Reflections on "One Way" Theology
By Pastor Marcia Sietstra
August 1, 2004
Eccl. 1:1, 12-14; John 1:1-5, 14
On a day that began like any other day in 1947, a young boy was looking for a lost goat, about 13 miles east of Jerusalem. As he searched in a cave west of the Dead Sea, he came upon a clay jar that held ancient manuscripts. Eventually, experts would confirm that they were once possessed by a group of Jews living at roughly the same time and place as Jesus. Later searches of surrounding caves yielded 11 more caches of manuscripts, copies of Hebrew Scriptures (commonly called the Old Testament) a thousand years older than any part of the Bible known to be in existence. These treasured fragments of the Bible became known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
In an even weirder story, and unbeknownst to the world in 1947, another cache of ancient Christian documents, had been uncovered in a remote part of Upper Egypt in December1945. Seven Bedouin fieldhands were digging for nitrate-rich fertilizer to use for their crops, across the river from the village of Nag Hammadi. One of the younger workers first struck a skeleton in the dirt. Digging around a bit, they uncovered, next to the skeleton, a large earthenware jar, about two feet high, with a bowl over the top, sealed with bitumen. They broke it open, hoping to find gold, but instead found a bunch of old leather-bound books, of little use to them because they were illiterate. That night, one of the field hands named Mohammed stored the books in an outbuilding where his family kept animals. Later he would tell how his mother used some of the brittle pages to start the fire for the evening meal.
Eventually he gave the books over to a local priest, who showed them to a relative who was a history teacher. The teacher realized that the books might fetch a good price and tried trafficking some of them in Cairo. They were confiscated, but eventually ended up at the Coptic Museum, where the director of the museum recognized their worth. He and a French scholar managed to track down most of the remaining manuscripts and acquire them. It turned out to be the most significant collection of lost Christian (i.e., New Testament) writings to turn up in modern times. The collections of writings were so old, that some of the scrap paper used to reinforce the spines of the leather bindings were receipts dated in the years 341, 346 and 348.
Scholars believe that the individual manuscripts that were bound in this collection were written by the second century at the latest. Some scholars speculate that they were written before the manuscripts that became the New Testament.
What does any of this have to do with us? Quite a lot actually. Because, you see, there has been an explosion in the world of Biblical interpretation because of these discoveries. These texts support what some theologians have been saying for over 300 years—that since the moment Jesus died, people have not agreed on how to explain him!
Look around you at the diversity of Christian churches today—Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Reformed, Presbyterian, UCC, Baptist and so on. Even within denominations there isn’t agreement on doctrines. What we know now is that it was like this in the first century when the first Christian scriptures were being created. Some of these manuscripts contain writings that didn’t make it into the bible and which interpret Jesus’ teachings differently from the writings that did become scripture. Apparently, there were real disagreements in the early church about who Jesus was, about how the church should be structured, and about how his followers should live—all of which should give us pause if we are tempted to have too high an opinion of our own opinion.
It may help to know a little more about the Nag Hammadi discovery, so named because the fieldhands lived near that town. There is an ancient Christian monastery three miles away. Scholars have been inclined to think that these books may have come from the library of the monastery. But why would monks seal them up in a jar and bury them in the desert?
Perhaps because in the year 367 a powerful bishop named Athanasius, wrote a letter to the churches throughout Egypt laying out strict terms as to which writings he termed "orthodox", i.e. correct teaching. There were other lists of books that other church fathers considered authentic, but this was the first time a church leader of this stature had chosen the same 27 books we now have in our NT canon. He said that monks and churches should get rid of all the rest, because from then on they would be considered "heretical." Is it possible that the monks, feeling pressured to conform with the dictates of the powerful bishop, but valuing these books greatly, chose to hide the books instead of burn them? Is it possible they were actually fond of these books, and decided to put them away for safekeeping in case the tides of scriptural preference shifted? We will never know.
This is what Dr. Bart Ehrman says in his book entitled Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. He describes the most well-known of the Nag Hammadi texts discovered in the dessert, the Gospel of Thomas. One of the fascinating things about this gospel is that it suggests that salvation did not come about because Jesus’ died to pay a price for sin. Like many of the Nag Hammadi texts, it suggests rather that Jesus revealed the knowledge necessary for salvation. Some Nag Hammadi texts suggest that humans have a spark of the divine spirit within themselves. While all the texts agree that Jesus is our window to God, they don’t all agree on exactly what his death meant.
Dr. Ehrman’s book is not alone in coming to the following conclusion: What the discoveries of this century have demonstrated beyond a doubt, is that there were competing interpretations of Christianity among Jesus’ earliest followers, not a single orthodoxy position that all the "real" leaders accepted. In some regions of ancient Christendom, what later came to be labeled "heresy" was in fact the earliest and most accepted form of Christianity. Suddenly it makes sense why Paul talks so much about "false teachers" in Corinthians, Romans and letters to other churches. In many instances opposing forces were winning out, so Paul was compelled to intervene to reverse the trend. Eventually Paul’s thinking won out, and became scripture.
While we believe God inspired the people who wrote the Bible, it is also clear from the discoveries of the 20th century, that a very human process was involved in selecting which writings went into the Bible. This explains why some texts disagree with other by another writer, and why we have no fewer than 5 theories of why Jesus died in the New Testament.
Why do I tell you this? Again--because it should make us humble. I believe the Bible is the greatest book ever written. I’ve devoted my career to studying it because its wisdom’s precious. But knowing that there is a human element in the Bible should remind us that mystery will always surround Jesus and the God whom he revealed.
Last Sunday we hosted a delightful, marvelous bunch of young people in a youth choir that travels the country. They came to us highly recommended, but I broke one of my own rules; I didn’t insist on reading their script before I let them perform. I loved their music, their enthusiasm, their youthful trust in God. But I was deeply uncomfortable with the implication of the spoken parts of their sermon-in-song, which implied that there is only one legitimate way to think about Jesus—and that is as a substitute sacrifice for our sin. There is actually a new paradigm shift in Christian theology away from this point of view. A hundred years from now it may not be the predominant interpretation of Jesus’ death.
Last Sunday one of the young men in the youth choir also implied that there is only one legitimate belief system that is acceptable to God. I’m glad we enjoyed their singing but I feel the need to publicly say that I think we dare not be so exclusionary. After all, Jesus showed us a God of grace whose mercy may extend much farther than only to people who share one opinion about the role of Jesus.
I appreciate more and more the opening words of the gospel of John. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. By Word, John was not referring to scripture. He used the Greek logos for Word, which means God in action. So what he said was, "In the beginning was the God in action!" Hear vs. 14: And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory,..full of grace and truth. God’s Word in action didn’t come in a printed manual. It didn’t come in doctrines you have to accept to be saved. God’s Word to us was a word in action, that is the life and death of Jesus, who showed us how to live in relationship to God and each other.
He taught us to help, to heal, to insist on justice, to work for peace, to forgive lavishly. He was selfless, and life-giving, and people became convinced he was a window to God. I suggest we let him be that for us; it is enough, because he showed us how to live in ways that lead to peace and joy in relationship with God and one another. May it be so, amen.