Introduction – the WHY of it all … (12/26/18)
As a humble yet passionate “biblical scholar” in my own right1, it can come as no surprise to learn that I have intentionally entertained thousands of in-depth conversations with all sorts of Christians during my devout immersion into biblical theology and its various religious manifestations. Also unsurprisingly, a great many of these conversations involved speaking with Christian “conservatives” (i.e. Christians of a more traditional religious bent – not only regarding the spiritual themes or worship and salvation, but also the social issues of crime and punishment and equality and justice; Christians who often label themselves as being “fundamentalist”, “evangelical”, “literalist” or “born again”) and then confronting those same believers as to the patent immorality of many of their less humble ideals &/or many of their more judgmental (if not outright bigoted) beliefs – logically referencing the teachings of the flagrantly liberal (at least when it comes to those same aforementioned social issues) Jesus of Nazareth while doing so. And almost invariably while doing so, I was met with a most curious defense of the same; a justification for said callousness often causally provided by two verses cited from the Gospel of Matthew – verses which do indeed seem to justify the aforementioned believers’ adoption of and reverence for many of the less than amicable tenets of the Hebrew Bible (what many today call “the Old Testament”) – verses which quite clearly have Jesus himself stating: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets, for I have come not to abolish but to fulfill them. Truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even a single stroke of a single letter will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17-18) … And admittedly, if these verses are accepted as valid at face value, then they can indeed be used to excuse or even to justify any conservative Christian’s support for any number of Old Testament-founded immoralities – including but not limited to human slavery (Exodus 2:7), animal cruelty (Genesis 9:2 & Leviticus 11:1-47), discrimination against women (Numbers 30:1-8), genocidal murder (Deuteronomy 7:1-2), unprovoked acts of war (Numbers 31:2), blatant racism (Numbers 25:1-13), religious persecution (Exodus 22:20 & Deuteronomy 13:6-10), homophobic bigotry (Leviticus 18:22), rape (Deuteronomy 22:28-29), sexual bondage (Genesis 19:8), and the mass murder of children (Exodus 12:29-30 & Numbers 31:17-18) …
Of course, for even the casual reader of the Bible, it becomes obviously apparent that the underlying theological principles found in the Old Testament dramatically differ from many of those offered up by Jesus in the Gospels.2
For example, whereas the Old Testament often portrays God as a supporter of war (see Exodus 15:3, Exodus 23:27, & Psalm 137:7-9), Jesus says that “Blessed are the Peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9) and that we are to Love our enemies, “for [God] makes his sun rise on both the evil and the good, and sends rain both to the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:44-47 – see also Luke 6:35-36 & Luke 10:29-37). Whereas in the Old Testament God advocates retributory justice (see the “eye for an eye” standard of Exodus 21:23-25), encourages the application of the death penalty for a number of offenses (a la Exodus 21:12-20 & Exodus 24:16 et al), allows for the robbing (Exodus 12:35-36) and the violent pillaging (Numbers 31:9-15) of those defeated in battle, and even appears to have effectuated a brutal pogrom against innocent children during the original Passover (see Exodus 11:4-6 – also Exodus 12:1-28), Jesus states very clearly that his heavenly Father “judges no one” (John 5:22, along with John 8:15 & John 12:47 – as well as all of Jesus’ Peace-filled Passover statements found in Matthew 26:26-28 et al), that God is a heavenly Father whose Love is perfect (Matthew 5:44-48) whose mercy is limitless (Luke 6:29-36) and whose forgiveness knows no limits (Matthew 18:21-22) – and that as such we are all called to therefore similarly forgive all those who trespass against us (see Matthew 6:14, Luke 17:3-4, John 8:7, & John 20:23). In addition, whereas God in the Old Testament seems to support the adulteries of Abraham (in Genesis 20:1-18) & Isaac (in Genesis 26:6-11), as well as Moses’ blatant lies to the Pharaoh (see Exodus 5:1 & Exodus 9:27), Jesus succinctly and openly champions both monogamy (Matthew 19:6 – &/or celibacy, see Matthew 19:12) & always speaking to others with flagrant honesty (see Matthew 5:37 – as well as his many denouncements of hypocrisy throughout the Gospels).
So what are we to make of this seemingly inescapable (and dare I say quite damning) contradiction? How are we to give credence to a supposed prophet who openly champions the laws of the Old Testament (even down to “the very last stroke of the their very last letter”) while simultaneously altering and sometimes even outright rejecting a large number of those same regulations throughout the course of his ministry? Well, as it turns out, there is a biblical reconciliation for this conundrum, and quite the simple reconciliation it is – namely, that Jesus Christ was neither a rabid supporter nor a violent denouncer of the Old Testament rules & regulations of his day. Rather, he was a most courageous (some would thus say outright heretical) reformer of the same …
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1This statement is not meant to arrogantly reflect an undue claim to any exclusive status or knowledge regarding the Bible. In truth, I have no degree in either theology or divinity from any accredited university, I cannot read either Hebrew or Koine Greek, and I have never directly accessed or even been exposed to the ancient biblical manuscripts written in those languages. That having been said, there is much more to being a true “scholar” than is traditionally understood. Indeed, the best definition of “scholar” is nothing more than “one having special knowledge in a particular branch of study.” And what better way to attain “special knowledge” of the Bible’s texts than to do what the Scriptures themselves admonish and radically put them to the test (see Matthew 7:15-20) by enlivening them one’s self in all sorts of (often uncomfortable &/or frightening – some would say dangerous) interactions with others – to see which of the various interpretations of their particular passages bear the “good fruit” of peace and joy and harmony, and which of them do not. And this is precisely what I have done for the past 15+ years of my life – not only reading and studying the many translations of the Bible’s texts, but also putting those same passages to the test by enlivening them in my everyday interactions – with friends and with strangers and with enemies alike.
2It is important for the reader to NOTE that, in the interest of both theological accuracy and psychological practicality, this work will only consider &/or mention the words and actions of Jesus Christ found in the four canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. For reasons laid out exhaustively in my book The Cult of Paul, any mention of or supposed quotations from Jesus found in Paul’s biblical epistles will for the most part not be considered, nor will the supposed words of the faux “Jesus” found in the book of Revelation be in any way acknowledged (for reasons almost as fully illuminated in my book Re-Vealing Revelation).
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