I appreciate your encouragement more than I can express, Berta! You’ve articulated some great points and given me some things to think about! Thank you!
Beau, thank you as always. I try to follow my instructions from Jesus, although I generally fail miserably. Jesus is harder to follow than Paul, because Jesus explicitly calls us to rise above our human instincts. He was no pushover, though -- and the "turn the other cheek" was radical in placing the aggressor in an untenable position: the backhand slap on the right cheek was for an underling. Turning the other cheek, demanding to be hit with the open hand, was engagement with an equal. That's a Jesus who knows how to use the system to challenge people. This isn't wimpy doormat theology. It's hard. But my struggles with Jesus are struggles to meet his expectations, not struggles to understand inconsistencies and personal bias as with Paul. Yes, Paul's wisdom grew (and I wish the letters were chronological in the Bible), but he's still hard for me much of the time. Thanks for asking and caring!
You have hit the nail on the head for me. Thank you! "We let Paul interpret Jesus rather than letting Jesus interpret Paul." Yes! I was afraid for years to admit Paul rubbed me the wrong way. This one phrase sums it up perfectly and feels very freeing.
I left the Episcopal church around 1970 at the age of 16. I was a closeted lesbian, a believer in women’s rights and value, and decided that I must have misinterpreted Jesus’ teachings because I didn’t see them being practiced by the church or society, particularly in the way they related with “others”. Jesus seemed to be for Sundays only because Monday through Saturday, the church, Christians, and society seemed to be driven by politics, facades, one-upmanship, and sometimes greed.
Fast forward to the late 1990’s…. I started reading about Buddhism (H.H. The XIV Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Pema Chodron, among others) which eventually led me back to Christianity and a willingness to reconsider the Bible, books about the Bible, and the Episcopal church. What a difference 55 years of life experience, the ongoing process of maturation, The Four Noble Truths, and The Noble Eightfold Path made for me and my way of thinking about and my approach to life. And what a changed and “woke” Episcopal Church I am finding! To me the church seems to have done a 180 degree turn. Now, I hear Jesus’ teachings as he would, today, speak to homelessness, poverty, violence, politics, immigrants’ plight in the U.S., ICE, love, our trans siblings, and our personal responsibilities. I see a church that is far more diverse and open than I would ever have imagined; one that is willing to root out and address sexual abuse by priests; a church that is actively involved in reparations related to the church’s role in slavery, the subjugation of Black and Native Americans.
Today’s Episcopal Church has finally confirmed, for me, that the Jesus of the Bible really is who I thought he was, and this reborn and “new” truly Christ driven church seeks to protect the vulnerable, feed the hungry, heal the suffering, and minister to all.
Wonderful! Although I'm not a fan of over-focusing on the red letter stuff as we are fairly sure Jesus didn't actually utter those words (certainly not in English, and likely not in Greek, either), putting his witness at the center of our faith is cleary the mission of Christianity!
This is wonderful! It seems like we as Christians should already know this. I guess I was lucky. I didn't grow up with heavy theological pressures, so I was left to figure it out on my own. Jesus was at the center from the beginning for me, and I didn't like reading a lot of Paul. I went to a Christian evangelical college, and it wasn't until they told me and my denomination were going to hell and why, that I read more of Paul. But if he contradicted Jesus, I figured Jesus was the last Word.
I can totally resonate with what you're talking about here. My first 15 years of faith was focused on finding and teaching "the truth" and Paul was my Master. But after 15-20 years I started to look closer at Jesus in the Gospels and started to listen more to the teachings and actions of Jesus. Focusing mainly on Paul and the dogmas (the apologetic) made me lose sight of Jesus and His actions of love and mercy. So let's look at the letters through the Jesus-lens. Thank you for sharing!
"Paul is not Jesus. Paul is not the gospel. Paul points to Christ…he doesn’t replace him."
Maybe the best summation I've read recently. I am still in recovery from fundie evangelicalism which has made this their whipping post. Thank GOD for our beloved bible teaching siblings Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne, Beth Moore, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Rachel Held Evans, and others who hold the #RedLetters in high(er) esteem.
This shift in bible interpretation and study for me personally has been a burden removing journey.
Thank you for your clarity, it’s so helpful as I’m learning a new way to read the Bible, having left my evangelical church and moved on to a mainline church where Jesus’ teachings are foremost.
Thanks for bringing us back to the basics, Jesus first. What Paul wrote and what Jesus said are both Scripture, but what Jesus said should definitely be prioritized.
As a young, mostly unchurched youth who read everything like a sponge (westerns, sci fi, biographies, fantasy, historical) I decided to read the Bible. As a twenty-sonething, still unchurched, I did the same. Both times I went all the way through the New Testament and most of the way through the old. (As an aside Job really bothered me, but I've dealt with it).
