How Should We Approach Scripture?

“Atheists and heretics keep resurrecting the anti-Semitic heresy of Marcion and Mani:  that the God of the Old Testament is a radically different God than the God of the New; that Jesus was not really a Jew and that the Being he called his Father was not the God of the Jewish Scriptures; that there is a contradiction between the two Testaments, between law and love, between justice and mercy.” – Peter Kreeft (Wisdom of the Heart:  The good, the true, and the beautiful at the center of us all)

Dr. Kreeft’s words are good. It reminds me that when reading scripture, we begin by saying to ourselves with faith: This is without error, from God, and it it doesn’t contradict the basic rules of truth. There is no contradiction, there is no inconsistency. When we approach scripture with this mindset of giving God, its author, the benefit of the doubt, we are capable of coming to grips with such apparent contradictions with an automatic assumption that “I am reading this incorrectly.”  And that, there must be another way to read it.

This is a normal behavior when we are swept up in the trust of a judgment outside of ourselves. And it gives room to God to add nuance, explain things in a non-lazy way, a manner where historical context, literary form, development, philosophy and so forth, are all parts of the intelligible process of interpretation that the Church herself takes to herself. But for those who wish to mischaracterize from the start, to find contradictions to argue and divide, we know this is all marked by the sad state of not yet having faith.

It is one thing to approach scripture with a question, yearning to understand and reconcile such difficulties. It is another to exploit such apparent contradictions to ridicule, and dismiss. But this is the case with all relationships, all politics, and all relationships – why should it differ in scripture?

Photo: Olivia Snow, Unsplash / PD-US