In effect, modern culture is re-defining much of the meaning
attributed by God to social life. Divorce has increasingly been accepted as the
norm rather than the exception in marriage. Leisure has gradually become a
substitute for work rather than a respite from it. The motivation to be first
has replaced the willingness to be last. In each case, a traditional meaning for
some practice ordained by God has been replaced by a counterfeit. The Assumption
of Consistency Believers have generally made two assumptions about those issues
produced when modernity challenges traditional values. The first assumption is
that there is a consistency of meaning in scripture which can be objectively
accepted and applied in modern society. Since scriptural meanings are often more
subjective than objective and require interpretation before they may be
understood correctly, this assumption cannot be made with good conscience or
absolute confidence. The case of murder and what it means in scripture is a case
in point. From the Ten Commandments, we understand the simple, direct
prohibition of the act of murder (Exodus 20:l3). This is an objective meaning
given by God to His people which, traditionally, has been interpreted to mean
that any act of murder is prohibited. The assumption is that a person will
refrain from the act out of fear of punishment, if for no other reason.
Traditionally, this meaning of murder has avoided some of the traps inherent in
a broader interpretation of the question. But Jesus gives such an interpretation
in Matthew 5:2l-26. His concern is not with the outward action but with sin
committed in the heart before the act is committed. The person who is angry with
a brother is as great an offender as the one who commits the act of murder.
Since the Mosaic Law could only deal with the act, Jesus sets a higher standard,
one that is less objective than the act and also open to subjective
interpretation. Especially if the phrase without cause is added as in some
manuscripts, murder becomes an attitude of the heart. Consequently, murder has
now a subjective as well as an objective meaning. In Jesus' view, some
interpretation of the meaning of murder is required. The need for such an
interpretation is even greater today as murder and anger can be expressed in a
variety of new and unpredictable ways. The Assumption of Separation The second
assumption about modernity's challenge of traditional values is that believers
can clearly separate their lives into that which is worldly and that which is
not.
Thinking they share a biblical system of meaning distinct from worldly
systems of meaning, believers often assume their world is also separate from and
immune to the evils of modern society. In fact, such separation doesn't exist.
The problem as Newbigin sees it is that the layman and woman are themselves part
of modern culture and cannot with integrity divide their mental world into two
parts, one controlled by culture and the other by the Bible. Newbigin's
statement suggests the problem of meaning is both mental and cultural. Believers
are in the world, culturally, and cannot assume they are not of the world
without asking, mentally, what that involvement might mean. There must be some
personal interpretation of that culture and its meaning for the believer. While
scripture is fundamental for making such an interpretation, a broader
hermeneutic may be needed. Thus, Newbigin calls for: a genuinely missionary
encounter between a Scriptural faith and modern culture. By this I mean an
encounter which takes our culture seriously yet does not take it as the final
truth by which Scripture is to be evaluated, but rather holds up the modern
world to the mirror of the Bible in order to understand how we, who are part of
modern culture, are required to re-examine our assumptions and reorder our
thinking and acting. 2 A crisis of meaning, then, is largely a crisis of
interpretation, first, as it applies to scripture as objective, but also and
more importantly for our purposes here - as interpretations of scripture are to
be worked out in our culture. From the earliest times, events in scripture had
been interpreted in traditional ways for a traditional culture. But as Newbigin
claims, the interpretation has to be reinterpreted over and over again in terms
of another generation and another culture. 3 Modern culture challenges many
traditional meanings of scripture which may require new interpretations for
living in our world. A Crisis of Culture The principle of culture refers to some
shared meaning among persons. Traditionally, people agreed on the meaning of
behavior that they experienced in intimate settings. Contracts were not 7 needed
and all understood the meaning and necessity of work.
