Is the Bible Relevant Today?

Hebrews 4:12  Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Is the Bible Relevant Today?

Summary: The Bible remains deeply relevant today not as a rulebook of old answers, but as a living conversation through which God’s Spirit continues to challenge, shape, and guide us in love and justice.

Dear Beloved,

Every so often, someone will ask me: “Is the Bible still relevant today?” It’s a fair question. After all, these texts were written thousands of years ago, in cultures very different from ours. We live in an age of space travel, artificial intelligence, and medical breakthroughs beyond the imagination of the biblical writers. So, is the Bible outdated? Or can it still speak to us now?

I believe the Bible is profoundly relevant—but not because it provides easy answers to modern problems. It’s not a rulebook or an instruction manual. Rather, it is a living library of stories, poetry, wisdom, and witness that invite us into ongoing conversation with God. Its relevance is not in literal predictions of today’s events, but in the way it continues to shape, challenge, and transform our lives.

The Bible reveals to us the movement of God’s Spirit through human history. Again and again, we see ordinary people wrestling with injustice, longing for liberation, stumbling in their failures, and yet discovering God’s presence and love along the way. Those struggles feel very familiar, don’t they? In a world where we still face violence, inequality, environmental crisis, and division, the cries of the prophets for justice and peace are as urgent as ever. The courage of Jesus to break down barriers of exclusion, to embrace the outcast, and to proclaim God’s reign of love still calls us forward.

The Bible is not frozen in time. Scripture is not a museum piece behind glass—it’s a conversation partner. Each generation brings new questions to the text, and the Spirit continues to breathe through it in ways that speak to our current realities. For example, when we read Genesis today, we may not be asking “how was the world scientifically created?” but rather “how can we live as good stewards of this beautiful earth entrusted to us?” When we hear Paul’s words about community, we may ask: “What does it mean to be one body in Christ when the world is fractured by racism, poverty, and fear?” These are the kinds of questions that keep the Bible alive for us.

So yes—the Bible is relevant. Not because it is unchanged, but because it changes us. It teaches us to pay attention to the Spirit’s movement, to read our own lives in light of God’s story, and to live out love in fresh and courageous ways. Scripture is not about escaping the world—it’s about engaging the world with God’s hope.

This week, I encourage you to pick up your Bible with fresh eyes. Don’t look for old answers. Instead, listen for the questions it stirs in you. What does it say about who God is? About who we are? About how we are called to live in this time and place? That’s where its relevance shines through.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Anny

The Rev. Dr. Anny Genato+

Rector