But the Bible is So Violent! – On Jesus, Violence, and Interpretation

How do you interpret violence in the Bible? Do you believe that everything in the Bible was inspired by God?

It’s a contested issue among liberals, conservatives, and atheists, but Michael Hardin at Preaching Peace has the best answer I’ve seen. Christians should interpret the Bible like Jesus interpreted his Bible.*

Seems obvious, right? After all, Christians are called to follow Jesus, which means following him in the ways he interpreted the Bible.

Jesus had a specific way of interpreting the Bible. He said the two most important laws were to love God and love your neighbor. He elevated the laws to love above other laws.

Jesus’ elevation of love above other laws had an important impact for how he interpreted laws that led to violence in the scriptures.

For example, take the woman caught in adultery. Some scribes and Pharisees brought the woman before Jesus and said, “Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”

Notice that they say “… in the law *Moses* commanded …” They didn’t say that God commanded that they should stone a woman caught in adultery. They said that *Moses* commanded it. Why is that important? Because not everything written in the Bible was inspired by God. Some of it was inspired by humans. Moses commanded that adulterers be stoned, not God.

So, what does Jesus say? “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” At which point, they all left. Jesus stopped religiously inspired violence. He said “No” to the law that led to violence. Then he looked the woman in the eyes and told her that he didn’t condemn her.

Jesus wasn’t against the law. He fulfilled the law by living into the divine law of love, not the human law of violence.

Here’s the point: when Christians use the Bible, whether Old Testament or New Testament, to justify violence, we make it into an idol. What the Bible says doesn’t really matter. Even the devil quotes scripture. What matters is what Jesus says about the Bible. What matters is how he interpreted it. And Jesus interpreted the Bible through the divine law of love, not the human law of violence.

Because Jesus interpreted the Bible that way, that’s how we should interpret it, too.

*I cannot recommend highly enough Michael’s DVD “How Jesus Read His Bible.”

Image: Copyright: balazschristina / 123RF Stock Photo