Okay, friends
and neighbors; I’m going to get very specific here, and I probably will upset
some people (“What’s new?” you ask.) But I don’t think they will be any more
upset than I am over the recent irresponsible misapplication of scripture by Rev. Robert Jeffress, one of President Trump’s key
evangelical Christian advisers (and I use the word, Christian, in the
nominative case, and not necessarily as descriptive of the faith as lived and
taught by Jesus of Nazareth.)
In the first place, Rev. Jeffress uses Romans 12 to justify his
ill-conceived counsel to the President. That epistle was a letter “written to line out a survival strategy
for a minority faith in the cosmopolitan capital of a first century
super power. Paul was counseling some early Jesus-followers on
how to deal with Caesar’s … saber-rattling, not
counseling them on how to endorse it”[1] or take
it out. And to rip the text out of that context and plop it, indiscriminately
into a context twenty centuries removed from, and 180 degrees in opposition to
its origin is the grossest kind of irresponsible eisegesis![2]
Just read the text. Just read the text!!!
Yes, there is that phrase, “hate what is
evil” in verse 9—stirred into a verbal combination of some of the strongest
exhortations to love found anywhere in Scripture!
“Hate what is evil” is about midway through a
text that begins by calling its readers to present their
bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God (vs. 1). Read it again:
“sacrifice.” A few lines later the
writer calls his readers not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think.
Then there follows a treatise on using the gifts
of ministry given to the readers by the Holy Spirit—gifts the same writer, in
another epistle, says are given for the purpose of building up the Body (the
church). And none of the gifts named and described can be construed, even
obliquely, to be used effectively in “taking out” an enemy.
Indeed, only a few lines further, we find this
counsel (vss 14-21, underlining mine):
Bless those who persecute
you; bless and do not curse
them. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another; do not be
haughty, but associate with the lowly; do
not claim to be wiser than you are. 17Do not repay anyone evil
for evil, but take
thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18If it is possible, so far as it depends on you,
live peaceably with all. 19beloved, never
avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written,
“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20No, “if your
enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to
drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21Do not be overcome by
evil, but overcome evil with good.
I searched Google, and can’t find Rev. Jeffress’
specific application of Romans 12; but I can’t find anything in that text that
even remotely would lead one to conclude that God had authorized anyone to “take
out” an enemy or a threat. “…if your
enemies are hungry, feed them…”
Having been affiliated with the same fellowship as
Rev. Jeffress, I anticipate that he will explain away this entire chapter by
saying the writer is describing behavior limited to within the fellowship of
the church, and his exhortation is not binding toward those outside the church.
That perspective is, indeed, a presupposition with which the Southern Baptists bring
to Scripture (that at least was the case when I was affiliated with them;
however, my affiliation ended in the late 1960s). I do not find that
restriction anywhere as a blanket pronouncement upon Christian ethics and
relationships.
What I do find in this text is a call to
love—including love of one’s enemies.
In that exhortation, the writer is word-for-word
consistent with the exhortations of Jesus of Nazareth.
There are other texts of Scripture that are used
in some Christian moral and ethical conventions to rationalize Just War. I do
not concur with those interpretations, and, in my estimation, neither Rev. Jeffress
nor anyone else will find such justification in any biblical text. It’s all a
part of the historic struggle among people of faith regarding how to balance a
commitment to family and country with a commitment to live out Jesus’ ethic of
love and unity.
Justify preemptive military action or
assassination if you must; but, I sincerely believe you’ll have to look outside
Christian Scriptures to do so. If the same Christ or the same Christian writer,
or the same God who inspires it all can counsel, “Love your enemies” in one
breath and then counsel, “Take out Kim Jong Un” in the next breath, then we’re
dealing with schizophrenia, not faith.
That’s the way it looks through the Flawed Glass
that is my world view.
Together
in the Walk,
Jim
[2] From Wikipedia: “…the process of interpreting a text or portion of text in
such a way that the process introduces one's own presuppositions, agendas…”
This was both a very refreshing and a very cogent read. Thank you for sharing your views, Jim. Hopefully others in an 'opposed' camp will read it with an open mind. Cheers from WA. State! Jim S.
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