Sunday, after my teaching, someone approached me to talk about what I had just taught. He was visibly upset – which is really quite okay with me – I’m all for good, healthy – even vigorous – discussion. But, this is where the conversation turned from a friendly disagreement to a conversation that got under my skin:
In the course of our discussion, he said this about his position: “I’m a Biblicist.” Meaning, his position takes the Bible seriously and is defined by Scripture alone. The unsaid insinuation, is that my position is not Biblical, and that I just interpret it to mean what I want it to say. He might as well have said, “you don’t respect the Bible.”
Of course, we all read and interpret the Bible according to our tradition, experience, personality and education. And really, when it comes to theological matters, we generally do believe that our position is more faithful to the text than the other options – that’s why we believe the way we do. But if feels insulting to me when some traditions have a particularly bad habit of proclaiming themselves the only unbiased, infallible interpreters of Scripture. (This is one of my biggest pet peeves!)
Can we have just a small dose of humility, please?
Twitter Updates
“Of course, we all read and interpret the Bible according to our tradition, experience, personality and education.” …
and the Holy Spirit within us… even the same passage speaks to me differently at different times… it’s how and what He is teaching you at that moment… YOU are personal to HIM and HE is personal to YOU. Not one of us has all the answers… only He does. He is infinate… narrow-mindedness is as far from him as is possible.
Old saying… “He’s so Heavenly minded that he is of no Earthly good.”
he’s probably just bent out of shape b/c you repeated “feces” about 12 times.
Haha I hope that was what it was about, though I doubt it.
I had a similar, though much more civil, discussion the other day about my own proclivity to idolize the Bible and the steps I’ve taken to correct that and let God speak to me in other ways. It’s all too easy to read your bible and let your relationship with Jesus start and end there.
Interesting. I’ve never heard the term “Biblicist” before. I have heard of “Bible churches” which sort of seems redundant.
I’m a little curious what this person took issue with from your message. Would you care to share? (Unless you think it would be inappropriate to share that much of a personal conversation.)
@Zach – I’ll be glad to tell you… just ask me sometime… too long and belabored to do it justice here.
@Zach – Oh yeah… I don’t think “biblicist” is really an official theological camp, but the word means “one who takes the Bible literally.” I know that people regularly claim that they are literalists, but I always say, “Literalists are only literal in the parts that their tradition has determined are literal.”
Timeline of Bible Translation History
3000-2000 BC The story of Gilgamesh and other ancient texts are handed down generation to generation as a type of folklore.
1,400 BC: The first written Word of God (alleged): The Ten Commandments delivered to Moses.
500 BC: Completion of All Original Hebrew Manuscripts which make up The 39 Books of the Old Testament.
200 BC: Completion of the Septuagint Greek Manuscripts which contain The 39 Old Testament Books AND 14 Apocrypha Books.
1st Century AD: Completion of All Original Greek Manuscripts which make up The 27 Books of the New Testament.
315 AD: Athenasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, identifies the 27 books of the New Testament which are today recognized as the canon of scripture.
382 AD: Jerome’s Latin Vulgate Manuscripts Produced which contain All 80 Books (39 Old Test. + 14 Apocrypha + 27 New Test).
500 AD: Scriptures have been Translated into Over 500 Languages.
600 AD: LATIN was the Only Language Allowed for Scripture.
995 AD: Anglo-Saxon (Early Roots of English Language) Translations of The New Testament Produced.
1384 AD: Wycliffe is the First Person to Produce a (Hand-Written) manuscript Copy of the Complete Bible; All 80 Books.
1455 AD: Gutenberg Invents the Printing Press; Books May Now be mass-Produced Instead of Individually Hand-Written. The First Book Ever Printed is Gutenberg’s Bible in Latin.
1516 AD: Erasmus Produces a Greek/Latin Parallel New Testament.
1522 AD: Martin Luther’s German New Testament.
1526 AD: William Tyndale’s New Testament; The First New Testament printed in the English Language.
1535 AD: Myles Coverdale’s Bible; The First Complete Bible printed in the English Language (80 Books: O.T. & N.T. & Apocrypha).
1537 AD: Tyndale-Matthews Bible; The Second Complete Bible printed in English. Done by John “Thomas Matthew” Rogers (80 Books).
1539 AD: The “Great Bible” Printed; The First English Language Bible Authorized for Public Use (80 Books).
1560 AD: The Geneva Bible Printed; The First English Language Bible to add Numbered Verses to Each Chapter (80 Books).
1568 AD: The Bishops Bible Printed; The Bible of which the King James was a Revision (80 Books).
1609 AD: The Douay Old Testament is added to the Rheims New Testament (of 1582) Making the First Complete English Catholic Bible; Translated from the Latin Vulgate (80 Books).
1611 AD: The King James Bible Printed; Originally with All 80 Books. The Apocrypha was Officially Removed in 1885 Leaving Only 66 Books.
1782 AD: Robert Aitken’s Bible; The First English Language Bible (KJV) Printed in America.
1791 AD: Isaac Collins and Isaiah Thomas Respectively Produce the First Family Bible and First Illustrated Bible Printed in America. Both were King James Versions, with All 80 Books.
1808 AD: Jane Aitken’s Bible (Daughter of Robert Aitken); The First Bible to be Printed by a Woman.
1833 AD: Noah Webster’s Bible; After Producing his Famous Dictionary, Webster Printed his Own Revision of the King James Bible.
1841 AD: English Hexapla New Testament; an Early Textual Comparison showing the Greek and 6 Famous English Translations in Parallel Columns.
1846 AD: The Illuminated Bible; The Most Lavishly Illustrated Bible printed in America. A King James Version, with All 80 Books.
1885 AD: The “English Revised Version” Bible; The First Major English Revision of the KJV.
1901 AD: The “American Standard Version”; The First Major American Revision of the KJV.
1971 AD: The “New American Standard Bible” (NASB) is Published as a “Modern and Accurate Word for Word English Translation” of the Bible.
1973 AD: The “New International Version” (NIV) is Published as a “Modern and Accurate Phrase for Phrase English Translation” of the Bible.
1982 AD: The “New King James Version” (NKJV) is Published as a “Modern English Version Maintaining the Original Style of the King James.”
2002 AD: The English Standard Version (ESV) is Published as a translation to bridge the gap between the accuracy of the NASB and the readability of the NIV.
2010, August 29 AD: a Biblical Literalist claims to have superior accuracy as to the true meaning of the Bible.