I asked newsletter readers to send me a response to this question, “Does the Bible have the answer to all questions?” There were some responses, but it is not a representative survey. However, many thanks to all who wrote!

I noticed that no one answered the question directly with “yes” or “no”. Rather, the feedback was about personal testimonies of faith and personal insights. This perhaps shows that we prefer to answer from our own experience.

In an earlier post, I once wrote my personal short summary to this question (“Is the Bible the Answer to All Questions?”). Here I would like to bring some differentiation into the answer.

In this statement, the primary expression is that faith is experienced. One learns that the Bible is true, is reliable.

Here the experience is derived “from Jesus’ words,” that is, by reading the Bible one receives the encouragement. Again, whether the Bible has all the answers is not directly stated, but the feedback spoke of people getting the encouragement they need “for themselves.” That is perhaps the only answer that can be given: For my being a Christian and for me, the Bible provides the answer to all the questions that are important to me.

The extreme projection on the Bible

However, I myself once thought that the Bible had an answer to everything. With this attitude of faith, I once thought to do service to the truth of the Bible, the greatness of God, and the possibilities of understanding. However, I did them a disservice. Once I recognize from myself that I don’t have all the answers, how can I judge whether anything else has “all” the answers? I realized that claiming “the Bible has an answer for everything” either speaks of (my) ignorance, or I am an imposter putting myself in God’s position.

Only God is above all, that much was clear. However, those who think that the Bible has the answer to all questions are transferring characteristics of God to the book. This is problematic. One assigns the divinity of God to the Bible. It is an extreme projection.

Such things happen not only among Christians. Also from Muslims I have read sentences like “The Koran has the answer to all questions”. So it seems that it has more to do with a certain view than with reality. Therefore the question: Where are the limits of our assumptions? Where do we gratefully trust what the Bible says? And: The Bible itself nowhere says to have the answer to all questions. Why do some people come to project absolute statements onto a book?

The goal of such questions is merely self-reflection. This is important so that we can better understand and not get lost in our own assumptions.

Between personal knowledge and general validity

A personal statement should be appropriately acknowledged. However, it becomes different when someone declares a general validity for the Bible, as if the Bible were a law book for all mankind, a history book, valid for the whole world history or a scientific study, meant to explain everything visible and invisible.

Undoubtedly, there are excellent observations in the Bible. These will be consistent with scientific findings as a rule. However, good observations do not establish that the Bible is “therefore” a scientific work. Because it is not. The task of the Bible is not to explain the world, but its theme is to see God and man in relation to each other. More on this topic in the article “Is the Bible reliable?”.

The Bible is a book of relationships in a historical context. The question “Does the Bible have an answer for everything?” must therefore be seen in the context of the task of this book. Unfortunately, this leaves many other topics untouched. Such a statement is not “liberal” or “dangerous” – as I sometimes hear it called – but “sober” and “necessary.”

The Bible is a book of relationships in a historical context.

Those who push the Bible into a corner for which it was never given can only be disappointed. The Bible speaks of creation, it can be noted. However, it does not prove this creation. There is a difference. The Bible does not answer scientific questions. Their goal was not to explain creation, but to relate this world in which we live to the One from whom everything was created. What this means is not explained with a physical creation and maybe the physical processes were never the topic in Genesis. With this I do not deny these processes, but I merely acknowledge that it is not a matter of a scientific description here. Much more significant is the question: What does the text want to convey? Therefore, those who are stuck on scientific points (for example: pro or contra “creation”) fail to recognize the biblical statement, which is designed for relationship.

From the point of view of the viewer

Another point concerns the biblical narratives themselves. Almost without exception, they are made from a human perspective. A man stands outside his tent and looks up at the starry sky. What is true from this observation point is not necessarily true in reality. It is true as an observation, but nowhere conflicts with science. So there is no reason to create a conflict.

In the Acts of the Apostles, we read about ship travelers who noticed “that some land was approaching them” (Acts 27:27). Did the land actually come closer? In reality, the reverse will probably have been true – the ship approached land. From the seamen’s observation, however, it looked just the opposite, as if the land was coming to them.

Recognize truth

In the realm of personal experience, much takes place that determines our lives. Here truth is “recognized” and this truth makes “free”. It is what happens in a living faith. See it as a transforming experience that can become concrete in faith. It’s like the sky opens up and you realize what it’s all about inside – that you are meant personally. True faith grows out of such experiences.

Whoever recognizes the Bible as true, derives from it what is good, what is worthwhile, what seems reliable, is not alone in this. We share our trust and faith with others who trust and believe. But let us ask ourselves here: Does the Bible thereby suddenly also have the answer to all non-personal questions? Of course not. This is not possible at all, because it was never the intention of the Bible to offer “an answer to all questions”.

Paul could write “Until now I only know from fractions …” (1Cor 13,12). This realization is part of a healthy approach to life. We do not have to defend the Bible with absolute claims about which it itself writes nothing.

Nevertheless, it is more than justified to describe the achieved and recognized truth as liberating. Indeed, if we recognize how God works in Christ, this can lead us out into freedom. This is not only a real experience, but also the declared goal of our vocation. As Paul testifies:

“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand fast therefore in her…”
Gal 5:1

This is also the goal of the Bible: to set people free for the encounter with God and according to His grace. It is a direct result of the proclamation. These are the questions to which the Bible actually has an answer.

No claim to absoluteness, but a goal in mind

When someone talks about the Bible having the answer to all questions, they are saying something about themselves first and foremost.

To claim that the Bible describes everything in the universe and by comparison has “the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and all things” is to miss the point of Scripture. The value of the Bible is not in the Bible itself, it is not an oracle, not a comprehensive presentation of any – confess, because “all” – subjects. The Bible, however, has a reason for its existence and, above all, a purpose. The Bible speaks of multiple goals and “intermediate goals.” We can think about the purpose of God and that is important. But is there also a goal for us? Can we deduce anywhere what the Bible was intended to do for us?

The apostle Paul, for example, describes this goal in this way:

“All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for instruction, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be prepared, equipped for every good work.”
2Tim 3:16-17

To the church in Rome he wrote:

“For all that was written aforetime was written especially for our instruction, that we through perseverance and through the promise of the scriptures might have confidence.”
Rom 15:4

The goal of the Bible is not to answer everything, but Scripture can empower the believer, equip him for good works, and provide concrete encouragement for life. This brings us back to the survey and the testimonials that were sent in, because this is exactly the spirit in which I received feedback on my question.