The Nature and Interpretation of Scripture in the Ancient New Way -- We believe that the Bible is God's inspired, authoritative word for our lives. While Scripture contains many commands and examples, we believe that these ultimately point us to who God is and who we are in him. In other words, Scripture is about relationship (John 5:39-40). The greatest commands are to love God and to love our neighbor, and all the other commands point to these (Matthew 22:34-40). We do not see the Bible as a text book, an owner's manual, or law book, but rather as one aspect of God's revelation of himself and his grand purposes for the world. The commands, teaching, corrections, rebukes, and training are given by God for the purpose of relating to Him, to each other, and to the world in the way He desires (2 Timothy 3:16). To understand the Bible and to live obediently in its truth, we interpret it with God’s big-picture purpose in mind, and we read it in community, in context, with mercy, and with humility.