Grasp and comprehend

How does faith work? Let’s try to decipher this step by step. Here is a comparison: A child learns to “grasp” meaning when he “grasps” items, that is, experiences items with his hands. This is how the child learns to orient itself in the world. Everything is concrete and tangible, and between an abstract concept like “hunger” and the fulfillment of physical needs, there is the grasping and understanding, to bridge the two. Toddlers grab something and put it in their mouths first. This is closest to immediate needs. Logical, isn’t it?

Interpretation and meaning

With faith, things are not directly tangible. Rather, faith and trust are about extended comprehension, namely interpretation. When we “interpret” the world, we give “meaning” to our lives. This is not tangible, because it takes place in our mind and heart. It’s not directly tangible, but it’s still real. We give direction to our lives. This has nothing to do with “right” or “wrong,” but it is a way to fulfill our humanity.

Core questions of our existence

In reading the Bible, we gain insight into a collection of narratives that address core questions of our existence, including “whence,” “why,” and “wherefore.” I describe this once non-pious and do not start with Jesus. People who have not already settled in hardly understand this. It is true that Paul describes the basis of the gospel with the death, dying and resurrection of Jesus (1Cor 15:1-8). However, strictly speaking, this has nothing to do with “faith”. It would be only the content of faith, not faith itself.

So why does it work? Let’s do a trail search. According to the Bible text, people describe real experiences. There are concrete experiences, questions and needs. The Bible describes challenges of human existence, but also points to concepts that lead out of the questions. Then one reads about the “solution” or “redemption” or “salvation”. Accordingly, these are not ideas of the church, but words, with which, according to the text, real situations are depicted. We must recognize this in the text and appreciate it as such. It is respect towards the text.

The Bible describes things in this world or for this world. To recognize this further does not describe the content of these narratives, only the intention and task, the function. It wants to be conveyed something, why it was written down. There is something in the text that was considered valuable and important to the writers, which is why we find it back in the Bible.

This is an important distinction from many other religious worlds. The biblical story is not set in a parallel universe, but here on earth. Likewise, it’s not about demigods and the like, but real and recognizable people reacting and interacting. This indicates reliability. It may also have something to do with us! The Bible is therefore more than ethics, more than just a law book or pious fantasy.

However, man does not stand alone in this world, but the Bible speaks of a God who holds everything in his hands. The Bible describes this God who interacts with people, willed them, and has a future in store. However, God is not a white and wise old man with a flowing beard in a long robe, but a God who cannot be described and of whom no image should be made. He is different from us. Such ideas can be found in the Bible.

Everything begins with the fact that we – with all possible doubt – at least recognize the text as “real”, because we also find doubting people in it. This does not mean the interpretation, but the text itself. There are big differences between the two.

Bible as textual witness and testimony of faith

If we ask ourselves what faith is and how this faith is nourished, we quickly end up with the Bible. There are also faiths that read the Bible but see tradition as equal to or even a further development of the biblical message. However, here, in this post, I am assuming that the biblical text has its own testimony and that is what interests me the most. By this I do not mean any opinion about the Bible, nor any questions about how it came to be, but merely the perception that this is a text (even a library) and one can read this text.

Respect for the text comes first. Only after that can be interpreted. It is about a text testimony, in it also again and again about faith testimonies of people who report. Even though it is not my testimony, I can leave these things neutral. It cannot be emphasized enough that the text has its own message, since many people do not even pause or listen to the text, but arrive at interpretations and reinterpretations without delay. Unfortunately, this does not help one bit in the search for faith and how the Bible speaks about it. It is helpful to let the Bible itself have its say. That’s challenging enough.

Does that make everything hard? Can’t you “just read” the Bible. Yes, you can, but without claiming to have to tell others how to arrange their lives. Everyone reads for himself, thinks and gives thanks for himself, learns for himself. And in doing so, there is much that can be learned, much that may be recognized as richness. The Bible is a goldmine, but those who want to dig a little deeper need tools, know-how and perseverance.

Faith is natural

This “anchoring in the world” enables trust (read: faith). This is not because faith is “supernatural,” but precisely because it is “natural” and at home in this world. Again, I’m talking here about the text itself, which puts it this way. It is simple and understandable, even if the time in which the Bible was written shows great differences from today. Everywhere in the Bible we find the confrontation of people with other people and of people with God. God is not “true” because everything in the Bible is “supernatural,” but precisely because the stories and experiences are “natural” and recognizable, even when extraordinary things happen. Exceptions confirm the rule.

