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Central Claim: McCraney argues that the Reformation's doctrine of *sola scriptura* fundamentally erred by objectifying Scripture—treating the Bible as an infallible "thing in itself" rather than recognizing its value depends entirely on who reads it. This objectification has produced 500+ years of division, death, and misuse.
Biblical Basis: McCraney references Scripture's metaphors comparing the Bible to a sword and fire—objects inherently neutral until applied by human hands.
Yeshuan Perspective: This directly expresses subjective faith over objective interpretation. Rather than debating translation accuracy or correct doctrine, McCraney proposes Christians evaluate Scripture's worth by observing the fruit of the Spirit in the reader's life. A Bible read by someone exhibiting agape love is "good"; the same text in hands lacking spiritual fruit becomes destructive. This shifts authority from the text itself to the Spirit-filled individual's use of it, abandoning denominational gatekeeping and embracing a radically subjective assessment of biblical authority based on relational outcomes.
Open Transcript
Reassessment of Scriptural Objectivity
This is the live show of Heart of the Matter! Out of Salt Lake City, Utah, and I’m your host Shawn McCraney. Show 31S The Reformers Biggest Mistake (and we need to change it now)! Taped May 16th 2021 Aired May 17th 2021
Sola Scriptura and Its Consequences
For over five hundred years, ever since Erasmus, then Luther, who translated the Bible into German, and Tyndale who gave it to us in English, the Reformers, through the clarion call of “sola scriptura,” have taken a book of sacred writings and held it up as a “thing in itself.” What I mean by this is Christians took a collection of letters from the apostles, assigned it authority, told us that it (in and of itself) was “the infallible direct word of God to us," and then in some cases even made the collection equal to God Himself. In doing this they gave the book an objective identity, and with that “thing in itself identity” came demands.
Don’t put it on the ground. Take every word seriously. Trust in it. Look to it. Value it above everything else. Sola Scriptura. They did this (in part) at the Reformation in response to the Catholic church and its claim of papal authority and traditions that were counter to what was written and so I think they meant well.
Unfortunately, the end result, like all end results from Man, has been nothing short of disastrous as thousands of views, interpretations, divisions (and even deaths) have resulted from those two words, sola scriptura, and the objectification of scripture. Additionally, since the scripture alone was a thing in and of itself, then the Bible, in the minds of those who look to it as an objective source of Goodness, must be seen as a good thing in itself.
The thinking is because it is from God, it is therefore good. It is therefore right. IT is ALWAYS RIGHT. And that is the view men have had toward the Bible for the past 500 plus years. In response to this, but still approaching the Bible objectively, men like Joseph Smith came along and, as a means to promote his own revelations and books, said the famous line, “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.” This too, though indirectly, makes the Bible a thing in itself, meaning an objectified source of holy writ from on High with the added qualifier that as such, it must be translated correctly.
A Different Perspective for a Subjective Christianity
But even with this challenge, the Bible is still, if translated correctly, seen as this objective source of information that must be viewed as a “thing in itself.” In the name of Subjective Christianity and the fail of all the Objective approaches that have been made over the years, I want to propose that Christians the world over begin to see the Bible from a different perspective. One that is much more in harmony with reality than what we have accepted in the past because part of the problem with the Bible as an Objective thing in itself is that while IT remains the thing of authority and power, human beings, individuals reading it, all differ relative to its content.
So, the way I suggest Christians begin to describe and see the Bible is from the human use of it. Interestingly enough, the scripture is likened to a sword and fire which are perfect in helping us understand the new view. As things in themselves, neither swords nor fire have any intrinsic goodness or value. In other words, without the contributions of individuals they are really inanimate objects that simply “are,” and their value or danger is determined by human use of them.
The Analogy of Swords and Fire
So we would be foolish to look at a sword and see it as good or evil – same with fire. Again, the goodness or evil of the sword or fire is in the handling, the use, the application of those objects by individuals and their use of them. A sword could then be called a good thing if it was used to chop food or wood, to cut the ropes of a kidnapped person, or to defend the honor of another. Fire would be seen as good if it warms cold hands, cooks raw food, or sanitizes dirty instruments.
Of course, swords would be seen as evil if they were used to kill babies, threaten others or destroy property - same with fire. I mean fire wrongly applied is one of the most devastating items on earth, right? I suggest that we start seeing the Bible in...
The Value of the Bible
The same light. That when read and used by a person filled with the Holy Spirit, it is a beautiful thing, but when it is read and applied by evil hearts and hands, it is one of the ugliest things on earth.
Bottom line, instead of seeing the Bible as a thing in and of itself, an object of perfect holiness to which we all must bend the knee, perhaps we ought to start saying:
The value of the Bible depends on who’s reading it. We have to admit that over the course of biblical history some have used the Bible to justify incest, beating children, polygamy, stoning witches, hating homosexuals, and damning people to hell. The Bible has caused millions of deaths, been the justification for wars, and has divided the body of believers up more than almost anything else on earth!
We have to also admit that the Bible has over the course of history has taken people from dark to light, has encouraged, revealed the living God, and contributed to the fruit of Christian love in the lives of many who have read it. So, with this new view in mind – that “the value of the Bible depends on the one reading it” – we can take each individual and the agape love they extend and exhibit in their walk and then determine the light in which the Bible is seen. In other words, show me a woman who loves God and her neighbor selflessly and I will show you someone who possessed a good Bible. On the other hand, show me someone who exhibits the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit and I will show you someone who possesses a bad Bible.
Subjective Faith Over Objective Interpretation
This is the ultimate expression of subjective faith over the objective and in this way, we don’t have to worry about it “being translated correctly,” or versions, and we don’t have to argue over what it really says per se. In the hands of a genuine Christian, the Bible will always be the right translation, it will always be a gift of God, it will always be good and of value as the believer is good and of value – irrespective of denominational differences.
The Bible in Different Hands
But the very same Bible, in the hands of a lunatic, in the hands of a religious zealot, in the hands of people who do not understand the ultimate consummate command to love all people all the time, is will always be a very bad thing.
Join me in changing the way we view and see the Bible. Forget sola scriptura. It’s been a fail from the start. Forget wars over interpretation and translations and versions. Forget the Bible as a “thing in and of itself.” I can see a world where everyone, regardless of denomination, who loves God and others, and holding good Bibles in their hands. And I can also see a world where anyone, regardless of denomination, who lacks the fruit of the Spirit, holding a bad Bible in theirs.
This is the ways to see and understand the Bible – by the person reading it.
Write your comments below and join us tomorrow night as we enter part three in our interview by Sarah Young of Checkmychurch.