So, if we no longer accept the platonic Bible—perfect, infallible, and inerrant—where does that leave us? Here I must speak personally, because the journey away from an infallible Bible is a very personal one for me and it has to do more with what I affirm than reject. I do not believe that the Bible is the capital "W" Word of God because I do believe that Jesus of Nazareth and he alone is the Word of God—see "The Nature of the Bible (1)." The Bible is a witness to the Word. To the extent that the Spirit uses the Bible to touch hearts, it is inspired. To the extent that the Bible provides a spiritually compelling and true portrait of Christ, it is authoritative. For me.Faith starts with God in Christ, walks with God in the Spirit, and seeks to walk in the direction of the will of God as revealed in Christ. The Bible is a useful tool to these ends. I don't see how we can do without it. As a young Christian, the Old Testament prophets, particularly Amos and Jeremiah grabbed my attention with their bold, uncompromising call for justice in a hard, unjust world. I learned from them that God takes sides and loves the poor and oppressed with a special love. It was an easy jump from there to the God of the Exodus, the "I Am" who called Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead an inconsequential tribe of slaves to freedom. In the light of the Old Testament, Jesus came to make a special kind of sense. He continued the prophetic tradition. In his teachings and his healing ministry, he exemplified its deep concern with justice—for a Kingdom that is bound by no prejudices where women stand with men and Samaritans with Jews as equally loved, equally valued in the sight of God. It is a Kingdom where political influence and great wealth are dangerous barriers to the salvation of our whole race.
In the end, again speaking just for myself, I realized the whole debate over a perfect Bible is a waste of time. I really could care less. The power (the inspiration!) of the Bible is its witness to the God of Israel and God in Christ. That is its authority. Cold, legalistic demands that I believe in something obviously false to me—a perfect Bible—only get in the way. The beauty of the Psalms are their own witness. The vision of the Kingdom in the Book of Isaiah is in and of itself powerful. Amos is amazing! I Corinthians 13, Galatians 5:22-23, and other equally moving New Testament passages stand on their own authority.
Of course, there are many unanswered questions. There always are. It is our questions that make life interesting and somedays even exciting. As best as I can understand it, the purpose of the Bible is not to answer all our questions but to introduce us to the God of Israel and Christ—and then to give us aide, comfort, and sometimes challenges on the Way. You see, its not a matter of believing in the Bible but of learning to trust the God who is revealed there. Amen.
