Mysterious, ancient, complex – and understandable

The Bible is a mysterious ancient book, written thousands of years ago in languages whose sounds have been lost. Its authors lived in a vast range of cultures, from the highest levels of the Babylonian and Egyptian courts to nomadic sheepherding societies. Some were among the wealthiest of their times and others struggled to find the basic necessities of life. Some wrote historical court records, others wrote songs and poetry. Some wrote stories and parables; others, letters to friends. Some wrote simply. Others used an exotic style that weaves together the past and the future, the physical and spiritual worlds, the imagination and the senses, in a startling array of colour, light and emotion that leaves the reader’s mind spinning to find its grounding.

If this were not enough, science and technology have changed the way we understand the world. We think nothing of seeing galaxies spin across a TV screen and then, with the click of a button, shrinking down to watch the battles of life and death among micro-organisms in a bit of water vapour. We know that our world is one among untold billions spinning through space and we know that many of the diseases we suffer are caused by entities living in that invisible world of the micro-organism. Those who wrote the Bible could not have imagined what we take for granted.

As we begin to understand this, a great chasm can appear to open up between ourselves and the Book that sits at our bedside or desk. It is a chasm that can appear to deepen as we begin to study it. Those who have committed their lives to the study of the ancient languages and those who methodically attempt to reconstruct pictures of long-lost civilizations can enthrall us. Archaeologists, historians and theologians fill volumes with the insights of their study. Brilliant writers with research teams tell us what God means by all this. And we drink it in.

All this is as it should be. The Bible is a complex, beautiful and even mysterious book. You cannot study it too deeply.

But there is a danger that has followed God’s people since the first books of Scripture were written. Because of the awe in which the Scriptures have always – and appropriately – been held, there is a danger that something very important is lost.

What is lost is that the Bible, with all its complexity and mystery and beauty, was designed, from the beginning, to be used by God’s ordinary people. It was never intended to be left in the hands of experts, for them alone to pass on its insights and treasures.

The Bible is a complex, mysterious and ancient book but it was designed to be read and understood by you and me.

In the next three issues, looking specifically at the New Testament, we will examine three reasons why Christians living in Canada in 2004 can understand what was written in Scripture nearly 2000 years ago.

Also in this series

• Part 2: The New Testament is postmodern
• Part 3: For skeptics, cynics, Gen-Xers
• Part 4: The outcast’s guide to survival

James Toews is pastor of Neighbourhood Church, Nanaimo, B.C. This is the first of a four-part series.