The Role of the Bible part 2
The way we approach the Bible matters.
Submission and humility are prerequisites to this process of shaping and transformation. The Bible will not be controlled or manipulated, although many have attempted to do so. Our approach to the Bible is the first determining factor to whether or not we will experience the soul transformation God desires.
It is equally detrimental to approach it as either a detached scholar looking for information or as a superstitious reader in search of a magical answer. Neither approach will bring us to the starting point of reading the Scriptures for transformation – which is the goal of Christian spirituality. To approach the Bible as a detached scholar, the reader seeks to control the text and the outcome. The detached scholar is not interested in personally engaging with Scripture, but with collecting and analyzing data. When we seek to control the interaction and the outcome, we will not be transformed – only informed. We may amass data in our head, but it will never reach the locus of transformation – our heart. Likewise, the superstitious reader will miss the point of Scripture as he sees the Bible as a type of magical book. This type of approach will likely result in a hyper-spiritualized view of the Bible and will cause the reader to miss the potential for a concrete, real-life encounter. Also lacking is the disciplined, steady engagement with Scripture that allows the reader to be immersed in the whole redemptive story of the Bible.
Sleepwalking movie full To approach the Bible with an attitude of submission and humility, however, sets the stage for an encounter that will allow the Scriptures to shape and transform the reader. This humble submissive approach requires that the reader has what John Wesley called a “single eye, to know the whole will of God, and a fixed resolution to do it”. To be submitted is to have the intention to not try and manipulate the text to suit your own desire, but to allow it to do whatever God desires and lead in whatever direction God wants to go. In submission, we allow God to be the Master. In submission, we make the intention to listen, hear and obey what God speaks through the Scripture. Similarly, to approach and read with humility means to set ourselves under the Scripture as a student and allow them to teach us, because we acknowledge our own lack and need of transformation.
part 3: Mind and Heart
Discussion: What are some ways that we approach the Bible that may be counterproductive? Why do you think it’s important to have an attitude of submission and humility when reading the Bible?
