When teaching in Africa recently, I was reminded that much of the Bible describes cultural problems and solutions while not prescribing global behavior. In other words, they may be instructions given to a particular group to address specific Christian challenges within a targeted community. Sometimes, they describe how the early Church needed to interact in their communities and cultures—not dictate behavior for all people for all time. Examples here and in the following article include hair, authority, and fidelity. Definitions first!

Descriptive versus prescriptive. Most of the Bible describes helpful thoughts, experiences, events, or sequences. The Genesis account, genealogies, poetry, wisdom, and history are examples. Much of the New Testament (e.g., Paul’s letters) describes events and culture-based Christian living without prescribing behavior for everyone. A good example is the book of Philemon. There, Paul writes a letter to slave owner Philemon to convince him to release his runaway slave to him without punishment. Read carefully, and you’ll find that Paul uses some slick guilt-mongering to accomplish his goal. He probably never imagined this personal letter becoming part of a global prescription!

On the other hand, God’s commandments and Christ’s instructions prescribe behavior (e.g., “Don’t murder, steal, or be sexually immoral”). The trick is understanding how to honor them in cultural or personal contexts. Trying to apply ‘descriptive’ stuff as global ‘prescriptive’ behavior can be destructive. I’ll give more details in Part Two, but here are a few examples.

Long hair for heaven. A Ugandan pastor asked me if his female congregants would go to hell because of their bald heads or short hair. Why? Because missionaries mistaught that Paul’s description of a Greek cultural hair issue and its resolution prescribed long hair for all women everywhere for all time. More on this in the following article!

No women church leaders or preachers. This misunderstanding and unfortunate church doctrine, too, is due to forcing the description of a problem-solution in a particular culture (Greek misogynistic) into law everywhere for all people for all time. I wonder what Israelite judge Deborah, Jesus, or women leaders in the early Church would’ve said about this! More next time!

No church leaders with more than one wife. Having multiple wives is fundamental to some cultures and is often necessary for survival or family-making. Yet, some Westerners wrongly insist that men with multiple wives can’t lead their congregations. Why? Because a misinterpretation of one Elder qualification places more importance on the number of concurrent wives over marital fidelity, which is the heart of being a ‘one-woman man’ in the language and context of 1 Timothy 3:2-5. More next time!

In summary, culture and context matter when translating and interpreting biblical texts! So does differentiating between biblical descriptions and Godly prescriptions. In the following article, I’ll expound upon the three examples I’ve included here.  Meanwhile, obey God’s commands and Christ’s Law of Love.

Blessings and peace,

Dr. Ron Braley, MDiv, DMin.