Every faith group in the world...

Every faith group in the world has something or someone that they consider to be sacred and of the utmost importance.  It might be a person, an object, a book, etc.  In the case of books or other literary documents, almost every faith group has books or scripture which they consider to be authoritative and normative for teaching and for life and practice.

The Hindus have the Vedas and the Upanishads.  The Muslims have the Holy Qu'ran.  The Jews have the Torah.  The Christians have the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) as well as the Christian Scriptures (New Testament.)

Within the Christian community, theological battles have been waged for centuries over a variety of issues.  One of those issues has been biblical authority.  There are Christians (Catholic and Orthdox) who believe in Tradition and Experience being on a par with Scripture, and therefore, constituting equal sources of authority for faith and life. And then there are Christians (Protestants) who believe that the Bible is the final authority for faith and life.

In this article, I would like to (as a Protestant minister and theologian) address the complexities and problems of subscribing to the notion of the Bible having "the final word."  This does not mean, however, that I do not believe in the message of the Bible.  Nor does it mean that I do not see the importance of the role of Scripture in the formulation of doctrine and theology.  What it does mean, however, is that if we are going to subscribe to the idea of the Bible being the main or even only authority for what we Christians believe and practice, then as responsible believers, we cannot dismiss or ignore the problems associated with that position.  Nor can we, I believe, resort to gimmicks such as invoking things like the Holy Spirit as a way to bypass or circumvent the process of facing the problems honestly and squarely in the face. I think that to use the name of the Holy Spirit as a way to easily disregard and discard the complexities of the position of biblical authority is to commit the most blatant form of blasphemy in using God's name in vain.  The problems which we must deal with are:

1.  The original languages of Scripture (Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew)
Because most of us are familiar with the Bible only in its translated
form, with little or no knowledge of the original languages, we must
acknowledge the fact that the translations which we rely on do not
always necessarily reflect what the biblical writers said in the
original langues.

2.  The various literary forms employed in Scripture (narrative,
allegory, literal history, legend, myth, etc.)  If we are responsible
in attempting biblical interpretation, we will navigate the waters
of deciphering what the text means when it does use literal
categories.

3.  The socio-cultural context from which the Scriptures emerge.
The Bible as a literary document is the product of a society
much different from ours, and therefore, the thought-categories
of the writers are different than the thought categories of today. Therefore,
the dictums, mandates, and morality which appears in Scripture
have to be evaluated against the cultural backdrop in which the
Scriptures were written.  We need to ask what in the Bible
is relevant and applicable only to a particular culture and time,
and what in the Bible is relevant and applicable to all times,
all cultures, and all places.

4.  The variety of perspectives within the Bible- Each of the authors
of the different books of the Bible has a different emphasis. There
are a variety of theological perspectives in the Bible.  For example,
the initial books of the Old Testament speak of a God who is in
an exclusive relationship with the Hebrews, while the latter prophetical
books and the books of the New Testament speak more about
a universal God who is in a relationship with all humankind.

5.  The problem of ecclesiastical interpretation- Each Christian
community (Catholic, Orthdox, and Protestants of all types),
claims to have the "right interpretation" of what the Bible says.
That is precisely why we have so many churches speaking with
so many voices while using the same Bible.  Each one claims that
their doctrines and practices are "based on Scripture," and in a
sense they are all correct in saying so.  The problem with that
is that all of the doctrines and practices of each church are based
on that church's understanding of what "the Bible says."

How do we then resolve the problem of biblical authority?  How do we on the one hand acknowledge the Bible as the "inspired, authoritative, and normative Word of God," while at the same time dealing with the reality that no one individual and no one church has a monopoly on biblical truth?  Do we hold fast to our position that our individual or church's understanding of the biblical message is the correct one to the exclusion of all others?  Do we perhaps say that there is a kernel of truth in every interpretation?  Or do we say  that at the end of the day it doesn't really matter what interpretation we subscribe to?

As a minister of Christ's Gospel, I have my doubts as to whether we will ever be able to arrive at the totality of truth in biblical interpretation, be it in our individual lives or in our corporate life as a church. However, as a community of faith, we can also be a community of inquiry, "searching the Scriptures to see if these things are so."  We can continue to engage with each other as believers of different denominations "comparing notes," and hoping that beneath all that confusion and complexity, lies God's eternal truth, even if we apprehend only in bits and pieces, and as Paul the Apostle would remind us, "seeing dimly as through a mirror."

And now to the God who through the Holy Spirit and the Traditions of the Church gave to us the Holy Writ for our instruction and edification, be glory, honor, majesty, and power forevermore, world without end. Amen.

In the name of the Creator, and of the Word, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Juan A. Ayala-Carmona