The Bible - A True Story But Not Factual

Greg Strand

November 14, 2012

The statement below is precisely why the book Do Historical Matters Matter to Faith?, which was mentioned yesterday, needed to be written. This is one of many reasons for the need of such a book!

The Bible is a true story but not always factual. The truth of the Bible doesn't come from the facts of the stories, but rather from the spiritual meaning of those stories. The true ideas the Bible teaches have little to do with history, geology, or any matters of the natural world, but have everything to do with the spiritual world and the things that really matter in our lives.

Amos Glenn, MINemergent: A Daily Communique (March 27, 2012)

Questions: What do you think of this statement? Where does it get it all wrong? If someone were to say that to you about the Bible, how would you respond?

This sort of understanding of the Bible was common among liberals. But now this description of the Bible is on the lips and pens of those who call themselves Evangelicals. (I do not know if Glenn identifies as an Evangelical or not.) The Evangelical understanding of the Bible is that it is inerrant in faith and practice, history and science. And it is important to know/remember, this is the historical position of the church!

A humble forewarning. It is likely that someone will claim an archaeological discovery that will call into question some aspect of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. This is part of the popular media’s “liturgy” in light of the church celebrations (particularly Christmas and Easter). It is also quite likely that some pastor/preacher/teacher/leader will respond by saying that if the bones of Jesus were found, if it was determined that Jesus never rose from the dead, it would not change one aspect of his/her faith.

This is absolutely ludicrous. In fact, Paul bases his argument for the Christian faith, the gospel, on the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus. Paul writes (1 Corinthians 15:14-19),

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that He raised Christ . . . For if the dead are not raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Paul will not allow this nonsense of having a true, biblical faith apart from the literal and physical death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who claim that an unresurrected Christ would not affect their faith indicates they have no true saving faith at all. Because “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20), those “unbelieving Christians” (Christians by title or profession, but not in reality or confession), are most of all to be pitied.

Greg Strand

October 25, 2022

Dear Greg, I agree with your thoughts. I am wondering if you would extend this question to all areas of the bible such as "did Daniel actually exist", or Are Adam and Eve literally the first two people and is the apple story literal? Thanks, Rob

Greg Strand

October 25, 2022

Hello Rob,

Thank you for your question. It is important.

The point of my post is the opposite of the title of the post. And based on the way you ask the question about whether or not we should ask the same questions of Adam and Eve and Daniel, I want to make certain you do not miss that. As noted in my article, "The Evangelical understanding of the Bible is that it is inerrant in faith and practice, history and science. And it is important to know/remember, this is the historical position of the church!"

In Article 2 of our Statement of Faith on The Bible, we affirm the following: "We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises." (emphasis mine)

So yes, Adam and Eve are historical. Yes, Daniel is historical. But these events are not just historical. They are also part of redemptive history, God's redemptive plan to redeem a people for himself for his own glory. And they are also canonical, that is, they are redemptive events that are recorded in the Scriptures with God's divine interpretation of those events.

It is important to know that God's special revelation, the Scriptures, "the verbally inspired Word of God," which is inerrant, is revealed "through the words of human authors," which means it is both literally true and also literarily true, viz., truth is communicated through different genres, e.g., law, prophecy, gospel, parable, epistle, etc. This would probably be another helpful blog post.

(PS In Genesis 3, the created thing that was used to tempt and then result in the sin of Eve and Adam, theologically referred to as the fall (cf. Rom. 5:12-21), is not an "apple." It is referred to as "the fruit" (Gen. 3:2, 3, 6).)

Greg Strand

January 11, 2023

My son-in-law has professed to be a jew, he doesn't practice or attend synagogue. He says we (christians), have stolen the God of the jews, and that My religion is false because there is apparently " the book of Jesus", that claims he denies he is the messiah and he had a wife and children. It all that true?

Greg Strand

Invalid date

What you have heard is not true. It is accurate that Karen King, a Harvard Divinity School professor, released in 2012 a papyrus fragment with a Coptic text: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife . . .’” It became known as the Gospel of Jesus’s Wife fragment. It was a forgery. Christian Askeland wrote about this in 2020: Closing the Case on the Gospel of Jesus’s Wife.

Greg Strand

November 30, 2023

We're there any noted historians during the time of Jesus, if so do they mention any of the miracles he performed. A true story cannot be a true story unless it is Factual. The news doesn't have to be factual ( case fox news out of Tampa Florida appellate court over turned a verdict ). The news doesn't have to be factual there for it now becomes a matter of opinion or an individuals perception of what they saw or heard. The bible cannot be a true story. Thank you

Greg Strand

November 30, 2023

The Bible is history and factual. You can read about the non-canonical historical references to Jesus here: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Evidences and Implications And it is important to state that the Bible is also a historical document, so that counts as a record of the history as well.

Strands of Thought

The Bible - A True Story But Not Factual

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