Christians today, especially in the United States, seem to be completely incapable of engaging in one of the most important and powerful ways of reading Scripture. Dietrich Bonhoeffer saw a similar lack in his own time, and at an ecumenical International Youth Conference in Gland, Switzerland, he implored the youths there to engage in this important practice. What is it? It is the practice of reading the Bible as though its prophecies or ethical were written against us. As Bonhoeffer put it:
“[H]as it not become terribly clear, again and again, in all that we have discussed with one another here, that we are no longer obedient to the Bible? We prefer our own thoughts to those of the Bible. We no longer read the Bible seriously. We read it no longer against ourselves but only for ourselves…” (DBWE 11:377-378).
Elsewhere, Bonhoeffer writes of some of the discomfort of being part of the classes in Germany that don’t have to worry about money, and this is the kind of thing I think that reading the Bible against ourselves can forcefully mean. The point was brought home to me recently when I was engaging with a number of other Christians on social media about wealth. Many of them were defending not just rival political theories that favored the wealthy, but actually defending the wealthy and themselves as people who have wealth. The art of reading the Bible against ourselves is completely lost in such circles.
It should not be possible to read the Bible’s words on how difficult it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven; or the obligation to feed, clothe, and house others; or to read James’s words for the rich and fair wages; or to read 1 Timothy’s words about love of money and not feel discomfort in the United States. As a country we are filled to the brim with wealth, even as that wealth is horded by the upper echelons of society. But individually, even many of our poor are wealthy in terms of the world. So many don’t have to worry about where they’ll find their next meal, or whether they’ll have a shirt on their back, or anything of the sort. Yet we–even I–are the people who are called to sell everything we have and give it to the poor, and do not do so. And then to turn around and defend not just policies that favor the rich over the poor, but to argue that that is what Christians ought to do–it’s alarming at best.
We no longer read the Bible seriously. We read it only for ourselves. If it’s inconvenient, we re-interpret it, using our privileged position to see it as something that doesn’t really demand that we sell what we have to feed the hungry. We hide behind political systems or economic systems and ignore the horrors that those very systems bring, whether through the exploitation of child labor or the destruction of God’s green Earth.
We absolutely must learn again to read the Bible against ourselves so that we may walk more humbly and seek to correct wrongs, even as we realize we cannot correct every wrong and that only God can bring complete healing of the world and its ills.
Source
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 11: Ecumenical, Academic, And Pastoral Work: 1931-1932 (Fortress Press).
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SDG.
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J.W. Wartick - Reconstructing Faith 
Many people lose sight of the fact that what you describe as “political theories that favored the wealthy” actually provide quite well for most of the population that is not wealthy. Virtually everyone, other than diehard ideologues, would prefer the shopping choices we have in advanced countries now. They would choose it over the situation in communist Moscow where ordinary citizens (not those with government connections) commonly had to wait for hours in line get into a government store and then often found it didn’t have what they wanted anyway. Compare that to what our profit-driven economic system has been enabled to provide: being able to buy an enormous variety of things online and then even have some of them delivered to your house the very same day.
As for your comment about people “defending the wealthy,” Joseph of Arimathea was rich enough to voluntarily provide a very fine tomb for Jesus’ body. Was he a bad person because of his prosperity?
Not to mention the rampant civil liberties violations in countries which are hostile to wealth in principle. Note that such countries nevertheless are forced by practical necessity to include most aspects of capitalism, including billionaires, in their economies. See https://www.forbes.com/lists/china-billionaires/
Posted by Ralph Dave Westfall | November 18, 2024, 9:38 PMIt’s amazing that you’d read this post and then immediately get defensive and protective of wealth.
Posted by J.W. Wartick | November 18, 2024, 11:59 PMWho says I’m being defensive and protective (sic) of wealth? I’m being defensive of economic systems that work, such as the one that made Joseph of Arimathea wealthy.
Posted by Ralph Dave Westfall | November 19, 2024, 2:42 AMAnd what system is that, do you suppose?
Posted by J.W. Wartick | November 19, 2024, 7:38 AMThe economic system that ultimately made Joseph of Arimathea and Job wealthy was very much like the free-market capitalism that has created so much wealth in so many countries in the world within my lifetime (born in 1943).
Do you think Joseph of Arimathea and Job were evil because they were wealthy?
Having a lot of money is not the problem, it’s how it is used. See Job 31:13-25, 31-32, 38-40.
Posted by Ralph Dave Westfall | November 19, 2024, 10:23 PMThe words “very much like” are incredibly load bearing in that sentence. Care to delineate how you’re using them to attempt to draw 1:1 comparisons?
And again, it’s remarkable that your takeaway from a post that says “evangelicals and Christians need to learn to realize the Bible is actually speaking to them and might even be correcting them” is “nuh uh, being wealthy is good!”
Posted by J.W. Wartick | November 20, 2024, 8:12 AMLike the turn to making the point in this post includes: “It should not be possible to read the Bible’s words on how difficult it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven; or the obligation to feed, clothe, and house others; or to read James’s words for the rich and fair wages; or to read 1 Timothy’s words about love of money and not feel discomfort in the United States”
You seem to be working awfully hard just to try to get me to agree that wealthy can be not evil in some circumstances. Sure. But why are you working so hard to do that? Maybe it -did- make you uncomfortable to realize how comfortable you are? I hope so. Because the Bible should actually make us uncomfortable. It shouldn’t be easy reading. It seems like you want to make it easy reading, to comfortably crack it open and say “Ha, I am like Joseph of Arimathea with my wealth!” or “Ha, all the wealth in the U.S. helps even the poor, despite the rampant food insecurity and 100s of thousands of homeless people here!”
Go ahead and salve your conscience, I guess, but you’re doing exactly what I’m saying Bonhoeffer is calling people to not do with the Bible.
Posted by J.W. Wartick | November 20, 2024, 8:27 AMYou said:
“seems like you want to make it [Bible] easy reading, to comfortably crack it open and say ‘Ha, I am like Joseph of Arimathea with my wealth!’ or ‘Ha, all the wealth in the U.S. helps even the poor, despite the rampant food insecurity and 100s of thousands of homeless people here! Go ahead and salve your conscience.'”
Based on your statements above, it seems you are evaluating me as a very selfish, wealthy person. Since we’re all imperfect and could benefit from constructive criticism, could you explain to me the reasoning behind your assessing me in this way?
Posted by Ralph Dave Westfall | November 22, 2024, 8:04 PMNot saying you’re very wealthy but here in the U.S. the overwhelming majority of us are more wealthy than many globally.
Your entire approach in commenting on this post has been to try to wriggle out from reading the Bible against ourselves related to that.
I’m going by what you said.
Posted by J.W. Wartick | November 23, 2024, 7:37 AMYou said, “Your entire approach in commenting on this post has been to try to wriggle out from reading the Bible against ourselves related to that.
I’m going by what you said.”
That’s very vague. Since you think I’m doing Christianity wrong, please be more specific. Show in detail how things I have said indicate I am trying to “wriggle out from reading the Bible against” myself.
I have been trying to guide my life by reading and studying the Bible ever since I trusted Jesus as my Savior on March 14, 1971. I have read it many times since then.
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Even if someone doesn’t want to read the Bible “against itself,” the Holy Spirit can cause that to happen and often will.
Posted by Ralph Dave Westfall | November 23, 2024, 9:33 PMI’m not going to continue. This is pointless. Thanks for stopping by.
Posted by J.W. Wartick | November 23, 2024, 10:38 PM