosen, remember it's a translation. The truth and reality of the moment is richer than the word left to explain it.
I've got to have five? Oh, right. I wrote this in click-bait form. Five is a good number for that kind of thing. Why did I do that again? Right, so you would click-read-share. That's how this works. I took five minutes of your time for a quick little distraction. Well, the Bible is not Clickbait. It is a lifelong journey. Anyone who tells you they read the bible and they didn't get anything from it, is probably telling the truth. Because its an inspired work of God instead of the literal one, it takes research and time to understand what you are reading. Some churches get around all that time by hiring one person who dedicates themselves to sharing their biblical journey with the congregation. I will say, this is a dangerous way to go about it. Putting all your biblical understanding on one man or woman can quickly lead a congregation down a wrong road. We are still discovering ancient manuscripts, and finding connections in archaeological digs. There will never be enough time to learn it all. I'm so grateful for the journey. I'm a woman with a Master's Degree in Divinity, and I'm no where near done studying the Bible. I like that.
What do you think? What would you add to my list, expand or take-away. I'd love to hear your opinion!
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