Discerning Biblical Principles and Customs for Today

In this our last session together in this course on interpreting the Bible, we're going to finish by offering some concrete suggestions on how to handle this difficult problem of knowing what from the New Testament and the Old Testament applies to our lives today and what would be simply a matter of custom. [00:00:09]

The first way is to say the whole thing is a matter of custom; from beginning to end, it's pure custom. It has no relevance whatsoever to the life of the church today and that is that these elements would all be regarded as customary, that the covering of the head with a veil is a matter of custom. [00:04:18]

The second option is that we regard the whole thing as principial, that everything about this text is of trans-cultural significance and that all Christian women everywhere at all times in all places ought always to practice the subordination of themselves to their husbands, and that all women everywhere in every local situation are required to symbolize their subordination to men by the covering of their head. [00:06:24]

The second partly-partly option is that we say the two parts of this are principial and one part is custom. The two parts that are principial would be this: that it is always binding on women to be submissive to their husbands and to be subordinate in the church, and it is always binding in every culture to illustrate and symbolize that willingness to submit by covering the head. [00:08:49]

The first guideline is this: that we ought to examine the Bible itself and to see within Scripture if there are certain particular areas that apparently are open to the application of custom, because we recognize that the Bible itself was not just written in the first century, but the whole process of writing the Bible stretched almost as long from the beginning of the Old Testament to the end of the New Testament as it has from the end of the New Testament to our present day. [00:11:03]

The principle that runs through the Old and the New Testament in terms of godly dress habits is the principle of modesty. But I even have to say this: that modesty changes from culture to culture, and we have to understand that because clothes symbolize attitudes, they symbolize values, and all the rest. [00:14:34]

The third principle for guidelines is be aware of creation principles. As I said, if anything crosses the line from community to community, it's those rules that are set down in creation because those are given to man not as first century Christian or as fifth century B.C. Jew or as seventeenth century Dutchman or twentieth century American, but those principles are set down and given to man as man. [00:24:17]

Now the final principle is, in my opinion, the most important principle of all. What if, after studying the Bible diligently and arduously and trying to see what kinds of things are possibly customary and what aren't, and after examining the historical background, and after looking at the creation principles, you still can't be sure whether it's principle or custom, and you say, "I just don't know whether this applies to today or not," you're left with that quandary, is there any way you can cut the Gordian knot? [00:25:03]

The Bible tells us that whatever is not of faith is sin. The principle here is sort of a benefit-of-the-doubt type principle. You're left with a choice; you don't know whether a particular rule or particular passage is custom or principle. Think about it. If you treat a passage that God intended to be binding on you forever and treat it as a mere local custom and dismiss it, as I said earlier, you are guilty of disobeying God and doing violence to His holy law because you have reduced a principle to a mere custom. [00:25:37]

I call this the principle of humility. It's summarized in this way: when in doubt, don't. Humility requires that we bow before God, and what we are saying is that if it's still in question whether it's principle or custom, the burden of proof must always be on those who argue that it's a mere custom, and unless there is good and sound reason for treating a biblical mandate as a custom, then we ought always to treat it and apply it as principle. [00:27:14]

I beseech you to continue to study more deeply on principles of interpretation so that you can grow and mature and become more and more responsible, more and more confident in your handling of the book of Scriptures, which I believe is the word of God written from the perspective of transcendent wisdom for your edification that you may be equipped and furnished for every good work, which is pleasing to your God. [00:28:02]

The second guideline is to allow for Christian distinctions in the first century. Well what do we mean by that? I don't know how many commentaries on Paul's letters to the 1 Corinthians I've consulted in my lifetime, but there are many, many; scores. I can't think offhand of a single commentary that didn't at one point or another bring into the picture of interpreting 1 Corinthians 11 the fact that in the first century, the mark of the prostitute in the pagan town such as Corinth was the sign -- the outward sign of the prostitute was not a red light over a building or spike heels or some other distinguishing trademark that would communicate to the passerby that this was a woman of the street who was for hire, but the sign of the prostitutes in Corinth was the uncovered head. [00:17:38]