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The Progressive Nature of Scripture
The utterance "The Bible clearly says" encapsulates the essence of literalism, reducing Scripture to mere linguistic constructs devoid of their rich historical and canonical tapestry. When wielded in such a manner, it divorces the text from its nuanced context, disregarding the diverse genres, idiomatic expressions, and rhetorical flourishes inherent within. Such a literalistic approach overlooks the intricate layers of meaning woven into the fabric of the biblical narrative, failing to grasp the nuances of divine or authorial intent. The notion of a "plain reading" imposed upon the sacred text falls short of faithfully and meticulously handling the profound truths contained within.
Proper Hermeneutics takes time. It is a process. Much like what we see in the scripture itself. Not a static, flat, very literal piece but a literary piece that moves with the people through time. Often revealing more about the people and their hearts at that time than about God himself. Even as some read this they may be wondering exactly what I mean so for clarification and a visible explanation let me show you.
Let us look at this question. Can Israelites keep their fellow Israelites as slaves? Surely the Law of God would give us a straight answer right? Well.
Exodus 21:2–11: Yes, and the males can choose freedom after six years.
Deuteronomy 15:12–18: Yes, but both male and female slaves have the option of freedom.
Leviticus 25:39–43: No way, no how, are Israelites ever to be enslaved to each other. Remember, you were once slaves in Egypt. Hire them as laborers, but don’t make them slaves. That’s what foreigners are for.
Three different answers, all from the same God. Did God change? No. God does not change as He is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8) So what is going on? Before I attempt to answer this let us look at another couple examples.
Can Israelites eat the carcasses of mauled animals?
Exodus 22:31 and Deuteronomy 14:21: No. You’re holy and that’s disgusting.
Leviticus 11:39–40 and 17:15: Sure, but you’ll be “unclean” till evening. Make sure to wash your clothes.
How do we celebrate properly the Passover meal?
Exodus 12:8–9 and 46: Make sure you roast the Passover lamb (and whatever you do, definitely do not boil it or eat it raw) and eat it at home.
Deuteronomy 16:7–8: Boil the lamb and eat it only in the central sanctuary.
These are just a few examples, but they are enough to make the point, Israel’s laws sometimes contradict each other.
I am not the first ones to notice. The ancient Israelites were already aware of there own contradictions of truth. For example, the writer of Chronicles saw the contradictory Passover laws and offered a solution. Writing generations after the Israelites returned from Babylonian exile, he merged the laws of Exodus and Deuteronomy (2 Chronicles 35:13): the Israelites are to roast (= Exodus) the lamb and boil (= Deuteronomy) other meats. Problem solved.
Which raises a perfectly sane question: Why are the laws given by the same God to his people so different if it was truth? What we see in scripture is a people walking with God in their time, place, culture and with their understanding of the world as it was. God simply meets the broken story where the broken story is, right where it is, in order to slowly move that story to a better version of itself. He doesn’t make huge changes all at one time, but slowly over time meeting them where they are and nudging them forward. As people walked with God, encountered God we see their perspective about Him and the World often change and that change is seen in scripture. They, like us, are a people in progress and people in progress “repent,” we change the way we think.
Before I move onto the next major place or point I want this Blog to travel to let me leave you with one more example of which I speaking.
2 Samuel 24- “Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”
1 Chronicles 21- “Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census.”
So which is it? Did the Lord incite David to take a census, or did Satan incite David to take a census? The one scripture says one thing, and the other scripture says something else, something completely different. What do we do with a contradiction like this? Obviously someone is wrong? How do we reconcile this?
The 2 Samuel account of this census was written sometime around 600 to 500 BC. The 1 Chronicles account was written around 400 to 250 BC.
So the 2 Samuel passage was written earlier—several hundred years earlier. The earlier account is the one that said that God led David to do something bad, and the later account says that Satan led him to do it.
Why is this interesting? Because in the earlier account, God does the inciting. And why is that interesting? Because in the ancient world, people often attributed all sorts of anger and violence to their gods because that’s how people conceived of the gods. They believed that the gods were mean and vindictive and you needed to sacrifice to them and give offerings to them to appease their anger and keep them on your side.
