We may know Christians or we may be Christians ourselves, who try to take the Bible as literally as possible.
As implied in the name, biblical literalism involves practicing most passages of the Bible literally, unless the verses clearly are allegory or symbolic.
After all, the Bible does seem to want us to take its words very seriously, and not as suggestions. And we do know that we should exercise, in a literal sense, instructions and guidelines for Christian living held within.
In this article, we’ll explore scripture verses that advocate for biblical literalism, explore the history of the literalism movement in the church, and also, we’ll dive into some potential areas in which biblical literalism could lead to danger if taken too far.
As is the case with any area of biblical study, Christians should explore that final point as every study of Scripture, when taken too far, can lead to extremes.
Let’s dive in!
What Bible Verses Advocate for Biblical Literalism?
We won’t run into any verses that use the specific phrase “biblical literalism” because such a term doesn’t exist in the original languages of Scripture. But we can find passages that imply we should take the words of the Word of God with severity and sincerity.
Below, we’ll provide some examples and discuss all of them.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).
This verse implies the practicality of all Scripture.
We don’t call the “Ten Commandments” the “Ten Suggestions” for this very reason.
The Bible makes it clear that we should follow commands placed in Scripture. And most Christians, literalists or not, believe that we should frame our living based on most of the passages we see in the Bible, especially the New Testament.
Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21).
The Bible comes straight from God. He worked through human authors to produce Scripture.
Arguments from how much control the human parties versus God had in the written process aside, we should scrutinize each passage of the Bible. We should analyze each to ensure if the Bible wants us to follow those guidelines. If so, we should seek to do so.
So, when did the literalism movement emerge? Has it existed since the beginning of the church, or did it form sometime during church history?
A Brief History of the Literalism Movement
Throughout the history of the church, Christians have taken the words of Scripture seriously, but this movement really took root during the Reformation movement and the idea of sola scriptura, or “Scripture alone.”
In other words, this movement held Scripture as the paramount authority above all other authorities in the church.
This led to many events of historical significance such as the printing of the Gutenberg Bible, making Scripture more accessible to the layperson, and the practice of exegesis, reading the text based on context instead of putting one’s own cultural biases into the interpretation.
Literalism brought many important hallmarks to the church and how we run our biblical practices today.
But what happens when we take Scripture to an extreme? Can we take too many passages literally? Or should we take every verse at face value?
The Potential Dangers of Literalism
As mentioned before, literalists do make an effort to make a distinction between allegorical/poetic passages and passages we should take literally in Scripture.
But with that said, what happens when we take Scripture literally when we should, in reality, analyze it in context?
For instance, we may know of or we may be Christians who wear head coverings, per the verses found in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. But we may notice how many believers choose not to do so since Paul had written that passage for a certain cultural context, and for a certain group of people.
This isn’t to say that Christians who wear head coverings are in the wrong, but they probably shouldn’t expect all believers to do so if that specific passage isn’t intended for all Christians, merely the Christians during Paul’s time whose uncovered hair meant something else entirely than it does for us today.
We do also have to realize that each book of the Bible was written for a specific audience.
Therefore, we must, when analyzing Scripture, determine the intent of the author, compare it with what the rest of the Bible says, and decide if the passage applies to all Christians or only for the believers written to at the time.
In most cases, it will apply to all believers.
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Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, book editor for hire, and the author of almost 30 books. More than 1500 of her works have been featured in various publications. Check out her books at hopebolinger.com for clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Check out her editing profile at Reedsy.com to find out about hiring her for your next book project.
