Re: Biblical Interpretation Reconsidered

I wrote,

> >Jack tells us of a lady who wrote,
> >
> > And in the passage above, Jesus taught about the moral issue
> > of marriage by connecting it with the fact of the creation
> > of man and woman as Genesis says!
> >
> >When this example of Jesus' faith in Scripture is used, I tell the
> >person it is true that Jesus referred to Genesis 2:24 as morally
> >authoritative (Matt 19:4,5), but he contrasted it ("BUT from the
> >beginning it was NOT so.") with the law given by God through Moses in
> >Deut 24:1-4 (Matt 19:7). He accepted Gen 2:24 as authoritative, but
> >rejected Deut 24:1-4 because it was a concession to man's "hardness of
> >heart." So, Jesus did not accept every verse of Scripture as being
> >authoritative---even in the realm of morals. How then can a follower
> >of Jesus be sure that every verse is authoritative in the realm of
> >science?
> >
> >The teaching of Jesus in Matt 19:3-8 logically implies that the
> >inspiration of Scripture does not guarantee complete inerrancy for
> >every verse. An inspired verse may contain a concession to the merely
> >human concepts of the times.
> >
> >You can either follow Jesus or you can follow the doctrine of the
> >absolute inerrancy of Scripture, but you cannot follow
> both.............................................
>
> George replied,

  "I wouldn't take this approach. 1st, Jesus doesn't "reject" Dt.24:1-4. He
says
> that Gen.1 &2 represent God's will for marriage and that the allowance of
> divorce is a provision due to the reality of human sin. (& BTW, because some
> people's hearts
> continue to be hard, this text shouldn't be understood as Jesus' abrogation
> of the
> possibility of divorce.)"

The issue was, Is divorce lawful for any reason at all (kata pasan aitian,
Matt 19:3) that is, is divorce for any reason whatsoever in accordance with
God's law and hence morally acceptable to him? God's law in Deut 24:1-4 allows
divorce for reasons other than adultery---without any indication that > such a
> divorce would be displeasing to God. Divorce for reasons other than adultery
> is lawful, not sinful, as far as Deut 24:1-4 is concerned. Jesus took an
> opposing position: He makes divorce a sin for any reason other than adultery (Matt
> 19:19). So, as a guide to what is morally acceptable to God (lawful) he
> rejects Deut 24:1-4.

Divorce may in some cases be the lesser of two evils, but it is always an
evil
> according to Jesus.
>
> Paul
Received on Sat Dec 20 00:32:58 2003