Warehouse Thurs., 7 p.m.

Parkside Sun., 9:45 a.m.

QotW: Literal Interpretation?

It is Wednesday so that means that I will answer a question that you asked. So here it is, “Hey Matt, how literal of an interpretation of the Bible should we hold?” Thanks for the great question.

There has been a lot written on this subject and I have space to only give you the cliff notes. However, if you would like to read more then I would recommend that you pick up a copy of Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem. It is a big book, but don’t be intimidate, I promise that it will be valuable resource for you Dr. Grudem has the ability to make complex subject simple. All quotes in this posting are from this book. Now on to the question.

When we talk about interpretation of the Bible we have to begin with a basic assumption that says, “All the words in the Bible are God’s words, and that therefore to disbelieve or disobey any word in Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God (2 Tim. 3:16).” The technical term for this is inerrancy, “The inerrancy of Scripture means that Scripture in the original manuscript does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.” The Bible always tells the truth about everything it talks about. That doesn’t mean that it answers every single question that we have about any subject (like how to change the oil in your car) but what is says about any subject is true. “The truth of the Scriptures does not demand that the Bible report events with exact, scientific detail (thought all of the details it does report are true). In addition, because it was written by ordinary men in an ordinary language with an ordinary style, it does contain loose or free quotations and some uncommon and unusual forms of grammar or spelling. But there are not matters of truthfulness. The Bible does not, in its original form, affirm anything contrary to fact. If the Bible does affirm something contrary to fact, then it cannot be trusted. And if the Bible cannot be trusted, then God himself cannot be trusted. To disbelieve God himself is to place yourself as a higher authority with a deeper, more developed understanding on a topic or topics than God himself.”

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