Liberation and justice are popular issues in the public sphere and Christians should be interested in these issues. We have been liberated and know that God is just.
But what does the Bible mean when it comes to being released, what about justice?
- Some voices in the church have constructed entire theological paradigms from these themes.
- Applying them to society as a whole.
- Consider statements like:.
[?] The only reason for [Christian theology] is to present in an orderly discourse the meaning of God’s action in the world, so that the community of the oppressed can recognize that their innate thirst for liberation is not only consistent with the gospel, but the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Building a just society has value in terms of the Kingdom or, in a more common phraseology, participating in the process of liberation is already, in a sense, a saving work [1].
These statements were made by James Cone and Gustavo Gutiérrez respectively, both of whom played an influential role in the development of so-called liberation theology in North and South America in the second half of the 20th century. and Gutiérrez built theological systems that would eventually be adopted by Protestant Christians in North America, primarily in African-American churches and segments of the Catholic Church in Latin America.
To evaluate and respond to proposals like these, pastors need biblical theology.
After all, has liberation theology expanded today to serve a look at other causes?Feminism to homosexuality and environmentalism. The purpose of this article is not to discuss these contemporary ramifications, but to bring evangelical biblical theology in dialogue with liberation theology, as a case study to learn how biblical theology protects and strengthens churches in sound doctrine.
What does biblical theology say?
In a generic sense, biblical theology is simply a theology derived from the Bible. And if this commitment is certainly necessary to come to the truth about God, many theological frameworks, including the theology of liberation, claim its biblical origin.
However, does the term?Biblical theology?, also refers to a way of interpreting the Bible, that is, a form that helps to understand minor narratives that together constitute a total biblical narrative, interests both the large image and its pixels, especially since the biblical authors I have understood the details of these pixels in the light of the great image as a whole.
So what does biblical theology say in response to the affirmations and objectives of liberation theology?I can think of five topics that biblical theology would like to address:
On systemic oppression: the contexts of liberation theology
First, biblical theology will express an empathetic understanding of the social and political contexts in which liberation theology emerged in America. Individuals like Cone and Gutierrez were desperate to demonstrate the relevance of the Bible amid horrible social and economic realities. at the time they were interested in addressing these things and many hampered progress in these areas.
The corrosive nature of Jim Crow’s racism in the southern United States and the devastating realities of chronic poverty in Latin America have led theological thinkers to forge a system that is prophetic and public. Unfortunately, as some problems have been brought to the center, the volume has been pushed to the margins.
Biblical theology not only calls us to recognize these contexts, but also helps us to examine them appropriately. All the injustices of the world recall the fundamental fall and rebellion of man against God. For example, racists are racist because they are rebels against God. And by indicating the true origin of racism, biblical theology can follow in the trail of biblical history until we discover that the ultimate remedy is in the person and work of Jesus Christ: only Christians have the only message capable of reconciling racists and other rebels with a holy and just God.
The mission of the local church is undoubtedly to deliver and spread this gospel message.
On Sin: The Defender of Liberation Theology
The theology of liberation describes sin not in terms of individual rebellion against a holy and just God, but in terms of structural and collective injustice. And completely neglecting the sins of the individual is a mistake. On the other hand, we can turn a blind eye to the evidence of structural decline by recognizing the sin of the individuals who inhabit these structures.
Biblical theology fosters balance. The biblical plot places the origin of sin in the individual human heart, so that Paul can conclude: “How did they all sin and lack the glory of God?”(Romans 3:23). But as soon as fallen individuals begin to build civilizations, their fallen status will materialize in the institutions that govern society, from Lamec’s oath to the collective decision to build Babel, to deceptive scales and wicked decrees (Genesis 4. 24; 11. 4; Deuteronomy 16. 19-20; Proverbs 16,11; Isaiah 10,1-2). In other words, an unfair law or practice is an institutionalized or structural injustice.
Moreover, Israel’s pre-exile plot presents us not only with a history of discreet sinful acts, but also of the infectious corruption of an entire nation, partly because of the injustices of its kings and priests, whose sins have manifested themselves not only. individually, but institutionally and structurally – everything from their relations with foreign powers to the practice of corruption and exploitation of the orphan and widow.