I found that the red words held great sacredness and beauty to me, while the Pauline ones seemed sometimes harsh or even against the ideas I read in the red words.
Friends from a local youth group would insist the only way to get to heaven is to declare (confess?) that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. In the 1980s I'd see video from Ethiopia of fly covered children starving, and I'd say, "What about them?" And the attitude seemed to be, "If they didn't know Jesus then they're cursed to eternal damnation."
That didn't square with my interpretation of the Gospel. Whether I was agnostic or a True Believer didn't matter, but if there was a God, if the Jesus that I read did exist, then that 8 year old that never harmed a soul had his ticket to salvation, even if he never heard a missionary try to lead him to the one and only entrance.
At 17, visiting a friend's SBC church, I responded to an altar call... "Do you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins?" they asked. "Umm. I guess so. Yes." I said (lied?).
The next Sunday afternoon a youth leader called to ask where I was because I was getting baptized in an hour. He came and got me, I was dunked and received my get out of jail free status, and had I followed the example of those good youth, I could have started going out to the end of the dirt road and partying on Saturday nights, because all my sins would be forgiven.
I recognized then as now that none of the above was for me. I didn't go back to that church, except maybe for a funeral one time). I was violated, but went along with it because the full church was expectantly waiting. No one followed up to teach me, to support me. They met their quota, I guess, and that was enough.
The Red Word Jesus saved me. I didn't need those folks' blessing. I lived by the golden rule because I believed it was a good way to be and the right thing to do. I learned to follow my conscience and not worry about the labels. I championed the Samaritan because he did the right thing - those guys who so properly followed their rule books not so much.
I am a member of a progressive church now. More for the community and for the sacred space we can build within it than for the words of some rule book. I believe most of my circle like to try to live by the example of those Red Words even though they don't articulate it that way.
I never saw Paul and Jesus as competing. To me it’s not a thing. Paul was chosen by Jesus to spread the gospel and plant His church. The Epistles were written before the Gospels. Much of what Jesus taught in his parables he took from the Aggada, which he turned in its head to teach His message. There’s room for both. I don’t see a competition or a mutual exclusivity. They complement one another. I think if we considered the scriptures together rather than in linear fashion we could get more out of it.
That’s a really thoughtful take…thank you for sharing it. I don’t necessarily see Paul and Jesus as competing either. My heart in writing was less about setting them against each other and more about re-centering Jesus as the lens through which we read everything else, Paul included. I think you’re right…there’s room for both, and when Paul is interpreted through the life and teaching of Jesus, they do complement one another. My concern is just that sometimes in practice the church ends up quoting Paul more than Jesus, or interpreting Jesus through Paul, and I think that flips the order.
I’ve been watching a lot of John Behr lectures (started watching for grad school and then kept on just for myself). He’s got a very thoughtful take on the Bible and the way we read it.
Remember that early church fathers never had a handy Bible like we do, that’s courtesy of Gutenberg. Good point that’s got me thinking!
Behr says that we do ourselves a disservice when we consider the story from scriptures and of Jesus as a linear timeline, ie, Adam came before Jesus. That’s not the case, G-d exists outside time. In Him all things are present. Behr also reminds us that, in the liturgy, we read from the “Old Testament”, then from the epistles, then a gospel reading. Maybe there’s a reason the liturgy was structured like that?
I've been to and joined so many different churches that I find the good ones are mostly alike in doctrine. The one thing that made the UCC Church stand out was their belief that "God is still speaking." We hear God through each other, the stuff we read, the films we watch, the news we pay attention to... As a Secular Contemplative I've been stunned by the voice of God and it is always new.
Thank you Beau for being a voice in the wilderness of Christianity that dares to believe change is essential for a Christian.
You speak so eloquently on the hidden truth that we have been worshipping the created and not the creator for a very long time.
Your comment about how horrified Paul would feel struck me hard.
What would a letter from Paul to today's Christians look like?
Can it really be as simple as:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind."
The second is like unto the first
"Love your neighbor as yourself."
Jesus explained that these two commandments, when combined, summarize the entirety of the Law and the Prophets.
If we just tried to love, what would happen?
I appreciate your encouragement more than I can express, Berta! You’ve articulated some great points and given me some things to think about! Thank you!
"We’d developed elaborate hermeneutical gymnastics to explain away Jesus’ most challenging teachings."
My observation is that, especially in Evangelical Protestant circles, the two sayings of Jesus most frequently "explained away" are the following:
"If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw **all** people to myself."
"This **is** My Body, this **is** My Blood."
