Thanks so much!

“Whenever Paul and the Gospels are in conflict, I always err on the side of the Gospels”

Yes, I think the Gospels do trump the rest of Scripture. In fact, people often take other parts of Scripture to trump what Jesus says when it’s too challenging. For instance, I was was once teaching on the Rich Fool, and Jesus telling us it’s safe not to have storehouses or barns because our heavenly father will provide for us, and the consensus of the group was, “But Proverbs say its good to save.”

My current Bible study group was looking at the clever things Jesus said after his parable of the dishonest steward, and they honestly said they didn’t believe Jesus when he said things like “Give and you shall receive.” (It only works in the West, they said.) I was so impressed with their honesty, though slightly taken aback that they didn’t believe Jesus.

But I guess no one (including I myself) really believes him when he says, “Blessed are the poor,” or we would make sure we were poor!

Ooh, wandering off-topic!!

I once commented on a blog written by a seminarian that whenever Paul and the Gospels are in conflict, I always err on the side of the Gospels. Now, they’re not generally in conflict over facts, but they simply don’t always read the same. The seminarian told me that Paul is never in conflict with the Gospels, that Paul has a more complete understanding of the Kingdom than the Gospels portray. I asked bluntly if he felt that Paul’s writings trumped the Gospels and he said “Paul ‘completes’ what Jesus started in the Gospels”. I found that very interesting. In your evangelical circles, do you ever hear this assertion?

For me, I agree wholeheartedly with you that we must read through the lens of Jesus’ commandment of love and it sharpens the focus on the rest of the Scriptures.

Hi Emma,

I myself have moved beyond the letter of scripture to seeking the Spirit of Christ. I think the Gospels are the most revolutionary and mind-altering part of the Bible, and I like to interpret the Bible in the light of the Gospels, and in the light of Jesus. That way we can seek the big picture and Jesus rather than get tangled up in single sentences from Leviticus or Paul. Here’s a post on it http://anitamathias.com/blog/2012/10/18/beyond-the-letter-of-scripture-we-need-the-spirit-to-help-us-interpret-the-word-we-need-jesus/#comment-17347

I think the more one studies the Gospels, the more one takes on the coloration of Jesus–who was surprising, flexible, and had little time for rigid adherence to the law, or prescriptive sentences of Scripture (as represented by the Pharisees and scribes) or rigid ways of seeing the world he created.

Thanks much, David :-). As Brian McLaren says most of us will have to wrestle with this issue through the family and friends God brings into our lives.