Living with Mystery04 The Social Revolution of the Bible
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1) Slavery
The Old Testament contains several mentions of slavery but did make some revisions to its practices. Jewish slaves were not simply property like animals and therefore had some rights to reasonable treatment. It was a far cry from the eventual abhorrence of slavery, but it was a start. Jesus and the New Testament writers used the institution of slavery to explain some aspects of our relationship with God and one another since everyone knew what being a slave meant. The mentions of slavery and its use as illustration should not be seen as an endorsement of the practice of slavery but rather using these examples from life in those days to explain spiritual principles. For instance, in the present, someone might use serving in the Armed Forces as an illustration of loyalty, obedience and discipline without that being an endorsement of war or killing; it is merely an illustration which would be understood.
abolition
Jesus has been criticised in modern times for not condemning slavery, but His mission was to introduce the Kingdom of God to people. He only had three years in which to do this. He did not come to earth seeking to foment social and political change but a change of heart. Where human hearts are changed then society overall can be changed. But some of the principles in His teachings became the basis for the eventual overthrow of slavery as an institution. Making sudden changes to society can lead to tragedy such as when marriage was abolished in Soviet Russia which led to millions of street kids. Eventually, the institution had to be restored. The best theoretical illustration I have met of the pitfalls of sudden social change was this: at church on a Sunday, it was announced that all cars in the car park had been removed and changed for electric vehicles since these were judged to be more ethical. Imagine the chaos for everyone which would follow such a sudden change.
The foundations for the abolition of slavery are writ large
in the New Testament. Here is Paul:
Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. (Galatians 3:11)
As Christians, slaves were no longer to be considered inferior but equal to everyone else and deserving of humane recognition. This was a revolutionary message to those first century societies. Making sudden changes or total abolition may well have led to hunger, homelessness and probably social breakdown since up to one-third of people in the Roman Empire were slaves; and in Athens the percentage was much higher. It is no wonder that a significant number of Christian converts came from those enslaved members of the population when the Christian faith offered equality and humanity. Paul also added another significant comment about slavery, writing:
Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you – although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. (1 Corinthians 7:21-23)
This passage emphasises both the need not to make sudden changes to society but also that slavery is not what God desires.
2) Women
Another large percentage of Christian converts were among women. Societies then were extremely patriarchal. Women were viewed essentially as the property of the father and their chief value was as potential mothers. This anachronistic view of women continues in the words of the marriage service where the question is asked:
“Who gives this woman to be married to this man!”
The Old Testament emphasises how much women valued becoming the mothers of sons. This gave them a higher status since a man needed sons in order to continue the family name and inheritance. As a consequence, barren women felt they were inferior in some way. This was Rachel’s condition, and the Old Testament records her frustration:
When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I’ll die!’ (Genesis 30:1)
Hannah, another important woman in the Old Testament, the wife of Elkanah, bewailed her barrenness but was comforted by her husband’s love:
Her husband Elkanah would say to her, ‘Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?’ (1 Samuel 1:8)
Hannah prayed and eventually conceived; she bore not only the child who grew up to be the Prophet Samuel, but also gave birth to five more children, including three sons.
significant
Reading the Old Testament carefully, indicates that the Lord saw women as much more than simply bearers of children, important as that was. Rahab the prostitute was praised for her faith. Ruth the Moabite became part of the ancestry of Jesus through her loyalty to the Lord. Deborah was a prophetess who encouraged Barak the army commander. Jael gained a reputation for dispatching Sisera an enemy general in a most unusual way (Judges 4). In Proverbs, we meet a woman who might be described as a ‘superwoman’! She is anonymous but not only had children and ran a household, but also was a businesswoman:
She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. (Proverbs 31:16)
In the New Testament, women became significant in the life
of Jesus and the church. A group of women travelled with Jesus as part
of His itinerant ministry group:
The Twelve were with him, and also some women … Mary (called Magdalene) … Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. (Luke 8:1-3)
Another woman named, Phoebe, seems to have been the person who carried the Letter which Paul wrote to the church in Rome. Paul not only entrusted this task to a woman, but it is possible that she read the letter to the church in Rome and also explained it. Priscilla was another important woman in the early church who worked with her husband Aquila in church planting around the Mediterranean. Perhaps the most significant woman was Mary Magdalene since Jesus chose to appear to her after His resurrection before anyone else. In doing this, Jesus was indicating that women were no longer to be judged inferior but of equal spiritual standing with men. In the first century, a woman’s testimony was not valued as much as a man’s, yet Jesus entrusted a woman with the responsibility of first testifying to the Resurrection.
