Imagine you are a hermeneutics (fancy word for how you interpret the Bible) professor at a seminary and you have this one student who just isn’t doing well in your class. He takes verses out of context and applies them seemingly whichever way he wants to. He accepts some verses and rejects others. So unpredictable. He’s not consistent in how he interprets the Bible, kind of making it say whatever he wants it to. And let’s say he does it for the entire semester on every test and every paper. My question is… “Would you fail him?”
I don’t know about you, but if I was his professor I definitely would. If I pass him I would only be affirming his craziness. I would not want to be responsible for all the false teaching that comes out of his mouth. I would rationalize “A consistent hermeneutic is a hallmark of a good Bible student”. If you were me, wouldn’t you give him an “F” too?
Now for the kicker… You know, this student you just flunked was Jesus Christ. Surprised? Well, hear me out. Many of us may have never thought of Jesus this way, but it’s true. The way Jesus interpreted the Bible (Old Testament) was insane.
Please don’t stone me just yet. Give me a chance to explain. Let me share a bit from where I’m coming from.
I started going to a Baptist church when I was 14. For the life of me, I had never heard anyone at any church or seminary describe Jesus the way I just did. It seems like such a taboo thing. My professors, my former pastors, and just about every Christian friend I shared this with would be appalled by this view, but my reading of the Bible leads me to such a conclusion.
This makes me wonder what Bible people have been reading. I assure you we’re reading the same book. It’s our biases that we’re not factoring in here. What is obvious is not at all obvious to the church at large. I think that people have such blinders over their eyes because they rely much too much on others interpreting the Bible for them to the point where they don’t think through Scripture for themselves. In addition, it is a scary thing to entertain a thought that the church at large steers clear of. It’s much easier just to ignore this altogether.
If this accusation of Jesus is true and legit, namely that he did not subscribe to any of our current day sophisticated and scholarly theories of hermeneutics, but kinda did his own thing, this ought to be very disconcerting for people like us who follow God.
I mean, how do you and I know that the way we interpret the Bible is right or wrong? I mean, different seminaries, churches, and Bible teachers will say, “You should interpret the Bible the way we do”, but none of them say, “You should interpret the Bible the way Jesus did.” You know why? Because the way Jesus did it was seemingly discombobulated. He was all over the place and then some. By using Jesus’ hermeneutics we might be as confused as ever.
Jesus responded to the Old Testament in several ways. He rejected it, fulfilled it, affirmed it, reinterpreted it, one-upped it, and even took obscure verses and gave it either a new or different meaning. Kinda interesting, huh?
Let’s look at some examples:
1. Examples of Jesus rejecting the Old Testament
- Matthew 5:33-34
“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne.”
- Matthew 5:38-42
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”
2. Examples of Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament
- Matthew 5:17-18
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
- Luke 24:44
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
3. Examples of Jesus one-upping (i.e. raising the bar of) the Old Testament
- Matthew 5:27-28
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
4. Examples of Jesus reinterpreting the Old Testament
- Matthew 10:35-36
For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law –
a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
These verses from Micah 7:6 were speaking about Israel’s misery. Jesus applied those who would follow him. If someone did that today we’d call him out for proof-texting.
- Matthew 26:31
Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
” ‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
Jesus quotes from Zechariah 13:7 and applies it to him (shepherd) and his disciples (sheep), which given the context was obscure. In other words, this is a stretch of the imagination.
5. Examples of Jesus affirming the Old Testament
- Matthew 8:4
Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
- Matthew 13:14-15
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’
Isaiah 6 is about God commissioning Isaiah to preach to the nation of Israel. This is seemingly out of place also.
- Matthew 24:29
“Immediately after the distress of those days
” ‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
This verse was taken from both Isaiah 13:10 (prophecy against Babylon and Isaiah 34:4 (God’s judgment against the nations). This seems out of place.
- Matthew 15:7-9
You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.'”
Isaiah 29:13 is about God’s rebuke of Israel, but Jesus applied it to the religious leaders.
6. Examples of Jesus taking obscure Old Testament passages and applying it to him and others.
- Matthew 22:43-45
He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
” ‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.” ‘If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”
Jesus quotes from Psalm 110:1, which given the context that David wrote the psalm in doesn’t lend itself as referring to Christ. In other words, Jesus took a verse that was obscure as to its meaning and said that it applied to him.
- Luke 7:27
This is the one about whom it is written:
“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’
Malachi 3 doesn’t specifically refer to John the Baptist, yet Jesus quotes it and says it applies to John the Baptist.
- Mark 12:10-11
Haven’t you read this scripture:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
Jesus takes Psalm 118:22 & 23 and applies it to his rejection even though it’s not spelled out that way.
This has been an interesting study for me because it confirms to me that Jesus’ interpretation of the Bible was all over the place. Sometimes he rejected it. Sometimes he affirmed it. Sometimes he fulfilled it. Sometimes he one-upped it. Sometimes he took obscure verses and tells you what it means and there was no way you would have guessed it from the context.
Food for thought: A person like Jesus with such an inconsistent Bible interpretation would never be able to get a job as a pastor or a Bible teacher or even join a mission organization.
In addition, you know how many people can look at the same verse in the Bible and come out with completely different ideas? Well, it is conceivable for the Holy Spirit to speak different things to different people using the same verse. My seminary taught me that there could only be one interpretation for any one verse. As I illustrated above, even Jesus didn’t subscribe to this principle.
For example, I have friends who’ve read the Song of Solomon and tell me that it’s speaking of God’s love for people. I’ve read it several times and for the life of me cannot see this theme anywhere at all in the passage. I cannot affirm my friends, but nor can I say that that wasn’t what the Holy Spirit revealed to them. I just don’t know. At face value it’s about a man being with a woman.
The more I learn about God, the more ambiguous everything is. My once strong convictions in certain matters of theology are weakened. Less black and white, more gray. Hazy, if you will. There are many paradoxes in the Bible. Many unknowns. At the end of the day, I have an unsettling feeling and a dizzy head.
I am not saying that we should not try to figure out what the Bible says. Quite the contrary, we ought to come to the passages with a humble posture and allow God to speak to us through his word. And it is very possible that at times, what God is saying to you might not be what it seems at face value. But then again it might be. This topic is very complicated with many, many cards on the table.
Interpreting the Bible is both an art and a science. Knowing God’s word will lead to both illumination and confusion; both “aha” moments and “what the?” moments. The Bible challenges you to “figure me out” and once you get close to the answer you’ll find a dozen more rabbit holes.