Churchgoers remain confident in their ability to understand and explain the Bible, but a growing number believe the truths of the Scripture have lost relevance.
Nine in 10 U.S. Protestant churchgoers (91 percent) believe they can read a passage of the Bible and usually understand how it is relevant to them, according to a study from Lifeway Research. Around 4 in 5 express confidence in their ability to address others’ concerns or questions about the Bible in various situations.
Yet, most (56 percent) say they find it challenging to make sense of the Bible when they read it on their own. Additionally, an increasing minority accept only some truths from the Bible and believe others have become obsolete.
“Most churchgoers enjoy trying to understand the Bible, but some are selective in what they believe in the passages they read,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “Jesus invited people to follow Him and He said, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word,’ (John 14:23, CSB). And He instructed His disciples to teach new followers ‘everything I have commanded you,’ (Matthew 28:20). His invitation was for the whole, not parts.”
Biblical confidence
Almost all U.S. Protestant churchgoers (95 percent) say they enjoy exploring a passage of Scripture to understand what it means, including 62 percent who strongly agree. A similar number (91 percent) believes they can read a passage and usually understand how it is relevant to them.
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Churchgoers aren’t only confident in their ability to understand the Bible themselves. They also believe they can help others’ doubts and confusion.
More than 4 in 5 believe they could address someone’s doubts about the truthfulness of Scripture (84 percent), someone’s difficulty accepting morals taught in the Bible (82 percent) and someone’s confusion over a passage in the Bible (82 percent).
“While large numbers are confident they can address various difficulties others have with the Bible, less than a third of churchgoers strongly agree,” McConnell said. “This is likely tied to their evaluation of their own ability to understand passages and relate them to life. Only 38 percent strongly agree they can do this, while the majority (53 percent) only somewhat agree.”
In general, those who attend church more frequently and those with evangelical beliefs are more confident in their ability to help others better understand the Bible.
Despite the confidence to help others, most churchgoers (56 percent) admit they find it challenging to make sense of the Bible when they read it on their own. More than 2 in 5 (43 percent) disagree, and 1 percent aren’t sure.
Those who attend less frequently and those at the smallest churches are the most likely to agree making sense of the Bible on their own is a challenge. Churchgoers who attend a worship service one to three times a month are more likely to agree than those who attend four times a month or more (62 percent v. 52 percent). Also, those at churches with fewer than 50 in attendance (65 percent) are among the most likely to agree.
Additionally, women are more likely than men to say they find it hard to interpret the Bible when reading alone (61 percent v. 51 percent).
Questioning Scripture
In all their confidence to explain the Bible to others, most churchgoers believe Scripture can have different meanings for readers. Four in 5 (82 percent) believe the truth of God’s Word can mean different things to different people, including 38 percent who strongly agree. Around 1 in 6 (16 percent) disagree, and 2 percent aren’t sure.
Those without evangelical beliefs are more likely to agree than those with such beliefs (90 percent v. 75 percent). Denominationally, Restorationist movement churchgoers (96 percent) and Methodists (92 percent) are more likely to agree than Baptists (80 percent), Presbyterian/Reformed (79 percent) or non-denominational churchgoers (77 percent).
Additionally, some churchgoers disregard truths from the Bible because they don’t fit with their personal beliefs or cultural changes. Both of those beliefs have increased since a 2019 Lifeway Research study.
Seven years ago, 30 percent said they accepted some truths from the Bible but others don’t fit what they believe. That’s now up 4 percentage points (34 percent). Similarly, in 2019, 24 percent believed that as culture changes, some biblical truths become obsolete. Today, that has also climbed 4 percentage points (28 percent).
“The concepts in any other book will show signs of age requiring new editions. But the Source of the Bible is not Someone whose truths change. James refers to Him as ‘the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows,’ (James 1:17, CSB),” McConnell said. “The thought of unchanging truth is an unprecedented concept even for many churchgoers today.”
Younger churchgoers often have the most hesitancy around the Bible remaining consistent and true for every person. Those 18-29 are among the most likely to say the truth of God’s Word can mean different things to different people (87 percent) and some biblical truths don’t fit what they believe (56 percent).
The younger a churchgoer is the more likely they are to see some truths from the Bible as obsolete. Those 18-29 (54 percent) are the most likely to agree, followed by those 30-49 (40 percent), 50-64 (19 percent) and 65 and older (13 percent).
