INTERPRETATION!

reproduced from main blog of July 2021

Cherry-pick from the Bible?

Image: Unseen by us, there is a worker (or, more likely, two) on the platform of the "cherry picker". By using that machine they are able to focus on just the one spot they want, and ignore everything else. (Those are incredible concrete beams to carry a train line.) Picking a bit is practical and can be safe - but be aware of the rest!

"Bible cherry-picking" can pose a problem, or produce error. I watched an interview which dealt with several topics around interpretation of the Bible. The interview is prepared for broadcast over radio. The audio is good. I recommend it to you. (Link below.) It is available on YouTube.

The interview has a lot on slavery and on a Bible passage historically used (misused) to support slavery. (The passage is below.)

We find Jesus being critical of how some of his contemporaries used their Bible: “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf (John 5:39, NRSV). They read (searched, even), but did not get it.

Lack of reliable knowledge of Scripture makes errors in belief more likely, or inevitable: Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came up and questioned him: “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother has a wife, and dies childless, his brother should take the wife and produce offspring for his brother.[a] Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died without children. Also the second[b] and the third took her. In the same way, all seven died and left no children. Finally, the woman died too. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For all seven had married her.” 

Jesus told them, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to take part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. For they can no longer die, because they are like angels and are children of God, since they are children of the resurrection. Moses even indicated in the passage about the burning bush that the dead are raised, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.[c] He is not the God of the dead but of the living, because all are living to[d] him.” (Luke 20:27-38, CSB). Jesus' quote may seem a little unclear? Let's look at it...

These Sadducees, a religious alignment, thought they could show the Carpenter up as ignorant. They quoted Deuteronomy 25:5 to him. (Jesus' answer does pose me a puzzle.) Using text they accepted as authoritative, clearly Jesus said the tense of the verb (present) is vital in the "I am the God of Abraham..." (see Exodus 3:6). [The Exodus text does not say, "I was the God of Abraham".] Jesus expected them to truly pay close and exact attention to what the words of Scripture said. But what about the dead? How were the Sadducees to know that they are "...like angels"? I have not found a precedent for this and must conclude it is in fact new teaching imparted by Jesus. It must rest on recognition of the power of God. Certainly a resurrection could not be, other than by God's power. Jesus takes a different account of our universal human experience. (That experience says there can be no resurrection of the dead - see 1 Corinthians 15, et al.)

[Judging by the report in Acts (23:8) that the Sadducees did not believe in "angels, nor spirits", they might have wanted to continue the argument that day? However, how could they reply to the "I am" reference, such a crucial part of the Old Testament? God is the God of the living, and they live still!]

In those days, as today, there were people who made a show of carrying out God's requirements in their lives. But there was a problem. Mis-directed effort can be wasted effort. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! (Matthew 23:23-24, ESV). God can be misrepresented. Camels can go down!

You do not have to be like them. You can major on the weightier matters.  

Here are some old, very old, words of advice: Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15, NIV). Right handling of the Bible, proper explaining of it, involves diligent work. Today, for us, the  Word of Truth would surely refer to the entire Bible. The entire Bible needs careful reading and to be taken into account. 

(The available literary and archaeological context of the Sacred Scriptures is another question. The clear essential points from external context are covered in your Bible's marginal notes. Admittedly, excavations, surveys, inquiry and research are continuous and extensive. Work on Biblical literature is subject to issues, fights, findings, fashions and fads. It was put to me that the one practical way to keep abreast enough is to read a Journal? I can not suggest a title from the very large number of them.)

What then of this blog you are reading?! Clearly, as stated, I focus on the New Testament (NT) and more than that, I focus strongly on the four Gospels. Am I just cherry-picking the bits I like?

That is not my intention, but no interpreter must replace God speaking, through the Book, directly to you. God's Spirit will guide you if you want it to be so, but it does take whatever effort, thought, and care you can contribute. Your resources are many and so, unfortunately, are those who deceive, knowingly or unknowingly...

Link to the live "Interpretation" interview: https://youtu.be/spOL1-Gaii8

Podcast of the interview: https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-ppuxg-1091e8d

From the Bible, that slavery justification to slave-owners :

Abram’s wife Sarai had not been able to have any children. But she owned a young Egyptian slave woman named Hagar, and Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has not given me any children. Sleep with my slave, and if she has a child, it will be mine.”[a] Abram agreed, and Sarai gave him Hagar to be his wife. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan for ten years. Later, when Hagar knew she was going to have a baby, she became proud and was hateful to Sarai.

Then Sarai said to Abram, “It’s all your fault![b] I gave you my slave woman, but she has been hateful to me ever since she found out she was pregnant. You have done me wrong, and you will have to answer to the Lord for this.”

Abram said, “All right! She’s your slave, and you can do whatever you want with her.” But Sarai began treating Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.

Hagar stopped to rest at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur. While she was there, the angel of the Lord came to her and asked, “Hagar, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

She answered, “I’m running away from Sarai, my owner.”

The angel said, “Go back to Sarai and be her slave. I will give you a son, who will be called Ishmael,[c] because I have heard your cry for help. And later I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them all. But your son will live far from his relatives; he will be like a wild donkey, fighting everyone, and everyone fighting him.”

Hagar thought, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?”[d] So from then on she called him, “The God Who Sees Me”[e] (Genesis 16:1-13, CEV).

So, they said, the slave-owners said, look at that - the Bible, by precept and example, supports slavery... 

Was that the whole Bible story? Is it fair interpretation? See the interview.

From the same interpreter, a 2021 article on the Bible and slavery:  https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/bible-slavery/

Scripture quotations marked (CEV) are from the Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Scripture quotations marked (CSB) are from the Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission.
All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Note: I retain in the publishers' text where they occur the references [ ] to footnotes, but usually not the notes. You can check footnotes out by viewing the text on-line. Often they are replicated in different translations.
Bible passages accessed via BibleGateway.com