Posted on 10/05/2013 2:47:49 PM PDT by ReformationFan
Recently a Community Column writer for a local paper wrote an opinion piece denouncing conservative politicians for not complying with the "Red-Letter" teachings of Jesus. Among other things, he was referring more specifically to Ted Cruz's call for evangelical Christians to help his political bloc to defund Obamacare. This claim is worthy of careful examination.
Emphasizing the authority of one portion of scripture while ignoring all others isn't a principle of historical normative Christian theology. As the Bible declares of itself "...All scripture is given by inspiration of God..." Red-lettering was first conceived in 1899, and it first appeared in Bibles in 1901. So from the time when the canon of scripture was closed, until the turn of the 20th century, there was no special theological emphasis on colored printing. The Bible declares of itself that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Red print may be a helpful resource, but there is no hint anywhere that the red printing is more important than the black printing.
"Red-Letter Christians" emphasize the red print in the Gospels to amplify social justice themes while deemphasizing the moral instruction found in the Pauline epistles. This is an illicit gambit, essentially pitting Jesus against Paul, because it fails to recognize that different audiences are being addressed in the two different portions of scripture. The idea that Paul's revelation is subordinate to Jesus' teaching is not a valid interpretive principle.
In the Gospels, Jesus addresses Roman occupied Israel existing for centuries under the moral convictions of Mosaic law, thus Jesus primarily addresses moral infractions that stray from the spirit of the law. In the Epistles, Paul chiefly addresses Gentile converts to Christianity, who are steeped in pagan traditions of Greco-Roman culture, thus requiring significant doctrinal and moral correction. This explains why "Jesus never said
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I like these quotes: ‘In the Gospels, Jesus addresses Roman occupied Israel existing for centuries under the moral convictions of Mosaic law, thus Jesus primarily addresses moral infractions that stray from the spirit of the law. In the Epistles, Paul chiefly addresses Gentile converts to Christianity, who are steeped in pagan traditions of Greco-Roman culture, thus requiring significant doctrinal and moral correction. This explains why “Jesus never said anything about...” on a host of moral issues.’
and
‘Many in the red-letter crowd emphasize but a few texts of scripture rather than the whole of the red-letters. These people tend to be theologically shallow and would feel uncomfortable to discover some of the harder sayings of Jesus. For example, Jesus made more statements about eternal punishment than any other biblical figure. In addition, how do red-letterers account for their selectively when faced with the numerous citations Jesus makes from the Old Testament, or the red-letter print appearing in the book of Revelation?’
I haven’t seen much love from these leftwing Christians. They hate Conservatives as much as non-believing Leftists do plus they covet their neighbors wealth.
Gramsci’s hegemony is alive and well even in the Church.
This is odd because he was a Communist.
But, what the he!!, leftists have always been hypocrites.
This weekend the mainline Protestant church which I attend is pushing the meassage of Help thy Neighbor. Maybe it’s the same with other Christian congregations where the lectionary tends to be the same.
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