“The Bible was not written as a textbook on Geology” is one of those cliches, true enough by itself. Today it is often used in fellowship with another: “The Bible is certainly inspired in the area of the message of salvation and in the revelation of the God of our Salvation.”
When these two cliches, true enough by themselves, are put together and interpreted, it is often held that, when writing outside these areas, the various authors of the hooks of the Bible were limited by their knowledge (or lack of it) and made the same mistakes regarding history, the physical universe and its interpretation that any other man of their time would make. References are often made to the sun rising and setting while today we know that the earth revolves about the Still, etc. If these critics would have their way, in order to be inspired in all its parts, the Bible would have had to he written in some kind of legalistic gobblydegook which even the critic himself does not use in ordinary, everyday speech. Where is the critic who does not say, “What a beautiful sunrise!’ or “What a beautiful sunset!”
We would however, ask the question in all seriousness: Did the Holy Spirit, even in those things which we call peripheral to the main purpose of the revelation of the God of our salvation, keep the authors from making those mistakes common to men of their timer Let us test this briefly, using three examples.
1. Certainly the Bible is no textbook on genetics, but Leviticus 18:6 says: “None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him to uncover their nakedness: I am the Lord.” Now the reason given for abstinence from intercourse with those near of kin was not genetic but ceremonial. They were God’s people, He is their God Who is holy and they must observe this ceremonial holiness. The prohibition given has an up-to-date ring not at all out of step with our modern knowledge of genes, recessive and dominant characteristics, etc. The author, Moses, coming out (If an Egyptian culture where the Pharaohs were limited to marrying those near of kill. unstudied in the science of genetics, was so led by the Holy Spirit that the teaching was in harmony with present-day knowledge in this field.
2. Certainly the Bible was never intended to he a textbook on hygiene or safe eating habits. Bacteria were probably unknown to the authors. Yet the Holy Spirit so guided Moses that he wrote in Leviticus 19:5–7: “If we offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, ye shall offer it at your own will. It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow; and if aught remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire. And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted. Therefore everyone that eateth it shall hear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.”
Here again the purpose of this Scripture is not to teach health or sanitation or the danger of eating contaminated food. The purpose is to be holy to the Lord also in the peace offerings which were eaten before the Lord. They shared their joyful offering to the Lord, and they and the priests ate of it in sacrificial thanksgiving. Here again, however, the Holy Spirit guides the author, Moses, to instill good sanitary habits and causes him to avoid those mistakes in hygiene so common in his time and which he could not have known except for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
3. Certainly the Bible was never intended to be a textbook on sanitary practices to prevent epidemics. Yet the Holy Spirit guided Moses to write Deuteronomy 23:12–14: “Thou shalt have a place also without the camp whither thou shalt go forth abroad; and thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn hack and cover that which cometh from thee: For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee and to give up thine enemies before thee, therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.”
That this provision was not first of all a health matter is very evident because God Himself tells us that it is a matter of holiness and of keeping ceremonial holiness before the Lord. Yet the Holy Spirit led Moses to write as he did in the face of the prevailing lack of sanitary information and the lack of the knowledge of how epidemics were spread. The repeated decimation of the armies of ancient times by plagues and pestilences are a constant reminder of this lack of knowledge. Yet Moses writes in a manner beyond the “scientific” knowledge of that time.
Nor does this listing of a few examples exhaust the material.
The same Holy Spirit whose purpose was to make Israel a people holy to the Lord, even in the Old Testament, typical sense of the word, continues to speak. laying down rules for clean and unclean food, the laws for cleansing, the ritualistic hut sensible extension of leprous and other afflicted persons from Israel, segregating them to prevent contagion. The Holy Spirit is as up to date as 1971 in His laws for watercourses, for the cutting of trees in warfare, as well as in the ecological and conservation elements in the sen:,nth year and in the year of jubilee.
When we read other ancient writers and mark the foolishness they write in those areas not only concerning religion but also in the “peripheral” areas we can only say that the Bible is inspired in all its parts.
The question however remains: “If the Holy Spirit kept the authors of Scripture from writing foolishly in the area of Salvation and Theology, and extended this even to such peripheral things as genetics, health and sanitary practices, why would the Holy Spirit make an exception in the area of geology, of origins, and in the whole area of the “Genesis question”?
Conversely if the Holy Spirit allowed errors in these fields due to the limitation of the knowledge of the authors, how do we know the same is not true in the fields of Salvation, Theology, and the whole of “religious revelation”?
