The New Testament has been the most influential collection of documents in history. Taken by both commoners and those in power as the inspired and infallible  “Word of God,” and interpreted ofttimes outside its historical context, its fateful influence has often emerged from single passages with far-ranging consequences:

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12

This dogmatic affirmation, attributed to the apostle Peter and inspired by the Holy Spirit according to the author of the book of Acts, was directly addressed to those Jews who had not accepted Jesus as Messiah–in one fell swoop making obsolete the 2000 year old tradition of Abraham, Moses, and the Prophets. The “name” here referenced was, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ–by which everyone must now be “saved.” This verse, echoed by others in the New Testament, goes a long way toward supporting a kind of Christian hegemony that declares all other religious traditions–past or present–as either superseded or in error. Salvation through Jesus is now the only way humans can relate to their Creator. It is a small step from this “Jesus only” dogma to the Orthodox Catholic declaration of extra Ecclesiam nulla salus–“outside the Church there is no salvation.”

Today, of course, we live in a world in which the spirit of ecumenism and mutual respect and understanding is upheld by the more enlightened exponents of religious dialog across diverse and conflicting traditions. Nonetheless, those who pride themselves on “speaking only where the Bible speaks” still proudly wave this verse like a banner, threatening all who are not Christian–usually defined by conservative Evangelical standards–to hell, see my recent post “99.99% of Humanity Will Burn in Hell Forever.” Indeed, this kind of thinking has been the fuel for misguided Colonialist “mission work” for centuries, often resulting in disease, death, and destruction. Sadly, countless souls who have grown beyond their conservative Christian upbringings–or even wholly cast off such ideas–nonetheless have struggled with a gnawing fear–what if such dogmas are true? The hold a verse like this can have on sincere people who are moving beyond such a narrow perspective is amazing.

Maybe it helps a bit to know that no academically trained biblical scholar would accept that Peter himself ever spoke these words and that the speeches in the book of Acts are universally agreed to be compositions of the unnamed author, traditionally called “Luke.” But these supercessionist claims run through the New Testament and subsequent early Christian literature–and they are even asserted posthumously into the mouth of Jesus.

The Lord Jesus will return with all his holy angels, in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9)

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

It is hard to imagine much room here for dialog, mutual respect, and understanding. Islam took more than a page from the New Testament in asserting its own version of supercessionist “one-up-man-ship,” declaring a plague on all houses. Unfortunately, the results of such religious dogmatism are much with us today in our military, political, social, and cultural conflicts.

The resulting scope of this “Jesus only” concept has been vastly expanded through “missionary” efforts. Paul’s sees the subjection of the entire human race to “Christ” as its ultimate goal and purpose:

So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11)

This idea that the Christian gospel and the “Lordship of Jesus Christ” is to extend throughout the world–to every “nation, tribe, language, and people” has been seen as the bedrock pillar and presupposition of Christian evangelism through the centuries. The Christian message is not merely “one among many,” in a spirit of toleration and understanding of a world full of diverse and contradicting spiritual traditions. The universal goal of the proclamation of the Christian gospel is to bring all creation into subjection to Jesus Christ as Lord. Indeed, according to Paul, humanity is being divided into two camps by this Christian proclamation–”those who are being saved” and “those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:15). One’s response to the offer of Christ as Savior is a “once for all” chance to avoid the wrath of God and eternal punishment.

This imperative, and this ultimate goal, as expressed here in Paul’s assurance of ultimate submission of “all things” to Christ, has fueled countless missionary ventures, often backed by the power of wealth and military might, that have tragically resulted in the repression, suppression, and even extinction of untold indigenous cultures and traditions, that were classified as “heathen,” and thus not worthy of survival. All too often such evangelistic efforts have resulted in the slaughter of the very ones who were supposedly being “saved.”

The New Testament has been the most influential collection of documents in history. Taken by both commoners and those in power as the inspired and infallible  “Word of God,” and interpreted ofttimes outside its historical context, its fateful influence has often emerged from single passages with far-ranging consequences:

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Romans 13:1-4

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. (1 Peter 2:13-17)

These verses have been used for centuries by kings, rulers, and governments to support the notion of the “divine right of kings” Paul wrote his instructions during the reign of the infamous Roman Emperor Nero (54-68 CE), whose notorious abuses of power and extravagance, though sometimes exaggerated, are well documented–including the murder of his mother and other family members. As with Paul’s instructions about women being subject to men and slaves obeying their masters Paul’s emphasis is upon societal good order in the expectation of an imminent apocalyptic intervention in which all wrongs would be righted, all abuses justly punished, with the “form of the world” passing away. Since such a transformation never arrived their appropriation by subsequent Christian rulers and “Emperors” who wreaked untold evil on their subjects is all the more ironic.

In sharp contrast we have the post-Enlightenment principle articulated by Thomas Jefferson in the “Declaration of Independence” of the United States that asserts the governments derive their powers from the “consent of the governed,” that has become the foundation of modern democratic societies:

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The New Testament has been the most influential collection of documents in history. Taken by both commoners and those in power as the inspired and infallible  “Word of God,” and interpreted ofttimes outside its historical context, its fateful influence has often emerged from single passages with far-ranging consequences:

The women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. 1 Corinthians 14:34-35.

Paul lays down this regulation as a LAW for his churches that he expects to be enforced strictly. He ends closes out his exposition with the dogmatic declaration: the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized (1 Corinthians 14:37-38).

It would be impossible to imagine or estimate the untold misery and suffering this prohibition and its attendant interpretations have wreaked on women over the past 1900 years. It essentially puts the “Lord’s” authority and Divine backing behind the repression and suppression of women.

Clearly the force and implications of Paul’s declaration have been troubling to some. Some have argued that the real Paul would have never written anything of this sort–so the text must be an interpolation added later by editors seeking to enforce male dominance in the church. Others have explained that women sat separately from men in the early Christian assemblies (though there is not a shred of evidence that such is the case) and this is really a prohibition against women shouting out questions from across the room!

My own conclusion is that this passage is definitely written by Paul and that it fits into his larger apocalyptic understanding of a process he describes as the “form of this world passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:31). He on the one hand expects that distinctions between male and female for those “in Christ” are soon to be dissolved at the “coming” of Jesus–but on the other hand the “old creation” is still in place and its God ordained “order” puts women in submission to men with men as their “head” (1 Corinthians 11:3), which he traces back to Genesis 3:16: “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”

I cover these issues in dept in my book, Paul and Jesus,interpreting them in the wider context of Paul’s understanding of the “old” and “new” creations.