Genesis 5, Psalm 5, and Matthew 5

Below is a correspondence between myself and a theological inquirer. I thought this dialog worth posting online since it raises a huge number of important issues:

Friend:

Subject: A Bible Question

So, my church is doing a read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year program which seems pretty hip, so I'm doing it, but I ran into some trouble yesterday and thought you two might have some answers/directing thoughts. We were reading Genesis 5, Psalm 5, and Matthew 5, and for whatever reason those three in order and in concert concentrated all my doubts and questions into one 10 minute reading session, a process which was, as you may imagine, somewhat disturbing and depressing. Here are the concerns (you may see them if you read those chapters in order): Genesis 5 is a history of generations of people who lived an improbably long time (Methuselah, etc.); Psalm 5 asks God to strike down the singer's enemies and bless him, and so seems like it could be any pagan hymn; and Matthew 5 is the Sermon on the Mount, which in comparison to the first two is revolutionary but seems unrelated, demonstrates how poorly the church lives up to the ideals of Christianity, and also demonstrates how a good understanding of Jesus' teachings needs pretty considerable learning and reflection, which 99% of humanity does not have the time or opportunity for. So there you have it; worries about reasonableness and coherence, the plausibility of undermining explanations, and the unwillingness and impossibility of current followers actually following all concentrated. Well, the complaints about Matthew are just me being idealistic and a worry-wort probably, but the Genesis question at least seems like it deserves an answer. Am I to really believe in a 900 year old man despite its apparent impossibility, or is there something I am supposed to be learning from this genealogy as allegory?

My response:

These are great questions. And here is how I would (very, very briefly) respond to them:

1. The first 11 chapters of Genesis are not meant to be read literally. To read them literally is to misunderstand their genre and import our own expectations of what modernist historians have led us to believe true history is. Genesis 1-11 should be read theologically rather than scientifically or historically. What theological point might the author be making by claiming that the early humans lived for hundreds of years? A good book on this is "The Lost World of Genesis One" by John Walton. I highly recommend it.

2. The impreccatory Psalms are always disturbing to the Christians that take the Sermon on the Mount seriously. Suffice it to say, that I believe in progressive revelation. I.e. Jesus was the fullest revelation of God and his will for humanity -- before Christ only a partial picture as available. David or the psalmnist who wrote Psalm 5 did not have full revelation and was operating under the theological rhubric of his own day. Today we can read these Psalms in reference to our spiritual enemies (Satan and his demons) OR as cries for justice coming from oppressed people groups. Try reading Psalm 5 again through the eyes of the Darfuri woman who was gang raped by the Janjaweed militia and it will make lots more sense!

3. I think your critiques about the church not following the words of Jesus in Matthew 5-7 are dead on. The church has mostly lost the radical nature of this message! What I conclude from that is that theological education is incredibly important among the clergy -- because we have had years and years of clergy misinterpreting what I would argue is the most crucial passage in all of the Bible. As for myself, I am being drawn to a new movement of Christians that call themselves "red letter Christians." They unapologetically argue that the most important parts of the Bible are the words of Jesus and that all other Scripture must be read through them. But beware! Walking down this path might end up making you a pacifist like myself and might cause you to rework much of your evangelical theology. Personally, I think the anabaptists have been among the very few to have read Matthew 5-7 correctly for centuries. We're all just catching up to them.

Obviously, books have been written about the topics I raise here. I recommend C. S. Lewis' "Reflection on the Psalms" for question #2 and John Howard Yoder's "The Politics of Jesus" for question #3. There -- I recommended further reading for all of the questions. Sound like a professor, huh?