Consider why God gave us the Bible.

Perhaps it was so we could have a source of facts on a number of topics. If so, then the key task for us as Christians is to establish just what these facts are, and make sure they are all accurate.

But perhaps the reason for the Bible is so we could have a place to encounter God. If so, then the key task for us as Christians is to read the stories and songs in the Bible with our souls ready to hear the voice of God speaking to us through these words.

The heart of the Reformed tradition has believed that the second of these possibilities is correct. The purpose of the Bible is not so much so that we can know facts, but so that we can know God.

Even there, it is more complicated than merely reading.

In what we now call “the Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus spoke quite plainly about the authority of Scripture: “Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets . . . until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17-18).

Yet at the same time he told his disciples that we do not know what the text means until we hear what he has to say about it. Even for such a plain-spoken text as the Ten Commandments, we will not understand it simply by reading it.

This is a critical point for Christians to see.

A person could read the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) and feel confident in knowing exactly what it says to do. But Jesus insists we do not know what “You shall not commit murder” and “You shall not commit adultery” mean until we hear what he says they mean. We do not know what “Honor your father and your mother” and “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy” mean until we hear what Jesus says they mean.

People sometimes focus on either looking for or defending against errors in the Bible. But that is a mistake.

The point of the Word is not to give us a collection of facts. The point is for us to hear the voice of God, speaking to us, expressed in these stories and songs, as mediated through Jesus our Lord.