Stress Test Devotional May 11
May 11, 2024
DAY 27
The reformed way of reading the Bible has always sought to avoid two errors, two forms of fear. The fundamentalist error is to try to bypass the work of interpretation out of fear that unless the Bible is a book of simple propositions, it will lose its clarity and authority. The modern or post-modern fear is that the Bible has lost its relevance and that its authority will appear authoritarian to many in our culture. When the scriptures do not fit contemporary intuitions, particularly moral instincts, revisionists tend to dismiss those parts of the Bible that seem offensive. One error is to avoid critical and historical tools to find the Bible’s meaning, the other is to doubt the Bible’s clarity or minimize its authority. The Reformed approach, and the classical Christian approach, is to work hard to interpret the Bible using all available tools, and then when understanding is reached, to receive the scripture as God’s true and binding word.
Which error do you lean toward—post modern skepticism about the Bible’s authority or fundamental naiveté?
FAMILY TIME—
Teach your family to pray a “prayer of illumination,” asking for God’s help through the Holy Spirit, in understanding the Bible.