The Bible is sober and not religiously detached, even though the Bible describes people whose behavior is religiously obdurate. The very criticism of problematic religious behavior is a sober and positive statement of the Bible and testifies to the credibility of its statements.

Sobriety

Anchoring “natural things” in the text in this way is important because it defines faith not on the basis of “supernaturalism” – as many people still do – but as an expression of real experiences and real struggles. But beware, this is not an opinion, but the direct impression of the text. We are still talking only about the text, not about the interpretation. Surprisingly, very different reactions to biblical messages are described. Not everything can be taken for granted. Some rejected the witness of faith then as they do now, but this very rejection (cf. Acts 17:32) is real in this world. This sobriety is again a good testimony to the text that it was written close to life.

The Bible does not gloss over anything, does not hide anything, and describes everything as if it were taking place in real experiences. Does that say it all? No. But this aspect of sobriety and anchoring in this world is an important feature of biblical stories, even if many people are “into miracles.” There is more trustworthy in the Bible than perhaps some people think.

You will recognize much from your own experience, thinking and feeling. The Bible is extraordinarily sober, despite extraordinary stories. It is precisely the “normal” things that support reliance on other data. By the way, we do the same when we open a brochure of a vacation destination we have never visited ourselves. We have to trust that later it will look “roughly” as the brochure outlines. Of course, it is also possible to drift into extreme views, for example to be promised the moon by a marketing agency or to be critical of everything in an attitude of mistrust.

At every turn in life, we will be confronted with things we know only by hearsay. This is not bad by definition, but simply how much of our experience takes place. Recognize the humanity of the Bible if it is still foreign to you. That’s sober.

The Bible

The first source of faith for Christians today is the Bible, this collection of books that none of the Bible writers ever had in this form. Abraham had no Bible at all and was not even Jewish or Christian. Jesus had only one task for the Jews (Mt 15:24 and Rom 15:8). Only with Paul do the gentiles really come into play. We find all these things described in the Bible and many more.

However, if we acknowledge that faith is a function that non-Christians also have as human beings, then the Bible is not necessarily a source of faith for other people. “Believe” is first a verb, something we do. This is neutral. If everything people can “believe”, then it is about the function of this belief. It is also about the reason why we use this or that source to align our heart with. I choose the Bible and I have good reasons for it. There we are with the meaning of the word gospel, “good-message” or “glad-message” that reached me and transformed me.

This concerns me, maybe not you. Now I can do something with the Bible. How should I look at this library of 66 books? What function may this book serve for me? More than that, how does it work? Can we also look at these considerations with some distance to understand some things better? It is too easy to get lost in black and white thinking, where it is all about right or wrong.

If we consider how and why people wrote their texts, many questions arise. As with any other story, each text is a selection of words and thoughts. This does not say anything about the origin of the text, nor about the meaning. Also, if God’s Spirit was involved, as Peter describes (2Pet 1:20-21), it was about a selection of thoughts. Not everything was important to the story that wanted to be told. The choice of words, the names of people – everything has a meaning. What was written, that’s the point. This conveys the message. We should listen carefully, because these stories want to be told and heard. What is it? Why was the writer concerned? What should the audience understand? That’s why behind every text, in addition to the direct wording, the intention is also important. John, for example, calls this deliberate (see John 20:30-31).

This also explains that we learn something best when it is told to us in the form of stories. In it, the focus is drawn to what is important and the statements appear in context. How this important is told and whether we recognize it depends on our reading and understanding. This is a truism because the same is true for reading any text. This was already important for the original listeners and it is even more so for us who live in a different culture and time. Do we still understand the intention that the Bible writers had? Do we dare to listen first before running off with our own opinions and views? Do we understand that it is not just about the letters, but about the spirit?

If we approach the text with these considerations, we do not lose faith, but demystify opinions about the text. This brings us closer to the text, but without the burden of ideological ballast. This will succeed only perfectly imperfectly, but it is worth a try.

Trust and faith

Trust and faith are essential parts of being human. Using them is natural, not unworldly. This does not mean every opinion and aberration, but the way it works. It is up to us to build our faith in a sober and reasoned way, to positively recognize that faith has a function in our lives. That is why there is such a thing as a “way of faith” for everyone. Therefore, we can also boldly set out to learn more of this book, of its statements, in order to interpret it for ourselves (only afterwards). This will shape our confidence and outlook.

Faith is not blind. Faith is trust. Trust is not about “things,” much less “rules,” “dogmas,” or “views.” It is not a matter of “what,” but rather a question of “inwhom do I trust?” (cf. Acts 27:25). Therefore, it is about trusting God.

Is this an exciting starting point for further discussion?