And how does that explain these two conflicting accounts? Over time, people evolved in their thinking about God. At a point in history, the idea emerged that a good God wouldn’t incite someone to do something bad, so there must have been some other force leading and inciting David. That’s where the Satan explanation came in. You can see how the idea of an opposing, evil, destructive force/spirit/god/goddess emerged as people became more evolved in their thinking. Again, what you will see if you look is a change of perspective which brought a change in scripture.
God has always been meeting the broken story right where the broken story is in order to move it to a better version, that version is Christ.
The Word of God
Matthew 17:1–9 - Jesus Is Transfigured
“After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
The Transfiguration of Jesus Christ on Mount Tabor is the crescendo of his Galilean ministry and marks the point where Jesus begins his long death march toward Jerusalem. The Mount of Transfiguration is where Moses and Elijah find their successor and bear witness that it is the Christ who will complete what they had begun.
This was very prophetic in nature, showing and symbolizing the End of the Old and the Start of the New. One was becoming obsolete while the other being established. This prophetic moment foreshadowed that which was to come when Rome razed Jerusalem in AD70.
Filter your life, thoughts and our study through Jesus not the Law and the Prophets - understand them through Jesus not Jesus through them.
Jesus is what God is saying and He is how we are to understand and interpret life, neighbor and the scripture itself.
Jesus is what God is saying. This is also what Hebrews 1:1-2 tells us. Not only is Jesus what god is saying, Jesus is how we are to understand all that God has said as well. Which brings me here:
John 1:18- “No one has ever seen God but the one unique son, who himself is God, is near the Fathers heart, has made him known.”
Think about what John just said. I can use scripture to argue with John.
1.Abraham - He saw and shred a meal with God under the oaks at Mamre.
2. Jacob - not only saw God atop a ladder in a dream but later wrestled with God and had his name changed and walk was never the same.
3. Moses - it says in scripture that he met with God (Exodus 33:11) face to face.
4. Isaiah - In the year King Uzziah died he saw the Lord, high and lifted up.
These are a few examples from the Old Testament, there are others. Does John not know the scriptures? Why would John say this? The Phrase, “He Has made Him Known,” is our context clue.
John knew the scriptures, knew all the stories from Genesis to Malachi but every encounter, vision, dream, theophany would pale in significance and comparison to the full revelation of God in Christ. This is the point John is making. God in the Old Covenant was veiled. He could not be fully seen or understood, only in Jesus is that veil removed so we can clearly see what God has always been like, we didn’t know it but know we do.
Why am I saying this? Because contrary to popular opinion, the Bible is not univocal, everyone is not saying the same thing, as we have already seen, it is a chorus of voices but if you listen closely you will see their not all in harmony. This is because they are on a journey, just like you and I.
The scriptures point to Jesus not to themselves. Many people elevate the scriptures to a level of deity. The KJV has become the 4th member of the trinity. I love the scripture. Have given my life to their study. But even scripture must submit to the Word, which is Jesus.
John 1:1 - “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Jesus is the Word of God. Knowing the letter and knowing the spirit are not synonymous.
John 5:39-40: -“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (Emphasis mine)
Biblical but UnChristlike
What we see in the Old Testament is a journey of discovery. It is progressive revelation and God meets them where the are, He encounters the broken story where the broken story is in order to move it to a better version of that story.
Jesus shows us what God has always looked like, always been like and what He will always be like. Everything we think about God needs to be filtered through the person of Jesus, the Word of God, otherwise we risk knowing the scripture but missing the word. We risk being Biblical but unChristlike.
I want to write that again as we cannot miss this sobering fact, the fact that it is more than possible for someone to be Biblically-correct about something and still be very, very wrong at the same time. Let me show you this in scripture.
Luke 9: 54-55 - “And when His disciples vJames and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, 1just as wElijah did? But He turned and rebuked them, 2and said, “You do not know what manner of xspirit you are of.”
