The Bible is open to interpretation

I am reading an interesting book right now called Velvet Elvis. It is by a guy named Rob Bell and published by Zondervan. I will most likely have a number of posts generated by reading and pondering this book, but for starters, here is a big one. Bigger to some then others I suppose, depending on your world view.

Rob makes a point that I had not really thought about alot to date, but which is pretty simple and profound all at once. He says "The Bible is a communal book. It came from people writing in communities and was often written to communities." He also mentions earlier that the Bible is open ended and must be interpreted. Here is another longer quote from the book that clarifies this point.

And that's because the Bible is open ended.

It has to be interpreted. And if it isn't interpreted, then it can't be put into action. So if we are serious about following God, then we have to interpret the Bible. It is not possible to simply do what the Bible says. We must first make decisions about what it means at this time, in this place, for these people.

He is talking about the process of interpretation that was practiced by the Rabbis in the time of Jesus, who had to make sense of the scriptures in the face of the changing times, and especially with the inclusion of the Gentiles into the fold of early Christianity. I will not go into the details of this process here, though it is fascinating to me, rather I will say that I believe that what was true then, is still true now, in that the Scriptures are meant to be interpreted by a community of believers in a point in time.