Re-Mythologyzing the Bible

Part I: Introduction

Demythologizing the Bible
The idea of de-mythologizing the Bible originates in the enlightenment, especially in the acceptance of many Christians the assumptions of David Hume, the anti-Christian philosopher. David Hume declared that miracles were not possible because they, by definition, were outside the natural order of things and there could be nothing outside the natural order. But many Christians, including Thomas Jefferson, were not ready to surrender their faith in God and Jesus. So they began to separate the religious from the supernatural, while still retaining the “core” of religious belief, whatever they considered that to be. Some held that religion had an ethical core, others that it had a historical core, while others considered that religion had a revolutionary core. This core, they philosophized, could be retained, while the rest of that which they considered to be intellectually empty could be jettisoned without harm to the basis of religion itself.
Some thinkers, such as Freud and Marx considered the foundation of religion to be fundamentally mythological, and thus unnecessary, but there are many thinkers, even to this day, that want to retain the “basic principles” of religion, while separating out that which is untenable. Some theologians that have this as a basis for their studies are Marcus Borg, John Crossan, Walter Wink and Denny Weaver.

The Bible is an Ancient Text
It is difficult to bring the Bible into the modern world. Some wish interpret the Bible in a manner to sacrifice their intellectual honesty and objectivity, wishing to maintain their traditional understanding of the Bible in spite of what the modern world accepts as foundationally true. Others wish to compromise the basic worldview of the Bible in order to interpret the basic “principles” that can still be accepted in the world today.
What I would like to propose is that fundamentally the Bible is an ancient text and that it is best understood in its original context, and that principles of the Bible could only be understood if the basic worldview of the Bible is held intact. This does not mean, necessarily, that the traditional interpreters of the Bible have the basic worldview of the Bible correct. Rather, it needs to be explored what the worldview of the ancient world is, and how the Bible interprets that worldview.
Both the conservative interpretation and the attempts to demythologize the Bible run into the foundational error of dealing with any text—ancient or modern: Taking the text out of its original worldview context and placing it into a context where the text itself is simply nonsense. To make the text nonsense is a good interpretive move for most students of the Bible, because it gives them more freedom to place the text in a convenient way into a modern worldview. But it doesn’t allow the text to speak for itself, within its own understanding.

Part II: The Physical World and the Spirit World

The Worlds of the Pagan
The Bible was not written in a world which believed in a single, omnipotent Cause of all things, distant but ultimately behind the actions of all things. This God is a creation of thousands of years of theology and intellectual philosophizing with the likes of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Calvin. The world of the Bible, whether we are speaking of the time of Moses (about 1500 BC), all the way to the time of the late New Testament (about 100 AD), the primary worldview of the world was what we now would call “pagan”.
For the pagan, there are two universes that are active and interact—the physical world, where humans live and the spirit world, where the spirits or gods live. These two worlds are independent, but the spirit world is more powerful and ultimately rules over the physical world. At times, the powers of the spirit world acts upon the physical world, but according to the rules of the spirit world. Thus, they can manipulate winds and oceans; they can appear and disappear at will and instantly travel great distances. And they can effect humans in strange ways, such as causing illness, insanity, strange speech, prophecy, dreams or visions of the spirit world. In the pagan worldview, these are “miracles” or interactions in the physical world by the beings of the spirit world.
This worldview is decidedly mythological and in opposition to the assumptions of the enlightenment. A human embracing reason accepts the physical world as the primary one, and any spirits being distant from the physical world. Some consider the spirit world to be operating in the physical world, but only through the laws of the physical world, not using actions that would be commonly termed “miracles.”

