Biblical Authority?

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The Bible is an act of faithful imagination. It is not a package of certitudes. It is an act of imagination that invites our faithful imagination that makes it possible to live faithfully. The Bible is an act of imagination that is rooted in memory but that presses always toward new possibility that is still in front of us.

Walter Brueggemann
in Countering Pharaoh’s Production-Consumption Society Today

Imagination & Inspiration

Recently, I led a few different small groups through the Living the Questions video-guided study, Countering Pharaoh’s Production-Consumption Society Today. For one of those groups (in particular, just a couple of vocal people in that group), the most problematic or controversial portion of the first session was the quote above. The question posed to me following the viewing of that session entitled “The Way Out” was:

Do you believe the Bible is an act of imagination or inspired by God?

My best comeback did not occur to me until hours later, but I’ll start there. I don’t know that those two ideas – imagination and inspiration – are mutually exclusive. Even imagination can be inspired by God and imagination can inspire.

Consider Jesus’ parables in which he is often trying to explain what God’s kingdom is like; they are fictions that are used to make people think, re-think – even re-imagine – how they view the world and how they relate (or should relate) to it. Jesus took inspiration from God about God’s desires for the world that led to the imagination that created the parables. In the centuries since, consider all the preachers and teachers who, because they were inspired by God, could imagine new possibilities and ways of living out the Christian life.

Likewise, as can be seen in writing (poetry and prose), music, and art, sometimes one’s imagination can inspire others to a knowledge or awareness of God that they did not have before, leading them to live more faithfully as they press toward new possibility. How many of us have been moved by hearing a beautiful melody and / or words in a song that came forth from someone’s imagination?

Thus, I believe that the Bible comes forth from imagination and inspiration working hand-in-hand.

Discrepancies & Perspectives

My first response to the question was much more narrow in scope. For me, the Bible has to be a book of imagination, because there are so many contradictions and discrepancies between stories and books in the Bible.

• Creation
  • Was man created first and alone (Genesis 2:5-8) or last of all (Genesis 1:26-31) with woman?
  • Were both men and women created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) or was woman created from man (Genesis 2:20-23) – after all other created animals proved to be unsuitable mates for Adam?
• Sacrifices
  • The Torah (especially Leviticus) says they are necessary. Amos 5:21-23 says God has no desire for them, but Malachi 3:8-11 declares that God is being robbed because the offerings are not being made!
• Birth Narratives
  • Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2 cannot be harmonized unless elements of each account are dropped or ignored.
• Crucifixion Accounts
  • Would Jesus need help carrying the cross as noted in Mark 15:21 or would he carry it himself as written in John 19:17?
  • Was Jesus crucified by 9am as Mark indicates in 15:25 or after noon as John declares in 19:14?
  • For that matter, was Jesus crucified after the Passover meal (Mark 14:12-25 details the last supper, which is the Passover) or before (John 18:28 notes that the Passover meal would be eaten that evening after the crucifixion)?
• Resurrection Accounts
  • How many women would go to the tomb: 1 (John 20:1), 2 (Matthew 28:1), 3 (Mark 16:1), or a handful (Luke 24:10)?
  • Who would meet them there: 1 young man dressed in white who is already there with the stone already rolled away (Mark 16:4-5), 1 angel who descends from heaven in their view to roll the stone away (Matthew 28:2), 2 men dressed in dazzling white who appeared while they were there with the stone already rolled away (Luke 24:2-4), or no one (John 20:1-10)?
• Apostle to the Gentiles
  • Is it Paul (Romans 11:13) or Peter (Acts 15:7)?
• Christology
  • Did Jesus empty himself of trying to be like God (Philippians 2:6-8) or did the fullness of God dwell bodily in Christ (Colossians 1:19)?
• God
  • Is God only in heaven (Matthew 23:9) or is God above all, through all, and in all (Ephesians 4:6) – the one in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28)?

I could go on, but even this is overkill.

The response that I always get is, “But you have multiple perspectives of the same event. Ask three people to describe a car accident that they all saw, and all will have seen something different.” True, but REALLY look at some of the differences noted above. In a court of law, if different witnesses shared perspectives as different as these, the judge and jury would assume someone was lying.

An additional problem is that the majority of the folks that respond in this way about “differing perspectives” will (especially in defending a particular part of their viewpoint or theology) say that, “In the Bible, God says. . .” indicating that ultimately they don’t think there are multiple perspectives but only one – God’s. Many in trying to defend their lack of committal on the number of perspectives will say something like, “Well, there are multiple perspectives in the stories, but in terms of theology, God has intervened and made sure the important stuff is correct.” Look above. There are even differences in theology in the Bible. Besides, who gets to decide which parts of the Bible are from God and which ones are human in origin?

Peripheral or Important?

Once in a disagreement about whether Christians can disagree over topics of theology I brought up 1 Corinthians 8 where the apostle Paul makes clear that since there really is only one God, there is not a problem with eating food sacrificed to idols, because the food was sacrificed to nothing ultimately. Yet, he realizes that for some it is a problem, so he said we need to affirm other people’s beliefs about food sacrificed to idols. We should not eat such food in front of them as it might make them eat food that they consciously and wholeheartedly believe they should not eat. The gentleman with which I was disagreeing responded that this was a “peripheral topic.” Says who? Who gets to make that decision? For the author of Revelation, this was not a peripheral topic as for him it showed where one’s allegiance was. For him, one should never eat food sacrificed to idols (see Revelation 2:14 and 2:20). There was no gray area.

