Earlier today I heard U.S. Attorney-General Jeff Sessions cite a passage from Romans 13 to justify the mistreatment of illegal aliens entering the USA, including the separation of children from their parents. When I heard this, I was reminded of a statement by one of Shakespeare’s characters in The Merchant of Venice: “The devil can cite scripture for his purpose.”
I actually think Shakespeare got it right. The devil can indeed cite Scripture to serve just about any purpose and to support just about any position. If I had any doubts about that, Jeff Sessions just stripped me of them.
Of course, Shakespeare didn’t think up this aphorism out of thin air. He found a good example of it in the account of the devil’s temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11. There we find the devil testing Jesus by quoting from Psalm 91 to entice Jesus to do something that clearly would have been against the will of God.
So if Scripture is so easily distorted to serve the purposes of the devil, how can we even use the Bible to discern a Christian way forward? I have a couple of suggestions.
First, finding a verse in the Bible to support a particular position, viewpoint or action is not sufficient justification for that position, viewpoint or action. In fact, my general stance is that finding a random verse or passage to support an opinion that I already hold likely is a shortcut to distorting Scripture. The Bible is not the Word of God to support viewpoints I already hold, but rather a means through which God shapes and corrects us. So, when I find a verse that supports a viewpoint or attitude that I already hold, I automatically suspect that I am hearing my own voice rather than the Word of God.
Second, because the devil can cite Scripture for his own purpose, we have to move beyond citing individual proof-texts of Scripture. From within my own tradition, John Wesley argued that any individual passage in the Bible should be interpreted within the context of what is called “the general tenor of Scripture.” What this means is that it is not individual proof texts that have real authority; it is rather the general message, tone, instruction and purpose of Scripture that should guide our interpretation of individual passages.
For Wesley, the purpose of Scripture was to stir Christians toward greater love for God and greater love for our neighbour. Think about that for a moment. Perhaps that's a standard of interpretation that will help us? How does the interpretation of our proof-text, whatever it is, cultivate in us greater love for God and our neighbour? If it doesn’t then we probably need to step back and take a deep breath.
So, when I hear Christians citing individual verses of the Bible to support some position, I am skeptical. I ask whether this interpretation is consistent with the general tenor of Scripture. Does it stir up the love of God and the love of our neighbour?
In the case of Jeff Sessions’ use of Romans 13, I think I have my answer. Indeed, the devil can cite scripture for his purpose!