This cartoon by David Hayward relates to a point that I have made before. Some approach the Bible as set answers to things. And yet they fail to realize that the Bible’s authors and characters, as they said and wrote things, were not giving definitive answers of that sort, when their words are considered in their original context, uttered or penned when they were not yet Scripture. I call it a “do as I say, not as I do” approach to the Bible (or to Jesus). Words from the past are quoted dogmatically as answers to current issues, never realizing that the words in their original context did not have the authoritative status they are now being accorded, and were challenging the very same kind of dogmatism now practiced by the one quoting them!
Yet I also want to problematize the cartoon’s characterizing of the laws Jesus addressed as oppressive in and of themselves. Like any laws, some were, some were not, and most only become oppressive when they are turned from human legislation into timeless religious dogma. And since the same thing can happen to what we read in the New Testament, it is important to emphasize again that the New Testament doesn’t offer “better law.” To the extent that it offers a better approach than legalism, that approach needs to be applied to the New Testament and not just the laws of what Christians call the Old Testament.
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