The Problem of Scriptural Illiteracy
This is a series addressing the problem of theological illiteracy using the results of the 2022 State of Theology survey by Ligonier Ministries, available here. For an overview of the results and methodology used, see the first post here.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
-2 Timothy 3:16-17, ESV
“And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
-2 Peter 1:19-21, ESV
Previously, I discussed the overall problem of theological illiteracy in the American church as revealed by the 2022 Ligonier State of Theology survey, but I noted that the high variation meant that to truly understand the results, we need to examine the responses to each question, which will take the next several posts. For this, I broke down the questions into categories following a typical study of systematic theology: Scripture, God’s Nature, Man and Sin, Salvation, the Church, and current issues. Like all good systematic theology, we will start with Scripture since it is only through Scripture that we learn all the other doctrines.
Overview of the Doctrine of Scripture
Core to Christianity is the doctrine that the Bible is in its entirety the very words of God. Scripture itself is clear that the words of Scripture were spoken by God (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 1:1-2, 2 Peter 1:19-21). This also means that the Bible is the only place where the words of God can be reliably found. Scripture therefore has the following attributes:
Inspiration: The inspiration of Scripture means that God gave His words to human writers who then wrote them down in their own voice and style such that all of the words of Scripture are God’s words.[1] (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:19-21)
Inerrancy: Since the words of Scripture are the words of the perfect God who cannot lie (which we will discuss in the next post), all of Scripture as originally written is completely truthful about everything it addresses.[2](Numbers 23:19, Psalm 19:9, Proverbs 30:5)
Authority: Being the inerrant words of God, Scripture carries the authority of God such that to disbelieve or disobey Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God Himself. Scripture is God’s edict as supreme King of the universe, which means that just as God is sovereign over every aspect of life, Scripture is sovereign over every aspect of life. There can be no higher authority than Scripture.[3] (Jeremiah 10:10, Matthew 28:18, Acts 5:29)
Sufficiency: As the only verifiable words of God, Scripture provides us everything we need to know for salvation, trusting in God, and obeying Him in any situation we might face. Therefore, Scripture must be the lens through which we view the world and the filter through which all human-derived “truth” must pass before being useful. While truth found in other sources may be helpful—only insofar as it is deemed true after passing through the filter of Scripture—it is not necessary for life and godliness.[4](Deuteronomy 4:2, 2 Timothy 3:15-17, 2 Peter 1:3)
A high view of Scripture is necessary to the Christian faith, so a healthy theology will maintain a high view of Scripture. The survey asked seven questions directly related to the view of Scripture. Correct responses are shown below.
State of Theology: Inerrancy of Scripture
Four of the questions assessed people’s belief in the inerrancy of Scripture:
5. Biblical accounts of the physical (bodily) resurrection of Jesus are completely accurate. This event actually occurred.
If Scripture is inerrant, this statement must be true, which the majority of people surveyed agreed with across all categories I looked at. This is a positive sign, since apart from belief in the resurrection, the Christian faith would be in vain and Christians would be pitiful (1 Corinthians 15:14-19). It is concerning that for a doctrine so central, only 66% of overall respondents and 59% Northeast respondents, affirmed it, but results for regular church attenders in both categories were much healthier. As to the historical authenticity of the resurrection from extrabiblical sources, see Lee Strobel’s Case for Christ or Josh McDowell’s More Than a Carpenter.
16. The Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful amounts of ancient myths but is not literally true.
17. The bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches.
18. Modern science disproves the Bible.
Results for all three of these questions were much more concerning. The inerrancy of Scripture necessitates that everything in the Bible is true. The first of these questions addresses the popular view that the events described in the Bible are ancient myths—fictitious stories told to teach lessons—rather than actual history. It is true that the Bible is not all literal, containing poetry, parables, general statements of wisdom, and prophetic imagery. It is also true that Hebrew (the original language of the Old Testament) makes substantial use of metaphors. Yet Scripture also tells history, which is written as literal history. Question 16 distrusts the accuracy of what the Bible clearly portrays as literal history and is therefore incompatible with the inerrancy of Scripture, so Christian orthodoxy requires us to disagree with that statement and agree with question 17. Sadly, many people surveyed did not, with both questions having less than 50% overall respondents answer them correctly. For question 16, even the highest scoring category (Midwest evangelicals regularly attending church) was less than 80%, with results for question 17 not much better.
