Saturday 09 September 2017

Psalm: Psalm 76

Background

As we have seen previously in the context of slaves, 'Peter' was far moresocially conservative than Paul. Paul insisted that there should beabsolute equality between husbands and wives (see, for example, 1Corinthians 7), in accordance with his fundamental belief that,"in Christ" there was no hierarchical distinction between men andwomen (Galatians 3:28). But for 'Peter', traditionalJewish (and non-Jewish) standards still applied - wives should obeytheir husbands in all matters, and treat them as their "lord" (v.6). Women should be meek and submissive. Husbands, at least, shouldbe considerate to their wives (verse 7), treating them as the"weaker sex". 'Peter' conceded that women, too, "are also heirs ofthe gracious gift of life" (v. 7) -as if that even needed to besaid (it presumably did!). But as long as husbands said theirprayers, all was well.

The "finally" paragraph (verses 8-12) concludes this section ofthe letter with a very traditional Jewish exhortation to behaverighteously, in the hope that you will earn God's blessing as areward - if you keep the commandments, you will be blessed, and Godwill answer your prayers; if not, you will be cursed. This was thedeal with God - blessing is conditional upon your behaviour. Thepoint is reinforced by a lengthy quote from Psalm 34 (Psalm34:12-16). But how does all this fit with the Christian conceptof grace, where God's blessing is seen as unconditional andundeserved? Grace cannot be earned - only received with gratefulhumility. God's love takes precedence over our response - we lovebecause God loves us, not in order to earn God's love. And rightbehaviour is a response to God's love, not a way to gain areward.

Sometimes 'the Bible says...' is not quite as straightforward assome might suggest. A certain amount of critical awareness may beneeded if we are to read it responsibly.

To Ponder

• When reading a passage like this it can be instructive to ask,"Whose interests are being served?" So whose interests are beingserved here, husbands' or wives'? We could ask the same about Thursday's passage - does it advantage slavesor their owners? How do we view biblical texts like these which canbe (and have been, and sometimes still are) used by the powerful tooppress the weak?

• "Sometimes 'the Bible says...' is not quite as straightforwardas some might suggest. A certain amount of critical awareness maybe needed if we are to read it responsibly." Do you agree? Why? Isthis evident in the way the Bible is often used in church?