WHAT IF NO ONE HAD A BIBLE?

“So long as we only see the Logos of God as embodied multifariously in symbols in the letter of Holy Scripture, we have not yet achieved spiritual insight into the incorporeal, simple, single and unique Father as He exists in the incorporeal, simple, single and unique Son…We need such knowledge so that, having first penetrated the veils of the sayings which cover the Logos, we may with a naked intellect see—in so far as men can—the pure Logos, as He exists in Himself, clearly showing us the Father in Himself.”
–
ST. MAXIMOS, THE CONFESSOR
Try to imagine it: No Bibles anywhere. No King James. No NIV. Not even a paperback copy of The Message.
What would that be like?
Regardless of how such a thing might happen, try to imagine what it would be like to never have access to the Bible ever again.
I know this might sound scandalous, but in some ways I think our world might actually be a better place if no one had a Bible anymore.
I wonder if maybe we’d start to discover an inner desperation and a hunger for a deeper experience of Jesus if we didn’t depend on a book for everything.
Not only that, if there were no Bibles, we just might start to value listening to one another share testimonies of Jesus. Especially if there was no more need to hear from the resident Bible expert or scholar talk for an hour every weekend.
Imagine sitting around your living room with friends and listening to people share what Jesus was saying or doing in their lives that week. Imagine someone closing their eyes and quoting verses about how nothing can separate us from the love of God, or about how Jesus died for us while we were still enemies of God? Don’t you think this might help us to connect with one another—and with Jesus—more directly?

This is exactly what the early Christian church was like. They did not have copies of Paul’s letters in their possession. They did not have a collection of the Hebrew Scriptures in their homes. A scroll of Isaiah, for example, would have been more expensive than most of those poverty-level Christians could ever afford. As noted New Testament scholar Ben Witherington says:
“A standard roll of papyrus in mid-first century A.D. Egypt cost four drachmae, which is to say it cost about 4-8 days pay (for) an ordinary workman. But let us take for example, the famous Isaiah scroll found at Qumran. A roll thirty feet long took no less than 30 or so hours to fill up. That is—at least three full day’s work for a scribe. A copy of Isaiah then could cost at least 10 denarii (or 2 week’s pay), and that is a low guess. And then you would have exactly ONE book of the OT in your hands. Imagine about 40 more rolls that long and you can imagine an OT on scrolls.

So, the average Christian in the first century did not have access to the scriptures. Yet, somehow, they managed to live radical lives of Christ-like love, sharing all that they had with one another, and even “turned the world upside down,”(Acts 17:6) all without owning a Bible.
How did they do that? How did those primitive Christians know Christ so intimately? How did they face horrific persecutions and survive the worst that the Roman Empire could dish out without even a copy of the Gospel of John in their back pocket?
The answer is: They had the Holy Spirit living inside of them. They had a connection with Jesus, the Risen Lord, that transcended the written word.

Now, to be fair, many of them probably knew a few of the basic teachings of Jesus passed along to them by other Christians. There was a very strong oral tradition in the early Christian community and no doubt many of those illiterate believers had a few of Christ’s teachings hidden in their heart.

But that’s still part of my point: They had a vibrant, thriving relationship with the Prince of Peace. He sustained them. He strengthened them. He walked right beside them every step of the way. It wasn’t the Bible that gave them hope, it was their own personal connection to Christ.
Maybe I’m the only one, but the more I think about this the more convinced I am that we might just be better off without our Bibles today. Maybe without our precious Bibles we might also cling to Jesus the way those earliest Christians did. Maybe without our proof-texts and our study guides we might learn how to rely on the Spirit of God the same way they must have.
Yes, I do realize that we are so blessed to have our Bibles. What I’m talking about is what it would be like to take what we already know the Bible says and moving onward to actually experiencing those words in a deeper way.

I can’t help but wonder what it would be like for us to carry the Word of God around in our hearts every day. What if we had to rely on God’s indwelling Spirit for every breath and every step? What if we only had our memories of scripture to sustain us?
I also wonder, what scriptures we would choose to pass on to our children if we didn’t have a Bible? What verses would we choose to share with them? Perhaps those verses where Jesus says, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” and “Love one another as I have loved you” would top your list. Perhaps you’d want your children to remember certain Parables that Jesus shared, like the Prodigal Son, or the Treasure in the Field or the Sower of Seeds.

But, chances are you probably wouldn’t find it all that crucial to memorize verses where God commanded His people to slaughter every man, woman and child, or where He warned them not to show any compassion while killing infants. You might want to leave behind the verses about how blessed those people are who dash babies against the rocks.
That, to me, would be a very good thing.
If all we had left was Jesus and our memories of scriptures that really touched us and profoundly changed us, that wouldn’t be so bad.
The point of my asking this question is to get us to consider what our faith would be like without depending upon what others wrote 2,000 years ago to share their experiences of Jesus.

Instead, I hope to inspire us to consider that our faith is based on our own experiences of Jesus today.
Let me make it crystal clear: The Bible leads us to Jesus. But what we do with Jesus after that is the most important thing of all.
As we’ve already seen, some people are convinced that we can never know anything about Jesus or God without the Bible.
But the Bible contradicts that, over and over again.
What the Bible tells us is that we can know Jesus, and the Father, directly, personally and immediately at this very moment. So, if you really believe the Bible, then I would encourage you to do what the Bible says: connect with God yourself. Don’t just read about Him—know Him, and listen to Him, and follow Him, and learn to love Him more every day.

Let me assure you of this: if someone took your Bibles away, you would still have Jesus. If every Bible on earth was suddenly destroyed, you and I would still hear His voice. If no one ever read the Bible again, God would still be alive and moving and speaking and revealing Himself through His Spirit, and through His people, and through nature, and art, and music, and circumstances.
However, if your faith would be hopelessly empty without the Bible, then you might have a much bigger problem. Maybe you need to ask yourself if you actually have a relationship with God at all? If your faith depends upon a book, then maybe you’ve only focused on reading and learning information about God, but you’ve not exactly come to know that same God in any real way yet?
If so, then I most certainly recommend setting your Bible aside. Get to know Jesus. Spend time alone with Him. Talk to Him. Listen to His voice. Practice an awareness of His presence. Reading more Bible verses will not help you encounter Him. In fact, it just might postpone any deeper experiences with Jesus you might have.

You’ve read about God. You know information about Jesus. That’s great. But now it’s time to meet Him and to know Him in a deeper way.
Remember: God is not the Bible. The Bible is not God.
Yes, the Bible is a wonderful blessing to us all. We should be very grateful for it. But Jesus transcends and eclipses the Bible in every possible way. He is not bound by a book. He is not constricted into syllables and sentences. He is not captured on a page.

By asking the question: “What if no one had a Bible?” I am inviting you to consider moving on to phase 2 of your life in Christ.
Look up from the page long enough to listen for His still small voice. Close the book long enough to walk with Him today. Maybe even put the Bible back on the shelf just long enough to put what you’ve read about into practice. You can always come back to it later. It’s not going anywhere. But maybe sometimes we need to take off the training wheels and learn to balance ourselves if we really hope to enter the race.
I’ll meet you at the top of the hill.