NPC #7

Rethinking How to Read the Bible: Scot McKnight

There are those passages of Scripture that we like to pick and choose some part to live by and leave other parts.

Example: 1 Timothy 2:9-12
Which of these are commands and which do we actually live out?
*men praying with hands lifted up
*live without wrath and dissension
*women to dress modestly
*without braided hair, gold, pearls and costly clothes
*good works
*women to learn quietly and in submission
*women are to not teach over men and be quiet

Why do we think some of these are binding and some are not?

We read the Bible to force it into our lives, not to force our lives into the Bible.

3 Approaches to reading the Bible:
1. Return to restore- We read seeking to return to 1st Century Church/Christianity
2. Return and retrieve- We read to get tidbits of truth
3. Sacred tradition- We read through the lenses of our or a tradition.

5 Short cuts we use in reading the Bible
1. Morsels of Law- turning every passage into a principle for discipleship
2. Morsels of promise or blessing- just looking for warm fuzzies
3. Rorshach Ink Blot- you begin to see what you looking for.
4. Puzzling the pieces of God's mind- We can construct the will of God, but deconstructing the Bible
5. Maestro Approach- Pick an of author of Scripture and read everything else through that author.
e.g. Emerging church- Jesus and the kingdom of God
e.g. Reformed church- Paul
e.g. Cappadocians- John

The system of the Bible is story. Read it from start to finish. There is an ongoing plot. Understanding the primacy of Scripture, requires us to read Scripture with tradition, through the canon to the gospel. Know Scripture is story and that we need to listen to God and discern how to live. God spoke to Moses' day in Moses' way. God is speaking to us today in our way! Are we able to discern how to live.