Would Jesus Drive A Plymouth?

Power Point Slides and Sermon Notes for the Congregation are available. Email jaykaymarsh@yahoo.com

Would Jesus Drive A Plymouth?

Christians understanding of the Bible has changed over the centuries. For instance, for 1900 years most Christians believed women were inferior to men. They used texts like

• Genesis 2:18 NASB, “Then the Lord God said, ’It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.’” (obviously the helper is inferior to the helpee)

• 1 Peter 3:1, “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands.

• Ephesians 5:21–24—“Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife. I’ve heard something about husbands being the head, but wifes are the neck. They point the husband where to go. But that’s not in the Bible

• 1 Timothy 2:11–15, “…I do not permit a woman to teach [men] or to exercise authority over a man…” (ESV)

• 1 Corinthians 14:34, “As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. And if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.” What could be clearer.

• 1 Corinthians 11:7-9 “For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.” Women are made for men. In fact, women are not in the image of God.

• Woman was given to man, woman who was of small intelligence and who perhaps still lives more in accordance with the promptings of the inferior flesh than by superior reason. Is this why the apostle Paul does not attribute the image of God to her. Augustine 400AD

• Paul looks… to God’s eternal law, which had made the female sex subject to the authority of men. On this account all women are born, that they may acknowledge themselves inferior in consequence of the superiority of the male sex. John Calvin, 1520

• 1950’s quote. While not Biblical, it sums up our attitude into the 1960’s. There were worse ones I could not post form the 70’s and 80’s

From the time of Christ until the 1950’s and even into the 80’s, it was acceptable to think that women were inferior to men. Why did our view of this topic change when there are so many clear Bible texts to the contrary?

In the last 100 years, another seismic theological shift has taken place. Antisemitism was propped up by the Bible for 19 centuries. The Gospel of John especially speaks negatively of “the Jews,” and this language fueled prejudice. Literal understanding of other texts led Christians to blame the Jewish people for killing Jesus.

• 60 texts in John, 30 of them negative. (Don’t worry, we won’t cover them all)

• Matthew 27:25, “And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.” There you have it. The Jews killed Jesus. They knew what they were doing. They were OK with us blaming their descendants.

• 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16, “For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone 16 in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last. They killed Jesus, they’re hostile to everyone, the wrath of God is on them.

• John 8:44, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. Jews are the spawn of Satan.

For 1900 years it was OK to be anti-Semitic. Why did our view of this topic change when we thought the Bible supported it for so long

For 1800 years Christians believed the Bible supported slavery. Here was their argument:

• God established slavery on the Earth when He gave the prophecy to Noah that Ham’s descendants would be slaves. Genesis 9:20-25

• Abraham (father to Jews and Christians alike) purchased and enslaved people and was blessed by God for doing so, Genesis 17:12. Furthermore God blessed Abraham by giving him more people to enslave, Genesis 24:35.