READINGS FOR MARCH 22, 2204: JOB 24, ROMANS 7, PSALM 22:12-21 JOB 24 For the first 12 verses of the chapter, Job serves as an advocate for the poor. His trials in life have made him identify more with their cause as an oppressed class. We can all gain new insights that could be an excellent byproduct of experiencing hardships. Through new lived experiences we might see life from a broader perspective than what was likely before.
One problem that has developed from taking this concept of “lived experience” to the extreme is the belief that knowledge of objective truth is not possible for those not part of an oppressed group: “CRT (Critical Race Theory) frameworks challenge existing modes of scholarship in various fields of research. In education, it denounces dominant theories and white privilege while focusing on the racialized, gendered, and classed experiences of people of color. In doing so, it offers a liberatory and transformative method for analyzing discrimination that is based on race, class, and gender” (Solorzano, Ceja, Yosso, 2000).
Let’s see how Job might be practicing an early form of Critical Race Theory vs. a more biblically based approach. Job starts by asking why God has not judged those oppressors who have seized the lands and animals of the oppressed and forced them to forage for food, go without shelter, sell their children, and work without fair compensation. Job states that these oppressors don’t even know what is right and therefore commit murder, theft, and adultery by virtue of their more powerful position. Verse 18 is where Job diverges from CRT and its Marxist’s origins. Instead of looking for ways of seizing power from the oppressors, Job suggests that God will indeed eventually judge those who have oppressed the weak.
Jesus agrees that one’s economic class can make it difficult to understand truth: “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 19:23-24). But in response to His disciples, Jesus says understanding truth and experiencing salvation are still possible, even for the powerful: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (19:26). If we look through the Bible, we see that wealthy and powerful individuals were able to perceive their sinfulness and receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord: Zacchaeus (Luke 19), Joseph of Arimathea (John 19), even those in Caesar’s household (Philippians 4:22).
Critical Race Theory says that the powerful are at fault and need to be restrained. Christianity says that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory (Rom. 2:23). Critical Race Theory says truth cannot be perceived by the oppressors. Christianity says if you follow Jesus you will know the truth and can be set free (John 8:31-32). Job did not hold to full CRT, but he was guilty of turning his lived experience into universal truth. That is why we all need the transcendent wisdom that is only available to us from God’s Word as illumined by His Spirit. Any contrary view of the world is only partial truth at best, and thus error.
READINGS FOR MARCH 22, 2024 CONTINUED: ROMANS 7, PSALM 22:12-21 ROMANS 7 The phrase “difficult to interpret” has been used before in these study guides, but nowhere in the Bible is such a phrase more applicable than for Romans 7. St. Augustine, possibly the greatest Christian thinker from the apostles to the sixteenth century, wrote Retractions in which he altered his previous interpretation of this chapter. Here goes.
Verses 5 and 6 appear to serve as an overview for much of chapters 7 and 8. Verse 5 refers to life before the cross and verse 6 to life now possible after the work of Jesus. One could then look at verses 7:7-25 as describing this first state in greater detail while verses 8:1-17 more fully describes the present Christian experience. One interpretive key is that in verses 7:7-25 the Holy Spirit is never mentioned but is mentioned 15 times in 8:1-17. Remember Jesus’s comments from John about the essential role the Spirit plays in the believers’ life.
Paul’s use of the first-person singular starting with 7:7, might be a literary technique referring to all people or possibly all children of Abraham. This is because of the unfolding progression that begins with a time before his birth: pre-Mosaic law. He argues that the Mosaic Law was good and holy because it informed him (humanity) of sin, but at the same time sin used this greater clarity to increase, which as we know leads to death. From verses 14-24 we see the inner torment of assenting mentally to the truth of the Law, but not being capable of obeying the Law. The struggle climaxes with a desperate plea in verse 24 for someone to deliver Paul (humanity). The answer in verse 25 seems to be Jesus. Chapter 8 then picks of the theme of what is now possible through Jesus and the indwelling of the Spirit.
PSALM 22:12-21 This chapter elaborates on David’s present anguish and moves in verses 19-21 towards pleas for God’s deliverance. The allusions to Jesus’s crucifixion are too detailed to miss. David stands in the tradition of Old Testament prophets whose pronouncements had dual meanings. The reference to a cleaving tongue in verse 15 points to Jesus’s comment while on the cross: “Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, in order that the Scripture would be fulfilled, said, ‘I am thirsty’” (John 19: 28). In Verse 16 David says they pierced my hands and my feet. After the resurrection, Jesus shows these wounds to his disciples as evidence that He is alive: “Why are you frightened, and why are doubts arising in your hearts? See My hands and My feet” (Luke 24:34-35). In verse 18, David complains they were staring at him and dividing his clothing by casting lots. And Jesus? “And they cast lots, dividing His garments among themselves. And the people stood by, watching” (Luke 23: 34-35).
In verse 19-21, David pleads for deliverance, a wise action for all in danger. Of course, Jesus did not have this option: “Struck down by God, and humiliated. But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5). REFLECT ON THIS QUIETLY.
