(This is the last in a series on scripture. Earlier posts can be found here: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7.)
For this final post in the series, let me point out the obvious: Bible knowledge doesn’t always translate into Christlike thinking and living. I’ve known some brilliant Bible scholars whose lives were anything but godly.
We can read scripture for a lot of different reasons. Some read trying to prove their preconceived dogmas. Others read just to gain knowledge (as if “knowledge of God” in scripture referred to info on a hard drive rather than personal relationship). And still others read to serve what Eugene Peterson calls the replacement trinity: Holy Needs, Holy Wants, and Holy Feelings. (”The new Trinity doesn’t get rid of God or the Bible, it merely puts them to the service of needs, wants, and feelings.”)
So for this last piece, I want to underscore the image of Peterson’s new work, Eat This Book. He skillfully plays with the image of John — and before him Jeremiah and Ezekiel - being asked to eat the scroll.
“The voice then tells John to take the book from the angel. He takes it and the angel tells him, ‘Eat this book’: Get this book into your gut; get the words of this book moving through your bloodstream; chew on these words and swallow them so they can be turned into muscle and gristle an bone. And he did it; he ate the book.”
He’s pleading for a way with scripture that is more than just packing in the knowledge (as important as that is). We are to read scripture in a way that lets the words dissolve, digest, and distribute to our very nerve endings. These words — as they point us to the life-giving God — will offer health, vitality, holiness, and wholeness.
“The act of eating the book means that reading is not a merely objective act, looking at the words and ascertaining their meaning. Eating the book is in contrast with how most of us are trained to read books — develop a cool objectivity that attempts to preserve scientific or theological truth by eliminating as far as possible any personal participation that might contaminate the meaning. . . . The reading that John is experiencing is not of the kind that equips us to pass an examination. Eating a book takes it all in, assimilating it into the tissues of our lives. Readers become what they eat.”
We read the words of scripture not as curiosity seekers who have an hour to zip through the Louvre (”Quick! Where’s the Mona Lisa . . . Venus de Milo . . . The Winged Victory?”) Rather, we come as disciples of Jesus who live in a story. We absorb the words, reading them carefully and slowly.
Because this story comes sentence by sentence, we enter carefully into our reading as a community. “The more ’spiritual’ we become, the more care we must give to exegesis. The more mature we become in the Christian faith, the more exegetically rigorous we must become. This is not a task from which we graduate. These words given to us in our Scriptures are constantly getting overlaid with personal preferences, cultural assumptions, sin distortions, and ignorant guesses that pollute the text. The pollutants are always in the air, gathering dust on our Bibles, corroding our use of the language, especially the language of faith. Exegesis is a dust cloth, a scrub brush, or even a Q-tip for keeping the words clean.”
Our goal is not to master the text, but to be mastered by it as we are drawn by God the Father, Son, and Spirit into the world of the kingdom. We read humbly and obedient. We pause prayerfully over words and phrases. We memorize sentences. We reflect on paragraphs. We marvel at the overarching story.
I often hear today that our people don’t know scripture like we used to. Why is that?
Maybe it’s our distaste for the kind of arrogance that knowledge often produced. Perhaps it’s also business, laziness, and a general cultural shift from reading to watching.
But I want to close this series by urging us all to enter again eagerly into the world of scripture. Eat the book. Taste the words of the Torah, remembering that they come from a rescuing, life-giving God. Chew on the words of Isaiah 56-66 as you seek to imagine what life after the exile lived before God might look like. Digest the gospeled words of Matthew as he walks you through the story from Abraham to David to Jesus. Be nourished by the encouragement of the writer of Hebrews as you’re called to keep your eyes on Jesus, our high priest who sat down at the right hand of God.
A meal awaits. Feast on it!
“…I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” –John 6:53
God is certainly not above using mundane things like eating and digestion to put new life into us!
Thanks for the helpful and “meaty” series.
Maybe it’s our distaste for the kind of arrogance that knowledge often produced.
That’s sad, isn’t it? Talk about missing the point. Yet I’m sure I’ve been arrogant about my knowledge before (and I don’t even have that much).
I suppose that people who are looking for a life-changing Christianity are not likely to follow the example of ones who do no more than quibble over the crossing of t’s and the dotting of i’s. It’s a sobering thought to realize that people will often judge the value of Christianity by our actions.
Very thought provoking series, Mike. Thanks.
For a bible scholar you ain’t a bad preacher.
Man, someone did an excellent class on “living in the story” in the Sojourners class a few weeks ago.
Now, if I could just remember his name, perhaps I could convince him to leave a comment about what he said…
Good series.
I’m not sure I understand this last post, though. The eating image seems to conflict with the Q-tip image. Is it better to devour and digest the scripture without criticism, and then let the stories seep into our lives, or is it better to pick at it and methodically exegete the “true meaning” of the text?
Blessing received. The Lord praised. Thank you.
Excellent series. I couldn’t agree more with you.
Great words. I’ll need to add another book to my 50′ high stack of books in queue.
I love the image of eating the Book. Of allowing the words to be slowly digested, of being nourished, and tasting of the word of God. One of the images that comes to me (I hope it’s not sacreligious) is a big bowl of guacamole and chips and slowly enjoying and being filled and completely satisfied.