status
The testimony of scripture and the life of Jesus enabled Paul to make this astounding statement:
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)
This was shocking for a patriarchal society but reflected the truth of God’s creative intention. Men and women have equal value before God even if their roles in life differ and they suffer from different weaknesses of character or body. As a point of interest, Jewish patriarchy was transmitted by circumcision. But since women could not be circumcised it created a significant disparity and inequality. Under the New Covenant, physical circumcision is no longer required meaning men and women are spiritually equal! The fact that male and female have equal status in Jesus is a foresight of the eternal Kingdom on a New Earth in which, according to Jesus, these unequal roles will no longer exist. He said:
those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. (Luke 20:35-36)
Some people take issue with certain passages in the New Testament
which do not seem to support equality. These were written by Paul and since
Paul was no fool, he would not have written things which were contradictory.
He was writing specifically about life in first century society and in
some of these passages, appears to be addressing questions about church life
that he had been asked. The point is, that even though men and women are
spiritually equal and of equal value, in a fallen world we still have different
responsibilities to fulfil, and this will lead to different outcomes and
practices. Another point which is not often mentioned is the way that childbearing
had such a massive effect on women and women’s outcomes. Women who were married
would probably spend their fertile years either pregnant or breast-feeding
children. Of course, a large percentage of them would have died in childbirth
or through complications following it. This would have reduced the opportunity
for women generally to have had large responsibilities in church life. Those
who did have responsibilities would have either survived beyond their
fertile time of life or maybe did not have children at all. However, the church
and the gospel message became very attractive to women since it restored
them to their place of equality as both people and as children of God made in
His image.
3) Sexual continence
Perhaps one of the greatest influences of the gospel on the world has been the acceptance of monogamy as normative for marriage. Many societies have practised and still do practise polygamy, and that included the Old Testament. But the radical teaching of Jesus was to restore marriage to the example given in the beginning - one man and one woman (Adam and Eve). Jesus taught this as a lifelong union and commitment in His teaching saying:
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,” and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? (Matthew 19:4-5)
This teaching contains three principles regarding marriage which are:
a) God created male and female to be joined in marriage,
b) Marriage is for one man and one woman,
c) The sexual union for which they were biologically designed is the physical manifestation of their union – they unite as one flesh.
This message was revolutionary in the societies of the first century. Although polygamy was common and legal, it needed to be addressed. The sexual union belonging exclusively to marriage brought in the need for sexual continence. It excluded the practice of taking mistresses or of engaging in sexual novelty with multiple partners. It also reset the understanding that the sexual union was biologically designed by the Creator for marriage and precluded all other sexual activities outside of the marriage of one man to one woman.
self-control
These principles were understood by the Jewish society into which Jesus was born. Polygamy was not of itself a sinful arrangement if the sexual unions it entailed were exclusive to the marriage agreements. But they were not God’s revealed aim and were allowed as a human and social expedient. One such expedient was the rule for divorce, but as Jesus said this was only a permission:
Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. (Matthew 19:8)
What was revealed in the beginning showed us the mind of God as Creator and this was the lifelong union of one man with one woman. However, in the wider societies of the world into which the gospel message came, this was a revolutionary teaching.
The expectation of sex being only in the relationship of marriage
meant men especially facing up to their need for sexual self-control. In
the Europe of the Roman Empire this was a stand-out message of the
gospel. It distinguished Christians from the society at large. It took
some time for these truths to be worked out in practice. We see this in the
letters to the Corinthians. Corinth was a by-word for sexual incontinence; in
fact, the word ‘to Corinthianise’ became code for sexual
indulgence and novelty. Paul had to remind them of the gospel message, writing:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practise homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV)
Contained in this list are various sexual sins which were common in Corinth but from which those believers had been freed. Paul uses the same Old Testament scripture as Jesus did to show that the sexual union must be exclusive to marriage. He continued:
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “the two will become one flesh”. (1 Corinthians 6:15-16)
Sexual relations with a woman who is not that person’s wife is a sin against Christ. It is a sin against the Creator’s will for sexual relationships.
