Somewhere along the line you’ve probably heard someone say that “People can make the Bible say whatever they want it to say.” And unfortunately, there’s a lot of truth to that. Over the years, people have used the Bible to defend everything from spousal abuse to slavery and to argue everything from a flat earth to the sun revolving around the earth. One person will defend capital punishment by quoting Genesis 9:6 – “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man”, while another will quote Jesus in Matthew 7:1 – “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” – to argue that it should be abolished. You have some Christians who are convinced that God wants us to be rich - “for your sakes [Jesus] became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9) – while others sure that a true Christian will avoid wealth at all costs – “Sell your possessions and give to the poor” (Luke 12:33).
Case in point - perhaps you read the Hartford Courant story last week about Jose de Luis Jesus Miranda, the Florida pastor, who has deceived thousands into believing that he is the second coming of Jesus Christ. Miranda interprets the Biblical teaching on the antichrist in a new way, claiming that not only is he the antichrist, but that this is a good thing, because “Jesus was not a Christian” and that most Christian churches today don’t teach the truth (his followers even tattoo 666 on their arms). This would be comical if there weren’t thousands who believe him. Miranda is just another in a long line of examples of people who can make the Bible say whatever they want it to say.
As I prepare to teach through a series on what the Bible really says about men and women, the most crucial question that needs to be addressed is “how do we know which Biblical passages apply exactly as they were written to today’s world?” It’s difficult enough to study the Greek or Hebrew text, learn the cultural and historical context, and examine the book in which a passage appears in order to understand the “true meaning” of a Biblical passage. But it’s a whole other thing to take that “true meaning” and decide whether or not it still applies in America in 2007. In theology-speak, it’s the difference between exegesis (understanding the text) and hermeneutics (applying the text). And it’s why so many untrained (and some trained) people can pretty much make the Bible say whatever they want it to say.
Just think about the “disaster” unleashed by people like Martin Luther and John Wycliffe by their insistence that the Bible should be translated into the language of the common people so that they could read it for themselves! Instead of the power of Biblical interpretation being held tightly by the few Catholic church leaders and out of the hands of the common man, suddenly everyone and their crazy uncle could read the Bible and decide what it meant! And before you can say “heretic!”, you’ve got 34,000 separate Christian groups in the world today (according to David Barrett et al, editors of the World Christian Encyclopedia: A comparative survey of churches and religions), dividing over everything from style of church government to whether or not you can have drums in church.
Over the next few weeks, I am going to try to deal with the issue of hermeneutics, to help us discover some answers to the question of how to know whether or not a certain Biblical text is meant to be applied literally today. For today, I have a pop quiz I’d like you to take. In order to help you gain a greater appreciation of the complexity of hermeneutics, look at the list of twenty Bible verses below and put a check next to those you feel should be followed literally today (this idea comes courtesy of the excellent but oddly titled book Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals by William J. Webb). Then, try to explain why those should be taken literally and the others should not be taken at face value. Good luck!
______Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5-6)
______Greet one another with a holy kiss. (1 Corinthians 16:20)
______Women should remain silent in the churches. (1 Corinthians 14:34)
______Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. (Leviticus 18:22)
______Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material. (Leviticus 19:19)
______If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. (Deuteronomy 22:28-29)
______Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man. (Genesis 9:6)
______Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. (John 13:14)
______Sell your possessions and give to the poor. (Luke 12:33)
______Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work (Exodus 20:9-10)
______If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. A man ought not to cover his head (1 Corinthians 11:6-7)
______If a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him (1 Corinthians 11:14)
______Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife. (1 Corinthians 7:27)
______Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. (Matthew 5:42)
______Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. (Proverbs 31:6-7)
______Do not… put tattoo marks on yourselves. (Leviticus 19:28)
______A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this. (Deuteronomy 22:4-5)
______I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing. I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes (1 Timothy 2:8-9)
______Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh (1 Peter 2:18)
______Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. (Ephesians 5:24)
Can you see how, without a proper understanding of Biblical hermeneutics, people can make the Bible say pretty much anything they want to say? Can you see how a literal reading can lead to slavery, spousal abuse, drunkenness, silent women wearing head coverings, and rape victims being forced to marry their rapists? Over the next few weeks, we will try to sort out all of this to the best of our ability. In the meantime, if there are Bible commands that you have wondered whether or not we are meant to interpret literally, post a comment on our blog so that we can do our best to deal with your specific questions.
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