If all Christians claim the Bible as the word of God, then why are there so many denominations and churches? Some denominations and churches say that the Bible is “inerrant” and “infallible,” and some do not. Some think that all parts of the Bible are equal, and others do not. Some claim that the Bible contains extra books called the Apocrypha, and others do not.

Even if Christian opinion were uniform and united about the canon of Scripture, which church or denomination would have the correct interpretation? Protestants generally believe that everyone can and should interpret Scripture. If that is the case, what if people in the same denomination or congregation disagree? In the Roman church, it is taught that academic scholars may have varied, scholarly opinions about the Bible, but only “the Church” can offer the correct interpretation of Scripture.

So, who is right?

When people approach any object or situation, they view and interact therewith from their own perspective. If someone asks, “How does the rose smell?” Whose nose would any of us use to smell the rose? If someone inquires, “What do you think of this colour?” Whose eyes would any of us use to view the hue? Using ourselves and our experience, i.e. being self-referential, seems perfectly natural, and for most of our everyday experiences, it simply is! Being self-referential can, however, also lead to many ill-perceptions and false assumptions, which can have effects from harmless to the disastrous.

In relation to God, our natural, self-referential way of being is always disastrous because it means that we are by nature turned away from God and turned in on ourselves. Following on from the understanding of “iniquity” meaning “bent,” St. Augustine characterized such turning in on ourselves as the nature of human sin. So, if we cannot smell a rose or view a colour with someone else’s nose or eyes, how can we even imagine approaching, studying, and living from Scripture as the word of God from God’s intended perspective?

Despite knowing that we cannot smell a rose with someone else’s nose or view the hues with someone else’s baby blues, we sinful human beings not only believe ourselves to possess but also relegate to ourselves an uncanny, if not infallible ability to view and hear Scripture from God’s vantage point! Why does this come so naturally to us? Simply put, our nature as sinners spinning out of control in on ourselves makes us into little diabolical dust devils, so to speak, arrogating God’s word and thus God’s reality to ourselves.

God’s word and our encounter with it, however, are not only beyond our control but also beyond our sinful comprehension. When God’s word engages our lives as sinners, it touches our sinful hearts and minds with laws of reality which stop us literally and metaphorically dead in our tracks. Then, the gospel of Jesus Christ comes to raise us up to be new creations of God’s word. Luther describes it this way:

In relation to Psalm 68:13, Luther writes, “And note that the strength of Scripture is this: that it is not changed into him who studies it, but that it transforms its lover into itself and its strengths. … Because you will not change me into what you are (as heretics do), but you will be changed into what I am” (LW 10:332-333).

Further, in relation to Romans 1:17 and 4:5, Luther states, “He [God] justifies, overcomes, in His Word when He makes us to be like His Word, that is, righteous, true, wise, etc. And He thus changes us into His Word, but not His Word into us” (LW 25:211).

Christianity is littered with seemingly innumerable groups, denominations, and churches because Christianity is inhabited by people of all type and stripe who in the name of God interpret Scripture from their own inward, sinful perspective. It is, of course, the natural thing to do. Thankfully, in sharp contrast thereto, God does not look upon groups, denominations, or churches. Instead, God looks into our hearts and allows Scripture to recreate us into God’s word in the same way that God’s promises to turn water, bread, and wine into the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. It is, so to speak, God’s supernatural thing to do.

So, if reading ever more scripture transforms us ever more into the word of God, then why do we not have a Bible in our hands every minute that the hands spin around the clock?