STORY OF THE WEEK: If God Inspired the Bible, Why All the Confusion?

Why the Bible Isn’t Always as Clear as We’d Like It to Be

I once watched a heated debate unfold between two friends over a single Bible verse. One was convinced it meant one thing, the other was just as sure it meant the opposite. They both felt they were standing on holy ground — certain that their interpretation captured God’s truth. Watching them, I couldn’t help but wonder: Why is the Bible so open to interpretation?

It’s a question I’m still wrestling with today, and I’m not the only one.

After I wrote a piece about the mistreatment of women in certain conservative church circles, and my view that the Bible actually advocates for equality, I received this very thoughtful comment:

Thank you, Jean-Philippe!

An excellent question, indeed! In fact, I’ve been mulling it over for days. I think, what Jean-Philippe is really asking is this: “If God inspired the Bible, why the heck didn’t he make his preferred ethics a bit more clear?”

It’s such a good question, because really, if the Bible is supposed to guide us, wouldn’t we expect it to be more direct, especially on the big issues that affect our lives? Why is it that we’re often left debating and interpreting, wondering what certain passages mean? Why wasn’t it written in a way that we can all just understand instantly and agree on?

This question opens up something deeper, though — a chance to think about why the Bible is the way it is. Maybe the complexity and nuance we find in scripture are there on purpose. Maybe we are supposed to dig in, to wrestle, to engage with the text and each other in ways that go beyond black-and-white instructions. Or maybe, we are just misunderstanding the nature and purpose of the Bible all together.

So here we are.

In this article, I want to unpack why the Bible might be written with some ambiguity and why, instead of being frustrating, it could actually be a powerful invitation. Maybe there’s a reason why the Bible doesn’t give us clear-cut answers for every situation.

Let me explain.

Imagine If We Wrote a Bible Today

Let’s start with a thought experiment. Suppose that today, in the 21st century, we set out to write a comprehensive spiritual guide — a book filled with wisdom, guidance, stories, and reflections that we hoped would stand the test of time: A brand new Bible, if you will. This book would reflect our beliefs, values, and cultural norms, addressing issues like climate change, human rights, technology, politics and the social dynamics of our age.

Now, let’s fast-forward 2,000 years.

People in the distant future pick up this book, hoping to understand the wisdom of our era. But by then, the world may look radically different. Those future readers would probably struggle to grasp some of our references to social media, climate crises, democracy, or medical technology. Our ideas and expressions, so vivid to us, might feel foreign or even perplexing to them. They would likely need historians and scholars to help them interpret what we meant by certain terms or why certain social issues were so central to us.

This thought experiment gets to the heart of why the Bible, written thousands of years ago, can be difficult to interpret today. It wasn’t written for us, here in the 21st century. Instead, it was written for people in a different world, with a different understanding of life, God, society, and even truth.