“since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” — 1 Peter 1:23 (ESV)
Have you ever thought about the usefulness of a butter knife? It’s such a versatile piece of tableware! Butter knives can be used to spread toppings (like butter on bread or icing on cupcakes), trim the crust off toast, cut open baked potatoes, and chop spaghetti noodles into toddler-sized bites. When the lid on a jar is stuck, I often grab a butter knife and tap it on the lid (I don’t know if it actually works, but I can usually get the lid off). We’ve even used a butter knife in a pinch as a screwdriver.
The way you use a butter knife depends on what you’re using the butter knife for. The same is true for God’s Word.
“To put it simply, how we use the Bible depends on why we use the Bible.”1
In his book, Mere Christian Hermeneutics, Kevin Vanhoozer describes two purposes for reading Scripture that have often been in tension throughout Christian history. On one side is what we might call the academic approach to the Bible. This side views Scripture as a historical and religious book to be scientifically studied. Faithful academic biblical scholars believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and they seek to understand what God said centuries and millennia ago and what it meant then. The purpose is to mine the Bible for ancient theological principles that can be applied to life today.
On the other side is what we could call the pastoral approach to the Bible. This side views the Scripture as a historical and religious book to be spiritually read. They believe that the Bible is God’s inspired Word and seek to hear what God is saying through Scripture to those who are reading it today. The purpose is to meditate on Scripture to encounter God for worship and spiritual formation.
Sadly, these two camps frequently take shots at each other. Academics in universities often accuse pastors and Bible study leaders of taking the Bible out of context. Church leaders often accuse academics of ignoring the application of Scripture, choosing instead to mire themselves in endless historical debates that have little relevance to actual life (e.g., whether or not Adam and Eve had belly buttons).
I agree with Vanhoozer and others that we need both sides to come back together in order to have a full and correct understanding of Scripture. We must study the Bible properly to understand what it meant. And we must listen to the Spirit as we read to understand what it means. The Bible is not merely an encyclopedia, a classroom textbook, or a dataset to train an AI bot. Neither is it a genie in a lamp, waiting to be opened to do my personal bidding. It is the living and active Word of God. He spoke it then, and he is speaking through it now. We should read the Bible to hear what God said and what God is saying. Let us come to the Scriptures so that we can encounter the Speaker and be transformed. We do not have a dead book. We have “the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). Both what it meant and what it means are important for spiritual formation and for loving God.
Why do you read the Bible?
R. W. L. Moberly, quoted in Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Mere Christian Hermeneutics: Transfiguring What It Means to Read the Bible Theologically (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Academic, 2024), 70.
I love this.