Red-letter Christian?
Are you a Red-letter Christian? A recent interview on Nashville radio with Jim Wallis prompted the Jewish-identified talk show host to ask, "Are you on of those Red-letter Christians? You, know, the kind that believe the words in red in the New Testament?"
I remember right before I went to Seminary, having a conversation with my mother, and proudly telling her that I had purchased a new bible. (The now out-of-print Spiritual Formation Bible by Zondervan and the Upper Room - NIV version). My mother was appalled: "But you already have that nice bible we got you when you went to college!" My flippant response was something like this: "M-o-o-o-m-m, it's a King James...(being the erudite scholar I thought I was)." Mom: "Sooo?" Me: "Jesus didn't speak in Red."
But maybe Jesus did speak in red - maybe whoever had the idea to make the words of Jesus stand out from the rest of the cannon of the New Testament understood the deep need to remember that which propels us to deeper faith - not so that we can be more orthodox about our beliefs (just any belief), but so that we can become believers and live out the faith of Jesus Christ.
"for I was hungry and you gave me, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me...Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." - Matthew 25: 42-43,45
I remember right before I went to Seminary, having a conversation with my mother, and proudly telling her that I had purchased a new bible. (The now out-of-print Spiritual Formation Bible by Zondervan and the Upper Room - NIV version). My mother was appalled: "But you already have that nice bible we got you when you went to college!" My flippant response was something like this: "M-o-o-o-m-m, it's a King James...(being the erudite scholar I thought I was)." Mom: "Sooo?" Me: "Jesus didn't speak in Red."
But maybe Jesus did speak in red - maybe whoever had the idea to make the words of Jesus stand out from the rest of the cannon of the New Testament understood the deep need to remember that which propels us to deeper faith - not so that we can be more orthodox about our beliefs (just any belief), but so that we can become believers and live out the faith of Jesus Christ.
"for I was hungry and you gave me, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me...Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." - Matthew 25: 42-43,45
posted by Chett Pritchett at
3:15 PM
2 Comments:
Sweet Jesus!
By
Chett Pritchett, at 7:48 PM
It looks like you have a bit of spam problem. I can show you how to fix it, if you want.
I used to enjoy red letter Bibles, but when I got to seminary, I realized that we can't accept the words in red as the quotations of Jesus, or else Jesus is being misquoted my various gospel writers who record the same discourses.
Should we have a layered canon, with different texts having greater priority over others? Maybe. My understanding is that the idea that the words of Paul or Micah have the same authority as those of Jesus is a relatively new one -- since the Reformation.
By
John, at 9:09 AM
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