How does Nerdchurch handle the Bible?
Our goal is to understand and use the Bible in a way that reflects who Jesus is.
Jesus and his critics within Judaism shared an assumption that “the scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). Jesus believed in the complete integrity of scripture as the word of God.
At the same time, Jesus distinguished between the word of God and human tradition. Jesus told Pharisees and scribes they were “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men,” and even worse, “making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered.” (Mark 7:7, 13)
Jesus did not set the word of God and human opinion on the same level. He was free to break with, or simply ignore, cultural traditions or theological interpretations that impeded the effectiveness of God’s word, or got in the way of his mission.
In principle, Jesus’ freedom from tradition is completely reasonable, even necessary. He could do only what he saw the Father doing. But some people would not look past how different Jesus was, to see if he had a good reason for being different.
And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people. (John 7:12)
Jesus is our key to the Bible.
Jesus helps us understand the Bible, and the Bible helps us understand Jesus. Where we first see conflict or tension, we may start to see complementarities and the value of looking at things in more than one way.
As we trust Jesus, we will allow him to shape and reshape our understanding, values and actions. Jesus’ first disciples followed him into new and unfamiliar territory, and so will we. That sounds all right, but it can be very challenging to keep up with Jesus!
Jesus is not unsympathetic to our struggles, or exasperated by our questions. At age twelve, he spent three days geeking out in the temple with theological experts, asking and answering questions. Who knows how long he would have stayed, if his parents hadn’t retrieved him?
If anyone could have justified acting like a theological know-it-all, you’d think it might be the Son of God. But Jesus normalizes asking questions, responding to questions with more questions, wrestling with God, and letting people decide for themselves.
Looking to Jesus, we believe it is appropriate for Christians, churches and ministries to be humble and non-defensive about our understandings of the Bible, and open to learning from others.