Wrong Answers

Origen was a notorious interpreter of the scriptures. He used allegory like it was going out of style, which it should have. He would allegorize so much that he truly clouded Biblical understanding and negatively influenced church theology for years to come. Ironically, he is considered the father of Biblical textual criticism producing the Hexapla, a multiple-language translation of the Old Testament. However, his interpretations left a lot to be desired. He later quipped that the Sermon on the Mount was an ideal that no man could possibly live up to. Some wonder if his pitch toward allegory had to do with his failed asceticism.

Unfortunately, this also affected Augustine who had this problem to a lesser degree, as many of us do with the Old Testament. Again, with irony, Augustine’s theology was grand but his Bible work was often a “D+“. And I still named my second son after him. But these two did what many of us have done today. Instead of letting the context stand, the stories be history and teach us something about God or parables teaching a specific point, we try to press them into too personal applications and end up missing the forest for the trees. This is the problem plaguing Jordan Peterson’s walk through Exodus. So let’s look at a few:

David and Goliath (God will overcome your Goliath) (1 Samuel 17)

David’s story is not really supposed to be an underdog story, but I suppose that element is there. But the main picture was what a King after God’s own heart looks like instead of a King too afraid to lead and rejected by the Lord. When David takes down Goliath it is a picture of the strength of the Lord through the faith of his servant. It is a strong contrast how David trusted in God while Saul and the entire army of God didn’t know what that meant.

So far so good, but often we take this story and say, God, will help you overcome any Goliah in your life. And, no. This story is not about God handing out similar victories. The story is about the surety of relying on the Lord and raising up the line of David. It is not however a promise that God will topple all your giants whatever they might be, financial, relational, vocational, or perhaps a large dog. Narratives do not grant theology in the same way didactic teaching does. Narratives at best teach us the history and further reveal something about God, most likely clarified elsewhere, but it has almost nothing to do with personal promises to 21st-century believers.

Jonah (God will not let you get away)

Jonah is called to preach to his enemies about a coming judgment. BTW this one is a good point with regard to God’s character. This is not about the tyranny of governments that increasingly disregard outside commentary. (Probably something that Jordan’s entourage would develop) No, God actually hates and judges sin and a “Day of the Lord” looms for the unrepentant. Jonah knows that God will act not necessarily according to the narrative details; he expects God to act according to the didactic teaching about God’s character found elsewhere. Think Exodus 34. What has God’s revelation revealed about God’s character and then how will that play out in the story? Even Jonah knows not to read too much into the details, but I digress.

Jonah flees from the job, but the Lord hurls a storm on the sea, and eventually, a large fish consumes him. Now we typically understand God doesn’t promise large sea monsters to rescue us from sea troubles, but sometimes we think the point of the story is that God pursues us to the ends of the earth and will not let us miss a blessing, or even to miss our calling. I have heard JP interpret this story along the lines that a refusal to speak the truth will bite you in the end, while true, it is not the point. It wasn’t Jonah’s message that needed communicating. This is not about a proper response to a particular burning in your bosom, no, it is God’s that cannot be refused, and that is a different perspective altogether. So the story’s point is God’s sovereignty over the nations, not that God will never let go. Just read the Kings and Chronicles about how God clearly doesn’t have that as a working premise. In fact, many warning passages teach us that our conduct can disqualify and cut short our calling.

Parable of the Lost Sheep, Luke 15–He leaves the 99 (God left everything for you and will pursue you to the end of the earth)

The New Testament has this problem with parables sometimes as well. The famous story about the Shepherd leaving the 99 for the pursuit of the one, is often taken to mean a similar thing that was assumed in Jonah. God will pursue you to the ends of the earth, so don’t worry about it. If true you have to wonder how anyone is ever lost. Yet contextually the parable is not about the pursuit, but it is a metaphor for sinners who need repentance. Just like a little sheep needs a rescue.

The Pharisees criticized Jesus for his company, but Jesus is pointing out that it is the lost ones who need rescue. It is not a picture of God carrying out a hero’s journey to get too little old you. He is comparing sinners who need repentance with a Shepherd who realizes a sheep is missing. Every sheep counts, even the sinners that the self-righteous so easily dismiss. This is in concert with Jesus’ teaching about the sick who need a Physician not the healthy. The conclusion is about the focus on heaven rejoicing at repentance rather than the self-righteous (goats) who wouldn’t think to do so.

God’s work was completed on the Cross. He will not do it again, nor is the point that if there was nobody else in the world he would have died for little old you anyway. The point is not about the sheep, but the Shepherd who goes out of his way to rescue not a certain class of people, the Pharisees but even sinners, as unbelievable as that was to them.

Bonus Misapplications: God will not give you more than you can handle. Yes, he often will. Thinking Joshua’s promise of prosperity is for you. Nope, this is the same mistake as turning the Love of God away from the work of the Cross into personal sentiment. God does have promises for individuals that are not for you, and God does love you, but how, and what do you think that means?

The key to all this is taking the time to read the context, to learn the lessons from these stories, not to sensitize them to our needs. Don’t take a lesson or claim a promise that isn’t one. Instead, learn to read God’s Word for all its worth. 

thanks