The Bible Is Meant To Be Understood

In his biography of Martin Luther, author Eric Metaxas writes:

"In Luther’s time, Bible interpretation was hopelessly mired in an odd and hidebound fourfold academic approach that must have been mind-numbing and depressing to someone like Luther, who was impatiently searching for truth itself. … According to this entrenched academic approach, the four ways of seeing the text were: first in its literal sense; second in its topological; third in its allegorical; and fourth in its anagogic. For the Psalms, for example - which Luther read and sang every day in his prayers - the literal sense of the text was always interpreted as the Christological. The topological sense was seen as the text’s significance for humanity and was mainly a moral interpretation. The allegorical sense had to do with the church, and the anagogic had to do with the text’s relation with the biblical “End Times.” How this odd way of reading the Bible had arisen is beside the point, but what is not beside the point is that it surely forced students to invent interpretations that were downright wrong, that it was pedantic and tedious, and that most important it was not much use helping Luther - or anyone else - find God in or behind the words."

Academic nonsense in the name of God and on the part of the religious elite is nothing new. "Bold, new interpretations" (quote/unquote) are exactly the kind of thing religious leaders have been chasing after since forever.

But never forget: the Bible is meant to be understood. There are difficult parts that require study, reflection, meditation and time. What they do not require is some kind of specialized knowledge available only to an enlightened, highly educated class of super Christians.

Be wary of intellectual traditions within Christianity that involve overly sophisticated and complicated explanations that don't appear to be readily accessible directly from the Bible. Many of these traditions have long, illustrious pedigrees and have been adopted by luminous figures in the history of Christianity.

But we all have our blind spots. Let the Bible itself be your guide - not tradition, not sophistication and not institutional authority.

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"Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path." - Psalm 119:105

"And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation." - II Peter 1:19-20