What If We’ve Been Asking the Wrong Questions All Along

October 24, 2025

Why the Bible Feels Silent for So Many—And How to Hear It Again

Most people don’t walk away from Scripture because they hate it. They walk away because it never seems to answer the questions they’re asking.

But what if the problem isn’t the Bible?

What if it’s the questions we inherited?

Scripture Shows Us the Bible’s Questions Aren’t Ours

The biblical writers weren’t asking, “How do I get to heaven when I die?” They were asking:

Has God abandoned us?
“How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?”¹
How do we remain faithful under empire?
“Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile…”²
Who is the real King?
“The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at My right hand…’”³
Peter applies this directly: “God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”⁴

Even Jesus isn’t preaching escape-from-earth spirituality. His message?

“The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.”⁵

The Early Church Heard It This Way Too

Long before Augustine or the Reformation, the Church spoke in the language of covenant, loyalty, and kingdom—not legal guilt or inner feelings.

Didache (c. 50–70 AD):
“There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between the two ways.”⁶
Clement of Rome (c. 96 AD):
“Let us fix our eyes on the blood of Christ and understand how precious it is… for it was poured out for our salvation and brought repentance to the whole world.”⁷
Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110 AD):
“Christianity is greatest when it is hated by the world.”⁸
Irenaeus (c. 180 AD):
“The glory of God is a living man; and the life of man is the vision of God.”⁹

They weren’t obsessed with “going to heaven.” They were concerned with remaining loyal to Christ in a world loyal to Caesar.

When the Questions Changed, Everything Else Did Too

Augustine (4th–5th c.):
Shifted the question from unfaithfulness to legal guilt and original sin:
“How can a guilty soul be declared innocent before a holy God?”
The covenant became a courtroom.
The Reformation (16th c.):
Luther and Calvin reframed it again:
“How is a sinner made right with God?”
Necessary in their moment—but Scripture shrank around justification.
Modern Evangelicalism:
Now the question is:
“Have I prayed the prayer? Do I feel forgiven?”
Faith became a moment. Salvation became an experience. Scripture became devotional fuel.

Each age handed us its question. Few asked if it was the Bible’s.

Ask Different Questions—See a Bigger Story

If you inherit Augustine’s question, every Psalm becomes about guilt and absolution.
If you inherit Luther’s question, Paul becomes a lawyer.
If you inherit modern evangelicalism’s question, every verse must speak to your feelings and future.

But if you ask the Bible’s question—

“How do we remain loyal to the true King while living in exile?”—

suddenly Scripture opens again.

How to Read the Bible Like They Did

Ask first: “What did this mean to them?”
“For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction…”¹⁰
Stop asking how to escape. Start asking what God is restoring.
Jesus taught us to pray: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”¹¹
Stop mining verses—listen for the whole voice.
Polycarp wrote: “Let us serve Him with fear and all reverence, just as He commanded and as the apostles preached.”¹²

The Invitation

If your questions are small, the Bible will feel small.

But if you start asking what Abraham, Isaiah, Mary, Peter, and Paul were asking—

you’ll find the Bible hasn’t gone silent.

It’s been answering a much bigger question all along.

So ask yourself:

“Have I been trying to make the Bible answer what it was never written to answer?”

Endnotes

Samuel Vincent

Restoring Apostolic Faith