What came into being through the Word was life, and the life was the light for all people.
John 1:3b-4
Today, I'm grateful for the tools for the interpretation of scripture instilled in me through The United Methodist Church.
Growing up, we were regulars in church. I can't recall ever missing Sunday school or worship for illness. I'm sure I must have missed at least once, but I don't remember it. We also discussed the scriptures regularly in our household. Dad would especially talk about them after the sermon.
When we switched to United Methodism, it was as if a light switched on for my parents. They were so impressed with a contextual understanding of the biblical world. What was going on in the lives of the authors? What was happening in the world at the time it was written?
How do previous scriptures impact the message of later ones?
When I was in high school, I remember our pastor, Dr. Mouzon Biggs, coming to our Sunday school to teach for a period. I was really impressed that he didn't sugar coat it. He brought out source theory in the Old Testament and showed us how some of the Israelite tribes referred to God as Elohim in the original Hebrew - this was E Source. Other tribes in the southern kingdom of Judah referred to God as Yahweh and this was called J Source (Yahweh can also be translated into English as Jehovah). There was also a D source which wrote Deuteronomy and is also found in some of the books following. And lastly, there was a P source which was a priestly source that deals with a lot of technical stuff like worship specifications or lists of genealogies.
In their original form, these were all separate writings like we have four Gospels today. Later, a redactor or editor merged the four sources together into the first books of the Bible. It helps explain why there are some duplicate stories in the Old Testament!
One thing in particular I still remember from a sermon was when Dr. Biggs brought up the critique that the Ten Commandments may have been based on Hammurabi's Code. He didn't see this as a problem for people of faith at all.
"Who's to say that God didn't inspire Hammurabi as well as Moses?"
Later, I understood this as another great example of prevenient or preceding grace!
I came out of a more fundamentalist tradition prior to United Methodism and I am thankful for the way we look at the Bible. It is not scary to interpret the Bible and it is not a bad thing to prioritize some scriptures over others. Even people that say they take everything literally do this.
When Jesus was asked which commandment in the Bible was the greatest, he did not respond with, "That's a dumb question! They are all equal!"
Rather, he gave us the love of God with all our being (the Shema) and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. These are to be the lenses with which we interpret the rest of scripture.
As we move through Lent, which portions of scripture stand out to you? Which are some of your favorites that help you interpret others? How do these give you life?
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| This is the plate from my 3rd Grade Bible |
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