The Understanding Distance

In January 1846, Alexander Campbell wrote an article on biblical interpretation for the Millennial Harbinger with a message that is as relevant now as it was then. 

There is a distance which is properly called the speaking distance, or the hearing distance, beyond which the voice reaches not, and the ear hears not. To hear another, we must come within that circle which the voice audibly fills. Now, we may with propriety say that as it respects God there is an understanding distance, Campbell asserted. All within that distance can easily understand God in all matters of piety and morality, while all beyond that distance cannot understand him. God himself is the center of that circle, and humility is its circumference. 

Campbell’s point was straightforward. If we want to hear a person well, we must draw within a hearing distance. Haven’t we all had those shouting moments in our homes where everyone is raising their voice not in anger, but in laziness? Unwilling to leave the comfort of the couch, we resort to yelling at one another from the other side of the house. We do this even though we know it will likely result in misunderstanding and frustration.

Hearing well often requires moving. Campbell said the same is true when it comes to hearing God in his Word. We must draw within a hearing, or understanding, distance, and that requires a degree of humility.

Humble Listening

Many important principles are necessary for properly understanding a text. I teach these to my students. For instance, to understand any passage of Scripture well, one must dig into things like the historical and cultural background of a text. When the Bible was being written, the world was very different in important ways, so we must study those differences.

We must also study such things as context. Many of the most common errors in biblical interpretation result from ignoring the broader context of a text.

These and other principles are essential to any student of the Bible, but one of the key lessons I learned from Dr. Bob Lowery while studying at Lincoln (Illinois) Christian University was that humility is the most important principle of biblical interpretation. We can practice all the sound literary principles for interpreting a text, but if we lack humility, we can still make the text say whatever we want it to say.

Humility is essential to all communication. Without humility we are prone to hear only our own voice. Putting words in someone’s mouth, jumping to conclusions, and overtalking are just a few of the communication breakdowns that result from a lack of humility. Humility beckons us to listen before we speak, to understand before we act. What is true in communication is also true of our interpretation of Scripture.

I like to remind my students that understanding the Bible begins with a choice. Will we choose to humble ourselves and listen to what God has revealed in his Word, or will we choose instead to impose our own meaning on the text? Will we seek to hear God’s voice, or will we listen only for our own voice as we read the text?

Humble Interpretation  

Some people use the word exegesis to describe this approach to interpreting the Bible. Exegesis refers to the process of drawing meaning out of a text through careful and sound interpretation. As Eugene Peterson explained so well in Eat This Book, exegesis is humble interpretation.

Exegesis does not mean mastering the text; it means submitting to it as it is given. Exegesis doesn’t take charge of the text and impose superior knowledge on it; instead, one who exercises exegesis in interpreting Scripture enters the world of the text and lets the text “read” them. Exegesis is an act of sustained humility (i.e., there is so much about this text that I don’t know, that I will never know). Christians keep returning to God’s Word, with exegetical help from grammarians, archaeologists, historians, and theologians, letting themselves be formed by it.

Exegesis lets the text read us. This sounds counterintuitive at first. We read texts, not the other way around, right? In Bible study, it is natural to assume we are the subject and Scripture is the object of our study. Peterson challenges that assumption, which brings to mind Hebrews 4:12-13. According to that book’s author, when we really listen to God’s Word, we become the object of study. God’s Word is described as “alive and active.” It pierces us like a sacrificial dagger. It judges our innermost thoughts and lays us bare before God.

Humble exegesis recognizes that the Bible is not a dead book written by a long-departed author. Rather, humble exegesis listens for the voice of the living God in the text and is prepared to say, “Not my will, but your will be done.”

This doesn’t mean that exegesis is easy. I challenge Campbell’s assertion that drawing within the hearing distance of God leads us to “easily understand him in all matters of piety and morality.” Not even those we read about in Scripture who heard directly from God easily understood him in all matters. I’ve found that humble exegesis often opens up new mysteries in the text that were unnoticed before.

People who talk too much without listening seem to be the most certain among us. But those who listen are naturally more curious. It’s good for us to recognize that humble exegesis takes time and effort. Exegesis, like any other discipline, is something we refine with time and practice.

Humble exegesis requires that we go back to a text over and over again and continue to learn from it. Humble exegesis requires that we be willing to consult with others who bring a level of expertise to the text that we lack. Humble exegesis might mean we admit that previous understandings were incomplete or perhaps even wrong. More than anything, humble exegesis means that when my will or the conventional wisdom of my culture comes up against the will of God in the text, the text wins.

Humble Acceptance 

James 1 offers us some of the clearest guidance of what humble exegesis looks like. James tells us, “Get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you” (v. 21). Interpreting Scripture within the hearing distance requires honest self-awareness.

So often we protect those sensitive areas of our life that we don’t want to change from the penetrating truth of God’s Word. Worse, we’ve inherited from our culture the assumption that we shouldn’t be expected to change. We expect to be made comfortable rather than challenged by the Word. However, James tells us that humbly accepting the Word which can save us requires our willingness to release the moral filth and evil that control us.

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves,” James 1:22 continues, “do what it says.” Mere knowledge and understanding are not enough. No act of communication is complete unless it is met with some kind of response. Reading without responding to the text is especially seductive because it gives us the illusion the text has been meaningful without any of the substance. Reading without responding puffs us up, but it leaves us unmoved and unchanged. Humble exegesis is ready to act on the Word.

James closes out the paragraph by talking about the person who “looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do it.” This person, James says, “will be blessed in what they do” (v. 25). Drawing within the understanding distance of Scripture has to be an ongoing discipline.

One implication of this verse is that the person who continues to look intently into God’s Word is able to bring the Word to bear in every aspect of life. We don’t only need the discipline of a regular Bible study time, although that is certainly important. That regular Bible study should cultivate a life that is always listening to and shaped by Scripture. Whether at work or at home, on the computer or out with friends, we can be blessed in what we do because the truth of God’s Word has come to saturate our entire life.

God’s people have always lived in confusing times. We struggle with the pressure to read our culture, our assumptions, and our temporal “truths” back into God’s Word. We are seduced to turn Scripture into an echo chamber where the only voice we hear sounds a lot like our own. It is true, however, that the more we care about the person speaking, the more we will humble ourselves and listen. Our love for them turns us into humble listeners.

The same is true about Scripture. If we are convinced that this is a living Word from our Creator who loves us desperately, there is no other way to respond than to draw within the understanding distance and humbly accept that Word.