Jesus had moved on from the mount of transfiguration where the Father declared, “This is my son…Listen to Him,” after Moses and Elijah had vanished. They were now moving toward Jerusalem for what would be His soon coming crucifixion. On the way they passed through or near Samaria. There was great hostility and animosity between Jews and Samaritans. The Jews hated the Samaritans and they reciprocated those feelings. However, Jesus has already blessed and given valuable revelation to a Samaritan women at a well and made a samaritan the hero of His story (Parable of Good Samaritan). However, here in this area or this local village they want nothing to do with Jesus and His disciples once they learn they are heading toward Jerusalem, as they believe they had the correct place to worship.
It is upon this news of rejection the disciples want to call down fire upon them for their rejection. To which Jesus replies, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”
Where did the disciples get the idea of calling down fire? Elijah. They were being BIBLICAL in their response but Jesus declared they were operating in the wrong spirit showing they could be biblical but not Christlike.
Think of the woman caught in the act of adultery. Was the crowd wrong? No. The Scriptures clearly shown stoning was appropriate. The crowd was being “biblical” but as we see in the story being biblical and being christlike are not synonymous.
Jesus, our interpreter
The struggle for many of us is that we have been told for so long that we need to be “Biblically-minded” that we have forgotten that this same Bible teaches us to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd and affirms that we have the mind of Christ.
I love this quote by Kenn Stinger - “You can know the Bible by heart and yet not know the heart of it.”
The voice of the Spirit, the one who moves beyond the letter that kills and gives us life, is always moving us forward in the person and revelation of Christ. Remembering that before Jesus any and all assumptions or revelations of God were partial and incomplete and often more a reflection of the people of those times than God himself as the veil is only removed in Jesus.
As Jesus is The Word of God and what God is saying (John 1:1, Hebrews 1:1-3) He is the lens we submit to in order to understand what God has said and what God is saying.
Jesus is famous for his list of blessings found in the Sermon on the Mount. You know, “Blessed are the poor for they will inherit the earth” and “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.”
But the Old Testament also contains a few “blessed are” statements which don’t always sound quite as beautiful. For example, can you imagine Jesus saying something like this: “Blessed is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them on the rocks.” (Ps 137:8-9)
That’s not the sort of thing we would ever expect Jesus to say, is it? This is partly why we need to learn how to read the Old Testament scriptures through the lens of Jesus. See, before we can understand a text, we first need to understand God—and that means recognizing Him for who He really is. The best way to understand God is to look at Jesus. Why? Because, as we have seen over and over again, Jesus is the one who reveals the Father to us. As I like to say:
God has a face. It looks like Jesus.
God has a voice. It sounds like Jesus.
God has a nature. It’s revealed in Jesus
God has a character. It’s acted out in Jesus.
Jesus is perfect theology.
Did you know that there are over 100 verses in the Bible where God reportedly told people to go and kill other people. In many of those verses God seems to command people to slaughter women, children and even toddlers and pregnant mothers. If you think Jesus would ever do this you might want to refresh your memory a little. He is the same one who told us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, forgive those who hate us, pray for those who misuse us and overcome evil with good. In fact, Jesus tells us to do all of these things so that we can be like someone else: His Father in Heaven. Yes, our compassion, forgiveness and radical love is patterned after the same love that God has for everyone—both the righteous and the unrighteous. “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matt. 5:44-45) If God wasn’t kind and merciful to everyone, then Jesus would have no basis for asking us to be like Him by showing love and mercy for our enemies. Jesus reveals a God who would rather die for His enemies than kill them. Jesus shows us a God who loves all the people we hate and He wants us to love them, too. So, the next time you read a verse in the Bible that depicts God as a bloodthirsty warrior who delights at the slaughter of women, children and pregnant mothers, just remember: That’s not Jesus. And if it doesn’t look like Jesus, it’s not the Father.
Let us now look at How the Word interpreted scripture. Let us begin where He did, The Sermon on the Mount. It is here in this sermon Jesus says, “You have heard it said….an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”, but then Jesus says, “But I say to you, love your enemies.”
Not only this, but Jesus also corrects Moses’s statements when He says that God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (See Matt. 5:45)
Because, according to Moses, in Deuteronomy 28:12, God says to the righteous:
“The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands.” But to the unrighteous God says: “The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.” (v. 24)
Jesus makes it clear in the Sermon on the Mount that Moses was wrong about God’s disposition towards people. He loves and blesses them both the same. We have to views of God, I would say competing views but Moses doesn’t compare to Christ. Jesus, the Word, shows us how to view and read the Old Testament in the light of Himself, the revelation of the Father.