Therefore, to speak of Christ’s work in the fulfillment of the law and of the prophets is to speak not only of individual washing and purification, but of institutional and structural washing and cleansing. He is not just the right individual; it’s the real temple. He did not simply keep the Sabbath; he is the Lord of the Sabbath. It is not simply a new Adam; it is a new kingdom, a nation and a government.
Christians, who submit to the government of Christ, must be among the first to recognize not only the prevalence of individual sin, but also institutional and collective sin; in considering the government of Christ, they are able to discern the nature of a true Although there are significant flaws in the historical record in this regard, Christians must strive to lead the way not only by opposing individual acts of injustice, but also by institutional injustices. We must serve as salt and light in a dark world. However, biblical theology understands that this world will still not reflect the glory of God, precisely because all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.
In addition, in the theology of liberation, sin is described in the oppressed/oppressive binary; there is no need to insist on universal standards of ethical behavior; Moreover, it seems that those who make up the community of the oppressed are even incapable of committing sin.
Here, biblical theology would once again insist on the universality of sin (Romans 3:23; 5:12). All mankind, both oppressive and oppressed, is guilty of sin. This inherited guilt and corruption has its genesis in the Orchard, in whose innocence and paradise are lost because of edylather disobedience (Genesis 3. 7, 23).
This means that in the biblical plot, even the victims considered are also villains who desperately need saving grace.
The Bible does not tell a story of good versus evil, but tells the story of the one who is good, who suffers instead of a people who are evil and in favor of that people acquires good (2 Corinthians 5:21 Human conflict arises from the breakdown of communion with God, from which all humanity suffers. Any theology rejecting this fact can only be mistakenly called “liberation” because it limits its adherents to perpetual slavery and, perhaps, eternal damnation.
On victimization as an interpretive lens: the hermeneutics of liberation theology
The theology of liberation teaches that the Bible must be interpreted from the point of view of the poor and oppressed, it does so to avoid new injustices and highlight the suffering of social victims, in fact, it affirms that the Bible exists to reveal God. as liberator of oppressed victims. This liberation is, in many ways, seen as the essence of the message of salvation.
But should we use the community of the oppressed or the poor as an interpretive prism through which we read the Bible?Correct biblical theology holds that the Bible does not concern man, but man-God, Jesus Christ. Christ is the culmination of the history of redemption; it is the supreme object and the consummate of the faith it justifies; remember that Jesus placed himself at the center of the Old Testament narrative (Luke 24:27). Therefore, Christ-centered hermeneutics is the principle for opening the meaning of the scriptures.
This conviction helps us focus on the content of the great biblical drama; it is the story of its history, transitioning from creation to fall, to redemption, to consumption; the Bible tells the story of a God who has planned since last eternity. , to ensure the salvation of a sinful people by sending and sacrificing their Son.
On the history of the exodus: the dominant theme of liberation theology
For the theology of liberation, especially the theology of black liberation, the history of exodus is the central theme around which theology is oriented. God’s act of freeing his people from Egyptian slavery defines the expectations and current agenda of liberation theology.
The application of the story of the exodus rescue to the temporal world of nations and politics did not begin in the mid-20th century; American black slaves of the 18th and 19th centuries were attracted to the exodus narrative because it reflected its condition. it served as a positive proof that God was capable and willing to save a new Israel (black slaves) from a new Egypt (America). Looking further, the 17th-century Puritans who crossed the Atlantic considered that they were leaving Egypt , England, for a divine mission, participating in what one historian called “a pilgrimage through the desert. “However, the theology of modern liberation was the first to take this narrative and apply it as a norm to oppressed communities.
Biblical theology exposes several problems with this prescriptive hypothesis: first, it ignores the fact that wounds lead to the death of the firstborn and Easter, an act of judgment that rested on both the descendants of Abraham and the rest of Egypt. Abraham, however, had a way of escaping through a surrogate sacrifice. The Gospels then characterize Christ as our Easter Lamb (e. g. John 1:29) . Wouldn’t it be fair to say, therefore, that the way of our exodus is through the atoning sacrifice of this Easter Lamb, rather than, for example, the modification of unjust laws?
