Regularly, Christians are accused of emphasizing our favorite moral codes and passages of Scripture to the neglect of others:
“Why does this verse still apply but not that one?”
“You think that passage is culturally confined, but not this one? Why?“
It looks a bit self-serving, at times. Sometimes Christians themselves accuse one another of picking and choosing which passages still apply. The accusation is well-founded, in my opinion.
The problem is a basic presupposition: “Some passages no longer apply to us.” If we agree that some passages should be ignored today, then all that remains is to decide whose Jefferson Bible is more appropriate for today’s Christian. But if everyone is cutting at least some passages out of their Bibles, who’s to say which ones get the snip and which ones don’t?
This is why we should reject the presupposition altogether.
When it comes to Scripture, our Christian conviction must begin with the belief that there is no passage, no sentence, no word, no letter that is forever enshrined in the past. Every single passage in the Bible “from Genesis to Maps” is meant for our lives today. Not a single part can be tossed out.
In a world of Jeffersons going at the Bible with their favorite pairs of scissors, I say we throw them [the scissors, that is!] in the trash and do the hard work of trying to understand God’s Word.
Context.
We must realize that the ultimate context of every passage of Scripture is Christ. If we are in Christ, then we have the context we need to apply every single verse. Every promise, every command, every law, every word written in the Bible is made new in Christ.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” God has contextualized us as believers in Christ. He has given us the Spirit to help us to comprehend his Word together in light of Jesus.
Here are three basic reasons why Christians might be tempted to join the Jefferson school of hermeneutics–taking scissors to their Bibles:
Arrogance.
Ever since the Garden, men have struggled to trust the basic commands of God. The Serpent sets us at odds with God by telling us that we know better than Him. The moment you feel the temptation to ignore a passage of Scripture or to write it off as culturally confined, check your heart. In that moment you have the opportunity to submit in humility to the Holy Spirit’s conviction or to pridefully wander your own way.
Sometimes, this will mean admitting you don’t understand a passage. This is good and good for you. In moments where Scripture seems confounding, impossible, and difficult, may it inspire the same humble worship it did in the Apostle Paul: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” (Romans 11:33-34).
Chronological Distance.
It’s hard to fight the temptation to think, But that was so long ago! Here is what the writer of Ecclesiastes has to say: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new’? It has been already in the ages before us.” What he means is that people are people. The world is the world. The struggles of people in Bible times are the same struggles of the 21st century.
People love to emphasize chronological distance: “But families were different back then. Marriage was different back then. Sexuality was different back then. Alcohol was different back then.“ Don’t buy it. People are people and always will be people. Read the Bible assuming that there is nothing new under the sun. It will shrink the chronological distance.
Illiteracy.
The impulse to turn the Bible into a craft-time cut and paste project shrinks with every page of the Bible you actually read. Rather than writing off a passage as culturally confined, keep reading. Read the rest of the book. Then read the Bible from cover to cover. Read it again. Then read it some more. The more you read the Bible, the more you will realize that every single passage of Scripture is essential. Every piece has its place. Every part fits perfectly into the magnificent portrait of our Savior King Jesus.
Here is an obvious truth: The biggest stumbling block to believers understanding the Bible is not reading the Bible. We have a tendency to want to ignore or discard what we don’t understand, but our comprehension of the Bible cannot grow if we do not spend time in it.
I couldn’t sum things up better than Paul has in 2 Timothy: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
I can think of a hermeneutical reason I encounter as well. It starts with the presupposition of a tripartite division of the Law and follows with a belief that the Ten Commandments are prescriptive for the believer today as they were for the Hebrew then. However, if you presuppose some laws were civil, some were ceremonial, and some were moral, then to maintain the Ten Commandments as a perpetual part of the moral law, which was somehow fulfilled as part of the Law but still specially binding unlike the other laws, then you have to believe in some sort of cultural confinement for the civil / ceremonial laws (and argue that none of the Ten Commandments were civil or ceremonial). I don’t really think this position is defensible, but it’s a large part of the Sabbatarian’s defense (as I’ve encountered it).
Ryan, you are absolutely right. It wasn’t within the breadth of this short article to tackle that issue, but I 100% agree. I’m writing from a New Covenant Theology perspective, which rejects the tripartite treatment of the Law and sees the whole Old Covenant as fulfilled in Christ. I’ve written about NCT several other places, particularly about a NCT perspective on the Sabbath here –> http://chadashby.com/2014/01/06/sabbath-breakers-meeting-on-the-first-day/