Is Bible Mystical

Is The Bible a Mystical Book?

Excerpted from "How We Read the Bible"

This brings us to address the underlying view of the nature of Scripture. When we begin to look at the Bible as containing the Word of God or as a "‘revelation'-within-the-revelation" the Bible becomes less a factual, objective book of history and more of a subjective book of mystery. The history of those who have taken this path is sobering and should cause us to stop and reflect. The ultimate result of this way of looking at the Bible is that truth becomes whatever one's personal impressions tell them. One example of this approach is Mary Baker Eddy, the leader of Christian Science:

In Christian Science we learn that the substitution of the spiritual for the material definition of a Scriptural word often elucidates the meaning of the inspired writer. On this account this chapter ["Glossary"] is added. It contains the metaphysical interpretation of Bible terms, giving their spiritual sense, which is also their original meaning.

Christians throughout the centuries have looked at the Bible as a mystical book. There are many reasons for this. One of the primary reasons has been the invasion of pagan thought into Christian thinking. Tragically, the historical church has perpetuated this approach to Scripture. Under this influence many Christians were taught that the Bible was too sacred, holy or mysterious for them to handle. Only the priests could understand and explain it. Therefore, many generations of Christians never read the Bible in their own vernacular. Medieval Catholicism took this view to such an extreme that people were led to believe that the power of Scripture was not in their comprehending its words, but in hearing it spoken, in Latin, as an incantation by the priests. Thus centuries of Christians listened to Scripture read in Latin, never understanding it, yet believing it was performing a magical or mystical work. Thankfully, many Christians do not live under that influence any more. Nevertheless, the mystical approach remains alive in other forms.

The mystical view of Scripture has come to us through the persisting ideas of the "mystery" religions, and a gross failure by the Church to discern the vital difference between what is supernatural and that which is mystical. Supernatural means to come from above nature, or from God. Mystical means "having a spiritual reality not apparent to the intelligence or sense." The mysterious is said to be something that baffles human reason or understanding. Thus the mysterious approach sees truth as incomprehensible to the mind and must be "known" through intuition or one's "spirit." The Bible, being the book about the work of God's Spirit, telling of a God who works in mysterious ways, and who works wonders and miracles, can lead one to think of it as a mystical book. One can see how Christians could easily confuse the supernatural character of Scripture with a mystical approach.

However, just because the Bible is the supernatural product of God's Spirit, that does not mean the communication of the message is through mystical means. The Bible comes to us supernaturally or from God, but it does not speak mystically - incomprehensible to the mind. The nature of the Bible consists of the supernatural and the natural. The way it communicates involves nature - words, history, and the human reason. Just how God was able to inspire and communicate His Word through the Bible may be a mystery to us. That does not mean we understand the message of the Bible mystically. We believe Jesus was God and man. His incarnation was a great and holy mystery. How could God become human? Yet, we do not know the truth of the deity of Christ through a mystical experience. We know about it through the facts of history recorded for us in Scripture. We come to know about the mystery of God through the very common words of human language found in Scripture. It does not matter what mystical experiences one may have. The test is the non-mystical, openly revealed report communicated to us in the words of Scripture.