A Defense of Bibliolatry, or Something like it...

It has become common for people to criticize conservative Christians for "bibliolatry"—that is, worship of the Bible. We believe the Bible to be the inerrant word of God. We believe and obey every letter of it. We talk about it all the time. We don't question it. We trust it. We love it. It fills our minds and shapes our emotions.

Has our esteem for the Bible turned a book, a created thing, into the object of our worship?

Are we idolaters?

A few months ago, our Sunday morning Call to Worship was from Psalm 138, which says, "for you have exalted above all things your name and your word." Here, as in many other places (Psalm 119 may be the most supreme), God's word is exalted and praised. It is given the adoration that is due God alone. "My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times" (Ps. 119:20).

Both God's name and his word are identified with him throughout the Bible. John 1:1 is maybe the most famous example. There, the "word" John is talking about is the eternal Son of God, but dare we separate Jesus from his word in the Bible, given by his Spirit, that testifies to him?

God is his word. To adore and trust his word, is to adore and trust him. Not only does he say we should do this, but this is pleasing to him. He receives such reverence as worship.

Now of course, the Bible is not all of God's words. He has spoken other words, for example, through prophets whose words were not recorded in the Scriptures. But the Bible is God's Word. It is the collection of his words that he has given to us that we might know Christ and be saved. It is a sufficient revelation of who he is so that we might believe in him and obey him.

Clearly the Bible's own posture toward the Bible is a reverence and esteem that could only be called worship. We do not bow down before the physical book. We bow down to the revelation given in the Book—the God who speaks.

This is important, because if these critics are right, how then should we view the Bible? Should we not adore and obey it? Should we not esteem it so highly? How highly should we esteem it? As one of the great pieces of literature in history that has helped form our civilization?

There is no middle way: either the Bible is the revelation of God to be trusted and received as his word, or it is the (mere) words of man.

So if holding the Bible in the highest esteem, giving unquestioning obedience to it is "bibliolatry"—then yes we should do that. But the Psalmist in Psalm 138 does not regard that as worshiping something other than God.