Rob Witham

Why I am a Biblicist

I choose to call myself a Biblicist because I believe the Bible.

• I believe the Bible is an accurate narrative recounting God’s dealings with humanity and his works and interventions in our world.
• I believe the Bible reveals things that God intended for us to know.
• I believe the Bible provides a foundation of knowledge for right living.
• I believe the Bible reveals God’s absolute holiness and holy standard to us.

I appreciate Brian McLaren’s statement on the way modern, evangelical Christianity has tended to view the Bible: “I grew up being taught that the Bible was an answer book, supplying exactly the kind of information modern, Western, moderately educated people want from a phone book, encyclopedia, or legal constitution.” (A Generous Orthodoxy) Too often we think (and are told) that the Bible holds the answer to every question we may have. We forget that the Scriptures were written to an entirely different culture than our own. Translation and application is necessary (see my article on The Modern Translation Challenge).

McLaren also considers 2 Timothy 3.16-17 (”Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”) concluding that when we use Scripture for what it was intended for we are all better off. The world may be far more interested in the Christian message if professing Christians spent a bit more time applying the teachings of Scripture to their lives and a bit less time fighting about theology and interpretations of less-than-critical passages!

One final thought: I have intentionally avoided using all the keywords I learned in Systematic Theology class. Words like absolute, inerrant and infallible are frequent filler in church doctrinal statements but are not the way Scripture defines itself. However, make no mistake that I respect the authority of the Bible. I view the teachings of the Scriptures as completely binding on my life. I make every effort to base my faith on what is revealed and recorded in them.

Why I am a Biblical Theologian

I choose to be a Biblical theologian rather than a systematic theologian because I believe the Bible is poorly understood as a systematic theology. God gave us the Scriptures as narrative with periodic instructions interspersed throughout. Attempting to systematize the Scriptures results in endless hairsplitting and disagreement over things we need not argue about. Systematic theology attempts to make the Bible into a modern, legal document (see the quote by Brian McLaren above) where theologians can turn to a certain page and have every answer. Systematic theology attempts to reduce a narrative story to a codebook.

Once we systematize theology (what we choose to believe about God, the Scriptures, etc.) we begin to think of the Scripture in a different light. Chapter and verse divisions become our best ally in isolating statements out of their original context. It is an easy step then to start believing something first and then finding a verse to prove it. “I have often worried that we try to justify what we believe by some bible verses and in the process making the bible into some single-voiced object and missing the wonderful tensions, ruptures, and kinetic energy of the words. In short, I worry that we lose the idea that the bible cannot be domesticated but will always cause us to rethink and rework.” (Ron Cole)

It is my long-standing position that most things modern Christians believe and modern churches do are not based on Scripture - rather, they are based on a decision to believe something or do something followed by a justification with a verse. You think I jest? Here are two quick examples of churches explaining why they do something a certain way. In both cases it is obvious the verse in question is taken out of context to support a practice. (The practice may be right or wrong - just don’t justify it with out of context Scripture!)

• “We take a collection each Sunday morning at the service because the Scripture says to in 1 Corinthians 16.1-2 (”Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I commanded the assemblies of Galatia, you do likewise. On the first day of the week, let each one of you save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come”). First of all, taken in context (read verse 3) this was obviously a special collection being sent to Jerusalem. This was quite obviously not a regular, weekly church offering. Second, Paul wanted the collections made prior to his arrival. The closest equivalent we could draw would be taking a collection for the month preceding a missionary visiting the church service so no collection needed to be made while the missionary was at the service. Taken in context this text has nothing to do with collection of a regular, weekly offering.
• “We hold an ordination service for new pastors / missionaries, lay hands on them and pray over them at the start of their ministry like the church did with Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13.3 (”Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away”). First of all, I have never heard of the church leaders fasting before an ordination service…. Second, Paul (Saul) and Barnabas were already active in ministry prior to this supposed ordination service. Paul and Barnabas were commissioned to a new work that was directed by the Holy Spirit - this was not the start of their ministry. Finally, we so no record of Paul and Barnabas being called any special title following this commissioning by their fellow believers. Ordination is a long-standing tradition in churches that arguably has no real connection to effectiveness or calling in ministry. However, attempting to justify the practice based on this text is not plausible. This text, taken in context, clearly has no connection to modern church ordinations.

I believe we need to understand the Bible for what it is - a divinely orchestrated, historically accurate, narrative revelation of information God wants his people to have. We also need to let the Bible speak for itself and stop trying to prove our positions with misused references. If we focus on studying the Scriptures for the purpose of allowing ourselves to be changed and transformed into the image of Jesus Christ we will not have time to argue about so many of the systematic theology topics that divide us now.