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Health & Fitness

No, The Bible is Not Myth, and Yes It Matters

Pastors embracing liberal theology continue to infiltrate the pulpits of Christian churches today.  Too often, such pastors will teach their congregations that the Bible is largely myth.  Usually, such proponents will try to affirm that there is some historical context to the Bible and that many of the so-called myths from the Bible may be rooted in some original historical reality.  They also want to affirm that the Bible still contains truth for us today.  Such qualifications seem to be their way to try to salvage the usefulness of the Bible.  Nonetheless, the point of such qualifications is to deny the complete historicity and truthfulness of the Bible.

Understanding Genre

Historically the Bible has not been understood as myth.  This is because the Bible has never claimed to be myth, nor is there sufficient reason to receive it as such.  A simple way to consider this is to understand the concept of genre.  Genre is how we categorize various literary compositions based on certain qualities shared in common such as a particular style, form, or content.  Myth is a certain kind of genre.  The Bible is made up of several different genres.  For example, books like the Gospels and Acts are largely historical narrative.  Books like the Psalms are largely Hebrew poetry.  Books like Romans and Ephesians are epistles (letters), formatted in the common convention of the day.  Within each of these books there can be some parts that reflect a different genre than the book as a whole.  For example, in one of his letters the Apostle Paul quotes a psalm, which is poetry.  Or another example is that  Jesus often teaches in parables in the Gospels.  The parables themselves are clearly not presented as historical narratives, but as made up stories by Jesus to teach a lesson.  But those parables are recorded as part of the historical teachings of Jesus in those books that are compiled as historical narrative.  Understanding the idea of genre helps us to make sense of this.  It means that Christians have historically affirmed the historicity of Jesus teaching those parables without saying that the parables themselves reflect a historical event.  And so a simple review of the Bible and its genre can help us appreciate its nature. 

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To be frank, this should be common sense to even people with a rudimentary education.  It can be appreciated if a small child has difficulty in discerning the historicity between the story of the Three Little Pigs versus a survivor's account of 9/11.  However, most people can readily tell the difference.  Most of us intuitively discern the genre of some writing based on the content and the author's own assertions about their writing.  When the author tells us that his material is one particular genre, we have to have some compelling reason to think of it otherwise. 

Miracles Do Not Equal Myth

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Interestingly, people often report that a compelling reason for why we should consider the Bible to be myth is because it contains claims of things too amazing to believe could have actually happened -- in other words, it contains many accounts of miracles.  And yet, the Bible doesn't record these miracles as if they are normal, ordinary, occurrences of life.  Rather, these miracles are reported with clear reference that these are amazing and out of the ordinary.  Since the Bible is a record of God's self-revelation, it should not be surprising if he occasionally decides to do something amazing and miraculous, for the very purpose of confirming his identity and authorship!

The Ramifications of Identifying the Bible as Myth

Realize that liberal theologians are disregarding the claims of the authors of the Bible about the Bible when they call it myth.  They are trying to find a way to say that they don't agree with the nature of the Bible according to what the Bible says about itself.  For most liberal theologians it seems to be a simple matter of unbelief.  They see that the Bible claims to be inspired by God and historical and true, but they don't really believe that.  Since they don't believe it, they call into question the author's self-witness about the Bible.  Think about how serious that is.  They are saying that the author himself is not accurately identifying his own work.  Who should know best about the nature of the writing, the author  or a reader thousands of years later?  And yet by calling the Bible myth, they are claiming the Bible to be a man-made product that has misrepresented his own work.

It seems that such liberal theologians tend to have good intentions.  Their choice to define the Bible as myth is a way for them to still appreciate its usefulness without having to accept it as actually divinely inspired or even historical.  However, what usually ends up happening is that such theologians just pick and choose what they want to accept from the Bible and what they want to discard.  In which case, a fair question would be, "Why even have a Bible?"  One could essentially do that with any so-called holy book, good novel, nursery rhyme, or fairy tale.  By defining the Bible as myth, they end up having a Bible that is devoid of any inherent authority and power.  Any individual can then decide its meaning and purpose and value and what they believe to be true in it.  But again, what value is that?  How is that religion according to truth?

The Self-Witness of the Bible

So what does the Bible say about itself with regard to the genre of myth?  It repeatedly denies such an identification, particularly about the truths most central to the Christian faith, namely the eye-witness accounts of Christ and the resurrection.  Take a look at this specific assertion by the Apostle Peter:

2 Peter 1:16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (ESV)

Or see how the Apostle Paul repeatedly says we should not have anything do with myths.  The clear implication is that what he and the Scriptures teach is not myth:

1 Timothy 1:3-4   As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. (ESV)

1 Timothy 4:7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness. (ESV)

2 Timothy 4:3-4   For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (ESV)

Titus 1:13-14   This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. (ESV)

The Greek word for myth in these above passages is mythos.  Here we have authors of the Bible writing in letters to the church, where they specifically claim that the teachings of Christianity are not myth.  Rather, the Bible claims to be a divinely inspired product where God in different ways spoke through human authors:

Hebrews 1:1-2  Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (ESV)

Hebrews 2:1-4   Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. (ESV)

2 Peter 1:21   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. (ESV)

The Bible is not myth, and yes it does matter.

 

About the author: Rev. Reid Hankins is the pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Novato, CA.

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