Bible Study vs. Spirituality

The written words are still spiritual in nature. Photo from Unsplash

Here is why I am separating the two things

I have a section on this site for spirituality, and another one for biblical studies. I do see those as separate things, and I’m seeing that even more clearly recently.

Biblical studies are important, but they are still the study of a book. It is a spiritual exercise, but knowledge doesn’t make you more spiritual. Paul says knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. Knowledge can lead to pride and even arrogance. Spirituality smooths out that edge.

Biblical studies are more objective. There’s a long history of interpretation, translation, and even the development of theology itself. There are plenty of tools out there to help with biblical studies. It’s good to know when it was written, what the times were like, and how the original audience would have taken it. While truth is timeless, it was not written in our culture, and trying to understand it in light of our modern culture only misses much of the message. I’ll have a lot more on that in the biblical studies section of this site at some point.

Spirituality is actually living in the world. It is experiential knowledge. It involves things like prayer, knowing yourself, and relating to other people. It’s very subjective. When it comes to biblical studies, it’s easier to measure truth and reality.

When it comes to spirituality, it’s a lot messier, a lot more foggy. I’ll be writing about my own spiritual life and development. It’s not something that you just attain, and that’s the end of the story.

It’s like driving a car. You can drive fine without knowing how the transmission or engine works. You can also understand how engines and transmissions work, and still be a terrible driver.

When I write about biblical studies, I’ll be writing more from an academic perspective. When I write about spirituality, I’ll be writing more from a lived perspective.

There is a danger in both extremes. You could make the Bible into an idol, where it actually replaces God. The written words become all there is, and then you have to make your world fit in that box. I don’t think the writers of the Bible ever intended it to be taken that way. If you think it’s a rule book, you haven’t read it closely enough.

You can go too far the other way too.

If you take your spirituality and only go with your experience and internal knowledge, you can easily be led down some pretty bad paths. You still need the Bible as the anchor.

While they are separate, they come back together nicely.

The spiritual experience is measured against the Bible, and they should line up. If they don’t, then something is wrong, and you need to think it through more.

There is still disagreement at times over what the Bible means, or what it even says. There are also arguments over spiritual things. Paul says in Romans 14, “Let everyone be convinced in his own mind.” This is the journey, though, and you’re welcome to come along and comment as you like.