We will continue to say, Inspired in all its parts!
James Howerzyl is pastor of the Christian Reformed Church of Escondido, California.
When these two cliches, true enough by themselves, are put together and interpreted, it is often held that, when writing outside these areas, the various authors of the hooks of the Bible were limited by their knowledge (or lack of it) and made the same mistakes regarding history, the physical universe and its interpretation that any other man of their time would make. References are often made to the sun rising and setting while today we know that the earth revolves about the Still, etc. If these critics would have their way, in order to be inspired in all its parts, the Bible would have had to he written in some kind of legalistic gobblydegook which even the critic himself does not use in ordinary, everyday speech. Where is the critic who does not say, “What a beautiful sunrise!’ or “What a beautiful sunset!”
We would however, ask the question in all seriousness: Did the Holy Spirit, even in those things which we call peripheral to the main purpose of the revelation of the God of our salvation, keep the authors from making those mistakes common to men of their timer Let us test this briefly, using three examples.
1. Certainly the Bible is no textbook on genetics, but Leviticus 18:6 says: “None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him to uncover their nakedness: I am the Lord.” Now the reason given for abstinence from intercourse with those near of kin was not genetic but ceremonial. They were God’s people, He is their God Who is holy and they must observe this ceremonial holiness. The prohibition given has an up-to-date ring not at all out of step with our modern knowledge of genes, recessive and dominant characteristics, etc. The author, Moses, coming out (If an Egyptian culture where the Pharaohs were limited to marrying those near of kill. unstudied in the science of genetics, was so led by the Holy Spirit that the teaching was in harmony with present-day knowledge in this field.
2. Certainly the Bible was never intended to he a textbook on hygiene or safe eating habits. Bacteria were probably unknown to the authors. Yet the Holy Spirit so guided Moses that he wrote in Leviticus 19:5–7: “If we offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, ye shall offer it at your own will. It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow; and if aught remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire. And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted. Therefore everyone that eateth it shall hear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.”
Here again the purpose of this Scripture is not to teach health or sanitation or the danger of eating contaminated food. The purpose is to be holy to the Lord also in the peace offerings which were eaten before the Lord. They shared their joyful offering to the Lord, and they and the priests ate of it in sacrificial thanksgiving. Here again, however, the Holy Spirit guides the author, Moses, to instill good sanitary habits and causes him to avoid those mistakes in hygiene so common in his time and which he could not have known except for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
3. Certainly the Bible was never intended to be a textbook on sanitary practices to prevent epidemics. Yet the Holy Spirit guided Moses to write Deuteronomy 23:12–14: “Thou shalt have a place also without the camp whither thou shalt go forth abroad; and thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn hack and cover that which cometh from thee: For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee and to give up thine enemies before thee, therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.”
That this provision was not first of all a health matter is very evident because God Himself tells us that it is a matter of holiness and of keeping ceremonial holiness before the Lord. Yet the Holy Spirit led Moses to write as he did in the face of the prevailing lack of sanitary information and the lack of the knowledge of how epidemics were spread. The repeated decimation of the armies of ancient times by plagues and pestilences are a constant reminder of this lack of knowledge. Yet Moses writes in a manner beyond the “scientific” knowledge of that time.
Nor does this listing of a few examples exhaust the material.
The same Holy Spirit whose purpose was to make Israel a people holy to the Lord, even in the Old Testament, typical sense of the word, continues to speak. laying down rules for clean and unclean food, the laws for cleansing, the ritualistic hut sensible extension of leprous and other afflicted persons from Israel, segregating them to prevent contagion. The Holy Spirit is as up to date as 1971 in His laws for watercourses, for the cutting of trees in warfare, as well as in the ecological and conservation elements in the sen:,nth year and in the year of jubilee.
When we read other ancient writers and mark the foolishness they write in those areas not only concerning religion but also in the “peripheral” areas we can only say that the Bible is inspired in all its parts.
The question however remains: “If the Holy Spirit kept the authors of Scripture from writing foolishly in the area of Salvation and Theology, and extended this even to such peripheral things as genetics, health and sanitary practices, why would the Holy Spirit make an exception in the area of geology, of origins, and in the whole area of the “Genesis question”?
Conversely if the Holy Spirit allowed errors in these fields due to the limitation of the knowledge of the authors, how do we know the same is not true in the fields of Salvation, Theology, and the whole of “religious revelation”?
We will continue to say, Inspired in all its parts!
James Howerzyl is pastor of the Christian Reformed Church of Escondido, California.