Secondly, don’t you recognize the theology of liberation?Or at least it seems to belittle the reality of the alliance in which the Exodus is expressed. a covenant people for themselves: “Will I take you for my people [Israelites] and be your God?(Exodus 6. 7). The Old Covenant was thus fulfilled in the New. And nowhere does Jesus make a new covenant in his blood with the Puritans. Or with black slaves. Or with those excluded from South America, instead proposes a new alliance to all who repent and believe in their work of alliance.
Third, the theology of liberation ignores the purpose of the Exodus event. God said to Pharaoh, “Let my people go to serve me in the wilderness?”(Exodus 7. 16, emphasis added). The objective was not, in the end, political or economic liberation, but to unite a God-ruled, obedient and worshipping people; However, we know that the Israelites ultimately did not submit to God’s rule, did not worship, and did not obey. . Although they were saved from physical slavery, they remain in spiritual slavery. The theology of liberation thus puts its hope in an exodus that does not liberate and has never liberated.
Fortunately, the theme of Exodus is not limited to Pentateeuque; It is present throughout the Bible. Israel’s sinful disobedience culminated in Assyrian and Babylonian captivity in the 8th and 6th centuries BC, respectively. Before these captives, the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah spoke of a new Exodus, which would eclipse the first. Prophets, this Exodus, once fully realized, would not only include the return of the exiles, but, more importantly, spiritual liberation.
Therefore, the great omission of the theology of liberation with regard to the account of the Exodus is that it does not treat the event of the Exodus as a shadow of the liberation that Christ brings. As the Bible develops and the New Covenant is established, Christ is described as a superior Easter lamb (1 Corinthians 5. 7), as a higher Moses (Hebrews 3. 1-6), and as true Israel (Osses 11. 1; Matthew 2. 15). In simple terms, the Exodus is, in its full expression, the eternal salvation of sin and condemnation, a salvation that can only be found in Christ. A new people of God is formed according to their righteousness, not by an ethnic identity or social condition.
At the end of time: the eschatological error of liberation theology
It is difficult to discern what liberation theology teaches about the end of time. How God will bring this world to an end is not an immediate concern of liberation theologians. Moreover, the reality of a future life is rarely discussed. Here and now and how oppression, poverty and injustice can be eradicated today. She argues that a theology concerned about a higher and future world paralyzes oppressed communities and justifies the status quo. Therefore, liberation theology seeks to disappoint people with their expectations for the future and encourage them to seek those future hopes now.
Although dangerously disoriented, there is something of value to recognize here: liberation theology offers a just critique of some in the evangelical community, exposing what can only be seen as an indifference to social injustice, even hidden under orthodox doctrine.
However, the remedy offered by biblical theology is of immense importance: it affirms the final resurrection and the new creation to come. Biblical testimony is filled with a constant refrain of eternal hope. Do biblical covenants lead to the new covenant in Christ?by the seal of the Inner Spirit?the literal pledge of the promised inheritance to receive (Ephesians 1:14) And, Contrary to what the theology of liberation suggests, the hope of this heritage encourages both the patience that reflects Christ (2 Corinthians 4:17-18; 1 Peter 2:21-23) and the efforts that exalt Christ (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Biblical theology exposes the fact that liberation theology not only has an overly realized eschatology, but is completely wrong about the end of time. The ultimate goal of the biblical drama of redemption is not to make man live with man in harmony and equality. The purpose of the drama will be realized and expressed in the exclamation of this great voice: “This is the tabernacle of God with men. Will God live with them?” (Revelation 21. 3). Unfortunately, the liberation that counts is not in the theology of liberation.
This article is part of the 9Marks Journal
Translation: Vin-cius Silva Pimentel. Review: Vin-cius Musselman Pimentel. © 2014 Faithful Ministérium. All rights reserved. Website: MinistryFiel. com. br. Original: Biblical Theology and Liberation Theology.