It has been said that “Scripture may be more than literature, but it is not less than literature.”

This is a logical fallacy, a case of “ignoratio elenchi” (appeal to ignorance). It is the informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but does not address the issue in question. The logical conclusion of said assertion is that Scripture is literature: a conclusion unacceptable to Christians.

It is a further logical fallacy to contend that since Scripture is written it is literature. This is the fallacy of composition. It reasons from the properties of the parts to the properties of the whole itself. For example: since a tractor is made up of light weight parts the tractor is light.

Fallacies are lies and lies have no place in theology.

Scripture is not literature but the Word of God. Though written by human agents God speaks herein and thus Scripture is not subject to human judgment, but judges all things, instead.

Scripture is not literature, but liturgy. It has one home, the church. It has one purpose, the worship of God. To give voice to Scripture in the church in the form of liturgy, hymns, prayers, lections and creeds etc. – and to hear it with faith is the factual worship of God. To subject it to various forms of historical and literary criticism is to divert people’s attention.