“I have stored up your Word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11)

If you’ve read your Bible recently, you’re probably biblical … right?  If I memorize a Bible verse, chapter or book, isn’t that being biblical?  Are you, am I, biblical?  Just what does it mean to be biblical?

First of all, you might have wondered why I capitalized Bible above, but not biblical.  Well, Bible is a noun, a proper name referring to the Word of God.  It should always be capitalized.  Biblical, on the other hand, is an adjective and does not require capitalization (unless at the beginning of this sentence!).

Or you might speak of biblical names, discuss the topic of biblical theology, or enroll in a course entitled Biblical Theology.

But I’m really more interested in whether you are or I am genuinely biblical.  Does reading the Bible make me biblical?  Not necessarily.  Does obedience to the commands of the Bible make me biblical?  Well, yes and no.  I may be doing biblical things, obeying biblical commands, or even following the Bible in necessary steps of action.

For instance, I may read the Scriptures every morning.  Am I being biblical?  Perhaps.  Reading the Scriptures every morning certainly follows a biblical pattern.

Here’s what I’m getting at.  I may be getting into the Bible, but am I allowing the Bible to get into me?  That’s being biblical.

I may read the Bible every morning, whole chapters, whole books!  I may “hide God’s Word in my heart”, i.e. memorize.  But I am not biblical in the truest sense unless what God says in his Word invades my thought life and my actions.

I may follow the biblical instruction to feed the hungry or care for the orphan but go away filled with pride at my own station in life.  Then I’m not being biblical.

I may follow the biblical instruction to worship with fellow believers (“don’t forsake getting together as some do” – Hebr. 10:25), but deliberately shun a fellow believer.  Then I’m not being biblical.

I may follow biblical instructions to the letter of the law in resolving a dispute, but still harbor hatred (alright, dislike) towards that person.  Then I’m not being biblical.

I may attend church with my slaves, singing the old gospel hymns right there beside them, but beat them and abuse them back home, demonstrated again and again in American (church) history.  Then I’m not being biblical.

In fact, I may even preach the Word, Sunday after Sunday, faithfully expositing and expounding that Word.  But if I’m not obeying that Word or letting it guide my attitudes and actions, I am not being biblical.

The Bible is more than a book full of instructions.  As the revealed will of God, it contains more than instruction on what to do in this or that situation.  It addresses the attitudes we demonstrate and the motives we harbor deep down inside where no one sees (see Colossians 3:5, 12-13).

And that ultimately defines whether I am being genuinely biblical in the truest sense of the Word.