love
The gospel was the announcement that God expects sexual holiness from those who belong to Him. It is simply that once we surrender our life to Christ, we also surrender our body and its desires. Paul puts it this way:
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins that a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually sins against their own body. Or do you not know that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price; therefore honour God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)
Paul could not be plainer! But even so, some people do try to dilute the gospel truth about sexual immorality and seek to justify breaking these principles on the spurious basis of “love”. They try to justify sexual union by saying it is “love”, whereas marriage is the lifelong promise of commitment in which love can be cultivated. As Paul exhorted husbands:
Husbands, love your wives (Ephesians 5:25)
Husbands had to learn to love, and that was quite possibly because marriages were arranged between families. It is shallow reasoning to say that feelings of “love” justify engaging in sexual relationships. This does not stand up to the scrutiny of the scriptures when read with honesty. Furthermore, marriage should reflect the holy relationship which Christ has with the Church. Love is far more than a romantic feeling as Paul’s chapter on love in 1 Corinthians 13 shows.
Since this truth is so basic and important, many Christian couples
will marry at younger ages than the social average since they wish to honour
God by reserving sex for marriage. There are many exhortations to sexual continence
in the scriptures. Often, they are framed as euphemisms rather than
blunt biological descriptions. I have always seen this as an acknowledgement
that sexual instincts are very powerful and deceptive. For instance, I
have never been convinced that engaging in intimate sexual conversations
other than with one’s spouse are particularly helpful or edifying. The biblical
rules are clear and simply need to be restated. Here is Hebrews:
Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure; for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. (Hebrews 13:4)
The ‘marriage bed’ is a euphemism to explain that marital sex is not a sinful thing. However, sex outside of marriage will be judged. The bible also recognises that sexual desire is powerful and needs to be controlled. Christians have long recognised that marriage is a way for this to happen. Again, we have a euphemism as Paul writes:
Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn (1 Corinthians 7:8-9)
This scripture is teaching that it no bad thing or damaging thing to not engage in sexual activity. However, if there is temptation and the risk of sin, then marriage is the option to take. Since the advent of contraceptives which reduce the consequences of extra-marital sex, too many Christians have fallen to the destructive forces of sexual temptation. Believing in the gospel’s call to sexual holiness and treating temptation seriously would have saved many lives from spiritual shipwreck!
4) Forgiveness
Forgiveness lies at the heart of the gospel. Unless we had been forgiven for our sins, we could never be reconciled to God and become children of God. This alters our relationships with one another. The grace of forgiving others has always been a grace found in the Christian community around the world. There are many public examples of people who have forgiven others who have either mistreated them or their families. You can find them from the survivors of prisoner-of-war camps to victims of school mass murders. This is a manifestation of the Spirit of grace which was first shown to us. Paul wrote:
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)
Paul was writing not just as a leader but as one who also was mistreated and had learned the grace to forgive. In Philippi he was beaten as a criminal without a trial. As a Roman citizen, he could have brought charges against the magistrates; instead, he just requested an apology:
when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. (Acts 16:38-39)
This contrasts with the growing trend in our society wherein if people are judged to have made a mistake they are not only not forgiven, but also made to bear the maximum consequences such as being barred from their jobs or responsibilities.
healed
Without forgiveness it is impossible to build constructive human relationships. We can easily forget that Paul, whom we admire as a Christian and inspired writer of scripture, was once an evil person. This is his own testimony:
Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. (1 Timothy 1:13)
He was forgiven by God but also had to be forgiven by the many Christians he had persecuted and imprisoned. They were so forgiving that they rejoiced in Paul’s conversion rather than holding resentments against him for their treatment. He remarked:
They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they praised God because of me. (Galatians 1:23-24)
Jesus sealed the principle of forgiveness as the basis of healthy
relationships when he taught us how to pray, saying:
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:14-15)
This is not so much a threat as a transaction. The Father’s forgiveness cannot be received into the unforgiving heart. It is not that God wishes to withhold forgiveness, rather that any forgiveness dispensed would not be received. It would be like trying to sow seed on hard ground: the ground is not able to receive or nourish the seed; it would be a waste! This transaction of heart-to-heart forgiveness is all part of the healing and maturing of our souls. In forgiving we become healed. In part, this is because forgiving means forgetting. It is not that the memory of wrong no longer exists; it is that the memory no longer has power over us or manipulates the way we think and behave. Mick Fleming, who had a really tough life which included being abused, said this about dealing with past wrongs against him:
“I don’t have to live in THEIR sin.”
