When Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel was released in 2013, one reviewer critiqued its closing act as “violence porn.” Bryan Singer’s 2006 Superman Returns had been criticised as light on action. Snyder overcorrected with Man of Steel. The excessive action included a final showdown between Superman and General Zod that caused untold destruction to the city of Metropolis.
The assessment of the film as “violence porn” highlighted the visually appealing but ultimately meaningless nature of the action. The violence added little of substance to the story, much like the visually appealing but meaningless portrayals of sex in pornography.
A proliferation of “porn”
Since then—perhaps since a little before then—it has become commonplace to insert “porn” as a descriptor to all sorts of things: “car porn,” “food porn,” “real estate porn,” etc. In each case, it describes something visually appealing or exciting, even if these descriptors lack the connotation of meaninglessness used to describe the Kryptonian showdown.
There have been plenty critics of using “porn” in this way. Most point out that pornography, even if it is visually appealing, is deeply damaging and that the term should not, therefore, be used to describe something that is good and beautiful. It is one thing to appreciate that beautifully crafted meal or stunningly designed car, but referring to its visual appeal as “porn” undermines the damage inherent to pornography.
I agree with these critiques. Comparing something that is visually appealing to pornography ignores the deep and real damage that pornography causes. A beautifully crafted dish in a restaurant likely won’t cause shame, strain relationships, end marriages, or negatively rewire your brain. Comparing it to pornography is irresponsible and vacuous.
A different perspective
When I recently heard someone speak of the way many evangelicals study the Bible as “Bible study porn,” I initially bristled at another thoughtless use of the descriptor, but when he explained what he meant, I appreciated the comparison a little more. He argued that pornography takes something good and divorces it from where God intended it to be practiced. God designed sex to be a physical and pleasurable act between a husband and his wife; pornography removes sex from the context of marriage, disincarnates it, and turns it into a solo, voyeuristic act. This perverts God’s design and warps our view of sex.
Too many evangelicals approach Bible study similarly. They think that God’s design for Bible study allows them to sit in a room alone, with a pen and perhaps some Bible study tools, and to study the text apart from any connection to community. Like porn, Bible study becomes a disincarnated activity. This is not what God intended.
I am not in any way discouraging Bible study. The longest chapter in the Bible (Psalm 119) commends the practice of reading, studying, and memorising Scripture. Christians since the invention of the printing press have had the immense privilege of personal access to God’s word—at least where the Scriptures are translated into their language. The English-speaking world has an embarrassment of translations and tools to assist in studying the Scriptures. With all these privileges, we can miss the reality that God intended engagement with his word to be a communal activity.
The community of Scripture
The New Testament shows that Bible study is a communal activity. The first Christians “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42). The plural “themselves” is employed here in the context of the gathered church. The Scriptures play a central role in new covenant corporate worship. When Paul came to a new city in his missionary journeys, he typically headed directly for the synagogue, where people would often already be gathered to study the Scriptures (see Acts 17:1–2ff). If he was driven from the synagogue, as in Ephesus, he might resort to another place—a hall, for example—where he could gather the disciples corporately for teaching (see Acts 19:8–10).
Paul referred to his teachings as “traditions” that entire churches were careful to observe (1 Corinthians 11:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:15). These churches carefully considered Paul’s teaching, in community, and submitted themselves to these authoritative “traditions.”
Paul exhorted Timothy to give himself to the public reading of Scripture (1 Timothy 4:13). Scripture was given to God’s people for public, not only private, consumption.
Of course, Lord’s Day worship is not the only opportunity for corporate Bible study. There is value in taking opportunity to get together throughout the week to study the Bible with other Christians. Perhaps your church has a home group ministry, or you simply create the opportunity to get together with other Christians to study the Scriptures.
Nor is studying in community exclusively an in-person activity. We do well to take advantage of the witness of the church throughout the centuries in studying the Bible. Be careful of dismissing the testimony of previous generations of Christians as you study the Bible. Kaitlyn Schiess is correct: We should “rely on the diverse witness of the church throughout time and around the world to help us understand Scripture more clearly. We actually do need more than a Bible and our own minds. We need each other.”
Reasons for communal study
Studying in community is not—or ought not to be—a relic of a bygone era where Christians lacked private access to Scripture. Corporate worship is God’s intentional design. There are reasons that God has designed it this way. While there are probably many reasons, here are three.
First, there is value in the diversity of perspectives that we encounter when we study in community. Inevitably, other Christians have seen things in the text that you have not noticed. Studying with other may help to correct or nuance your interpretation of a particular text. It may help you to notice applications that you might otherwise overlook.
Second, there is value in the intensity of growth in community. “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17). Bible study is, of course, not the only way Christians sharpen each other, but it is one way. Priscilla and Aquila were able to come alongside Apollos to sharpen his understanding of Scripture (Acts 18:24–28) and we can benefit in the same way from others in our Bible study.
Third, studying the Bible in community helps guard orthodoxy. Paul warned against being “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14). Often, when we are confronted with a teaching that is new to us, we are quick to embrace it as something we’ve never seen. These new insights are often old heresies, which the church in past centuries has addressed. Studying with Christians who are well versed in orthodoxy, and studying with the witness of past Christian generations, can guard us from falling into ancient errors.
Thank God for the gift of personal Bible study. As you are doing so, do not neglect the gift of corporate Bible study. Study the Bible—but don’t neglect to do so in community.