This is third installment of my brief meditation on truth and Holy Scripture.  These subjects have been dealt with from various perspectives in far greater depth and with considerably more skill by scores of writers.

My desire is simply to provide for you a kind of broad sketch that might prove useful in your personal walk as a disciple.

In the first installment I talked about the nature of the Bible.  Next I turned to how the Bible is true.  Now I turn to one last question.

What is Biblical authority?

The source of the Bible’s authority lies precisely in its truth.  God has something to say in the Bible that does not depend upon whether what he says happens, as they say, to resonate with us.  Scripture’s power lies precisely in its ability to challenge us, to stretch us, to guide us, and to transform us.

Let me put this a slightly different way.

The late philosopher Paul Ricoeur taught that there are two basic approaches to reading a text.  He gave these approaches technical terms: hermeneutics of suspicion and hermeneutics of respect.  We might just say that Bible readers can assume one of two postures.

A suspicious posture submits the Bible to the reader’s scrutiny.  The assumption here is that the reader already holds certain things to be true.  When the reader finds anything in the Scriptures that contradicts the beliefs he or she already has, the reader rejects the biblical text as false, perhaps merely antiquated, certainly inapplicable to ordinary life, and possibly even harmful.

By contrast, readers assuming a respectful posture toward Scripture submit themselves to truth of the text.  Contradictions between my beliefs and the message of the Bible lead me to self-reflection.  A respectful reading requires that we re-examine our beliefs, reconsider our actions, and adjust our attitudes on the basis of what the Bible says.  By now it is probably obvious that I advocate a respectful reading of the Bible.

Before going any further, I will remind us here about the importance of genre in the reading process.  It will help us clear up some questions I imagine some of you might already be asking.  For instance, you might be wondering if a respectful reading always results in what some people call a literal understanding of the Bible (that term “literal” has a range of meanings, so I use it very cautiously).

Let’s take a high profile example: the creation story in the first chapter of Genesis.  According to the very first verses of the Bible, God spoke creation into existence in six days and rested on the seventh.  By contrast, natural science teaches that the universe is billions of years old.  So, does a respectful reading require that I submit the findings of natural science to biblical scrutiny? No, and that is because I am very clear about the genre confusion this would involve.

The first chapter of Genesis is not cosmogony as natural scientists understand it.  It need not be read for the same kind of truth.  The central issue is not real chronological time or natural mechanisms.

The writer of Genesis chapter one is concerned about God’s sovereign reign over all creation and all things human.  That reign is good and human beings are given a very special role in that creation because we have a unique relationship with the Creator.  These are not matters open to scientific discourse and are not objects of natural scientific truth.

This does not mean that God’s sovereignty and goodness are mere opinions.  And they are by no means ignorant superstitions.  Philosophers and theologians can argue such matters using reason even without recourse to the Bible.  But in Genesis chapter one, these truths are given to us by revelation.

So what am I suggesting with all of these words about the nature of the Bible, its truth, and its authority? Take up your Bible with the joyful expectation that the God who loves you beyond reason will meet you there.  Be prepared to be stretched into more than you were before the encounter.  Expect the world to be more filled with meaning.  Look to be surprised by greater patience and deeper compassion in your own heart.  Reading our Bible faithfully and regularly helps us to see how God is at work in every corner of our lives and to be a part Christ’s   ongoing mission in our world.