It was his response to an abuser and shows the need to forgive before we can take authority over what may have happened to us. It has also been put in another way by Anthony Robbins:
Don’t let the past determine your future!
self-forgiveness
Forgiveness is what frees us. But it has another fruit which Jesus mentioned:
‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ (Mark 12:31)
We cannot love others effectively unless we are first reconciled to who we are as a person. We are to love others out of our personal wholesomeness. Without the maturing of our character, our love for others will be deficient in one way or another. That maturing requires us to forgive others, but also to forgive ourselves. Self-forgiveness can be extremely difficult for some personality types, especially perfectionist ones. We must acknowledge that not only have we made mistakes, but that we shall also continue to do so. Those mistakes may have hurt people. We may need to apologise personally to them in a wise way which does not stir up difficulties for them in dealing with that information. Paul found it difficult to forgive himself since he had been such an evil man; it never left his memory, but he learned forgiveness in order to love and minister to others. Forgiveness is a foundational belief and practice of the gospel and a redemptive message for the world.
5) Obeying the law
Jesus taught that Christians should bear witness to God in the world. He said:
‘You are the salt of the earth. … ‘You are the light of the world. … let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:13-16)
One way in which Christians testified to God’s truth was by obeying the laws of the land. God’s desire for humanity is peace and prosperity and for this to occur society should be ordered and responsible. Good governance and good laws promote peace and prosperity. Western civilisation was built upon a foundation of laws derived from biblical principles and only works if these laws are obeyed. The first five books of the Old Testament are the Torah or Books of the Law. They described a society fitted for the second millennium BC and based on agriculture. The principle of the Torah is that a good society needs good laws. One thing I have noticed about the Old Testament Law is that it is based on human responsibilities rather than human rights. There are some rights which are integral to the Old Testament Law and which especially guard the vulnerable in society such as widows and orphans; there were even some rights extended to slaves. But overall, the Law laid out responsibilities or expectations for everyone. Jesus summarised them into two primary laws. The first is found in Deuteronomy:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5)
The second is found in Leviticus:
love your neighbour as yourself. (Leviticus 19:18)
respect
Since God created us to live in societies, the bible clearly teaches obedience to the laws of the land. Here is Paul:
Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. … They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honour, then honour. (Romans 13:1-6)
At the moment, we are looking at the principle of obeying laws. We shall look at possible conflicts with this advice in the next paragraph. Peter also taught this important principle here:
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. (1 Peter 2:13-15)
This is the same advice and shows that the first Christians were in agreement about this principle.
A problem arises when we have governing authorities which make
laws in conflict with God’s laws and principles of justice. In the 17th
century, the Quakers were persecuted through a law deliberately
concocted which commanded people to swear an oath. Since they felt this
disobeyed the command of both Jesus and the Letter of James, they would not
swear and were consequently imprisoned in their hundreds. In the 18th
century, the Quakers, along with other independent churches, developed a
collection of non-violent techniques to influence politics. They set up
campaigns, made petitions, encouraged boycotts, distributed literature, and lobbied
politicians and the general public. These efforts led to movements for
the Abolition of Slavery, Temperance, Factory Reform, Votes for Working-Class
Men and Women, and the creation of both the Liberal and Labour parties in
Britain. Their models for reform spread across the world. We are to be governed
by conscience in obeying God’s laws before human ones. But we cannot
make this an excuse to ignore laws we may not like. Peter continues in his
letter:
Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honour the emperor. (1 Peter 2:16-17)
Giving honour and respect to those in authority is a Christian response. They are being respected for their role and not necessarily for their character. We are respecting the responsibility they have to govern well. Peter is here showing honour to the Roman Emperor who was shortly to have him executed. Even when campaigning is necessary to bring in new laws or repeal bad ones, honour and respect should still be shown.