CS 501
Houston Graduate School of Theology
Introduction to Christian
Spirituality, part 3
The use and abuse of Scripture
 What does Brauch mean by the abuse of
Scripture?

Interpreting or applying the Bible in questionable or
irresponsible ways.
 Are these abuses always intentional?

No, they are often the results of allowing biases or
preconceptions to control the reading of Scripture.
 This discipline is called hermeneutics.
The twin pillars
 Intentional – The highest view of Scripture is that
which is most faithful to the intention of Scripture
itself.
 Incarnational – The view of Scripture which takes
with utmost seriousness the fact that God’s final,
ultimate form of revelation is the incarnation of
Jesus Christ.
God’s word in human vocabulary and human
vocabulary bathed in the Word of God.
The word “word”
The written word
The Incarnate Word (Jn 1:14)
The spoken word (Heb 1:1-4)
The abuses
 To avoid the abuse of the whole gospel
 Balance the personal and corporate nature
of Scripture
 Study Scripture book by book and as a
whole
 To avoid the abuse of selectivity
 Study all of the voices from Scripture on a
subject
 Employ the “forest versus the trees”
principle
 Look for redemptive movement within
Scripture
The abuses
To avoid the abuse of biblical balance
Acknowledge the reality of multiple biblical
perspectives
Refuse to dictate in advance what Scripture
reveals about God
Allow for the discovery of deeper truths
Practice humility
Be careful not to rationalize or prioritize one
sin over another
Balance correct doctrinal confession with
concrete ethical action—truth and grace, faith
and action, doctrine and ethics, knowledge and
praxis
The abuses
To avoid the abuse of words
Remember that revelation is within the
confines of human language
Recognize that “hearing” includes the
possibility of understanding and
misunderstanding
Be attentive to the range of meanings in
original and translated languages
Take seriously the contexts in which words are
created and used
Use linguistic tools and resources
The abuses
To avoid the abuse of literary/theological
contexts
Ask “What is its context?”
Analyze the immediate and larger
contexts
Resist the temptation to bring
preconceived notions to the text
Ask what the audience would have
heard or read
Interpret text in light of the larger
literary and theological argument
The abuses
To avoid the abuse of historical/cultural
contexts
Take Scripture’s incarnational
nature seriously
Distinguish between what is
relative and what transcends all
contexts
Ground discernment in biblical
precedent
Why?
There is still so much to discover
through revealed truth.
Perhaps there is much more truth
“out there,” yet to be discovered
throughout eternity.