Another great example He gives us is in Luke 4 where Jesus stands to read the scriptures on the sabbath at His hometown synagogue. I am going to share the whole story as it is very important for our understanding.
Luke 4: 16-29 : “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
Wow. Did you see it? Jesus while reading from a preset portion of scripture from Isaiah 61 just stops mid sentence and rolls up the scroll. He left off the ending. It would be like someone singing the national anthem and ending on “the land of the free.” Everyone would be like, what? Hold up, you forgot “Home of the Brave.” You have to say the ending. Again, much like on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is showing us how to read and understand the Old Testament. Jesus edited the scripture as to be understood the way it should always have been understood from an unveiled perspective.
“to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor" This is where Jesus ends it. He purposely left off the last line - "and the day of vengeance of our God.”
Jesus omitted any hint of God bringing vengeance upon Israels enemies. He is saying here that He is God’s jubilee in the flesh and ALL are recipients of this good news. This was scandalous. His announcing Gods blessing for all upset many of the hearers. By omitting the last line Jesus again shows us how to view the scripture through Him, Omit vengeance.
21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23 He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’ ” 24 Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.”
If there is any doubt let us consider what happened next. As we read above Jesus is announcing He is God’s jubilee and it is for all, even Israels enemies. As soon as Jesus made it clear he was closing the book on vengeance and retribution, the hometown hero now became the town outcast. He was to inclusive for these Nazarenes who wanted to hold onto anger, retribution and vengeance. It is amazing how mad religious people can get when you take away their revenge. My main point again is for us to see here, like the sermon on the Mount Jesus gives us a way of seeing and reading the scriptures through Him.
NATHAN HAMM - “The Word of God is not just written in ink and paper. It’s written in flesh and blood. Jesus is the Word. Read the Bible. Follow Jesus.”
Paul interprets through Jesus
Psalm 18:40-49
The passage mentioned is all about how God will destroy the Gentiles and pour out His vengeance on them:
“I destroyed my foes. They cried for help, but there was no one to save them— to the Lord, but he did not answer. “I beat them as fine as windblown dust; I trampled them like mud in the streets. You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations. “People I did not know now serve me, foreigners cower before me; as soon as they hear of me, they obey me. They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds. “The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, who saves me from my enemies. “You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me. Therefore, I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name.”
Notice how Paul the Apostle quotes—or rather heavily misquotes – this exact same text in Romans 15:9:
“For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: “…Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name.”
Psalm 18:40-49- the passage is all about how God will destroy the Gentiles and pour out His vengeance on them
This is what you call “taking scripture out of context” my friends. Paul completely takes a passage about how God will take vengeance on the Gentiles and destroy them and misquotes it as a way to prove that God is actually glorified for showing mercy to the Gentiles.
This is not the only example. Oh, no. Paul does it again in the very next verse of Romans 15:10 when he radically misquotes Deuteronomy 32:43 which says:
“Again it says, ‘Rejoice O Gentiles, with His people, for He will avenge the blood of His servants, He will take vengeance on His enemies, and make atonement for His land and people.”
But Paul quotes this verse and leaves out all the violent passages, opting instead to only mention this part:
“Again it says, ‘Rejoice O Gentiles, with His people…”
What’s going on here? How can Paul do such a thing? Is he trying to pull a fast one? Hardly. Instead, Paul is reading the Old Testament scriptures through the lens of Christ. He starts by knowing who God is—who He really is—by looking at Jesus.
By reading the scriptures through the lens of Christ, Paul can clearly see that the Father is NOT a God of vengeance and wrath. He understands that Jesus has subverted that Old Covenant idea of God and revealed to us a God who shows mercy, loves everyone, and redeems even His enemies. This is what it means to read and understand through the lens of Christ or read scripture wearing cross colored glasses.
So while I am a great proponent of proper Hermeneutics and scripture exegesis, the greatest Hermeneutic (interpretation lens) we have is Jesus.