What the Bible Is For

Missional Interpretation 101

Is there a proper use of the Bible? 2 Tim 3:16 comes quickly to mind: “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” Granting that “scripture” here is not yet what we know as the Bible, Christians have always understood this passage to be an apt description of the texts later designated as our canon. Already, we have multiple uses of the Bible in view. And already, we have an invitation to distinguish between instrumental uses and ultimate uses.¹ The preceding and following verses are critical in this regard:

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, 15 and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

Instrumental uses like teaching, reproving, and training in righteousness serve two ultimate uses: salvation through faith in Christ and equipping for every good work. There is more to say about the relationship between these ultimate uses, but first, let’s add to the picture of uses in the New Testament.

If we start with the sacred writings Paul certainly has in mind, one of his earliest comments is found in Galatians 3:22: “But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” It would take a lengthy excursus (or many books!) to account for Paul’s understanding of “the law” at issue here. I’ll limit our focus to his purpose statement. The reception of promises through faith in Jesus Christ is the ultimate function of the law. This constitutes right use for the apostle. At a minimum, we find here a confirmation of “salvation through faith” in 2 Tim 3:15.

Proceeding in roughly chronological order, Paul says of Israel’s history in 1 Cor 10:16 that “these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did.” Similarly, Rom 15:4 says, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.” Examples that transform desire, instruction that produces hope—the move from instrumental to ultimate uses holds. We have yet to combine salvation, equipping, transformation, and hope in a conception of ultimate, proper use, but we’re on the way.

Turning to the Gospels, Jesus has some things to say about Scripture, too. In the temptation story, Jesus tells the devil, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matt 4:4). Admitting again the gap between “the word of God” in the New Testament and the Bible as we have it, the connection holds. One way of describing the ultimate use of Scripture is “life.” Then, in conversation with the disciples on the road to Emmaus after Jesus’s resurrection, “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures” (Luke 24:27). We discover a Christological hermeneutic resonant with “salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” on the lips of Jesus himself. From one angle, Jesus’s interpretation reveals that Scripture is about him in some sense. From another, it is for salvation through him.

Other New Testament writings add to our picture. 2 Pet 1:19–21 states:

19 So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed [by the transfiguration; vv. 17–18]. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

The purpose of “scripture” is like the function of a lamp in the dark. God speaks through the Holy Spirit in the biblical text so that, if we attend to it, a light might shine in the dark until the morning star illuminates our hearts. Hope once more seems to be an ultimate use of the Bible. But this is downstream of previously stated goals: establishment in the truth through memory (v. 12), confirmation of calling and election (v. 10), prevention of ineffectiveness and unfruitfulness (v. 8), and, most fundamentally, participation in the divine nature that results in escape from the corruption of the world through lust (v. 4). For Peter, “his divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (v. 3), and this is tied directly the prophetic word. Alongside hope, life and godliness are ultimate uses of Scripture.

Finally, Hebrews 4:12–13 states:

12 Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.

One last time, I note the difference between “the word of God” and the Bible as such. Though I affirm the analogy between the two for the purposes of this discussion, it is not a trivial distinction. Indeed, it marks the stark contrast between our uses of Scripture and God’s, which is another way of saying instrumental and ultimate. So what does Hebrews tell us about God’s use of Scripture? Judgment is the operative word—or perhaps discernment. The living and active word of God lays bare our thoughts and intentions. “Render an account” (v. 13) sounds rather like final judgment, but the point is that Scripture already serves to expose our intentions ahead of time, much to our later benefit. The difficulty of connecting this passage logically to the preceding and following expositions diminishes if we recognize that this is precisely what the author of Hebrews is attempting. The Book of Hebrews is the premier written sermon of the New Testament. In these fascinating verses, the preacher lets the audience know what his use of Scripture ought to accomplish if they receive the word of God through it.

On the one hand, this cutting and exposing use of Scripture is reminiscent of reproof and correction in 2 Timothy. On the other hand, there is something more ultimate in view here, namely, the transformation of the heart. An alignment with God’s own thoughts and intentions lies on the other side of Scripture’s surgical use.

There is obviously such a thing as misuse of Scripture, as well. Considering passages on that topic would contribute to the picture I’m painting. For the sake of brevity, I’ll press on to the next part of the discussion, assuming that I have established both (1) the distinction between instrumental and ultimate uses of the Bible and (2) a sufficient variety of ultimate uses to raise the question of how they might cohere. To summarize, in New Testament terms, ultimate uses of Scripture include:

Faith

• salvation through faith in Christ Jesus

  • understanding Jesus

  • reception of promises through faith in Jesus Christ

  • life

Love

• transformation of desire

  • alignment with God’s thoughts and intentions

  • participation in the divine nature

Hope

• equipping for every good work

I’ve organized these words and phrases according to my own understanding of what they “mean.” These cursory decisions reveal a theological operation that moves beyond merely listing biblical “data” as though they hang together independent of further interpretation. In the list above, a particular use of biblical texts about the use of the Bible is in evidence. An appropriately “meta” viewpoint appears. Hermeneutics, as the theory of interpretation, is concerned with prying underneath interpretive decisions. Regardless of whether my decisions withstand further scrutiny, they serve to raise the essential question: what theological perspective ought to shape our determinations about the use of Scripture?

The theological perspective I am advocating, missional interpretation of Scripture, aligns the use of the Bible with Paul’s three greatest spiritual gifts: faith, hope, and love (1 Cor 13:13). Accordingly, uses of the Bible should be weighed against three questions:

1. Does this use serve human life as it is revealed through faith in Jesus Christ?

2. Does this use serve human participation in the divine life constituted by love?

3. Does this use serve the equipping of God’s people for good works pursued in hope?

First, missional theology returns to the Gospels for a vision of human life revealed in the person and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. “Salvation” refers to the fullness of life that Jesus lives out and the abundance of life to which he calls us. The “human being fully alive”[Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.20.7] beholds the life of God made flesh and, in faith, receives the gift of life through him. This life is obedient, sacrificial, and empowered by the Spirit of God.

Second, missional theology presumes a Trinitarian theology in which the union of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in one divine essence is rightly characterized as love. The movements of love between Father, Son, and Spirit that constitute the divine life are portrayed in salvation history as “sending,” and the divine life is opened so as to include Jesus’s disciples in those movements (John 17). “Participation in the divine life” is another way of saying sent by the Father and the Son in the power of the Spirit to share in the loving being of God for the sake of the world.

Third, missional theology understands God’s people—alive by faith, constituted by love—to be created for good works that bear witness to hope. The purposes of God are the purposes of God’s people. The life of God’s people is given for the life of the world. The participation of God’s people in the life of God is participation in the work of God in the world. The church’s works of faith and love testify to the hope of the resurrection. Our “labor is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58).

Missional interpretation, therefore, contends that the proper use of the Bible serves the church’s faith, love, and hope. In technical terms, these three represent epistemology, ontology, and eschatology. In the end, none of the three is discrete or exclusive. What we receive by faith will become a complete reality (epistemology and ontology). What we know in part will be fully known (epistemology and eschatology). What we participate in partially will become full participation (ontology and eschatology). But for now, they are aspects of our experience and dimensions of our use of the Bible.

Whatever deepens our knowledge of Christ, aids our participation in God’s life, or prepares us for good works contributes to the proper use of Scripture. Whatever holds these three together is a proper use of Scripture for missional interpretation. Here’s what the Bible is for: the participation of God’s people in God’s mission through faith, love, and hope.

1. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1.7, is to be credited with distinguishing between instrumental goods (means to an end) and ultimate goods (ends in themselves).