I occasionally get asked, “If you don’t believe all of the Bible is literally true, what gives you the right  to choose which parts are and which parts aren’t?”

One of my first responses is usually to say, “Well, I’ve actually never met anyone who actually lives according to all of the ideas in the Bible or New Testament.” If they want to know more, I do a quick summary of how the Christian church in the USA has handled two historical cultural issues, and one current one.

First, go back to the 1850s. The US is about to go to war with itself over the issue of slavery and the economics of slavery. It is well known that owners of enslaved people had strong Biblical evidence backing up their ownership of other humans, and even their cruel treatment of slaves, while at the same time evangelizing the slaves into Christianity.  It wasn’t just Old Testament passages that supported their arguments. The New Testament recognizes the existence of slavery and consistently tells slaves they should obey their masters, and masters should “treat their slaves with respect” but not “release them”. At best, the New Testament message on slavery is: “don’t rock the boat, live the best you can in the status quo”.

But today, I’ve never met anyone who thinks slavery is OK anymore. Looking back at Bible times, some Christians might say “when God commanded the Israelites to take slaves, that was because those people were so wicked it was a just command”. But even if they make such a moral reach, they would never say God thinks slavery is OK today. Nearly everyone would say loving your neighbor as yourself requires you don’t enslave them. This isn’t something only believed by “liberal” Christians. It seems clear the “correct” interpretation of the passages on slavery has changed. The emphasis has shifted away from verses that seem positive or ambivalent about slavery, to those that clearly state love as the highest call for Christians to follow. And this is a good thing.

From the 19th century zoom forward 100 years. The clear interpretation of scriptures about womens’ roles in the church has always come from the words of the Apostle Paul, strictly limiting leadership roles to men. But it’s the 1960s and the world is changing. Women are entering the workforce in many different ways than traditional “women’s careers” of nursing and teaching. Throughout society, people are experiencing women in leadership in many places that had always been off limits to women previously. There are even female prime ministers and senators and members of congress. Through the next few decades, more and more were convinced by personal experience that gender-based roles were based on traditional understandings of society and the Bible, but not on actual skills and aptitudes. 

Although the idea was controversial to many, a growing number of Christians began to wonder if the old Biblical prohibitions against women in church leadership were still necessary. After all, Paul also taught that women should always have long hair, and avoid fancy jewelry and clothing. Hadn’t the church pretty well ignored these verses for a long time? And that verse where Paul says women should remain silent in church seemed to be discarded anytime children and youth needed someone to teach them. The teachings about hair length, adornment, and silence had been, consciously or unconsciously, set aside as only a part of the culture of Bible times. A growing number of Christians saw good reasons to do just that. 

So, the emphasis shifted from the verses strictly limiting women’s participation in the leadership of the church to those that emphasize the gifting of all believers, and the unity in Christ all believers share. The dominant view has changed over time. And for a growing number of Christians, that is a good thing.

So, we see evidence of the Christian church changing how it interprets and applies the scriptures in the brief 200 years of our nation’s history. When it came to slavery, and more recently, women’s roles in leadership, all Christians choose which parts of the Bible will be taken literally and which will not. And the areas that are interpreted literally have shifted over time, as human understanding and cultural realities have changed.

Today the shift is happening in our society and in Christian faith when it comes to issues surrounding LGBTQ people and their role in the church. Fifty years ago it would have been very difficult to find a major Christian denomination that openly welcomed LGBTQ people into their churches - not just as attenders, but as leaders. Today, there are more and more denominations and Christian organizations that have changed their stance on which parts of the Bible they will follow “literally”. Will it be the (rather few) places where non-binary sexual preference is prohibited, or will it be the much more prevalent message of God’s love for all people and God’s commands that love is the highest calling we can live out? As more and more evidence comes that LGBTQ people have not “chosen” the way they are, but it is simply part of who they are, the culture and the church are having to reckon with how to live out the love of Christ. If things continue the way they are going, it seems very likely to me there will come a time 50 to 100 years from now when Christians will look back at prohibitions against gay marriage and LGBTQ people serving in the church as we do now at those from the 19th century who taught slavery as a God-ordained societal norm. For many, this is already welcomed as a good thing, but for many this is a threat to their understanding of clear Biblical teaching.

Regarding the Biblical views on gender and sexuality, a shift is happening on which verses are emphasized and which are not. This is just as it happened regarding slavery, and for the most part has happened with women’s roles. 

Circling back to the original question on this post (“What gives you the right to decide which parts of the Bible you will follow and which ones you won’t?”) my point is every Christian does this. I have never met a Christian who follows the Bible literally, who lives out every command the Bible gives us. What we all do, whether consciously or unconsciously, is make decisions about which parts of the Bible we will follow literally and which we will not.

For me, I choose to focus on the overarching principles of loving God and loving people, rather than on verses that represent elements of the culture and societies of the Biblical authors. I choose to see every person I meet as a Child of God, unique and loved by God. I choose to let love guide my decisions about what parts of the scripture will continue to be authoritative and which parts will fade into the background as the ancient Mosaic law code has rightly done. I believe that the Spirit of God is still at work today guiding people forward into more loving, more just, more beautiful ways of relating to each other in unified ways. And I believe this is not something to fear, but something to embrace and join.

I believe this is a more beautiful story.

(I’m in debt to Jared Byas for his book, Love Matters More, for help thinking through this issue. In particular, chapter 7 “Love Changes the Truth” was foundational in helping me sort through these issues.)