This is a good response.

Are we to think that every member of the congregation had their own private copies of the (Hebrew and Aramaic) Scriptures? Where did they get them? How likely is that sort of literacy in the 1st century?

Virtually no one had copies of the Scriptures apart from the scrolls in the Synagogue. Wouldn't this be a reference to people assembling to query a rabbi or someone who had direct access to the text of Scripture?

rsc

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With ref to Isa 34 is this directed to the laity? Does it presume that every member of Israel has a copy of the Scriptures? Are you sure you want to take this verse as literally as you do in the context of Isa 34?

To whom was Jesus speaking in John 5:39? To Jewish laity? Were "the Jews" who were persecuting (ESV) him the laity and serfs or elites (pharisees etc)?

rsc

I'll grant you they doubtless had to go to the synagogue to obtain access to the Scriptures, and most likely they would solicit the rabbis' opinion at times as to what something meant, but I also am confidant they sat down to read them for themselves, making the Scriptures their own, if you see what I mean.

Think about Luke 24, when the two disciples, walking along the road to Emmaus were joined by Christ after His resurrection. He explained the Scriptures to them (beginning with Moses and moving on to all the prophets), and how they foretold Him. ISTM that implicit in this passage is that they were already quite familiar with the Scriptures, even though I don't suppose either of them were rabbis. Peter was just a fisherman, after all, yet he knew the Scriptures.

It's not as if the Jewish leaders were drawing the connection between Jesus and the Messiah, after all. Any Jew who did so, did so against the reigning religious establishment, contra their rabbis.

I'm certain that to the rabbis of the Jews to whom the book of Hebrews was directed, those who followed "the Way" seemed like a bunch of radical individualists, having the nerve to read and interpret the Scriptures for themselves, instead of relying upon the collective wisdom of the synagogue.

Goodness, had Luther not wrestled with Romans all by himself, willing to take a stand contrary to the leaders of his church, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

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Dr. Clark,

I'm going to make a few "assumptions" here so correct me if I'm wrong.

1. That you are not arguing that no one here in the 21st century should not read Scripture on there own. It may be true that prior to the printing press the laity did not have wide access to Scripture but since then the laity can have full access to the Canon. In fact it was translated into varius languages so that the laity could actually read it. Didn't Luther translate the bible into German so that the German people could read it?

2. That what you are arguing against when you refer to "private readings" is actually private interpretations where folks are reading Scripture in a vaccum, ie; the "me and my bible" crowd. I believe that it was Luther who said "As each man reads the Scriptures, he finds his own pathway to hell". Luther was not arguing against a private individual reading Scripture just that one should take seriously what the church has historically said about what various passages mean so one can come to a fuller understanding of what God is conveying to his people. Coming to a full understanding of Scripture is the role of the church, which is to "equip the saints".

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Maybe someone has brought this up, but Westminster, Larger Catechism 156 has this to say about private reading of the Scriptures and uses some of the proof texts discussed already in this thread:

WLC Q. 156. Is the Word of God to be read by all?

A. Although all are not to be permitted to read the Word publicly to the congregation, (u) yet all sorts of people are bound to read it apart by themselves, (w) and with their families; (x) to which end the holy Scriptures are to be translated out of the original into vulgar languages. (y)

u DEU 31:9, 11-13; NEH 8:2-3; NEH 9:3-5
w DEU 17:19; REV 1:3; JOH 5:39; ISA 34:16
x DEU 6:6-9; GEN 18:17, 19; PSA 78:5-7
y 1CO 14:6, 9, 11-12, 15-16, 24, 27-28

Also, the Kirk of Scotland has the Directions for Family Worship which indicate Scripture reading is a part of private and family devotions; but it does not include any scripture proofs.

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Hi Fred,

The serfs of antiquity probably didn't have access to many of these texts in any form (written or oral). I agree that some (perhaps many) were able to put to memory sections of Scripture.

There's no question that folks were able to meditate on things they had heard but that's a different thing than private persons in the ancient world, before printing, before universal literacy, owning and reading a text that wasn't as widely available as we know it today.

Hi,

I'm all for people reading their bible now!

I want ministers to be cautious when they argue from Scripture, however, that Paul (or any canonical author) was commanding people in their time to "read their bibles." That's a gross anachronism as far as I know.

Yes, now that we have printed bibles in wide circulation it would be folly not to avail oneself of the advantages of being able to read God's Word.

As to Luther, well, he was an officer in the visible church that then was. He was an authorized professor of Biblical Studies in the University with considerable training in the arts and in Scripture and in theology. He was doing his job under the auspices of the church (in the University) lecturing on Scripture as a scholar and pastor when he began to move, gradually, toward the Protestant doctrine of justification.

He wasn't just some cat, on his own, on an island, reading Scripture by himself. He wasn't a 16th-century proto-American individualist evangelical.

rsc

And I agree with this, btw!

These are doctrinal inferences, however, drawn from the original context of Scripture. The WLC isn't demanding that we impute this sense to the original intent of these passages, is it?

Dr. Clark,

I don't know if you want me to split this off because people might get confused about there being an agreement between those that are raising a fair concern about one aspect (whether or not private reading is useful) while other's (Red Beetle) were just completely missing the boat.

We'll see how this develops.

I think to argue about whether or not people had personal copies of the Scriptures sort of misses the point about what it is we're supposed to be meditating on day and night. Believers have always been commanded to meditate on the Word of God regularly.

I know that those who may seem to disagree with you would completely agree that Sola Scriptura doesn't imply Solo Scriptura. Our study of the Scriptures and our growth toward the unity of the faith needs to be in the context of Pastors and Teachers and the Church per Ephesians 4:11-16. I believe private study that sees itself as standing outside any Ecclesiastical authority is a perilous path.

But to then argue about whether or not people had their own personal copies of Paul's letters or their own scrolls misses the point of what they did have available: their memories. It is well documented that Jewish and then Christian believers would commit large portions of the Scriptures to memory. This would be in keeping with the idea that they meditate on these things day and night.

I know part of my personal "study" sometimes is the calling to mind of certain verses of Scripture and meditating upon it within the context of all the great teachers I've had in the Church. I don't believe that the Scriptures reveal that study must inherently involve reading. This is not to diminish the importance of reading that we now have but it just seems to me that to argue over the issue of whether or not men or women had personal Bibles misses the point about whether we're supposed to be remembering what we were taught by the Word throughout the week and meditating on it constantly to inform what pleases the Lord in our walk.

In fact, I would argue that the availabilty of printed and now online media makes for some mental laziness that earlier believers could not afford. They may, in fact, have had an advantage over us in constantly keeping these things in mind because it is easy for us to pick up a book if we can't remember a verse.

Anyway, I don't know how helpful this is but I do want to try to re-direct the "debate" because I think arguing over copies of the Scriptures is sort of immaterial.

Blessings!

Rich

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Rich
PCA, Northern VA
Student, New Geneva Theological Seminary

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Maybe I am completely off base here, but the knowledge of the scriptures is one method of keeping a local church from being decimated by bad leadership.

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