What Does it Mean to Revere the Bible?

There's more than one way

This coming weekend I’ll be teaching at another church here in town (Charleston, SC) As part of their guest speaker prep they sent me a document telling me a bit about their church. It’s very helpful for me to know who I’ll be speaking to, what the vibe of the church is, etc. At one point, the document describes the congregation as having “an unusually high reverence for the authority of Scripture.” That caught my eye and made me wonder, “What does that mean to them?”

I don’t think there are any Christians who would say, “I don’t take the Bible seriously.” No matter what they think about the Bible, all believers would say they approach it with appropriate reverence. Even the deconstructing “Exvangelicals” who rack up views and likes by posting videos on social media about how nothing in the Bible is what it appears to be, would say they are respecting it.¹

Because we are confident in our own motives and approach, we often look askance at others. The church I’ll be teaching at, for example, acknowledges in its guest packet that its members tend to adhere to a particular worldview and set of values. I know many people who, given that worldview, would scoff at the church’s claim to revere Scripture. But I think they would be wrong to do so, even if I don’t read the Bible the same way this church does.

What does it mean to revere the Bible, anyway?

I have been attending Seacoast Church, where I also work, for 30 years. Seacoast is an evangelical megachurch and like most megachurches, we are often accused of being Christianity Lite, so to speak. When people who attend Seacoast for a while decide to go elsewhere, they sometimes say that they “aren’t getting fed.” It always amuses me to hear a grown adult complain that they can’t feed themselves. One would think that saying such a thing out loud would lead to some introspection. Alas.

Anyway, what they usually mean is that they want to find a church that offers a different approach to teaching the Bible. That’s fine! What they don’t quite say out loud (sometimes they say it out loud) is that Seacoast doesn’t take the Bible seriously enough. This is an accusation people who don’t even attend Seacoast sometimes level at us as well. When I was younger, I might have actually agreed with them. But I don’t anymore.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

What remains true is that I prefer a different style of teaching than we usually offer at Seacoast. I am far more likely to listen to and learn from Tim Keller (what a loss) or N.T. Wright than charismatic preachers who know how to work a crowd. Also, I don’t really care about practical application in a sermon; I prefer to considering and process what I’ve heard on my own, without someone telling me what to do with it. At Seacoast, we lean very heavily into practical application, which is a challenge for me when I teach here.

The emphasis on practical application at the expense of deeper exegesis or historical study is what, after a while, can make people feel like they aren’t growing. As I said above, I think if someone gets to that point, it’s fine for them to consider whether they would benefit from different teaching. On the other hand, I think finding resources and learning to feed themselves while staying committed to their church is better than leaving. I don’t get everything I need from Sunday morning at Seacoast, but that isn’t why I’ve given it three decades of my life.

And I think people who say we don’t have a high view of Scripture, or that we don’t take it seriously, are wrong. I have come to realize that Seacoast takes Scripture extremely seriously, even if our approach to it isn’t for everyone. Now, I know some people (some of them are reading this right now! You know who you are!) have raised eyebrows, but let me explain.

I approach the Bible through my mind. For me, serious study involves deep reading and research, and really thinking hard about what is being said. How does what I am reading connect to other passages? What do we see in history, or in human nature that reinforces ideas found in the Bible? What have others written or said about this? “How do I live this out” tends to come last in my process.

When I was younger, I thought that taking the Bible seriously meant approaching it this way. What I now understand, though, is that there are few things more reverent than committing to live out, practically, what the Bible teaches.

I went to Liberty for college and I knew a lot of guys who were very serious about the Bible. They studied hard and were very committed to correctly understanding everything they read, like me. And a lot of them were complete jerks (also kind of like me? I think I’ve mellowed though). But there were others whose actions left a deep impression on me, even though they were equally serious about the Bible. They were deeply kind and were committed to their friends. They still are. That, more than what they knew about the Bible, has stayed with me.

No one has a higher view of Scripture than those who are determined to live it out, to the best of their understanding. At Seacoast, I might not learn as much about the Bible as I would at another church; but I have certainly come to understand it better.

1. Just remember they’re pretty much all grifters who don’t actually believe in anything, least of all the Bible.