How are we supposed to think about the Bible when there’s something that seems confusing? Or what if someone reads something in the Bible and thinks —That just can’t be right? One Christian leader from many centuries ago, Augustine of Hippo, gave a nice encapsulation of how Christians have approached these situations for 2000 years:
When we do understand it, we are right.
But when we are wrong because we haven’t understood it, we leave it in the right.
When we have gone wrong, we don’t make out scripture to be wrong, but it continues to stand up straight and right, so that we may return to it for correction.
(Augustine, Sermon 23.3).
So this idea that the Bible is always right isn’t something Christians made up recently. It’s what Christians had already agreed on–all the way back in the 300s. These are good things to remember, for all of life.
Oh, and here’s one more cool old quote:
“The soul watered by sacred Scripture grows hearty and bears fruit in due season. This is the orthodox faith.” (John of Damascus)