Whereas more liberal or progressive Christians are often chastised by their more conservative or fundamentalist brothers and sisters for “picking and choosing” what they want to believe, we see above that this is happening in all camps.

God-Breathed

Of course, in speaking of biblical authority many will quote 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which says:

“All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” (NRSV)

Many will also exclaim that “inspired by God” is more literally translated as “God-breathed” (or I would add equally, “God-spirited” or “God-winded”). “See,” they say, “it’s all from God. You have to accept it all whether you like it or not.” I have several responses to that line of thinking.

If it’s all from God, God is an idiot, because not even the all-knowing God can keep all the details straight! Yet, if it was all from God, why do we have four very different gospels? If God wrote it, wouldn’t we only need one?

Also, if we take this very literally, we have to realize that at the time 2 Timothy was written, the only official Scriptures were the Hebrew Scriptures – the Old Testament. The first time that a list of New Testament books would even match our current canon was 367AD in Bishop Athanasius’ Easter letter to his churches, and that was not an official statement for the whole church, just his region. On top of that, even to this day, the Ethiopic Church and the Coptic Bible of the Egyptian Church each has a different New Testament canon than Protestants, Roman Catholics, or Orthodox Christians. Roman Catholics and Orthodox even accept the Apocrypha. Since the Scriptures were not completely defined yet when 2 Timothy was written, does the letter only affirm the Hebrew Scriptures? Since churches disagree on what the canon is, how do we know which ones are God-breathed?

Another interesting spin on this concept is that the beginning of the passage can also be translated as, “Every scripture inspired by God is also useful. . .” (see footnote in the NRSV). Could that mean that all texts that we deem as Scripture are not inspired by God?

Let’s think about this from another standpoint, though, focusing on the translations of “God-breathed,” “God-spirited,” and “God-winded.” The image that should be drawn to mind is the second creation story in Genesis 2:7 where God “formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed, spirited, winded into his nostrils the breath, spirit, wind of life, and the man became a living being.” The Bible is just words on paper unless made alive by God’s breath, spirit, wind. Maybe, then, the Scriptures are not God-breathed in their creation but in their interpretation. This can help keep us focused on what’s more important – what a passage MEANS according to the original author, not whether or not it really happened.

If this is the case, then maybe we can affirm that God did not call the Hebrews in the book of Joshua to kill all those not like themselves. That would mean that the ancient Hebrews misinterpreted their experience and understanding of what God was calling them to do and be in this world. The real point then, is not killing, but staying true to what God has called us to (assuming we heard God correctly to begin with!).

Much of the early church and New Testament was expecting an eminent return of Christ to the earth. It has never occurred, but if we see that Scripture is God-breathed in interpretation, not writing, we can be inspired and receive life to know they got it wrong. Maybe Matthew’s gospel is more correct that Christ returns every time we gather together as a community (Matthew 18:20) and when we help the least of these (Matthew 25:40).

There Are Still Choices

The problem is, no matter whether we think the Bible came from God in its writing or in its interpretation, it makes no difference if we don’t actually pay attention to what the Bible actually says. Many who claim that God gave the Scriptures in their writing are unwilling to help the poor because they either don’t deserve it or are just lazy. Many who claim that God breathes life into the Scriptures in interpretation are unwilling to love, pray for, or talk with their enemies.

How do we know what to listen to, though, when the Bible is full of contradictions? A rule of thumb that I like to follow (and which I’m borrowing from Marcus Borg) is, “When the Bible and Jesus disagree, Jesus trumps the Bible” – at least for Christians. That can be hard to swallow though, as in Matthew 5:21-42, Jesus quotes the Bible and then makes the mandate even more difficult to follow!

Another choice we have to deal with is how we will interpret a passage. Being United Methodist, I come from a denomination that claims that our primary source is Scripture. Yet, what I see in practice is that we often interpret our primary source in light of a preconceived theology. Here are some examples.

Because we have a theology of the Trinity, we assume the author of Mark’s gospel has that same theology, and we read that theology into Mark – a theology that is not there! Likewise, because we have a theology of a miraculous birth (taken from only Matthew and Luke), we can’t understand why we find this verse in Mark 3:21: “When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, ‘He has gone out of his mind.’” “If he had a miraculous birth, why are they questioning him?” we ask.

For centuries, we have seen God working through people with different understandings and ways of doing things. Some of these people have had questionable backgrounds, and God still used them mightily. Why, then, do we have to assume that each book of the Bible has to agree? God can still speak to us – give us life, inspiration, and imagination – through differing experiences, understandings, and stories.

Ultimately, it comes down to faith. Can I trust that God has my back if I step out in faith to do what God through the Bible might be calling me to? Can I trust God to give me inspiration even if all the “i”s and “t”s are not dotted or crossed – even in inconsistencies and contradictions?

How do you define Biblical authority?