You Don't Know Your Bible

…And neither do I.  Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “know” in this manner: “to apprehend clearly and with certainty” (emp. mine). But don’t tell that to 17-year-old Jonathan.  He would’ve had you to believe he was a top-notch biblical scholar.  I look back at those times and I laugh.  I knew so little, yet I boasted so greatly.  School peers would discuss religion and I would interject in a matter-of-fact manner with a know-it-all attitude.  The thought of my arrogance disgusts me.  Fast forward nearly 8 years, a bachelor’s degree in Bible, 3 years of ministry experience later, and I still know very little about the Word of God.

However, I’m not alone.  You are all in the same boat as I am.  The English Bible has 1,189 chapters, 31,173 verses, and 807,361 words.¹  There is not a single person alive who knows (or can know) every single thing there is to know about the Bible.  Why do I bring this up? Simple: to believe you truly know the Bible is arrogant.  I’m sure everyone of you have encountered a preacher who thinks they have the final authority on biblical interpretation, and that anyone who disagrees with them is inferior. 

Am I arguing that all people have equal knowledge of the Bible? No, I am not meaning to imply that at all.  Am I arguing that it is impossible to be a student of the Word and have great familiarity with it? Absolutely not!  What I am arguing is that we must avoid having an arrogant and boastful attitude about how much we “know” the Bible, because then it becomes a matter of our personal ego.  What I am advocating is humility as we study the Word and grow as servants of Christ.  Both Testaments make frequent reference to an arrogant of proud spirit:

Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. (1 Samuel 2:3)

As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:16)

Let us all avoid boasting in our biblical knowledge, and with humility spend more time in the Scripture. There more I study and learn from the greatest of all books, the more I realize how little I know.

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¹  The Open Bible: New American Standard. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1977. p. 1227.