That’s a good point, Barry! I appreciate you reading and chiming in.
Along with a whole lot of John 6.
Beau, thank you as always. I try to follow my instructions from Jesus, although I generally fail miserably. Jesus is harder to follow than Paul, because Jesus explicitly calls us to rise above our human instincts. He was no pushover, though -- and the "turn the other cheek" was radical in placing the aggressor in an untenable position: the backhand slap on the right cheek was for an underling. Turning the other cheek, demanding to be hit with the open hand, was engagement with an equal. That's a Jesus who knows how to use the system to challenge people. This isn't wimpy doormat theology. It's hard. But my struggles with Jesus are struggles to meet his expectations, not struggles to understand inconsistencies and personal bias as with Paul. Yes, Paul's wisdom grew (and I wish the letters were chronological in the Bible), but he's still hard for me much of the time. Thanks for asking and caring!
Following Jesus is such a challenge. You’re exactly right! As always, I apprentice your insight and encouragement. Thanks, Anne!
Somewhere along the Roman Road we ran over the Sermon on the Mount.
We turned the man who healed on the Sabbath into a theologian of loopholes, and built cathedrals to the letters written about him.
The red letters were never meant to be commentary—they were the wildfire itself.
Blessed be the ones who stop quoting Paul long enough to hear Jesus breathe again.
You have hit the nail on the head for me. Thank you! "We let Paul interpret Jesus rather than letting Jesus interpret Paul." Yes! I was afraid for years to admit Paul rubbed me the wrong way. This one phrase sums it up perfectly and feels very freeing.
It just warms my heart hearing that, Victoria. I’m so glad it resonated and left you feeling some freedom. Blessings to you!
Excellent article!
I left the Episcopal church around 1970 at the age of 16. I was a closeted lesbian, a believer in women’s rights and value, and decided that I must have misinterpreted Jesus’ teachings because I didn’t see them being practiced by the church or society, particularly in the way they related with “others”. Jesus seemed to be for Sundays only because Monday through Saturday, the church, Christians, and society seemed to be driven by politics, facades, one-upmanship, and sometimes greed.
Fast forward to the late 1990’s…. I started reading about Buddhism (H.H. The XIV Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Pema Chodron, among others) which eventually led me back to Christianity and a willingness to reconsider the Bible, books about the Bible, and the Episcopal church. What a difference 55 years of life experience, the ongoing process of maturation, The Four Noble Truths, and The Noble Eightfold Path made for me and my way of thinking about and my approach to life. And what a changed and “woke” Episcopal Church I am finding! To me the church seems to have done a 180 degree turn. Now, I hear Jesus’ teachings as he would, today, speak to homelessness, poverty, violence, politics, immigrants’ plight in the U.S., ICE, love, our trans siblings, and our personal responsibilities. I see a church that is far more diverse and open than I would ever have imagined; one that is willing to root out and address sexual abuse by priests; a church that is actively involved in reparations related to the church’s role in slavery, the subjugation of Black and Native Americans.
Today’s Episcopal Church has finally confirmed, for me, that the Jesus of the Bible really is who I thought he was, and this reborn and “new” truly Christ driven church seeks to protect the vulnerable, feed the hungry, heal the suffering, and minister to all.
Thank you for reading, DJ! I’m glad it resonated. And thanks for sharing so boldly about your journey! Im grateful for you!
Wonderful! Although I'm not a fan of over-focusing on the red letter stuff as we are fairly sure Jesus didn't actually utter those words (certainly not in English, and likely not in Greek, either), putting his witness at the center of our faith is cleary the mission of Christianity!
This is wonderful! It seems like we as Christians should already know this. I guess I was lucky. I didn't grow up with heavy theological pressures, so I was left to figure it out on my own. Jesus was at the center from the beginning for me, and I didn't like reading a lot of Paul. I went to a Christian evangelical college, and it wasn't until they told me and my denomination were going to hell and why, that I read more of Paul. But if he contradicted Jesus, I figured Jesus was the last Word.
I can totally resonate with what you're talking about here. My first 15 years of faith was focused on finding and teaching "the truth" and Paul was my Master. But after 15-20 years I started to look closer at Jesus in the Gospels and started to listen more to the teachings and actions of Jesus. Focusing mainly on Paul and the dogmas (the apologetic) made me lose sight of Jesus and His actions of love and mercy. So let's look at the letters through the Jesus-lens. Thank you for sharing!
"Paul is not Jesus. Paul is not the gospel. Paul points to Christ…he doesn’t replace him."
Maybe the best summation I've read recently. I am still in recovery from fundie evangelicalism which has made this their whipping post. Thank GOD for our beloved bible teaching siblings Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne, Beth Moore, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Rachel Held Evans, and others who hold the #RedLetters in high(er) esteem.
