Simone Biles was recently named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine. At the 2024 Paris Olympic games, Biles led the US gymnastics team to victory while also securing individual golds in the all-around competition and the vault. Widely considered the greatest female gymnast of all time, Biles has now accrued an astounding 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals over the course of her stellar career.
Every four years, Americans are enthralled by the Olympic gymnastics’ competition. But today I’d like to examine a very different kind of gymnastics often witnessed in evangelical pulpits and bible studies. Firmly wedded to a particular theology, evangelicals sometimes encounter parts of the Bible which challenge their assumptions. What follows is often a display to interpretational gymnastics of which Simone Biles would be proud.
One of the best examples of this dynamic is the story of the rich young ruler, found in all three of the synoptic gospels. According to Mark, the narrative goes like this:
As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good – except God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.”
“‘Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Sometimes the most memorable tales are the ones without a happy ending. So it is here – the young man who seemed so eager to find the way of life ends up going away disappointed and disillusioned.
The story is all the more powerful because this man represents us all. He poses the crucial question which every person must face – how can we be saved? And do we have the courage to take the difficult path that leads to life?
More precisely, the rich man asks Jesus “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Far too many in the Christian world reflexively interpret this to mean, “how can I go to heaven when I die?” But that’s not at all the way the Jews of Jesus’ time would have seen things.
The Jews believed that the God of Israel was the one true God who had created all things. Tragically, through human idolatry and rebellion, the world had become a dark miasma of evil, injustice, misery and death. These were the afflictions which characterized “the present age.”
But God through his prophets had promised that one day he would bring about the redemption of the created order. His divine judgment would come crashing down upon the wicked; they would be swept away, like chaff in the wind. The righteous would then inherit the renewed world. The creation would at last become a place of eternal justice, joy, abundance and life. This glorious future was known as “the age to come.”
The Greek phrase interpreted as “eternal life” is zoe aionos. But it’s helpful to know that it literally means “the life of the age to come.” It doesn’t imply that God will abandon his creation and instead evacuate his people to some otherworldly realm. It does mean that when God acts decisively to cleanse his world from evil, those who have been loyal to him will share in his reign over all creation forever. The rich young ruler is asking, “How can I be a part of that?”
Evangelicals might be startled by Jesus’ response. The Lord does not tell the rich young ruler to simply to “have faith” or “believe” in him; nor does he make any reference to his forthcoming death on the cross. Jesus matter-of-factly points the man right back to the ten commandments, which formed the heart of God’s covenant with Israel.
The bedrock of the Old Covenant was that Israel was called to offer God genuine worship and obedience. If Israel was faithful, God would pour out his blessing upon them.
The book of Deuteronomy recounts how Moses re-affirmed God’s covenant with Israel on the plains of Moab, just before they entered into the promised land.
Moses famously declared, “All these blessings will come upon you…if you obey the LORD your God.” The covenant blessings included prosperity, abundance, fertility and victory over enemies. But the chief blessing was always life itself.
Moses concluded his recitation of the Torah by making it perfectly clear the stark choice which lay before the people of Israel:
“See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.”
“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life…”
Obedience leading to life. This is the overarching theme which runs throughout the Torah. Given that these passages form the backbone of the old covenant, we should hardly be surprised that Jesus affirmed their validity.
Notably, the rich young ruler was not the only one who questioned Jesus about the “life of the coming age.” In Luke 10 we find one of Jesus’ most famous stories – the parable of the Good Samaritan. But let’s focus on the exchange which preceeds the parable:
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” [Jesus] replied. “How do you read it?”
[The lawyer] answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
Both the rich young ruler and the lawyer posed the same query to Jesus: “How can I inherit the life of the coming age?” In both cases, Jesus straightforwardly reminds that they must be faithful to the Torah, offering God genuine worship and obedience.
What if the rich young ruler (or the lawyer) were to walk into an evangelical church and ask how he could inherit eternal life? The answer would no doubt focus on the sacrificial death of Jesus. The young man would be encouraged to place his faith in the Lord. On account of Jesus’ atoning death, the man could receive forgiveness for his sins and be reconciled to God. He could rest assured that the pearly gates of heaven had swung open before him.
Of course, faith would be carefully defined as “belief” or “trust” in Jesus. We simply acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God and accept what he accomplished on our behalf. “Works” would be absolutely excluded from this process. Salvation cannot involve even the slightest shred of effort or obedience on our part.
At this point, I hope that the reader can perceive the problem looming ahead – not unlike the iceberg which struck the bow of the HMS Titanic on her maiden voyage.
When Jesus was asked how eternal life could be attained, he immediately affirmed that salvation required faithful obedience to God’s commands found in the Torah. Yet many evangelicals, when faced with this same question, would confidently provide an answer which is deeply inconsistent with what Jesus actually said.
This conundrum leads evangelicals to attempt all kinds of interpretational gymnastics which we shall address in the next blog. But for now, let us remind ourselves: if your theological system leads you to contradict Jesus, then it’s high time to rethink your system.
