Wrestling with the Bible
Why have I called this page "Wrestling with the Bible"? Because, for me, studying the Bible is like Jacob wrestling with the angel. Jacob will not let go until he receives a blessing and when we read the Bible we must not let go until we receive a blessing either. A pious skim over the surface is not enough -- any serious Bible Study has to deal with hard questions. How do we honour the authority of the Bible now? We no longer live in a pre-modern, pre-industrial, in some cases even pre-agrarian, world. We know things about the physical world and human physiology, reproduction, and psychology that the human authors of scripture didn't know. Only when we have worked through those questions can we appropriate the Bible's transforming power. This site, and the guides, studies, sermons, and commentaryon John's Gospel contained in it, are designed to help you in that work.
Delacroix, "Jacob Wrestling with the Angel"
I have been teaching a Bible Study class for many years now. It has taken me places I never expected to go and deepened my faith in ways I never anticipated. Without it, I never could have wrestled the angel and received a blessing. To study the Bible seriously is a big commitment, not to be made lightly. But the blessing is very great too, for to wrestle with that angel is to wrestle with the Spirit of God.
So I invite you to join me in this struggle! Let's wrestle together with the Spirit as we strive for God's blessing in reading God's written Word. Despite its limitations (imposed by its human elements), when read in the Spirit's light there is no better introduction to God's true and unchanging Word, the eternal Son, whose mission, life, death, and saving work are laid out for us in its pages.
If you have a question or comment, please email me at biblewrestler@wrestlingwiththebible.com.
Abigail Ann Young