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Unscriptural Doctrines of Scripture

Unscriptural Doctrines of Scripture

Last updated on: April 6, 2026 at 2:54 pm by James F. McGrath

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Unscriptural Doctrines of Scripture 2026-04-06T14:54:28-04:00 James F. McGrath

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Unscriptural doctrines of scripture are a problem in a variety of ways. Some contradict key biblical teachings. Some are incompatible with the evidence the Bible presents about itself. Some are unscriptural doctrines of scripture in both these senses. Let me explain.

Doctrines of Scripture that Run Counter to How Its Authors and Characters Treat Scriptures

One big disconnect between today’s unscriptural doctrines of scripture and the scriptures themselves is the evidence within the pages of the Bible for disagreement between authors and texts, and of people changing their minds.

The Book of Job

When you change your theology in light of your experience you follow in the footsteps of Job.

When you refuse to do so, you follow in the footsteps of Job’s friends.

Job and his friends had the traditional wisdom of the same sort that we find in writing in Proverbs. Job realized through his experience that the simple way he had understood the world and God did not fit. So he rethought it. God’s verdict at the end of the book is that Job spoke what is right about God, unlike Job’s friends.

What did Job do? He questioned. That was him speaking rightly about God. What did Job’s friends do? They refused to question. They set themselves up as defending God. According to the Book of Job, God was angry with them for doing so.

The Early Church vs. Genesis

The early church had the Torah in writing, with the clear statement in Genesis 17 that no one can be part of Abraham’s household and God’s covenant with him without being circumcised. They discerned that God was doing something different in their time.

It is profoundly ironic, as well as problematic, to take the collection of texts that shows us this, and treat it in a manner that is at odds with what we see Jesus and the early church doing in those very texts. I don’t see how people can try to make an argument that the Bible saying something means it can never be rethought, when this collection of texts is so replete with evidence of precisely those kinds of rethinking that they suggest is inappropriate.

If biblicism were the right approach to scriptures then Paul arguing for the inclusion of uncircumcised Gentiles would have to be wrong then. Genesis 17 is explicit and unambiguous. Circumcision is required to be included in Abraham’s household. It makes no sense to say “that was a new covenant” with the benefit of hindsight while using the approach to the Bible that was used by Paul’s opponents to ‘prove’ he was a heretic and apostate.

Acknowledging Scripture’s Diversity

Scripture does not speak with one voice. And even when it did, for instance on divorce being permissible, one could claim that that was Moses giving the hard-hearted an option that diverged from God’s perfect will.

It is self-contradictory for a Christian to adopt an approach to scripture that would have led them to reject Paul’s argument as incompatible with “what the Bible says” if they had lived in his time. They likewise would have found the attribution of a law to Moses rather than God unacceptable. They have a view of scripture that is incompatible with how Jesus and Paul and countless others treated it.

Jesus’ statement that a law may reflect the will and view of a human author rather than God should shape any Christian doctrine of scripture. So too Paul overriding Genesis. Ruth overriding Deuteronomy and including a Moabite in the assembly of the Lord. And the list goes on and on. It’s a process that goes back into the Old Testament and continues through the New, with no indication that it would then cease.

As an American Baptist, I stand in a tradition that argued against the defenders of slavery, who had careful exegesis of the laws and household codes on their sides, but we saw in core scriptural principles a reason to believe that we could do better than these ancient authors had done in treating others how we wish to be treated.

If discovering that slavery, legal in the Torah and assumed as valid in the epistles, could nonetheless be abhorrent to God constitutes a new revelation, then that’s an example I’d be happy to discuss. If you are fine with that, then I would ask what would prevent you from applying the same principle to women in ministry. If you are fine with that, then I would ask you why you stop applying the principle where you do.

Idolatry and the Bible

The Bible warns about not worshiping things made by human hands. The Bible is clearly the product of human hands. Not mistaking the Bible for divine should be obvious, yet so many doctrines about scripture claim that it has divine attributes like inerrancy and infallibility.

The Bible also makes clear why we are prone to commit idolatry. The Israelites felt scared when Moses went up the mountain and failed to return. They longed for a concrete sign of God’s presence among them. They thus made the golden calf.

For many Christians today, the Bible is their golden calf. They have Bibles that warn them of the need to accept uncertainty and the limitations of their human ability to know for certain. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). How do they respond? By trusting in the Bible with all their hearts, so that they can feel certain about their own understanding.

This isn’t just an unscriptural doctrine of scripture. It is a sinful one, by the Bible’s own verdict.

Conclusion

I tell more about my journey that eventually led me to stop trying to defend my doctrine about scripture from scripture in my book Beyond Deconstruction, as well as in many past posts on this blog. I also made a meme about this, which I hope you’ll share if you find it meaningful.

Sooner or Later, You Have to Choose between the Bible and Inerrancy

Defending the Bible from Inerrancy (or vice versa)

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