Does the Bible support Mythological Events?
Not only does the Bible share this part of the pagan worldview, but much of the apologetic in the Bible actually is defending this point of view. “The fool has said in his heart there is no god,” says the Psalmist (Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1). The context, however, is not about an ancient atheist, but one who claims that one can do what one pleases because the spirit world is too distant to enact judgment. In the first half of the book of Exodus, Pharaoh denies that Yahweh, an unknown god, could possibly be more powerful than he, the god of Egypt. As the drama unfolds, Yahweh shows that he is not distant or powerless in comparison to Pharaoh’s meager spiritual powers. The famous prophecy of Emmanuel and the virgin in Isaiah 6 is not so much about a child born to a virgin as a demonstration of God’s nearness to the everyday events of his people. Elisha asks God to open the eyes of his servant so he could see the forces of the spirit world interacting on an army of attackers (II Kings 6). The people listening to Jesus was amazed at his teaching because it was accompanied by intervention from the spirit world (Mark 1:24-27). Jesus himself said that the exorcisms he performed were evidence of God’s intervention through Jesus (Luke 11:20). In the book of Acts, there are two events in a Jewish and a pagan court that are based on the assumption that the spirit world had indeed interacted with the physical world (Acts 3 and Acts 16).
The interaction between the spirit world and the physical world, and the fact that the spirit world is, in some ways, more powerful than the physical world is not only a presupposition of the Bible, but it is taught directly in both narrative and proclamation form. To deny miracles is to deny a basic understanding of the Bible as a whole. These miracles are not presented as symbols or ideals, but as real events that indicate God’s nearness to his people.
Not only is the supernatural presented as a principle of the spirit world’s workings, but the presence of miracles is presented in the New Testament as a foundational part of the Christian community:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.” John 14:12
"Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.” Luke 10:19
"And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.” Matthew 10:7-8
These statements of Jesus, and Paul in agreement (in Galatians 2 and I Corinthians 12-14) speak of supernatural acts as being fundamental to the evidence that God is at work in the church.
Theologically, the teaching of the Bible is that miracles display the nearness of God. Without such miracles, there is no clear evidence of God’s presence.

What about the morality of the Bible?
If the supernatural is a significant part of the Bible, yet still, some say, it could be separated from the ethical viewpoint of the Bible. Intellectually, one might not accept the supernatural, but still hold to the morality stated in the Bible.
First let us examine this. There are two most important ethical teachings that provide the foundation for all other ethical statements: the Mosaic law and Jesus’ teachings. The Mosaic Law is a covenant presented by God as the laws of his people. Clearly ethical, yet this law is not presented as general ethics, or “this is the best way for any human to live.” Rather the communication is given “This is how I want you to live because I delivered you out of Egypt.” In other words, the basis of their obedience isn’t ethical, but on the basis of God, a being of the spirit world, acting on the physical world.
They obey God because his action of deliverance made them his possession— e.g. Exodus 20:2; Leviiticus 11:44; 19:36; 25:53-55;26:13
They obey God because of God’s continuing presence and action—e.g. Deuteronomy 23:14
They obey God because of his direct actions of blessing for their obedience—e.g. Ex. 22:23-24; Leviticus 26:14-44
They obey God because of his direct actions of cursing for their disobedience—e.g. Exodus 23:24-28; Leviticus 26:3-1
Thus, God’s law is given because he is present and he is acting among them. Were it not for God’s continuing presence, the law would be unnecessary. But because He was still acting among them—in other words, still doing supernatural events—then the ethical principles are necessary.

Morality in the Gospels
And then we have the gospels. Jesus’ teaching at first seems to be positive ethical principles that any people would do well to act in accordance with. Thus, theoretically, they could be separated from any supernatural act and just lived out. But, interestingly enough, Jesus is always connecting his ethical principles to a significant supernatural act—the eschaton, or the day of judgment. Jesus is referring to his principles as being significant, not for one’s present life today, or for one’s community today, but for the day when God comes to enact his will upon the earth and to transfer the leadership of earth’s authority to his appointed ruler. In fact, many of the ethical principles Jesus states are nonsense except in a context of a resurrection and God’s rule over the earth:
Jesus says that the poor are blessed because they have a supernatural blessing in the future.
Jesus says that his disciples are to rejoice in persecution because of it is a guarantee of supernatural blessing from God
Jesus says that faith in tribulation is a positive thing because of the supernatural blessing in the future. (Mark 13:13)
Acceptance of evil acts from authorities is good because God will take action against them (Romans 12)
Forgiveness is a positive act not for itself but because to not forgive negates God’s forgiveness (Matthew 18)
Judgment is an unacceptable because it enacts God’s direct judgment. (Matthew 7:1)
Thus, all of the main ethical principles in the Bible are actually intertwined with supernatural acts. In fact, almost every significant principle in the Bible is involved with the actions of the spirit world upon the physical world. In other words, Marx and Freud were correct, the basic principle of Biblical religion is mythological.

