DId Jesus believe the Bible?

Jesus epitomized the spirit of transformational revolution. He sought to revolutionize the religious system of his day which cared more about wearing the right clothes and eating the right foods than caring for the sick into system that valued the outcasts and that listened to the hurting. He replaced the ethic of persnickety self-righteousness with the ethic of love, asking us to do “whatever you wish that other would do to you (Matt 7:12).”

What Was Jesus Up To?

Though scholars, ethicists, and the average church goer all applaud Jesus for reinfusing kindness into religion, they still debate the nature and goal of his reformation. One popular idea that floats through the halls of academia and occasionally relaxes in the lounge of pop culture states that Jesus came to create a new religion. In stark contrast to the angry God of the Old Testament who huffed and puffed away whole civilizations, Jesus forgave the prostitutes and ate dinner with the tax collectors. In other words, Jesus came to unbox religion from the constraints of a tradition waylaid with sacred texts that had obscured the guiding star of divine love.

Other thinkers claim, Jesus that came to show humanity that religion was in a constant state of evolution. Jesus discovered that faith was not found in static texts but in the cultivation of one’s hidden eternal spark found. As souls developed their kernel of divinity, both humans and God would develop better and truer ideas of tolerance, kindness, justice, mercy, and love. In other words, Jesus came to help men and women evolve into Godhood. People like the apostles who tried to place both Jesus and faith within the Scriptures profoundly misunderstood the revolutionary ethic of Jesus.

When we confront the above ideas in literature, the classroom, and YouTube, we must return to the Scriptures and see what Jesus says about Jesus’s revolution Spirit.

Did Jesus Toss the Bible?

In Matthew 5:17-20, Jesus defines the radical nature of his ministry and teaching. He does not agree with the world’s assessment of him. He tells his disciples, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Jesus does not see himself at war with the God of the Old Testament. He does not find the stories of Adam and Eve, Jonah in the Wale, or Sodom and Gomorrah embarrassing or intolerant. He did not think the the Scriptures needed to evolve. In verse 18, Jesus says that until heaven and earth pass away, his word will stand. The expression “heaven and earth” was a colloquial phrase used to convey something similar to our phrase “when pigs fly.” Jesus’s point is rhetorical and clear. The Old Testament will never be outdated.

At this juncture, many theologians and friends will nominally shake their head in agreement before tossing out a, “but.” They assert that the Word of God is eternal but that not all doctrines our needed. For example when the waters of popular opinion become to shallow to sustain God’s view of sexuality or of race, many in the church will encourage us to toss those doctrines overboard so that we can reach the lost and dying with the love and mercy of Christ. Though perhaps well-intended, the impulse to jettison the less palatable parts of the Bible runs counter to Jesus’s understanding of his message. He declares that “not an iota or dot, will pass from the law (Matt 5:17).”

When Jesus tackles the teaching of the Pharisees and the scribes, he does not take issue with their text but with their misinterpretation of their text. He repeatedly says, “You have heard…but I say to you.” Jesus will not tolerate those who pull out sharpies and start crossing out lines for the purpose of restricting or loosening the laws of God.

When men and women do begin to edit God’s law, they invariably restrict its application and expand its exceptions, tolerating all kinds of evil. According to the pharisees and scribes, a righteous person could be consumed with anger and bitterness if they did not murder. He could sexually harass her neighbors if he did not sleep with them. Moreover, he could still sleep with her secretary if he went through the divorce courts first. The pure in heart could also lie if the lie was inconsequential. Lastly, the holy people could take out vengeance on her neighbor if she did so with moderation. Pharisees and scribes achieved righteousness but denying righteousness. Those who read through Matthew 5:21-48 can easily grasp why Jesus said in verse 20, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.

The Fulfillment of the Law

Jesus fulfilled the law when he perfectly obeyed the law. Now, he stands between us and the law not to protect us from the law but to empower us to obey it. When Christians believe, Jesus writes his heart upon their hearts and gifts them the Holy Spirit, enabling to follow the law. Because he fulfilled the moral law, his people can be moral.

But fulfillment consists not simply of obedience. When Jesus speaks of fulfillment, he is also declaring himself to be the zenith of the Old Testament. He is the savior that was promised to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. He is the prophet that Moses was never able to be. He is the shepherd king that David aspired to be. He is the perfect high priest. He is the culmination of the Old Testament. All the stories about exile and redemption were pointing to him. For example, the Passover was pointing to the day when he would be the perfect sacrifice on the cross. Jesus came to fulfill the law. He loves even the odd rules about fabrics and eating shrimp for it points to the saving work of Jesus. He is the fulfillment of all that came before. He abolished nothing.