This shift in bible interpretation and study for me personally has been a burden removing journey.
I always appreciate you and your heart, Robby!
Thank you for your clarity, it’s so helpful as I’m learning a new way to read the Bible, having left my evangelical church and moved on to a mainline church where Jesus’ teachings are foremost.
Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts, Joanie!
Thanks for bringing us back to the basics, Jesus first. What Paul wrote and what Jesus said are both Scripture, but what Jesus said should definitely be prioritized.
I appreciate you reading along, Howard!
As a young, mostly unchurched youth who read everything like a sponge (westerns, sci fi, biographies, fantasy, historical) I decided to read the Bible. As a twenty-sonething, still unchurched, I did the same. Both times I went all the way through the New Testament and most of the way through the old. (As an aside Job really bothered me, but I've dealt with it).
I found that the red words held great sacredness and beauty to me, while the Pauline ones seemed sometimes harsh or even against the ideas I read in the red words.
Friends from a local youth group would insist the only way to get to heaven is to declare (confess?) that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. In the 1980s I'd see video from Ethiopia of fly covered children starving, and I'd say, "What about them?" And the attitude seemed to be, "If they didn't know Jesus then they're cursed to eternal damnation."
That didn't square with my interpretation of the Gospel. Whether I was agnostic or a True Believer didn't matter, but if there was a God, if the Jesus that I read did exist, then that 8 year old that never harmed a soul had his ticket to salvation, even if he never heard a missionary try to lead him to the one and only entrance.
At 17, visiting a friend's SBC church, I responded to an altar call... "Do you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins?" they asked. "Umm. I guess so. Yes." I said (lied?).
The next Sunday afternoon a youth leader called to ask where I was because I was getting baptized in an hour. He came and got me, I was dunked and received my get out of jail free status, and had I followed the example of those good youth, I could have started going out to the end of the dirt road and partying on Saturday nights, because all my sins would be forgiven.
I recognized then as now that none of the above was for me. I didn't go back to that church, except maybe for a funeral one time). I was violated, but went along with it because the full church was expectantly waiting. No one followed up to teach me, to support me. They met their quota, I guess, and that was enough.
The Red Word Jesus saved me. I didn't need those folks' blessing. I lived by the golden rule because I believed it was a good way to be and the right thing to do. I learned to follow my conscience and not worry about the labels. I championed the Samaritan because he did the right thing - those guys who so properly followed their rule books not so much.
I am a member of a progressive church now. More for the community and for the sacred space we can build within it than for the words of some rule book. I believe most of my circle like to try to live by the example of those Red Words even though they don't articulate it that way.
Wow! Thanks for sharing that powerful story, James. Our stories share some similar points. I appreciate your words.
Love this!!
Thanks for reading!
I never saw Paul and Jesus as competing. To me it’s not a thing. Paul was chosen by Jesus to spread the gospel and plant His church. The Epistles were written before the Gospels. Much of what Jesus taught in his parables he took from the Aggada, which he turned in its head to teach His message. There’s room for both. I don’t see a competition or a mutual exclusivity. They complement one another. I think if we considered the scriptures together rather than in linear fashion we could get more out of it.
That’s a really thoughtful take…thank you for sharing it. I don’t necessarily see Paul and Jesus as competing either. My heart in writing was less about setting them against each other and more about re-centering Jesus as the lens through which we read everything else, Paul included. I think you’re right…there’s room for both, and when Paul is interpreted through the life and teaching of Jesus, they do complement one another. My concern is just that sometimes in practice the church ends up quoting Paul more than Jesus, or interpreting Jesus through Paul, and I think that flips the order.
I’ve been watching a lot of John Behr lectures (started watching for grad school and then kept on just for myself). He’s got a very thoughtful take on the Bible and the way we read it.
Remember that early church fathers never had a handy Bible like we do, that’s courtesy of Gutenberg. Good point that’s got me thinking!
Behr says that we do ourselves a disservice when we consider the story from scriptures and of Jesus as a linear timeline, ie, Adam came before Jesus. That’s not the case, G-d exists outside time. In Him all things are present. Behr also reminds us that, in the liturgy, we read from the “Old Testament”, then from the epistles, then a gospel reading. Maybe there’s a reason the liturgy was structured like that?
I've been to and joined so many different churches that I find the good ones are mostly alike in doctrine. The one thing that made the UCC Church stand out was their belief that "God is still speaking." We hear God through each other, the stuff we read, the films we watch, the news we pay attention to... As a Secular Contemplative I've been stunned by the voice of God and it is always new.