Part III: Plurality of Gods or Powers

The gods of the Pagan Worldview
The mythological pagan worldview was not limited to a spirit world and a physical world. It also spoke of the spirits that interacted on the earth. Many of these spirits are called “gods” indicating their status as ruler, possibly over other spirits, or possibly over parts of the physical world. These gods act in an anthropomorphic way, reacting with human emotion and foibles such as jealousy, resentment, lust, anger, hatred, and vengeance.
Many of these gods rule over natural phenomena such as rivers, oceans and winds. Other gods, some of the most powerful ones, rule over nations of humans. These gods battle each other for prominence. Sometimes one god is in the most exalted position over the other gods and sometimes another. On a human level, usually this prominent position is indicated by which nation conquers other ones. For instance, should Babylon and Ugarit fight, the battle is not just between two armies, but between Marduk and Baal. Should Babylon win, that indicates that Marduk is the champion and ruler over Baal.

The Bible affirms the existence of a multiplicity of gods
The Bible often speaks of Yahweh being God, the exalted, the highest. But the highest over what? He is the highest among all the gods in heaven (Exodus 15:11; Exodus 18:11; Psalm 86:8; Psalm 96:4-5; II Chronicles 2:5; Deut. 10:17; Joshua 22:22; Psalm 84:7; Psalm 95:3; Psalm 97:9; Psalm 135:5; Psalm 136:2; Daniel 2:47; Daniel 11:36). When the other gods are spoken of, they are not mentioned as non-existent, or as lowly, insignificant beings. Rather, they are spoken of as powerful and as rivals of Yahweh himself.
These gods have a number of titles—Sons of God (Job 1; Genesis 6; Psalm 29:1); angels (Genesis 19:1; Psalm 148:2); spirits (Zechariah 6:5; Luke 10:20); idols (I Chronicles 16:26; Psalm 97:7); demons (Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 106:37); and stars (Daniel 8:10-11; Isaiah 13:10). These gods are powerful, but their power is insignificant in comparison with Yahweh, who made heavens and earth (Jeremiah 10:11). The nations were separated into their number by the number of these gods, and the gods rule over these nations (Deuteronomy 32:8; Daniel 10:1-13). The gods are constantly under Yahweh’s authority, and he can affirm or put down the place of any god or human ruler (I Samuel 2:1-8; Psalm 82; Luke 1:51-54).

What about the oneness of God?
At this point, the theologically astute Christian would be concerned, especially at the use of the term, “gods”. After all, we have all been taught that there is but one God, and that there is no other god in the heavens. And some of us remember such verses as I Corinthians 8:4, “There is no such thing as an idol in the world and there is no god but One” and Jeremiah 10:14, “The idols, there is no life in them.”
The Scriptures do make it clear that the idols of stone and wood did not actually exist as living entities, but were only objects made by human hands. However, they also say that there are powers, gods that exist behind the idols, and that these are real. In Isaiah 19:1 says, “The idols will tremble at his presence” and Paul himself says in I Corinthians 10:20, “The things to which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and I do not want you to be fellowshipers with demons.”
And as far as Yahweh/God being the only God, we are all familiar with the common passage in Deuteronomy, “Hear O Israel, Yahweh is God, Yahweh is One.” The term “one” has a literal meaning as Yahweh being singular. This could be related to the fact that many gods, including Baal and Zeus, are often worshiped as their manifestations in different places but Yahweh is not to be worshiped as a plurality, one manifestation in one place and another in another place, but he is to be singular, always worshipped as the same God. Colloquially, the term “one” also has the meaning of “alone” or “first”. Thus, this passage would mean what is stated many times in Scripture—that Yahweh is the first among all the lower powers, and that no other power would ever replace Him. Yahweh is alone in his place as the exalted ruler of heaven and earth and no power can threaten or come against him.
In no place in Scripture does this mean that there are not other god-like powers in heaven that act independently from Yahweh. Yahweh is the most powerful of the powers, and he reigns over them as king, but other angels, demons, spirits, powers and principalities exist in heaven along with Yahweh (Luke 1; Matthew 13:39; Matthew 18:10; Mark 1:27; Ephesians 6:12). Yahweh is the emperor among many god-like beings, and in this sense, He is Alone, He is Singular, He is One.

