I work for the Open Bible Trust and a number of times I have been told ‘The Bible is out of date!’ but is it?
In my book Paul: A Missionary of Genius I looked at the Greco-Roman world where Paul did his Missionary Journeys, and what did I see?
Their society loved sports: so does ours.
And in his writings Paul illustrates some of his teaching with object lessons from sport.
Their society valued education: so does ours.
Paul was educated in Tarsus, second only to Athens as a centre of learning, and he probably had to do Pythagoras’ theorem.
They argued with philosophers about God: so do Christians today.
And there is a fascinating account in the Acts of Apostles or Paul debating with the Philosophers in Athens.
They had problems with binge drinking: so does ours.
This particularly went on the temples of Bacchus or Dionysius, and Paul has some strong languages about the sad consequences of being drunk.
Their society was sexually permissive: so is ours.
Again, this was a feature of some pagan temples such at that of Aphrodite in Corinth where there were 1,000 priestesses/prostitutes.
And again, the Bible deals with the consequences of a permissive life-style.
It should not surprise us that the Bible is not out-of-date, because its underlying teaching deals with people and human nature.
We may be technologically advanced compared with people 2,000 years ago but out underlying nature is the same.
Michael Penny is the chair of Churches Together in Reading and Berkshire