Results were even worse for question 18, which addressed science. Science in its pure form is the systematic and objective discovery of truth, so if the Bible is true it cannot contradict science. But like all human endeavors, science is tainted by the noetic effect of sin (how sin distorts our ability to think and reason rightly), so when scientists stray from objectivity or into realms that cannot be proven (or disproven) by science, their results can appear to contradict Scripture. In truth, science done rightly has never contradicted (much less disproven) Scripture. Josh McDowell covers this thoroughly in The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, which was the result of his comprehensive study of the evidence with the express purpose of disproving the Bible. Instead, the evidence left him completely convinced of the Bible’s validity. Science has never contradicted—much less disproven—Scripture. But since the results of the previous questions show that many Christians disagree with the inerrancy of Scripture—and our society inherently trusts nearly anything bearing the label of “science”—it was discouraging but not surprising to find that even more Christians surveyed trusted “science” over Scripture. All of the categories I looked at scored less than 75%, with both the overall and Northeast numbers being less than 50%. This means that many Christians really don’t trust the Bible, which is very concerning.
State of Theology: Inspiration and Authority of Scripture
Three questions dealt with the authority of Scripture with one of them also touching the inspiration of Scripture:
11. The Holy Spirit can tell me to do something which is forbidden in the Bible.
30. The Bible has the authority to tell us what we must do.
32. The bible is the highest authority for what I believe.
Question 11 deals with both the authority and inspiration of Scripture, since the Holy Spirit is the author of Scripture. The Holy Spirit is God (which we will discuss next time), and since God cannot lie it naturally follows that the Holy Spirit who wrote Scripture cannot say something contrary to Scripture. Fortunately, the majority of Christians surveyed agreed that He cannot. Some that didn’t may have focused on the word “can”, appealing to the omnipotence (all-powerful nature) of God to say that as God, the Holy Spirit can technically do anything. However, this is an improper understanding of omnipotence, which really means that God can do anything consistent with His nature.[5] If He did anything contrary to His nature, He would cease to be God. Telling believers something contrary to Scripture would be lying and thus contrary to the Holy Spirit’s nature, so He really cannot do it. If I am correct on assuming that misunderstanding this nuance lowered the correct responses to this question, the results from this question are generally positive.
All three of these questions deal with the authority of Scripture. If not even the Holy Spirit can tell us anything contrary to Scripture, then Scripture must be the highest authority for what we believe (question 32) and what we do (question 30). The results for both questions are generally positive, with more than half of all respondents agreeing that Scripture is the highest authority for belief, and more than half of respondents from all but the Northeast (at 42%) agreeing that it is the highest authority over our lives. In all categories, slightly more people agreed that Scripture was the highest authority for belief than action, which I chalk up to our society’s general separation of belief and practice.
Key Takeaways
Overall, the theological health of the American church regarding Scripture is mixed. Belief in the historical accuracy of the resurrection and the authority of Scripture over our beliefs is relatively strong, while belief in the accuracy and authority of Scripture is somewhat weak. People generally see the Bible as a valuable religious book with good stories and lessons, but not a book full of accurate history and commands that affect everyday life. To fix this, American Christians need to first double down on reading, studying, and understanding the Bible in its entirety. People need to learn how to properly study the Bible, which I covered briefly here. We also need to view and revere the Bible for what it is: the very words of God that have ultimate authority over not only what we believe but also what we do, say, and even think. Next, we need to study the claims of both Scripture and science for ourselves while at the same time acknowledging the existence of mystery. A former pastor of mine was fond of saying that God often calls us to go beyond reason but never calls us to go against reason. Beyond reason lies mystery. Since our finite and fallen brains cannot fully comprehend God or His truths in Scripture, there will always be mystery. But enough of what is clear and verifiable in Scripture has been proven reliable that we can take God at His word for everything which is beyond our understanding. Nineteenth Century Scottish theologian T.J. Crawford covers this in more detail in The Mysteries of Christianity. This leads to the final point: we need to take God as His word. We need to take the literal history of Scripture as literal history, the figurative language as figurative, and the commands of the moral Law as commands that we must live by.
So treasure, devour, and be consumed by God’s Word. Many saints died so we could have the Bible in our own language, so don’t squander the privilege they died for! When you encounter mysteries in Scripture, wrestle through them by careful examination of the whole of Scripture but do not take the existence of those mysteries as evidence that the Bible is not true. Live by the book!
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
Deuteronomy 29:29 ESV
Notes:
[1] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 75; Louis Berkhof, Introductory Volume to Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2021: 152-153.
[2] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 91; “Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy”, International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, 1978, http://www.bible-researcher.com/chicago1.html
[3] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 73.
[4] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 127, 131.
[5] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 216; Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2021: 68.
