Essays in Understanding the Bible (9): Through Tinted Spectacles

In this series of essays, Helen Parry explores some basic principles for understanding the Bible. Since interpretation is not a dry academic exercise but is essential to a proper use of Scripture, each essay is followed by questions for reflection (and discussion with others, where applicable), and suggestions for action.

Most of us have had the experience of driving through the countryside on a bright sunny day, putting on a pair of sunglasses (I refuse to call them ‘shades’), and seeing the landscape transformed. But which is the true picture? We might be inclined to say: that which is perceived by the naked eye. But do all people’s naked eyes see a scene in exactly the same way? Appearance is, after all, simply appearance. Perhaps there is no ‘true picture’.

Similarly, we may be exasperated by someone who, we may say, looks at everything through rose-coloured spectacles – particularly if the object thus looked at is the object of a romantic passion. Whether the glass is half-full or half-empty depends on our perception of it. In this case, both are true, but there is a difference in perception.

Both appearance and perception are conditioned by one’s background. Our personal and family background is an important part of the cultural context within which we all live. This becomes very apparent when we look at how people vote in elections. People tend to vote as their family has always voted, or according to their social class. Age also makes a difference, so we can speak of ‘youth culture’ as distinct from that of the adult population. And in our jobs, one company or school may have a different corporate culture from another, one focusing, perhaps, on community and another on competition.

But, at the other end of the spectrum, we may speak broadly of ‘Western’ culture, distinguishing it, for example, from Chinese, Islamic or Hindu culture.

What might be the major presuppositions of contemporary Western culture? The autonomous individual, perhaps; the pursuit of liberty; the equating of the good life with material prosperity; and the deification of ‘progress’ (often attainable only through economic growth). Out of this culture has arisen the obscenity of the so-called ‘prosperity gospel’, and the lack of restraint in personal and sexual ethics.

Other cultures that have retained a stronger belief in authority and the importance of community, on the other hand, may be inclined to stifle freedom of thought and speech and the expression of individuality.

We all read the Bible through spectacles tinted by our own culture. And for Christians that may mean the culture not only of our society but also of our church or denomination. So we have to be aware not only of the cultures represented in the Bible but also of the culture or cultures that have shaped our own understanding. Many Christians in the West are shaped by a liberal materialist culture, but their church culture may determine their attitude to society, to sexual ethics, to the cinema, dancing and drinking. It will also influence their understanding of the biblical teaching on such things as church leadership and worship.

As far as we ourselves are concerned, however, we are so much conditioned by our own culture that we often become aware of it only when confronted by a culture that is very different. It’s rather like how we speak: I may think that I simply speak English, but if you speak it differently from me you have ‘an accent’.

The upbringing of children is an interesting example. Shaped by the contemporary understanding of child psychology, the prevailing official view is that corporal punishment should never be used in schools or even in homes. Whenever this issue comes up, the media will seek out Christians who will assert that ‘the Bible says “Spare the rod and spoil the child”’. In fact this sentence never even appears in the Bible. The nearest to it is Proverbs 23:13-14: ‘Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death.’

This sounds severe indeed. But it is worth noting that the poetic style of Wisdom literature is highly metaphorical. Proverbs of all kinds use specific, concrete language to express abstract ideas. So we do not interpret literally a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush or the pen is mightier than the sword or ‘a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come on you like a bandit’ (Proverbs 24:33-34). As an example of the figure of speech known as metonymy, the ‘rod’ is used in the book of Proverbs to represent discipline. Nevertheless, it is highly likely that physical punishment was the primary means of discipline in Old Testament times.

When my husband and I were working in Nigeria in the 1970s, our children went to the university primary school; the ‘naughtiest’ children were sent to the Head Teacher, who made discretionary use of the cane. As the only ‘Western’ member of the Parent/Teacher Association, I had to pass on the views of other expatriate parents to the Head. One European couple had a very disruptive son, who one day received a caning. The mother stirred up other parents against the school, and told me that I must make a complaint. When I raised the issue, a wise Christian member of the staff responded – not to say ‘The Bible says that we should use the rod’, but to explain the school’s policy. In Nigerian families, she said, spanking or beating children was the norm, and no other kind of discipline was taken seriously, but as people became more educated they were realising that it could be harmful and other methods were preferable; but ‘we are not yet ready to ban it’.

The Bible does consistently speak of the importance of discipline, as a means of training as well as an expression of love. We find again in Proverbs: ‘the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in’ (3:12). Paul is delightfully realistic, when he writes to the Ephesians, ‘Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training (nurture, AV) and instruction of the Lord’ (6:4).

Modern ‘experts’ on the upbringing of children have differed widely on the question of discipline. Dr Benjamin Spock, in his 1946 book Baby and Child Care, advocated minimal discipline, so that children might be formed purely by love, teaching and example. In the spirit of the 1960s many parents took this much further, virtually eschewing discipline altogether. By the 1980s, however, the results of this approach caused Spock to ‘clarify’ his position.

As we read the Bible, therefore, we need to be aware of what there is in our own culture – the general culture, or our own family or church culture – that may prejudice our understanding. Prone as we may be to base our political opinions on those of our parents or our ‘class’, we may naturally agree with biblical passages that affirm strong, just leadership, or, on the other hand, the essential equality and potential of all human beings. We may differ on whether Human Rights is a biblical concept, or at least what those fundamental rights might be. Is there for Christians a ‘right’ answer and a ‘wrong’ answer?

Our contemporary self-indulgent culture inclines us to emphasise the love rather than the righteousness of God. Many contemporary ‘worship’ songs reinforce our individualistic self-regard. No doubt such things are a valuable antidote to the oppressive teaching of an earlier age that was obsessed with sin and judgment, but both extremes misrepresent the teaching of the Bible. How are we to judge between them?

As a book written by humans within particular historical contexts, the Bible is saturated with culture. So, likewise, are the human societies that have evolved throughout the centuries and throughout the world. How we use the Bible both to evaluate our own culture and to guide our behaviour within that culture will be the subject of the next essay.

For personal reflection:
Which political party do you vote for? How far is your voting influenced by your family, your class, your race or your age? How far is it determined by your own personal interests? Allow yourself to be challenged by the great commandment ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’, and by Paul’s injunction to the Philippians: ‘Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.’

For group discussion:
Read 1 Corinthians 8:4-13. Paul, a Jew, is writing to a newly-established church composed of Jewish and Gentile believers. To the Jews, idol worship was anathema; to the Gentiles, it was a routine observance. What would the issue have been for each group? What conclusion does Paul reach? Discuss some of the cultural differences that we may find in a church congregation today (for example, styles of worship, degrees of formality or informality, patterns of leadership). How might these be resolved?

For action:
Seek prayerfully to build bridges between the cultures represented in your own church, and to make genuine friendships with people different from yourself – whether in age, background or race. Learn to look at things through their eyes and judge them from their perspective.

Helen Parry

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