Yahweh and all the gods are anthropomorphic
All the gods, including Yahweh, are understood by human terms, such as king, ruler, principlality, etc. For example, we have the many visions of Yahweh on his throne as the most high king over all (Isaiah 6; Ezekiel 1-2; Revelation 4). And in I Kings 22:19-23 there is the vision of Michiah the prophet who saw Yahweh as a king over his council of spirits and he commands a lying spirit to deceive Ahab, so that he would be destroyed. Sacrifice is understood as a gift that is given to a ruler—human or divine—in order to obtain favor (Malachi 1:7-9). A covenant is a contract establishing patronage between a superior ruler, such as an emperor or a god, to a lesser ruler. A prayer is simple the formal request of a powerful being, such as a king or a god to do a favor to a less powerful being. Righteousness is the ability to stand before a ruler without offending him. Sin is an action which makes one unacceptable to a certain king or god.
But not only is the manner of rulership anthropomorphic but even in the ways they act are very human. Yahweh becomes furious, He changes his mind, he has love toward his adopted children (Exodus 32; Psalm 103). But in many ways God’s character is higher than any human character. Humans are characterized by faithlessness, but God is never faithless, he never breaks his promises. Humans reject forgiveness and mercy, but God never forsakes forgiveness and mercy, except to the unmerciful. Human provision, even by rulers, is limited and paltry, but God’s provision is ample, and without limit. (II Timothy 2:23; Matthew 18; Matthew 6:25-34). Thus, so God can be compared to humanity in many ways, his positive characteristics exceed human characteristics, unlike normal pagan deities.

Yahweh is involved in battles with other gods
Yahweh battles against other gods and these battles are often displayed in human battles between nations. (Zephaniah 2:11; Exodus 12:12; Numbers 33:4; Jeremiah 46:25.) As one example of a battle between Yahweh and another god, let us look at II Kings 18-19; II Chronicles 32; Isaiah 36-37 (all three passages tell the same story). Jerusalem is surrounded by the armies of Assyria; the lord of Assyria claims that his power is greater than that of any other gods, including Yahweh; The lord of Assyria is killed while worshipping his god, Nisroch. Jerusalem is delivered and the arrogance of Assyria is humbled.
The Bible affirms that battles indicate superiority, especially when the human element indicates the warfare should go the other way. For example, Abraham’s 300 slaves defeated the armies of five kings in Genesis 14; and Gideon’s 300 warriors defeated the uncountable army in Judges 7. In each of these battles, the lack of numbers indicates that it is Yahweh’s victory over the other kings and their gods. However, at times Israel is the one who is defeated, even God’s chosen city, Jerusalem. If Israel is defeated, rather than indicate the defeat of Yahweh, it indicates Yahweh’s judgment on Israel. (Ezekiel 36:17-21; II Kings 23:26-27). No matter what event, the Jewish people always affirmed Yahweh’s superiority over other gods.
The fact is, the Bible is permeated with multiple descriptions of him dealing with other gods, from his battle with Leviathan before the seven-day creation (Psalm 72) to the final defeat of Satan in Revelation 20. This literature is not, for the most part, described as a metaphor, but a description as to how the spirit world actually works. This is the “working palate” of the prophets, which they do not describe as metaphor, but as the ways of spirits in the spirit world. The necessity of the prophets in ancient times was to relate to humans how the spirit world effected them with their various gods and powers. The ancient Hebrew prophets, the prophets of the canon, only proved themselves to be exceptional in the fact that they always affirmed Yahweh’s superiority over other gods, no matter what the human circumstances. They would affirm that the spirit world works differently than the physical world, but it is necessary at times for humans to understand the workings of the spirit world in order to establish their own world correctly (e.g. Genesis 41; I Kings 22; Acts 11:28).
The reality of the Bible is that mythology rests behind all of the major themes and theology of Scripture, and to appreciate the theological nuances of any of the Bible, we must understand the mythological background of it all.

