May 20, 2015

“For those who do not respect the covenant of love, even the Gospels are 'old'.”
Origen of Alexandria

Origen (c. 185 – c. 254) was a biblical scholar and prolific writer of sermons, commentaries and other theological works.  This particular comment came at the end of a paragraph in which he was writing about the Law becoming an “Old Testament” if we only understand it carnally; that is, if we only understand it as a system to rule our physical lives.  He then posited that even the Gospels will become old if we all we do is use them as a system to rule our physical lives.

What Origen is getting at here, I think, is that the Bible is not a rules book.  The overarching theme of the Bible is love.  It was out of love that God created.  It was out of love that God told Abraham he would be a blessing to all nations.  It was out of love that God sent the prophets.  It was out of love that God became incarnate in the person of Jesus.  If we use the Bible as a rules book, then we run the risk of missing out on acting from love.  And as we all know, love doesn't always follow the rules.

Reading the Bible through a lens of love is what led people to oppose the rule of slavery.  It is what led some Germans to help Jews escape the rule of the Nazis.  And it is what leads us to respect the dignity of every human being.

Reading the Bible through a lens of love allows us to see it new every day.  Reading the Bible through a lens of love allows us to see possibilities, rather than the unimaginable or unthinkable.  It was love that allowed Peter to make the audacious claim that God shows no partiality.  It was love that allowed Jesus to welcome sinners, prostitutes and criminals into the kingdom.  It was love that allowed people to stand up against the rule of segregation and apartheid.

If we read the Bible as a rules book, looking for ways to determine who is out and who is in, looking for ways to elevate ourselves while condemning others, then we are reading it as a law that is, as Origen said, old.

We need to be willing to read the Bible with the lens of love.  That means we need to be open to its newness every day.  It means we might need to concede that what we thought was right yesterday might not only be wrong tomorrow, but may have been wrong all along.  For us to follow God, we need to respect the covenant of love which permeates the Scriptures.  If we don't, then, as Origen said, even the Gospels will become old.

Amen.