David Philips, writing in the journal Crossway (Winter 2003 No. 87), published an essay entitled, "The nature of the Bible" defending the view that the Bible is the Word of God—inspired, infallible, inerrant, and uniformly true in all of its parts. His views are widely held among many Christians around the globe, so much so that many consider them the only "right" understanding of the Bible.There are other ways to understand the Bible, however, and while they are roundly condemned by biblical literalists, such as Phillips, they deserve to be heard in the market place of theological reflection. This post begins a series of brief responses to Phillips' essay, which the reader is urged to read first. The goal here is not to convince anyone that they are wrong in their view of the Bible so much as to offer an alternative to those who may find biblical literalism less than spiritually compelling and intellectually satisfying.
An alternative view of the Bible as the Word of God begins with the meaning of the phrase, "the Word of God," which Phillips uses repeatedly as short-hand for his understanding of the nature of the Bible. It is, for him, the Word of God. Starting from that premise, his arguments for biblical literalism make perfect sense to him and tens of millions of others.
The opening words of John's Gospel state that, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1) In context, the Word of God here refers to Jesus Christ and no one or nothing else. The "Word of God," capital "W," is Christ. The Bible thus is not the "Word of God." Christ is. As the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Confession of 1967 states in paragraph 9.27, "The one sufficient revelation of God is Jesus Christ, the Word of God incarnate, to whom the Holy Spirit bears unique and authoritative witness through the Holy Scriptures, which are received and obeyed as the word of God written." The Bible is "the word [small "w"] of God written." It bears testimony to Christ and, we would add, to God's work with and through the People of Israel. Its testimony is inspired by the Holy Spirit, unique, and authoritative.
If we insist that the Bible is also the capital "W" Word of God, we in effect give it a status equal to Christ. In our alternative view, the Bible is clearly not equal to Christ. It is not in and of itself divine. It was created and as such is not the equal of the Creator. Seeing the Bible as being created and subordinate offers us the opportunity to see it in a different light. More tomorrow.
