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Articles

Are We Idolizing the Bible?

June 11, 2026 by Duncan Pile

Bible on Pedestal

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In any exploration of how to treat the scriptures, we are best off understanding how Jesus treated them and adopting his approach. He is our perfect example after all, the complete expression of God’s nature, and the author and perfector of faith.

Scripture points toward Jesus, not toward itself

Knowledge of the Bible is a means to an end – union with Christ – but if we idolize the Bible, elevating it to equal standing with the Lord, we can appear to be spiritually knowledgeable without understanding the text at all. Jesus encountered people who were in exactly this position:

"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me." (John 5:39)

If this verse shows us anything, it is that knowledge of the scriptures is not, in and of itself, a pathway to holiness. I would go so far as to say that we are better off meditating on a single verse until the Holy Spirit brings it to life in us than reading through the entirety of the Biblical text at pace.

Paul wrote of this same duality – a fleshly approach to the scriptures versus a spiritual approach. I Corinthians 2:10-13,

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.

He declares that we are able to perceive scriptural truths in a spiritual, even a mystical way. “Head knowledge” is of little to no value when it comes to understanding the things of God.

In Ephesians 3, Paul prayed that we would grasp the height, depth, width, and length of the love of Christ, and that we would “know this love that surpasses knowledge”. The first word translated as “know” means intimate knowledge, as a husband and wife know each other. This is the knowledge of experience and felt understanding. This kind of knowing “surpasses knowledge”, by which Paul means head knowledge, or knowledge of things that are allowed or not allowed under Hebrew Law, for example. In essence, he’s saying that spiritual, intimate knowledge surpasses head knowledge – it is better, more transformative, and deeper, leading us to be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” The only way to absorb spiritual truth in scripture is through intimate knowledge – the experience and enlightenment of the Spirit of God, bringing the text to life in us as we meditate on it.

Jesus didn’t treat the Bible as inerrant (without error)

Jesus didn’t treat scripture as many modern-day Christians do, considering them to be too elevated to question, reinterpret, or reframe. In particular, he had a complex relationship with the Hebrew Law. He was clear that the Law would remain until its purpose was fulfilled (to make us aware of our need for grace), but he didn’t attempt to live by it. In fact, he scrawled all over it with his words and deeds.

In Matthew 5, Jesus taught the gathered crowd to put aside the strictures of the Law and aim for a higher measure of righteousness. Matthew 5:38-45:

‘You have heard that it was said, “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.” But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.’

Hebrew Law forbade Jews from communing with Samaritans, and yet Jesus met and ministered to a Samaritan woman in John chapter 4. In chapter 8, religious zealots hauled a woman caught in adultery before him, demanding that she be stoned to death (as the Law commanded). Jesus escaped their trap, saved her from a painful death, and refused to condemn her. He turned the Law on its head, refusing to obey it. John 8:2-7:

Mark 2:23-28 presents us with an interesting conflict with the Pharisees over whether or not the Sabbath should be observed as the Law dictated:

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the cornfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some ears of corn. The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?’

He answered, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.’

Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.’

Jesus not only directly disobeyed the Hebrew Law but referred to a scriptural story as the basis for why he was doing so. He let the Holy Spirit be his guide and reset the agenda for understanding and living by the Hebrew Law.

We cannot read the Gospels honestly without accepting that Jesus broke, reinterpreted, and overrode the Law throughout his teaching and ministry. I can only conclude that though Jesus loved the scriptures, meditated on them, memorized them, and quoted them, he did not see holy texts as inerrant in the way that many modern Christians do. The doctrine of Biblical inerrancy wasn’t even a twinkle in the eye of believers in Biblical times, nor for the majority of church history. Many Evangelicals are surprised to discover that it is a relatively modern doctrine, cobbled together in the USA in the 19th century and further consolidated in the 20th. We do not have to hold to this doctrine – Jesus didn’t (and therefore doesn’t)!

The Early Church didn’t have a canon of scripture to rely on for hundreds of years after Jesus’ ascension. They had letters, Gospels, prophecies, and Old Testament scriptures, but there was no consensus over which works were scriptural and which were not. In the Book of Jude, for example, which is a letter to believers, the writer refers to an event recorded in The Assumption of Moses as fact, but The Assumption of Moses is apocryphal, and not in any of the canons of scripture we know today. In the 4th century, the Council of Rome canonized the Bible, including documents that Protestant denominations do not consider to be scripture today. During the Reformation, central figures such as Martin Luther argued about which books ought to be in the Bible. Currently, there are eight versions of the ‘final’ canon of scripture, depending on which expression of Christianity is followed. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Canon has 15 more books than the Protestant Canon’s 66.

This kind of talk would have greatly alarmed the Bible teachers of my youth, but I can’t see what the problem is, as we have the Holy Spirit to lead us into all the truth. Jesus relied on the Spirit to reveal the meaning of scriptural truth. We are called to walk closely with the Lord and ask him to illuminate our minds and hearts through the scriptures. Personally, I adore the books of the Bible and meditate on them often in the presence of God. What strength they contain! What freedom! What love! But if we need them to be rigid and unquestionable, we not only rob them of their power, but we erect a barrier between ourselves and the Lord. Instead of worshiping the One the scriptures reveal, we make the Bible an idol and bow down before its cast form.

How can we healthily engage with the scriptures?

The scriptures point toward Jesus. If we want to harness the power and life within the pages of the Bible, we need to keep Jesus front and center at all times. If our understanding of a particular book or passage contradicts what we see in Jesus, we should put it to one side and ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to what it is really saying. We need to rigorously challenge our doctrine, especially if it was built into our thinking during childhood. We need to give ourselves permission to ask the hardest questions, and to do so in the presence of the Holy Spirit, looking for his leading. And we need to learn to meditate on the scriptures – to let its words sink deeply into us as the Spirit enlightens our thinking.

If we try to rely on the Bible for precision or full instruction, we make it an idol. It is not an unquestionable manual for life but instead reflects the unfolding Gospel narrative over about 1500 years, along with the perspective and limitations of each writer. It overflows with wisdom and draws us to love, but only when inspired to each of us by the Holy Spirit. Through the false doctrine of inerrancy, and by overlooking the example of Jesus, we have tried to elevate the Bible to a divine status – unquestionable, perfect, eternal, rather than use it as a resource to draw near to God himself. Let’s put Jesus front and center of our understanding of the Bible, always remembering that he is the living Word of God.

6/11/2026 10:08:14 PM

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About Duncan Pile

Duncan Pile is a writer, author and speaker, living in Derbyshire, England with his wife and stepson. His mystical approach to faith straddles the Evangelical/Progressive divide, and flowing from lived experience, he is passionate about the deconstruction and reconstruction of the Christian faith.

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