The Limits of the Mind
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I do not imagine that all Christian academic institutions have fallen for it, but the temptation hovers over them to focus on training the mind and underplay the fact that correct Bible interpretation is an activity as spiritual as prayer or receiving divine guidance. Any attempt to reduce Bible interpretation to an academic exercise is destined to fail.
Hermeneutics has optimistically been defined as the science of Bible interpretation. One of the core elements of science, however, is that when an experiment or observation is repeated by different personnel, the same results are obtained. This doesn’t happen with the Bible, because genuine Bible interpretation is not cold science but hinges on an interpersonal relationship between two complex beings – ourselves and God.
With behavioural science (psychology research) filling my early adult years, and general science continuing to fascinate me, I am quite a fan of science. In the context of Bible interpretation, however, the very word “science” should set off alarm bells, alerting us to the fact that it is an attempt to impose modern western thinking on a spiritual exercise that God entrusted to humanity long before western science came into existence. Though times are changing, we still live in an era in which multitudes are besotted with the power of the human mind, rather than spiritual matters. And Christians are not immune to this pervasive and potentially corrupting distraction.
1 Corinthians 3:18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”
Accurate Bible interpretation is not found like a dead flower pressed between the covers of a Bible. Correct Bible interpretation is found through a living relationship – heart to heart communion – with the Author. Biblical truth is discovered by getting to know a person, because Truth is a person – the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m all for study but it is important that we don’t let an intellectual approach to the Bible reduce to sterile study what should be the pinnacle of holy intimacy. That would be like trying to reduce romance to chemical equations. Correctly interpreting Scripture is as intimate as feeling a loved one’s breath on your cheek as he shares his deepest secrets.
Though it infuriates those who pride themselves in their intellect, the Bible is God’s Word and he decides who will understand what he means. Since God is love, what he treasures is not people’s intellectual power or even studiousness but their intimacy with him. So he is moved to reward with understanding of his Word not those who diligently search the Bible for enlightenment or for the power of knowledge but those who do it to seek him. Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
(Emphasis mine).
By wanting you to seek him with all your heart, God is a little like a girl who plays hard to get with the guy she is deeply in love with, hoping it will entice you to fall even more in love with him.
If someone who loves you went to great effort to write to you, it would be disrespectful not to read it carefully, but it would also be disrespectful when he visits to ignore the person and just read the letter.
Eternal life is not to know the Bible but to know God John 17:3). The greatest commandment is not to love God’s Word but to love God himself. Yes, if you love God you will love his Word, but you can love Bible study without loving God.
Yes, it is vital to read the Bible with a view to living it, but not out of legalism or dreary duty but out of a passionate longing to better know God, the Love of your life, and to delight him. We should read God’s Word with the relish of a little boy eager to grow up and be like Daddy; like a love-crazed teen opening her first love letter; like a mother pouring over a letter from her P.O.W. son, wondering if he is trying to get a deeper message past censors; like a student not content to presume the meaning of a book but constantly asking questions of the teacher he has a crush on.
He keeps much of its meaning a closely guarded secret from casual readers because he aches for your love.
The Author of the Bible longs for Bible reading to be a time of intimate, two-way conversation. He wants us to come to the Bible asking not merely, “What was the author telling his contemporaries?” but “What are you wanting to tell me right now, Lord?” It is common to engage in an inner dialog when reading the Bible, asking such questions as, “ I wonder what this means? Could it mean this?” In contrast, God longs for us to turn it into prayer, saying such things as, “What does this mean, Lord?” Thank you for the truth of this passage. Help me put this verse into practice. Forgive me for what this verse convicts me of.”
Don’t just read the Bible but pray the Bible. Come to it not merely to learn but to prompt your prayer life – to provide you with things to talk over with God. Search the Scriptures not for your mind’s sake but for your heart’s sake. The result will not only be more enjoyable and satisfying but it moves God to share his heart with you, opening the Word to you in a very special and accurate way.
To abandon hermeneutics would be a mistake, but the best hermeneutics is not enough. This is why Scripture does not give us lessons in hermeneutics but instead emphasizes spiritual and heart issues. In fact, one of the frustrations of modern Bible scholars is that often not even the inspired writers of Scripture followed the principles of Bible interpretation promoted by today’s theologians!
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