The Myth of Redemptive Violence

Jesus continually spoke in riddles and in cryptic language. In Luke 11:29-30, Jesus says,

This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign but no sign will be given except for the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Ninevah, so the son of man will be to this generation.

How does Jonah point to Jesus? Perhaps by spending three days in Sheol and then returning---a human son who goes to hell and back. When Jonah finally meets the Ninevites and warns them about God’s judgment, he speaks with the conviction of one who has experienced that judgment---not as condemnation, but as salvation. He knows that Hell’s eternity is not literal eternal, and that those who find themselves alone in their sufferings there are not literally alone (Doug Frank, A Gentler God, p.310)

Jesus descent into Hades or hell is well attested in the Apostles Creed of the church. An ancient Eastern Orthodox liturgical song says Christ emptied hell. Although some Christians do not know what to make of such ancient liturgies, if should make us pause about any kind of certainty one way or another of what one believes about the after life. Can people believe that Jesus went to hell to put an end to its tortures? Maybe to get into hell, as one old preacher once said, we have to walk with muddy boots over the body of Jesus before one can enter there.

          And how are we to interpret the Scriptures that say God commanded all kinds of different people to be mercilessly slaughtered? (Duet.7:2, 20:16 as a few examples). The critics of understanding these Old Testament texts in light of Christ may think the character of God trumps Scripture, maybe we should ask, does Jesus trump Scripture? It appears as we see how Jesus interpreted, reinterpreted, and chose various Scriptures over others that Jesus progressive understanding of God’s character is what truly counts in the end.

          Brian Zahnd in his Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God powerfully shows in Jesus reading of the Scripture in Luke 4:17-20, that while he was quoting Isaiah 61, he quotes only half the verse and leaves off “the day of the vengeance of our God.” The Gentiles were God’s enemies and there were many Jews of Jesus day that either believed that being born a Jew automatically saved you or the doctrine of hell developed in some circles simply to mean the place where all Gentiles go. Does this sound familiar today at all? Heaven is a place made for Christians and all other people will automatically go to the default position which is hell. Tribalism and triumphalism are turning more people off to Jesus than leading people into God’s heavenly kingdom.

          Not only did Jesus’ use of the Old Testament get him in trouble at times, but listen to how a later visionary and follower of Jesus used the Older Testament. Derek Flood in his Disarming Scripture shows how when Paul used the Old Testament, he chose specific texts that spoke of violence against the Gentiles and turned them on their heads selectively quoting certain parts while leaving the violent parts out. 

          It’s almost like after Saul’s (who became Paul) violent quest for God as an observant Jew for the tradition of his religious faith, his conversion not only opens his eyes to Jesus but also away from violence to following Jesus the enemy-loving non-violent Messiah. Now the one who hunted down Jesus followers has been tracked down by the love of God.

          For example, in Romans 14:9, Paul quotes Psalm 18:41-49 and Duet.32:43 leaving most of these texts out that speak of God avenging and destroying His enemies and only quoting the parts of these Scriptures that promote restoration and God’s mercy to the Gentiles. Notice Paul does not try to sanitize these texts or reinterpret them, but like Jesus, he follows a more flexible selective approach of his rabbinical upbringing. Not only does Paul have a conversion to Christ but he has a conversion away from violence. What we need to regain today is this kind of Christ-centered ethical reading of the scriptures.

          Some of the most violent texts are in the book of Psalms. What are we to do with them? These violent feelings and anger are very real so we need to engage them with wisdom and with spiritual discernment. Has anybody ever noticed that the longest book in the Bible is a song book? We need to pray and sing and wrestle with God through these Scriptures. Maybe the hardest parts of the Psalms are not their violent imagery but how they often reflect like a mirror into our very own violent hearts.