We believe the Bible, but we don’t read the Bible. That’s not our view of Scripture at GCC, but it may be the dominant view that we push back against.
A cultural battle regarding the Bible began in Europe about 150 years ago and peaked in this country after World War I. At that time a book was published called “The Five Fundamentals.” If you go to almost any evangelical church's website today and click though to the “What We Believe” page, you will find some theme and variations on a version of those five fundamentals:
1. the inerrancy of Scripture,
2. the virgin birth of Christ,
3. the substitutionary atonement of Christ's death,
4. physical resurrection of Christ, and
5. the physical imminent second coming of Christ.
The term “Fundamentalist” used to be a more technical term that referred to someone who affirmed those five statements. Now it can refer to anyone who ardently believes a particular system of doctrine (e.g. - a Muslim fundamentalist, or a Christian fundamentalist). What does this have to do with our current American Christian culture that by and large believes but does not read the Bible?
When ever we codify our beliefs, we run the risk of making things too simple. Rather than exploring the fullness of our faith, we make sure that all the boxes are checked. Do you affirm the five fundamentals? Okay, that means you’re a Christian. Over time it has created a divide between faith and deeds—what can be called orthodoxy vs. orthopraxy—right belief pitted against right practice. So orthodoxy has been boiled down to mere intellectual assent. Someone asks, “How do I know I’m a Christian?” The answer, “Believe these statements.” But is that how Jesus built faith into his twelve disciples?
Let me express it in an overly simplistic way. When we summarize Christianity to five statements, then I only need to read the Bible until I understand them. I only need to read it enough so I can say that I believe those five statements. After that, I’m covered. There’s no need for me to open the Bible again; no need to look into hard passages; no need to let the Bible grow me or challenge me. There’s no need to memorize anything except arguments that prove the Bible’s inerrancy against liberals and atheists.
So someone coined the phrase, “We believe the Bible, but we don’t read the Bible,” to express our current situation. The corollary to this bumper sticker should be, “It’s not what you believe about the Bible, but rather how you use the Bible that’s important.”
The five fundamentals are neither wrong nor bad. They were very helpful in a cultural conversation where it was unclear what “faith in Jesus Christ” meant. The conversation was very nuanced though and today, in our cultural moment, we may be having a different conversation. Different now or not, we are a product of those previous conversations. Believing something about the Bible is one thing, but knowing how to read, interpret, and apply it in your life is a much more crucial skill.
If you’re here at GCC for very long, I hope you see how we use the Bible—preaching it, putting it at the center of our conversation in small groups, helping our children memorize it, answering the hard questions of life with it. In short, I hope you learn what we believe about the Bible by how we use it. And I hope using the Bible yourself strengthens what you believe about it as well.
In Him,
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