This is probably one of my favorite chapters in the book. Now maybe I could write this about many of the chapters, but there’s so much to this one. It’s hard to pick one point and direction to focus, but if I expand each chapter into multiple posts you’ll be reading this book with me for the next couple of years.
The point that Bayer really focuses us on is Martin Luther’s basic approach to Scripture and this quote- “The Holy Scripture is its own interpreter.” What does Luther mean by that? Well, most people look at that and see the common hermeneutical approach (that’s fancy theologian talk for way to understand Scripture) of using different parts or verses of the Bible to help us understand others. That makes sense and Luther would agree with that, but this quote means something more and different than just that.
What Luther is driving us to is the idea that when you read Scripture it grabs a hold of you. Imagine if you will a hand reaching out of your Bible, grabbing your shirt, and pulling you into the book in front of you. Then all of a sudden you’re alive in the stories. Maybe you’ve seen a kids show or book where something like this happens. Scripture is so holy to us because it has this power. It can grab us. Bayer says, “when I read and hear the Scripture, thenI note that these stories talk about me; they tell my story. I appear in them long before I obey them.” When you read about David’s crazy life, you start to realize that the crazy twists and turns in his life actually communicate to you about your life too. When you read the psalms you start to pray along with the psalmist for yourself and others experiencing these kinds of pain. When Jesus is dying on the cross you realize that he is dying for the sins you are committing right now, even as you read. And when the apostles are out on the edge trying to communicate the Gospel to people you realize that it is their work that got the Gospel to you in the first place and you start to get excited to be caught up in the adventure of trying to bring the word to other people too, no matter what the cost!
This is what makes the Bible so powerful- so holy! This is why we regard it as true and we want to know it all- why we want it to have control over our lives! It’s not oppressive to regard the Bible as true and as the chief directive for our lives, it’s actually freeing. We’ve felt the power of Scripture to forgive and change us and we want more.
This is an important Lutheran distinctive to bring out in our world today. So often people look at us and they say, “oh there’s another bunch of stick-in-the-mud Bible literalists” No way! That’s not us. We don’t regard the Bible as true and literal just because, or try to up front defend it based on some historical apologetics. We could, but our chief reason for believing the Bible to be true and authoritative is because it changes us! It grabs us. It’s about us. It is real history that happened and pulls us back into that story of thousands of years ago.
So next time you open your Bible, think in these terms. Let God’s hands take a hold of you and pull you into the pages of his story. Let the Bible start to interpret you!