Is God only for the literate? What about those who can’t read? (Not a huge deal in the US, but of course, the US isn’t the center of the world.) Do they need to become literate in order to understand God?
What about those who just hate to read? This all sounds great for middle-class, mostly college-educated people who tend to enjoy reading, but there are many people who would just rather get their hands under the hood of a car or piddle in the garden or watch TV than hold a book, including the Bible. Reading just isn’t for them; their minds just don’t work well with written words. And yet we tend to make them feel guilty b/c they don’t read the Bible enough.
Could these people (or anyone) understand God without “eating” the Bible? Sometimes I wonder if we use the Bible to prop up God.
Great series, Mike! Do you mind if I print these off and refer to them as I teach my teens? Thanks again!
Martin F. wrote: “Is God only for the literate? What about those who can’t read?”
“Could these people (or anyone) understand God without “eating” the Bible? Sometimes I wonder if we use the Bible to prop up God. ”
Martin–good points and pointed questions. Like I referenced above, I personally believe God meets us at other places besides the written word–e.g., in the mundane elements of bread and wine. The way I see it, there’s nothing stopping him from making an appearance under the hood of a car or in a garden either.
Perhaps God is seen most clearly in the servant lives of saints who are so caught up in the Great Story that they have little time for picking nits and, as you said, making others feel guilty for not reading their Bibles more.
Revelation 1:3 New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
3Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
Equally blessed are those that hear the Word as those that read it, imo.
Mike, this has been a fascinating study. Some of it caused great anguish, prayer, and the seeking of counsel from other, wiser thinkers. Other chapters have brought joy of discovery, other thanksgiving for the teachings of my beloved dad, who wasn’t as hide-bound in legalism as might have been thought, and other reactions of “What! Doesn’t everyone know that???” which, of course, brings me to knees seeking humility and forgiveness from our gracious LORD!
Bless you for the prod, for almost pushing me to think, pray and look again at the many facets of the precious communication from God given through the Bible.
I doubt those who cannot or do not like reading will be reading this blog, besides mike addressed that issue in yesterday’s comments.
I greatly enjoyed your B-I-B-L-E series. I was actually hoping that this would not be the last in your series. If I may, I would like to add some “food” for thought, and request your insight. We as Christians have labeled the bible as “Scripture”. Indeed it is, as the definition implies, according to Webster, “1 a (1) capitalized : the books of the Bible — often used in plural (2) often capitalized : a passage from the Bible b : a body of writings considered sacred or authoritative
2 : something written “…However, in your second series, you pointed out that the Bible was written by men and in yesterday’s post that it was in the language of common men. I write this humbly, it would appear to me that the term “scripture” as Jesus referred to it, did not include the NT books. Nor as referred to by Paul did it include the NT books. And yet, we as Christians have elevated the NT writings to the same status as Christ’s “Scripture” which he referred to in the Gospels. Would Paul feel comfortable with Christians referring to his writings as “Scripture” in the same context that Christ used it?
Is it, perhaps, that the NT writings were written with the same objective as the OT writings…to point us to Christ. Yet, it appears to me that we as Christians have placed greater “authority” on many of these writings and perhaps missed the objective. (Perhaps the reason for so many denominations)
I would love to hear your insights and those of your blog community. And thank you for allowing such open discussions.
Thank you so much for this series, Mike. I am in a bit of a “valley” right now and I plan on taking your advice to feast. I don’t know if I will come out because of it, but that is my prayer.
Here’s a blast from the past Mike…David Hall from Harding days (married the former Suzette Huffaker). I’ve enjoyed your series. Just can’t start the day without checking your blog…thanks for the blessing! Looking forward to seeing you at Pepperdine and catching up.
Mike,
Just wanted to express my deep appreciation for such a great series. Thanks for sharing.
My favorite verse in the Bible is Jeremiah 15:16. “When your words came I ate them, they were my joy and my hearts delight for I bear your name, O Lord God Almighty.” I am definitely going to have to read Peterson’s book. I am very intrigued.
I would like to apologies for dissing Martin F. Martin I am sorry.
This afternoon I was invited to go on CNN live tonight on the Nancy Grace show. Apparently someone tore into Churches of Christ as a cult–related to the shooting of Matthew Winkler. I couldn’t work it out timewise, since CNN couldn’t arrange a satelite feed in Abilene, so I think Rubel Shelly is going to do it. That’s probably much better anyway!
Psalm 34:8
Taste and see that the LORD is good
Evidently Peter considered Paul’s writings to be scripture.
See 2 Peter 3: 14-16
Mike–you make me hungry. . .
Kathy
Wow! I loved all eight of these articles. Thank you. I did not grow up reading the Bible and was frustrated by the church’s insistence that I must learn the Bible so that I could be right. I became a Christian because I started reading the Bible and fell in love with Christ, and it was depressing for well-meaning brothers and sisters to insist that I view the Bible as a rule book. I looked at it as a way to know Christ more intimately and to learn to be like Him. I was so happy when I learned that I should never forget my first love, and the reason I became a Christian in the first place - Jesus!
And after we’ve eaten the book, we may find ourselves speaking the Word as well as hearing it.