In 1820, a Missouri newspaper, The Richmond Enquirer, published a remarkable editorial defending the owning of slaves. What seems remarkable today, however, is not that a southern newspaper in 1820 was defending slavery. Such opinions were, unfortunately, part of the political climate of the time, enmeshed as they were in debates about state’s rights and all the other disagreements that led to the Civil War. What seems remarkable today is that the argument presented in the editorial was through and through a biblical argument!

Of course, standing as we do nearly 200 years after those discussions, it’s hard to understand how people could in good conscience use the Bible to support an institution like slavery. The assumption that slavery is morally wrong is now so engrained in our culture (religious and secular) that we forget how the Bible was once used to defend the morally indefensible.

Here is a condensation of the biblical argument used in 1820 to defend slavery as morally acceptable. Since public discourse in the 1800s was a bit wordier than it is today, I have shortened the sentences and paragraphs so that the point is more readily accessible to a modern reader. For more information on the biblical defense of slavery, see the link at the end.[i]

Five propositions from the Richmond Enquirer,1820:

1. The Bible contains the unerring decisions of the word of God.
2. The decisions of God in the Old and New Testaments are equally authoritative and binding.
3. When the Bible says something is right, or when it says something is wrong, by the authority of God it will always be so, no matter what part of the Bible it is in, and no matter who is offended by it today.
4. God is infinitely wise and just and does not need to give a reason for his judgments. So, don’t question God’s inscrutable ways.
5. If the Bible presents one or more examples in which God sanctions the inheritance or purchase of a servant, then whoever believes that the Bible is the word of God must also believe that it is moral and right to own slaves.

Whatever else we might say about those propositions, we have to admit to their consistency. One proposition leads logically to the next. What struck me when I read these propositions was their striking similarity to so-called biblical arguments today. Taking the Bible as inerrant, which means literally accurate and forever authoritative in every detail of every passage, remains a widespread and problematic trend even today. Fundamentalist thinking, it seems, has not really changed much in 200 years. It just has different causes. Today, people use similar propositions or arguments to condemn women in ministry, gay marriage, and even scientific methods of inquiry. Using God-given powers of reason and conscience, it appears, is frowned upon by those who claim to take the Bible most seriously. Literalism and a lack of principled thinking remains a dangerous combination.

For those of us who value the Bible as an inspired library of documents, and useful for spiritual development, this raises an obvious question. How should we read the Bible? Specifically, how can we value the Bible and yet read it so that we do not repeat the mistakes of those defending slavery?

There are many fine sources of information on that question. But unfortunately, comprehensive methods of reading scripture can often seem overly complicated and less than practical in a real-world setting. Also, over the centuries, believers have benefitted from a wide variety of methods. Certainly, some have proven more beneficial than others. But it seems best to consider it a lifetime work to keep improving one’s reading of the Bible rather than focus on one method and consider it infallible for all time.

So rather than try to describe the perfect way to read and study the Bible, I will give a few basic principles emphasizing things to avoid. Avoiding the few pitfalls, then, leaves the field of study wide open to many helpful methods of exploration. Part of the genius of the 10 commandments, it seems to me, is its brevity. Of course, Jesus did even better when he reduced the number to two—love God and love your neighbor. But rather than just say, Love God, and love the Word of God, I decided to get a little more specific. Here then are my ten commandments for reading the Bible. These commandments, of course, are not written in stone. They are certainly not infallible, and they are always open to revision.

Ten Commandments for Reading the Bible

1. Thou shalt have no God other than God. The Bible is not God.
2. Thou shalt not worship the words of scripture by assuming that they were written or dictated by God himself, or that they always describe the actions and person of God literally and unambiguously. That is bibliolatry.
3. Thou shalt not treat the Word of God as a vain thing by claiming too little—that God had nothing to do with it; or by claiming too much—that the human writers are infallible.
4. Remember to find rest in the Word of God. It is for spiritual and moral renewal; not an opportunity to force agreement on how and when God created the universe. The Bible is not a scientific document. Rather it points us toward the hallowed moral center of the universe, which is love.
5. Honor your spiritual fathers and mothers, including mentors, pastors and scholars who live by the Spirit, not just the letter. They are not infallible, but without them your life in the spiritual land would be limited to your individual perspective and therefore impoverished. The God of love has spoken by his Spirit through writers and interpreters of every time, culture, and gender.
6. Thou shalt not kill the work of the Spirit with your fixed dogma and inflexible interpretations. The Word of God remains living and progressive.
7. Thou shalt not commit spiritual adultery by claiming the biblical ideals of faith, hope, and love but using the Bible to support methods of discrimination, revenge and hate.
8. Thou shalt not steal any person’s value or dignity by a misuse of the Bible.
9. Thou shalt not make false claims about the Bible or pretend that your interpretation is infallible. Only God is infallible.
10. Thou shalt not covet your neighbor’s spiritual journey or biblical knowledge. You can value your own path and work out your own salvation by faith, knowing that all human beings live by the grace of God.

[i]The religious justification of slavery:

https://www.kingscollege.net/gbrodie/The%20religious%20justification%20of%20slavery%20before%201830.pdf