You Can't Understand the Bible. (And Neither Can I)

"But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth." —John 16:13

What a verse.

It reminds me of all the times growing up my mom would tease my dad about "looking with his nose." He'd be digging around in the refrigerator for a good half minute looking for something, only to have my mom yank it out for him right in front of his face. (In medical parlance, I'm told this phenomenon has been alternatively termed "Temporary Male Blindness.")

There is a similar ailment spiritually.

Assuming some literary acumen, it is eventually possible to sink into the subtleties of Shakespeare with a little rereading here and a little historical context there. Similarly, I am no scientist; but I remember in high school eventually coming to grips with the abstruse lingo and abstract concepts of my biology textbook through a cocktail of confusion and hard work.

Not so with Scripture. You (as in you, in all your human reasoning and fleshiness) cannot understand the Word of God.

Oh, sure, you can do scholarly footwork. You can dig into the Bible's genres, its literary devices, its cultural and historical context, even some of its profound themes and messages (the depravity of man, the importance of justice, the paschal power of love, etc.). Many theology classes I have taken discuss these very things, all of which are a good start for understanding the Bible.

But the soul of biblical truth can only be communicated by the Spirit of God, not by the mind of man. The Jews did not understand the Scriptures (Jn. 5:39) until Jesus opened the minds of a select handful to understand them (Lk. 24:45). And on the Emmaus road, it took what must have been the greatest sermon of all time for Jesus' two traveling companions to realize that their interpretation of the entire Bible was incomplete, since they were not interpreting Scripture in light of Christ.

No—we are told that we are taught by the Spirit (Jn. 16:13, Jn. 14:26). In fact, in 1 John, one sees that it is by his anointing that we do not need to be taught by anyone else (1 Jn. 2:27). And in 1 Corinthians 2, one sees that only the Spirit knows the thoughts of God, which in turn teaches us these very thoughts (1 Cor. 2:12).

Don't you dare read the Bible as merely a human document with human understanding. You will ineluctably miss the very heart of what God is trying to say. But if we abide in the Spirit and let him teach us, then the scales will fall from our eyes (Acts 9:18), the veil will be torn (2 Cor. 3:16), and we will see.

Incidentally, this is the reason why there are so many divergent interpretations of the Bible. It is why atheists like Dawkins and Hitchens can only see what in their eyes is God's cruelty, unlike us who "with unveiled faces" (2 Cor. 3:18) are bowled away by the mercy of the cross. I believe this happens among Christians, too, particularly in academia. Biblical scholarship is great. But scholarship can become a mask for respectability, and evaluating Scripture with spiritual eyes can be academic suicide.

So. Tomorrow. I start this crazy thing. May I be humble enough to let the Author of Scripture teach me Scripture. "Male blindness" like my dad's is temporary. Spiritual blindness can be eternal.