Additionally, churchgoers at the largest congregations are the most likely to hold to the consistent relevancy and truthfulness of Scripture.
Those at churches with attendance of 500 or more are the most likely to disagree that some biblical truths become obsolete (84 percent) and among the most likely to disagree the truth of God’s Word can mean different things to different people (25 percent). They are among the least likely to agree that some truths from the Bible don’t fit what they believe (19 percent).
Men are more likely than women to say some biblical truths don’t fit their beliefs (40 percent v. 29 percent).
Interpreting and applying God’s Word
Churchgoers say context matters for both interpretation and application of the Bible, but some have grown less sure.
Almost all (96 percent) agree it’s important to understand the context in which the Bible was written, including 67 percent who strongly agree. In 2019, the overall percentage was the same (96 percent), but those who strongly agreed was higher (73 percent).
Similarly, 92 percent of current churchgoers say it is important to apply the meaning and principles of Scripture to today’s context, including 60 percent who strongly agree. Seven years ago, however, of the 93 percent who agreed, 66 percent did so strongly.
“We live in a re-mix world in which people apply phrases, pictures, tunes and memes to situations that may have nothing to do with the originals. AI often pulls from past content in the same way. That may work for a laugh or to make something sound familiar. But the value of biblical principles is not to sound good,” McConnell said. “The message of the Bible was revealed to specific people in contexts we need to understand to know how that message applies to us today.”
This story was originally published at LifewayResearch.com.
Aaron Earls is the senior writer at Lifeway Research.
9 Responses
One of the problems is too many Evangelicals are Biblically illiterate and churches are not giving them the tools to understand it.
In many churches today verses are placed on a screen for a few minutes and treated as proof texts to support a topical sermon and then quickly taken down.
Several decades ago, I took a class examining 4 different interpretative approaches to the book of Revelation. All the views were from mature, well informed, Christian scholars. They all agreed Revelation is true, but none of them agreed how it was true. I could go on, but this is one example of many that leave me wondering how I would have answered these questions.
The framing of this, and the breathless parroting of Roys, by Lifeway, “reject some biblical truths” is a begging the question fallacy presupposing there are objective “truths”. In reality what people are responding to is rejecting the church telling them uncritically that some fringe stance is “truth”
These findings don’t surprise me. In this current environment, I’ve seen how many Christians pick a stance and then look for scripture to back it up when it should be vice versa: reading the scripture first and then basing our stance on what we read.
When there isn’t solid Biblical literacy, it leads to cherry picking scriptures we like (which usually requires little change), taking things out of context (conveniently), or just discarding scripture as irrelevant altogether (the “if it doesn’t make sense to me, then something must be wrong with it” idolatry of self).
I do think churches need to take more time promoting Biblical literacy rather than just delivering powerful sermons with verses on a screen.
I personally found Bible Study Fellowship’s approach to studying scripture quite helpful when I was a new disciple.
I’ve come to understand that some people refuse to accept Scripture because they want to sincerely, particularly having pre-marital sex. That matters more than what God says in His Word.
this tired trope should have died in the 80s. Numerous, thoughtful people deconstruct (distinct from entirely leaving the faith) for a variety of reasons, not just their pants.
define “biblical truth”
Do you mean Lifeway’s Conservative American 20th century interpretation of biblical truth?
The fact is – people have been reading the same texts in good faith and coming to vastly different conclusions. That doesn’t even count translations, interpretations, cultural context and philosophical thought changing over the course of 2000 years.
Maybe a little more humility and a little less certainty would go a long way to restoring people’s tolerance of organized religion?
Excellent…thanks for sharing! People can’t even agree on how many books should be contained in the “Bible”. I’ve seen somewhere between 66 and 88?
Running into more and more pastors and pk kids are giving up on Christianity and becoming atheists due to the realization of what you speak of.
I just recently read Promise Backland’s book: Gospel of Lies in which she (a pk in a mega church) rightly points out that most of Christianity’s idolizing Scripture breeds an unhealthy addiction to certainty, which gives way to arrogance. Good book to read for perspective.
Kenly, as a former PK myself, I can back up what Promise has said (she has an excellent YouTube channel, BTW). There are so many of us who came away from church disillusioned (and disturbed by scriptures). These arrogant churches don’t bother to ask why we leave. It’s always “they just wanted to have sex” or “they were never a real Christian.” They really think I want to be shunned by all my Christian friends and have nieces shielded from me just for a sexual encounter??