Part IV: How should we deal with “myth” in the Bible?

Do away with myth, we do away with theology
Since almost every principle in the Bible is based on the spirit world interfering with the physical world and with the various gods that interfere with human rule, then we must recognize that the principles we hold dear to in the Bible must be rejected if we reject their mythological basis.
Should we be rid of the myth in the Bible, we must be rid of each of these theologies:
· If God accomplishes no resurrection, then we should not expect any kind of deliverance from Him (I Corinthians 15)
· If supernatural beings apart from God do not exist, then the powers and principalities language in Paul is meaningless, not demythologized, since it is described in Scripture as “non-human”; not carnal; not fleshly. (Ephesians 6:12 and II Corinthians 10:4)
· If there is no actual judgment by God, then there is no reason to live out the moral principles of Jesus (Luke 6:37-38).
· If there are no miracles, then there is no evidence that the preaching of the apostles is anything more than a deluded philosophy (I Cor. 15; Acts 3; II Corinthians 12:12)
· If Jesus did no miracle, then there is no authority from God for the gospel (Matthew 12:28: John 5:36)
If there is no supernatural, no myth, then the Bible is “myth” in a different sense of the word—untrue, a bunch of fairy tales, fit only for the immature. If there are no powers apart from God Most High, then the Bible is not the source for such a god, because the Bible affirms the pagan concept of many gods, just under the authority of One God, Yahweh. If we say we believe in the Bible, then we must accept the “myth” of the Bible. If we deny the mythological parts of Scripture, we deny the Bible itself.

To Believe In the Bible is to Believe in “Myth”
Does this mean that we have to accept the story of Midas having donkey ears and of Athena jumping whole out of Zeus’ head? No. Do we even necessarily have to believe that Jonah really spent three days in a sea monster and a young earth and the whole of creation made in seven days—not necessarily, although we should allow the possibility of it. But if we say we “believe” in the Bible, then we have to accept the Bible’s presuppositions. That miracles—by which we mean the spirit world interfering in our physical world—do occur, even if not frequently. We must allow that in the spirit world are great powers that can, and sometimes do, affect our lives. That they can be objects of fear and reverence. But we must also acknowledge that the God of Jesus, Yahweh, is more powerful than them all, and so we need not fear them if we are in Jesus.
But not only must we believe in this “myth”, but we also must live it out. The New Testament is clear that those who are followers of Jesus are not only to live the ethical life of Jesus, but we also need to be living in the spiritual authority of Jesus. This means that we can use the power of Jesus to make changes in the spiritual world that will effect our own.
We should expect to be able to do miracles (John 14:11-12; Mark 16:17-18)
We should expect that there are spiritual forces that attempt to do us and others’ harm (Luke 22:31-32; I Peter 5:8)
We should expect to be able to take a stand against these spiritual beings (Ephesians 6:13; James 4:7)
We should see sacrifice and even martyrdom as a spiritual force which accomplishes good if done in the way of Jesus (Mark 8:34-37; Revelation 12:10-11)
We should be able to allow evil authorities to be judged by God, and not undermined by humans (Romans 12:19-21; Matthew 5:38-41)
We should trust that God is going to help us, according to His will, and not have to defend ourselves by human means (II Corinthians 10:4; Matthew 26:53)
We should do mercy and forgive and not judge, recognizing that God’s judgment is more important than temporary human justice (Luke 6:36-38)
We should be pure in our lives, recognizing that God will not hear our prayers unless we do (Psalm 15; Matthew 5:8)

To believe in the Bible is to live out the ancient mythological worldview every day.