Do you take the Bible literally?

We tend to be creatures of imbalance. When we see an error, we have this tendency to overreact. When we do this, we far too often go into an equal and opposite error. Take the reaction, in some circles, to the over allegorizing of the Scriptures. I am talking about those who take nothing literally. When we do this, we take the teeth out of both the positive and negative commandments and benefits. But some, in reaction to this, have taken the stand that whole Bible is to be interpreted literally. This too is wrong. Surly the truth is that in book as diverse as the Bible, some things are meant to be taken literally and some not! I have already hinted that interpretation is a huge subject, but we cannot escape without saying something about the literal or not debate.

Let's look at an example: “If your eye offend you cut it out” (Matthew 5:29). In a earlier post with the same title (February 18, 2011), I suggested that if the Church took this literally half the men would be walking round with just one eye, and the rest of us with neither! Do I take the Bible literally? Sometimes yes and sometime no, but I always take it seriously. So how do we take the above commandment seriously? They tell me that pornography is as addictive as heroine, so for me taking Matthew 5:29 seriously means, for example, looking at the parental guide before I decide to watch a movie. I don't want to make this into a new legalism, so I am saying this for me. I know myself well enough to know that I need to avoid movies with sex and nudity. I find it too hard to get rid of the thoughts and images that follow me after watching such things. And they keep me from His presence! Paul tells us that all things are lawful, but that not all things are helpful! So the principle is to take the Bible seriously but not always literally.

But there are many things that are intended to be taken literally, for example “do not murder”, “do not commit adultery”. So which is which? As I keep saying this is not a five minute discussion. I believe that we need to belong to a fellowship where the Bible is taken seriously, but not over literally, and certainly not legalistically. For me that also means a fellowship where we are firm on the basics, but do not act as if we have arrived, and also one where we are real with each other. We need both the Word and the Spirit. We need to think deeply about what Jesus meant when He told us that His Words are Spirit and they are life (John 6:63).

I say more on this topic in the original post (February 18, 2011).