Per Christum Catholic Blog

I was thinking last night:

There is no plain meaning of Scripture, as the phrase is commonly understood

Maybe it is the postmodern in me, but my contact with Christians of all denominations has convinced me no such thing exists, at least not as popularly understood. If there were a “plain sense” of Scripture, an obviously clear reading that can’t be missed, a reading that is available if one just tries hard enough in humility, the hundreds of denominations that appeal to the “plain meaning” of Scripture would be in agreement. Even in matters of the so-called essentials or salvation issues, denominations appealing to the “plain sense” of Scripture can’t agree (the Calvinist-Arminian debate proves this). Wars could have been avoided, thousands of gallons of ink conserved, and millions of trees saved. Let me put it this way: If I had computer installation instructions that hundreds of different groups interpreted hundreds of different ways, I would question how plain these instructions were. While talking of the “plain meaning” of Scripture may work in theory, in reality, the Bible’s ultimate meaning is anything but clear if the number of denominations is any indication.

Now, I do believe in an objective meaning to the Bible; I just don’t believe that one can always find this by simply appealing to the “plain meaning” of the Bible, whatever that even is. This objective meaning is only fully known in the context in which the Bible was produced: the Church. As Jason Sims said in the comments to this post:

All Christians will harp about context, but I think the context that is often missing is the one you point to: the Church. Just like entries in a diary or an overheard conversation between old friends might leave an outsider clueless or even with the opposite meaning of what is being said, reading the scripture outside the context of the Tradition and Authority can leave us as confused and in error.

So yes, there is a plain meaning to Scripture, in a sense, but it only becomes plain when understood in the context of the Church. Thus, an individual picking up the Scriptures and reading them outside Apostolic Tradition can only get so far. Perhaps he will find the basics (we hope), or perhaps not. How clear is the Bible with regard to the Trinity? According to many denominations who read the Bible “plainly,” it is not so plainly there. However, Apostolic Tradition tells us it is there, and if you don’t find it there, you are wrong. To use the computer installation example again: if you wanted to understand the computer installation manual that a company had written, you would ask the company that wrote it what the manual meant, not an outsider.

So are biblical studies pointless? No. Biblical Studies help the Church better understand the Scriptures, and the Apostolic Community provides the limits within which faithful biblical studies must operate. The balance is certainly delicate, but rigorous Scripture study has been done for years by faithful theologians with the blessing of the Church. So yes, we can do Bible study, study it for ourselves, comment on Scripture, etc, but I think we have to have recognize that just because we see something in Scripture, doesn’t mean that is the objective meaning, no matter how “plain” to us. So to repeat: I am not denying that there is a real meaning to Scripture, but rather that the nebulous “plain meaning” we hear so much about, where any person can read the Bible “for himself” and understand it, really isn’t a reality.

Now, I have heard “well, the meaning is plain, if you just read it right, do X, don’t read it like group Y, etc.” Of course, this is troubling, because I thought the meaning was plain. You add in the views of the esteemed Dr. so-and-so, the Confession of [fill in Continental European City], and the way group whatnot has interpreted Scripture since 18__, suddenly you are leaving “plain meaning” territory and adding externals.

So no, I don’t believe in the “plain meaning” of Scripture, nor do appeals to it convince me. And when someone says “just read Scripture and its plain meaning,” they mean “read it like I read it, which is plain enough to me (obviously), and if your ‘plain reading’ doesn’t line up with my ‘plain reading,’ you are deceived or need to be enrolled in Special Education classes” even though the message is supposedly plain to begin with!