Who knows what the Bible says?

From the WordAction lesson exposition for 9/6/09:

Because Scripture comes from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the proper interpretation of Scripture cannot reside in individuals alone. Rather, it is in the community of the Holy Spirit, the Church. -- Roger Hahn

This statement cautions us to bring the truth we find in the Bible into the community of believers for evaluation and discussion rather than relying on our own ability to comprehend Scripture. It's a good reminder. In my experience, however, I find few people developing their own take on Scripture. What I see instead reminds me of the scene in Exodus 20 where the people "stayed at a distance and said to Moses, 'Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.' " Many church attenders, it seems, rely completely on other people to tell them what the Bible says. Few are willing to invest the time and effort needed for personal Bible study.

To see where this leads, we need only to look back to the time when books were rare and literacy uncommon. Can church authorities today better resist the temptation to do Bible interpretation in a way that furthers their own goals? Can we grasp the full message of the Bible through regular church attendance or do we need to read it for ourselves?

It would be nice to think that today's religious leaders are immune to temptation to insert a personal agenda into their messages to the people they teach, that our preachers and teachers can be trusted to give us an accurate portrayal of God's Word. But the temptation is subtle and the results often beyond detection by those without a personal grasp of Scripture. To neglect personal Bible study is to open ourselves up to false doctrines. Just as we need community to shape our personal interpretations, we need personal study to shape the mindset of the community.

What a long way we are from the medieval church! We now have ready access to the Bible in compact, inexpensive manifestations. We have a choice of translations with tremendous scholarship behind them. Here in America, we are almost 100% literate, but those who, for whatever reason, prefer to listen rather than read can readily find audio versions of Scripture. How many people through the ages have given their lives to the work of making Bibles available to us in our own language? How many hours and years of effort are represented by the Bibles gathering dust in our homes?

Yes, we need community. We also need people within the community who can bring fresh insights to the group from their personal Bible study. We neglect our Bibles between Sundays to the detriment of the community we trust to interpret Scripture for us.