Baptists believe in the authority of Scripture. We profess to base our beliefs—including our view of Scripture’s authority—on the Bible. So, it stands to reason we would take issue with the Bible’s misuse.
A particular misuse of Scripture is on display in the ongoing cultural and political conflict in the United States. This misuse involves the weaponizing of Scripture. California provides a recent and prime example.
Newsom and the Bible
On Sept. 15, California Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted the launch of a billboard campaign in “7 of the most restrictive anti-abortion states.” The billboards advertised California as a defender of women’s “right to make decisions about your own health,” specifically abortion.
In separate tweets, Newsom tagged the governor of each of the seven states and showed them which image would appear in their respective state.
The billboard to be displayed in Oklahoma and Mississippi (shown below) included Mark 12:31 in fine print across the bottom: “Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these.”
The irony of Newsom—a progressive lightning rod—leaning on Christian Scripture to promote abortion rights has been noted elsewhere. A second irony, that of Newsom loving his neighbors by throwing Scripture in their faces, negates the message of the Scripture used. Of course, he might not claim to love all his neighbors, which is a different distortion of Jesus’ meaning.
Weaponizing Jesus’ words—what we count as Scripture—twists them into a parody of themselves. If we condemn this kind of misuse of Scripture—and we should—then we must make sure we are not guilty of the same.
Antisemites and the Bible
On Oct. 22, members of Goyim Defense League, a white supremacist and antisemitic group, demonstrated on a Los Angeles-area overpass. They displayed at least two troubling banners.
One banner read, “Kanye is right about the Jews,” referring to Ye’s (formerly Kanye West) antisemitic Twitter and Instagram tirade earlier in October. Another banner included “Rev. 3:9, John 8:44.”
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Revelation 3:9 is part of Jesus’ words to the church in ancient Philadelphia. It reads: “I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.”
John 8:44 is within a set of disputes Jesus had with those following and listening to him. It reads: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
The demonstrators misused Scripture by taking it out of context to justify their antisemitism. In so doing, they used Jesus’ words to bless hate and even violence toward a specific group of people—Jews.
As with Newsom’s misuse of Scripture, if we condemn the twisting of Jesus’ words—and we should—we must make sure we are not guilty of the same.
But isn’t the Bible a sword?
Whereas Newsom weaponized Jesus’ words about love for others to score political points in a debased tit-for-tat, antisemites weaponized Jesus’ words to advance self-love and their particular cultural agenda.
In both instances, the Bible is used as a weapon, though it is not. There is, however, at least one objection to my contention that the Bible is not a weapon.
One might object that Scripture refers to itself as a weapon—a sword.
Paul, in his letter to the Ephesian Christians, instructs them to “take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).
The word of God is described like a sword also in Hebrews: “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (4:12).
In both places, what we understand as the Bible or Scripture is referred to as “the word of God.” Also in both places, the wider context must be included. In the wider context of both verses, the writer is referring to spiritual battles and the word of God doing spiritual work.
Based on just these two verses, I might modify my statement as follows: The Bible is a spiritual weapon, not a political or cultural weapon. But that modification is problematic.
How the Bible is used as a weapon
While I contend neither Newsom nor the antisemitic demonstrators were using Scripture in the way described in Ephesians and Hebrews, some would argue both were using Scripture in a spiritual contest.
Abortion opponents see abortion as a spiritual issue impinging on eternity. Christian abortion opponents base their opposition on biblical descriptions of humans being created in God’s image and known by God in the womb, as well as biblical prohibitions against murder.
For some Christian abortion opponents, the Bible is a weapon against abortion. When the Bible is viewed as a weapon, however, the wielder becomes the authority, and the battle becomes a contest of lobbing Bible verses at the opposing side. This is a debasing and misuse of Scripture.
Antisemites believe there is something fundamentally, even spiritually, wrong with Jews. In instances where Christianity is blended with antisemitism, the Bible is used to justify any assault against Jews—verbal, physical or otherwise.
Antisemites do not use Christian Scripture as a grenade to lob in a tit-for-tat spat. They deploy it as a tactical weapon to ensure the success of their long-term strategy to rid the world of Jews. This, too, is a debasing and misuse of Scripture.
The Bible is not a weapon
The Bible is not a weapon, at least not in our hands. It cannot be a weapon in our hands, because its authority is over us, not us over it. Weaponizing Scripture is to make ourselves its author and subject, and that’s a deeper problem still.
Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed are those solely of the author.
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