The Bible is Not the Words of God

The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die!” (Gen. 3:4).

The Bible is the word of God in the sense of being a message about God. But the words of the Bible are not the words from God. That is, the words of the Bible are not a direct message from God to the reader of the Bible.

Words of God?

Those who claim the Bible is the word of God, have a problem with a passage like the above. This is clearly the word of Satan, the serpent. It cannot be the word of God. Because it is a lie. They died spiritually the moment they disobeyed God and ate from the tree of knowledge.

Human Source

So that means you cannot say that the Bible is the word of God. You have to decide what is a message from God and what isn’t. For example, Jesus said that Moses allowed divorce. But that this was not God’s plan. Moses allowed it, not God (Matt. 19:8).

Merely Cultural

And we also have to decide what is a universal principle and what is merely cultural. For example, how many women violate the Bible and pray without a veil or head covering (1 Cor. 11:5). And how few churches practice the directive by Paul to greet one another with a kiss (2 Cor. 13:12).

Slavery

And what do you do with Leviticus 25:44, which says, “you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you.” If God said this, then how can slavery be wrong. God can’t be wrong. And women should ‘keep silent in the churches” (1 Cor. 14:34).

The Answer

The answer is simple, but it bugs Bible worshippers (Biblidolatry). The Bible is a message from God through fallible, human people, who “see in a mirror dimly” and so only “know in part” (1 Cor. 13:12). So we need church Tradition (like ecumenical councils), reason, and personal experience to help us discern what is a universal principle, what is a cultural artifact, and what is distorted and misunderstood.

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Jay N. Forrest

I am a Christian Teacher focused on the Pursuit of God through Prayer, Contemplation, Silence, Solitude, and Simplicity. I became a Christian in 1983, attended Bible school, and eventually earned my Doctorate in Ministry. I served as a Protestant minister for 27 years and also spent about a decade practicing Buddhism. In 2005, I was baptized into the Catholic Church, but have since joined the Episcopal Church. I live in the desert southwest of the United States.

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