Final Thoughts

Jesus did not take issues with the Jewish Scriptures. He founded his ministry upon them. Rather, he took issue with how the Pharisees and the scribes interpreted the Scriptures. He was revolutionary because he rightly interpreted the Word of God through the Christological lens. Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. May we too be found faithful in our pursuit of holiness!

lady-gag

Lady Gaga now identifies as a Christian with deep theological concerns. At a concert a few days ago, she said, “I am a Christian woman, what I do know about Christianity is that we bear no prejudice, and everybody is welcome.” Consequently she deemed Vice President Mike Pence to be “the worst representation of what it means to be a Christian,” referring to Mrs. Pence’s decision to teach art at a Christian school that affirms the historic Christian faith once delivered for all. Gaga claimed that those who agree with the Bible’s condemnation lesbianism and sex outside of marriage (among other things) should no longer be able to claim the title ‘Christian.’ She concluded, ““To Mike Pence, who thinks it’s acceptable that his wife work at a school that bans LGBTQ, you are wrong,”

Lady’s Gaga’s identification with Christendom was shocking and completely unexpected. To make sense of what all this story means, we have to discern our authority. Simply put, we have to ask ourselves “Is the Bible the authoritative Word of God?” “Or have men used the book to twist and limit God’s majestic message of love?” As Paul Young, the author of The Shack, said, “Nobody wanted God in a box just in a book.”

Does true Christendom, true spirituality, and true communion with Jesus exists outside the pages of the Bible?

Lady Gaga condemnation of the Pence’s clearly flows from the presumption that Jesus is more than hero of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In 2011 she began defining her view of the Scriptures when she sang, “In the most Biblical sense, I am beyond repentance.” Those whose life exist outside the bounds of Scripture and refuse to repent can only claim Christianity as their own if they move Christianity beyond the Bible. Such self-proclaimed Christians have to have an authority that surpasses and completely trumps the authority of the Bible.

Professor emeritus Luke Timothy Johnson happily made such an argument back in 2007 when seeking to justify the sexual ethic that Lady Gaga champions. He wrote:

I think it important to state clearly that we do, in fact, reject the straightforward commands of Scripture, and appeal instead to another authority when we declare that same-sex unions can be holy and good. And what exactly is that authority? We appeal explicitly to the weight of our own experience and the experience thousands of others have witnessed to, which tells us that to claim our own sexual orientation is in fact to accept the way in which God has created us.

I believe Lady Gaga would applaud Johnson’s appeal to the weight of human experience. She has sung, “Don’t hide yourself in regret…Just love yourself and you’re set.” After all “Maybe it’s time to let the old ways die.” Only a Christianity that has replaced the Bible with personal experience could affirm Lady Gaga as Christian and condemn the Pences as sinners for affirming the teachings of the Bible.

Can we accept this new version of Christendom? Do we need to unhitch Jesus from the bonds of Scripture to discover God? Do the Old ways need to die?

I believe the answer is no. Christ did not believe the Scriptures reduced or confined him. He based his view of marriage and sexuality on Genesis (Matt. 19:4-5). Jesus said “Scripture cannot be broken.” Jesus also uttered the words that “whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:19).” While walking on the road to Emmaus, Jesus appealed to “Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself (Lk 24:27)” And most famously of all Jesus said, “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” Jesus affirmed the Bible and used the Bible to condemn the very things that Lady Gaga has championed from the concert stage.

When we leave the Jesus of the Bible, we do not find a better Jesus, we simply found ourselves dressed up in a Jesus costume thinking our desires are the voice of God. And when confuse our voice for God’s voice we do not find love and acceptance. We find cruelty and hate.

In 1940, Nazi theologians declared that Jesus was a Jew hating Aryan. They said, “it is impossible that he himself could have been of Jewish blood and spirit.” (156 Twisted Cross). The Nazi theologians were able to make their arguments because they had previously moved beyond the bounds of Scripture. In 1937, the clergy sympathetic to the Nazi cause approved a resolution that stated: “A demon always resides in the written word…The devil values the printed page and stretches it out to demand signatures…Jesus never did so.” The Nazi’s appealed to their own experiences when searching for God and found a Jesus who supported the murder of millions of Jews.

Once Jesus ceases to be historic Son of God, he can be made into the poster boy of any and every social movement. He can be said to be the first transgender man; but he can also be said to be an advocate of hate, violence, racism, slavery, and death. He becomes the pawn of pop-starts, dictators, and everyone in-between.

Lady Gaga is by no means a Nazi. But she shares that church’s flawed theological commitment to extra-biblical authority.

The Reformer and 16^th century pastor, John Calvin summed the situation well when he wrote,

In one respect we are indeed unalike, because each one of us privately forges his own particular error; yet we are all very much alike, in that, one and all forsake the one true God for prodigious trifles.

We don’t need to rescue Jesus from the Bible, we need Jesus to rescue us from the prodigious trifles of our hearts.

What will be the major trifle of our age? Who will have to suffer because of it?

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