The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many to upgrade their skills and knowledge to be relevant and effective at work. Christian institutions and churches have also been equipping themselves to function online. As we learn new skills to preach, teach, and minister in this pandemic, let us not neglect to grow in our knowledge and skill in reading and interpreting God’s Word.
Every Christian is encouraged to read the Bible, but many have not been taught how to interpret the Bible. This stems from the assumption that as long as we can read, we should be able to read and understand the Bible.
While a basic definition of literacy is the ability to read and write, this is not always adequate for effective functioning. Reading a medical book does not mean we gain the ability to use its contents correctly. A redefinition of literacy was proposed at a 2003 United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Expert Meeting:
Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society.
This understanding of literacy that expands on its levels and functions has important implications for readers of the Bible:
- Bible reading and biblical literacy are complex
matters. Many who read or teach the Bible may
not realize they have not moved beyond a low
level of understanding of the text.
- Christians need help interpreting and applying
biblical texts according to their intended functions.
This requires learning to identify the intended
rhetorical functions of various genres and books
of the Bible.
- Church members need to develop their critical
faculties to differentiate right from wrong readings
of Scripture using sound linguistic and literary
principles.
Here are some factors that indicate a low level of biblical literacy:
Atomistic reading and preaching of biblical texts
Most books of the Bible are intended to be read as a continuous whole. These include longer books like Joshua, Judges, Job, Ezekiel, Matthew, Romans, Hebrews, and Revelation. To read them as intended, we must trace the central theme, plot-line or argument chain that runs through them. We must also identify how different parts of a book, its sub-plots and sub-themes, function in relation to its main theme and argument.
Let me illustrate with the book of Judges. Some read the stories of the first few judges and deduce this principle: Every time we sin and get into trouble, God will deliver us when we cry to him. However, such a reading misses an important point of the whole book: God delivers, but if we repeatedly go on sinning, there is a “payday someday”. This is seen only if we read to the end of the book. In Judges 10:1–18, God decided he would no longer deliver the Israelites. And in Samson’s story (Judg 13–16), the first time he was captured after going after a foreign woman the way the Israelites went after foreign gods, he was delivered; the second time, he had to pay with his life.
It is also when reading the entire book that we see how repetition links parts of a story meaningfully. The question of who will go up to fight for the Israelites is raised three times in Judges. In 1:1–2, God answered with Judah. In 10:18–11:11, the Israelites chose a leader themselves, but he practised the abomination of human sacrifice (11:30–40; cf. Deut 12:31). In 20:18, the fight was against one of their own tribes, the Benjamites, and God answered once more with Judah. In addition, the refrain “in those days Israel had no king” (17:6, 18:1; 19:1; 21:25) explains the increasingly tragic state of Israel. Repetition shows that Judges justifies the need for a king from the tribe of Judah to rule according to God’s plan.
Failure to take seriously the multi-contextual nature of all biblical texts
When biblical writers link to earlier texts, they are using certain points of view provided by these texts. We need to interpret what they have written in the light of these texts. For instance, Judges should be read alongside Joshua, as both are about the need for rulers who comply with the laws for kings.
Joshua’s role as a ruler was to know God’s laws and ensure they were kept (Josh 1:6–8; c.f. Deut 17:18–20). Whenever the people disobeyed God during the conquest of the land (Josh 1–12) and during its settlement (Josh 13–24), Joshua intervened, resulting in their obedience and success in their mission. Judges can be read as a counterpoint. While Joshua ends with the warning not to go after the gods of other nations and intermarry with the Canaanites (Josh 23), Judges shows that after Joshua’s death, the Israelites did not heed this warning and ended up in a sorry state (Judg 17–21).
Applying biblical texts beyond their intended rhetorical function
Reading or preaching one part of the book without considering how it functions within the whole book may cause us to mistake a tree for the woods. We would not only miss the main theme or rhetorical function of the book; we could misinterpret the passage and read into it some ideas foreign to the book.
Moreover, what we usually think of as separate books may have been composed as one unit, such as Genesis–Deuteronomy, 1 Samuel–2 Kings, and Luke–Acts. Reading them without considering their relation to other parts of the same unit can also result in inadequate understanding. In Genesis, the act of walking with or before God (Gen 5:22–24; 6:9; 17:1; 48:15) is to be linked to the laws of Moses in Exodus to Deuteronomy (Exod 18:20; Lev 18:4–5; Deut 26:17). These laws specify how the Israelites can walk with a holy God. Failure to observe “walking with God” as the summary reference to living according to God’s laws results in subjective approaches to what it means to walk with God.
Conclusion
When Scripture is read within the Bible, it is often read holistically (Exod 24:7, Deut 31:11; Josh 8:34; Neh 8:3; Isa 29:11–12; Jer 36:13; Col 4:16; 1 Thess 5:27; Rev 22:18–19). If the books of the Bible are meant to be read holistically, then we err in our reading and preaching when we are atomistic in approach. To grow in biblical literacy, we need to learn and teach the reading and preaching of whole books of the Bible.
For Discussion
- Do you recognize low biblical literacy in your own reading of the Bible?
- What can you do on your own and with your church to grow in biblical literacy?
