Does Time And Place Influence The Gospels?

Is the biblical message influenced or even changed based on the milieu in which it is disseminated? Said differently, does the message of the Bible change based on when and where it is read?

In this article, I will discuss whether the message of the Bible – specifically, the Gospels – is influenced by history and culture. I should specify what I mean by the biblical message. The Bible is a set of seventy-three books. Some books are historical or poetic. Of importance when speaking of the Gospel message is moral instruction.

While this topic cannot be wholly encompassed in the space I have, I will nevertheless present an introduction to the question. I will begin by ascertaining what precisely the Gospel message is. I will then examine whether there is a conflict between an objective Gospel message and how that message is understood based on time and place.

What Is The Gospel Message? 

In order to adequately address whether the time and culture that the biblical message is promulgated influences how it is understood, it is necessary first to determine what that message is. This presents an immediate difficulty, for any effort at articulating the biblical message risks begging the question. The cause of this danger is that any interpretation will (presumably) be filtered through the time and culture in which it is offered.

For example, are the ten commandments understood today in anything resembling the way that the Israelites understood them in the Sinai desert? What about the sermon on the mount? Are the teachings of Jesus to be understood today in the same way that a first-century Jew understood them? Ultimately, the relevant question here is whether there is a strain of objective truth that persists over time and through culture?

So as to preserve doctrine and sanity, it is necessary to argue that there is indeed an objective moral and theological message contained in the Bible. From the perspective of Catholicism, the word Gospel is a Greek translation of euangelion, meaning the good news. 

What exactly is this good news? The Catholic answer may best be summed up in John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” 

That is to say that the message of the Gospel is that despite the devastating effects of original sin, God has provided a way or path by which human beings can be reconciled once more with God.

If John 3:16 can be said to be the foundational statement of the Gospel, then one can argue that the entire Bible ought to be understood within the framework of the work of salvation completed by Jesus Christ. 

Such a canonical view of the Bible suggests two seemingly contrary propositions. To this apparent conflict, I turn to next.

The Intersection Of History And Truth 

The Bible contains numerous truth claims (an assertion that a belief is true). For example, God is the criterion for truth (Psalm 119:160 and John 14:6), and God became a man (John 1:14). Such truth claims are intended to be objective and unchanging claims about the nature of God and the universe. This leads to an apparent conflict.

If the Bible should be interpreted canonically, then the truth statements of the Bible must develop and evolve. Yet if the truth statements of the Bible are ultimately claims about an unchanging God and His creation, then they are not subject to development and evolution.

I have come full circle; should the teachings in the Sermon on the mount be understood today in the way they were understood in first-century Israel? How can the tension between unchanging truth claims and a canonical approach that allows for a growing understanding of God’s word be reconciled? 

It seems to me that the answer lies in differentiating between knowledge and knower. The source of truth and knowledge is an unchanging and infallible God. However, the seekers of that truth and knowledge are evolving and fallible human beings. 

 How, then, can fallible and changing human beings understand the infallible and unchanging truth of God’s word (that is, the Bible)? To that question, I turn.

Hermeneutics – A Primer

Within theology, the science of interpreting Scripture is called hermeneutics. Hermeneutics may be defined as the systematic process of analyzing the Sacred Scriptures and inquiring into their true meaning. It describes the laws that exegetes are to follow to determine and explain the sense of the revealed word of God. It presupposes that the interpreter has a knowledge of the biblical languages and such sciences that contribute to a better understanding of Scripture.

While the subject of hermeneutics is vast, we can identify four types of interpretation acceptable in Catholic theology. 

The literal sense is, as the title states, an effort to draw out the plain meaning of the text. The literal sense provides the basis or foundation for the other forms of hermeneutics.

An allegorical interpretation involves interpreting a text in light of a deeper meaning. This deeper meaning is often intended to suggest that an event or person (for example, in the Old Testament) foreshadows an event or person in the New Testament. An allegorical interpretation of the sin offerings in Leviticus might suggest that they are harbingers of the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.

A moral interpretation of Scripture seeks to draw out the numerous ethical teachings and principles contained in the Bible. Examples such as the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the mount are of great importance in a moral type of hermeneutics.

Lastly, an anagogical form of hermeneutics is one primarily concerned with the spiritual or mystical teachings and stories contained in the Bible. Because of its focus on mankind’s destiny in Christ, analogical hermeneutics concerns itself with the four last things; death, judgment, Heaven, and Hell.

Conclusion

To be sure, Catholicism asserts the existence of objective truth, a truth that is true at all times and places. Furthermore, Catholicism contends that God is the source and criteria of truth. 

Nevertheless, the individual who seeks to understand that truth does so in light of his own time and through his own experience and capacity. Moreover, as the Bible is often the means by which one comes into contact with the truth of God, it is necessary to apply certain principles to studying the Scriptures. These principles are known as hermeneutics. 

In this paper, I have sought to examine the question of whether the Gospel message should be understood differently based on when it is disseminated. I have suggested that hermeneutics is the science that bridges the distance between the unchanging word of God and the changing world of human beings.