What is the Bible? How should we think about it, and how should we employ it?

Some people think of the Bible as great literature. They are not wrong, but Scripture is far more than that. Others think of it as their personal devotional book. But that is like considering the ocean to be your own private swimming pool. Protestants, at least traditionally, conceive of the Bible as an encyclopedia of doctrine that must be arranged into a certain order to create the right theological system. That system, then, is constantly examined, defended against competing systems, and taught from one generation to the next. To teach the system becomes the work of the church, and to assent to it amounts to faith. This is the traditional Lutheran notion. In our day Sacred Scripture has morphed into a self-help manual. Fodder for motivational preachers to help people live happier and more productive lives.

There may be a few grains of truth in the notions mentioned above, but they all miss the point.

The Bible is above all an ecclesiastical book to be used in the church, by the church and for the church. It's proper deployment is in the assembly of the baptized; of the Bride gathered to participate in Holy Communion with her Groom. This is Scripture's natural home where it serves as both the form and the content of holy worship.

Sacred Scripture is the stuff of Christian worship. It is the event in which Scripture is read, heard, prayed, sung, confessed and believed. Its many parts are so ordered as to produce liturgies, hymns, canticles, prayers, confessions of faith, homilies, invocations, benedictions, versicles and responses; by which the church offers pure worship to her Lord for the unspeakable gift of life and salvation in Christ.

To properly understand and utilize this Book of Books we should realize that its chief purpose is to teach us how to worship the Father in Spirit and Truth (John 4:24). To that end Scripture is composed of two major items. 1.) Actual liturgical forms that the church is to appropriate from age to age. 2.) And lectionary, which recounts the (hi)story of how God brings salvation to fallen man by Christ.

Great swaths of Scripture that people think of as simply religious information are, in fact, full blown liturgy. Everyone knows that the Psalms are liturgy. But so are the writings of the prophets. So are the first two chapters of Genesis which is a liturgical, not scientific, rendering of creation (though the six day creation is true). Thus too are the canticles of Mary, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Hannah, Jonah, Miriam, Samson and many others. The Beatitudes, too, are liturgy and perhaps the whole "sermon" on the Mount should be heard that way. So are the Gloria, Kyrie, Sanctus, Benedictus and Lord's Prayer, and superlatively so the words of institution. So is the prologue of St. John's Gospel liturgy, and so is the entire corpus of the epistles. These latter are liturgical writings that were read aloud in the Eucharistic gathering on Sunday. Documents that begin with liturgical invocations, and conclude with Eucharistic prefaces. With the middle content being both liturgical (e.g. Ephesians 3, 1 Timothy 3, Romans 11:33, Romans 8:29ff, Philippians 2:5ff to name a few), and sermonic / didactic: both of which are sub-categories of liturgy.

I think a strong case could also be made that Ephesians and 1 Peter are baptismal addresses that were read verbatim throughout the vast territory of Asia minor, as often as catechumens were baptized and chrismated. Thus they, too, fall under the category of liturgy.

The most liturgical section of all is the Eucharist. For it is definitional and constitutive of Christian existence. It is the one and only liturgy Christ gave his church, with a command, "Do this!" But the Eucharist doesn't stand alone. It is celebrated by those who are first baptized, taught and absolved. Thus the sacraments are also liturgy that turn enemies of God, into lovers of God. Into liturgical people.

The portions of the Bible that are not liturgy (sermon or sacrament) can be categorized as lectionary: selections of which were read at every gathering of God's redeemed on a rotating basis ever since pen first touched page. But these are not mere information or report. But the sacred record of God's dealing with man from Creation to the Cross, and from the Cross to the Lord's return. The narratives are shining illustrations of God's love in action. Think, for example, of the extensive accounts of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Of Israel's 40 years in the wilderness. The books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah. And in the New Testament portions of the gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles. These are just a few, but even these are interspersed with liturgy / doxology because Scripture was always read in the formal worship gathering of God's people.

And it is from this liturgical understanding of Holy Writ that the church formulates her doctrines and morals; and from which she establishes liturgical practice, music, art, architecture and even daily church life. All this proceeds from recognizing Scripture for what it is: liturgy and lectionary.

What you read above is my studied understanding, but one which I think most would consider an outlier, and so I look forward to your comments, discussion and questions.