Cultural Lenses:We Interpret the Bible in Lightof our Culture and Experiences

This article was first published in French at TPSG. Then, it was updated and published at TGC Canada.

The group of Mexican pastors gathered in the lounge that early morning, praying and reading their Bibles together. Attending this modular training program meant time away from their flocks and families. But the benefit to their souls and to the depth of their teaching made the sacrifice worthwhile. Having few opportunities for fellowship with likeminded leaders, they cherished their times before the throne of God.

The new American missionary was excited to invest in the lives of these brothers. Yet he was puzzled that they weren’t in their rooms during that time intended to be consecrated to individual prayer. He soon discovered, however, that while personal quiet times are not uncommon among Latin American Christians, the daily practice of them is not a requirement of the Christian life. In communal societies, believers often fuel their affections for Christ through more regular times of corporate prayer than in more individualistic Western cultures.

How Language Affects our Approach to Scripture

Tied to this idea is the question of language: not only does our culture influence how we read and apply Scripture, but so does the language we read it in. For example, in English, there’s no such thing as the second person plural. We English speakers use the one word “You” for both singular (“tu” or “usted”) and plural (“vous” or “ustedes”). As a result, for many of us, it’s natural to interpret the imperatives of the Bible as commands to me as an individual, when in fact the majority were given to the entire community of faith, to be lived out together. Throughout the Pauline epistles, for example, Paul instructs believers on how to carry out, as a body, the mission of the Church.

How Culture Affects our Approach to Scripture

I witnessed another pertinent example during my ten years in Senegal: In Luke 3:11, John the Baptist teaches, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” Many Westerners easily gloss over this call to extreme generosity, particularly when face to face with a homeless person in need. Similarly, when Jesus tells the rich young ruler to sell all he possesses and give it to the poor, we in the West easily dismiss this imperative as being unique to this man and the idols of his heart. “We aren’t like him,” we tell ourselves. “Jesus told him to give away his possessions because he was rich and was overly attached to his possessions. That’s not me.” Or is it? We in the West, in point of fact, are rich, by global standards. And more often than we’d like to admit, we are slaves to materialism – and we’re often blind to it. In contrast, in Senegal, I witnessed countless occasions in which brothers and sisters took such imperatives quite literally and shared the little they had with the needy around them.

Conversely, when Western Christians read certain verses, they speak to us in capital letters. Consider, for example, 1 Corinthians 14:33: “For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace.” We in the West like order! So we easily apply this verse to things like beginning and ending on time. We like things tidy. We quote it to our children to keep their rooms clean. Christian in the developing world, however, might not break out their highlighter when they come across it. I’m not saying one of us wrong and the other right. I’m merely pointing out that different portions of Scripture jump out at us in different ways, and we should respect those differences and learn from one another.

Here’s an example that hits closer to home for my French readers: So many books available to them are written by North American theologians and translated into French. Yet their reality is so different from your own in highly secularized Europe or Quebec? The truths the book communicates aren’t wrong. But they require we apply them differently in post-Christian Paris or Montreal than you would in highly Christianized Texas or Kentucky.

These are just a few examples of how culture, ethnicity, language and geography, affect how we understand the Bible and the Christian life. We all have blind spots. But we can remedy them with the help of brothers and sisters who look at the world through different lenses. That’s the beauty of the multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, universal Church.

The Role of Believers from Every Culture in our Western Evangelical Organizations

The Gospel Coalition and other similar organizations in our theological tradition are making efforts to include men and women from diverse backgrounds in their leadership structures and conference schedules. They recognize that our African-American, Latino, Asian-American, and Native-American brothers and sisters offer a perspective that enriches the body of Christ.

Similarly, the French-speaking world is recognizing the contribution of brothers and sisters from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, etc. The Africa Bible Commentary is one example of scholarship that brings together some of the best minds from Sub-Saharan Africa to lend their wisdom on understanding and applying Scripture with their context in mind. We see this in our French reformed circles as well, where two gifted African preachers brought the Word to God’s people at a recent conference on Christ and the atonement.

The global church is now far more numerous in the South and in the East than in the North and in the West. Therefore, the Western missionary enterprise is investing more and more resources into theological education, living out the adage, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” A mentor of mine, Florent Varak, transitioned from a fruitful pastoral ministry in rural France to leadership training in various countries throughout French-speaking Africa. My husband and I ourselves had the privilege of working alongside pastors and their wives for ten years in Senegal.

The strategy of equipping our Two-Thirds World brothers and sisters to carry out the Great Commission makes sense. But believers in Europe and North America can also partner with our non-European fellow Christians. We can certainly do so by supporting Western missionaries and by taking part in short-term missions trips. But beyond that, we can seek other practical ways to deepen our relationships with brothers and sisters from other cultures within our church family.

All Nations Before the Throne Forever

And, of course, and perhaps the key point here is, we can learn from them and their unique perspective on Scripture and the Christian life. We can ask them to help us see our blind spots. And pastors in particular can seek to ensure that their leadership team represents the diversity of the membership of their church. Simply recognizing that we have lenses that color our perception of reality will go far to bridge the gap between our cultures and bless the body of Christ universal. And as we learn to love one another, not despite our diversity, but because of it, we will be preparing for eternity:

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 7:9-12)

Won’t it be glorious! Let’s live in light of it even now.