If Jesus Flipped Tables, Should We?

Some background to my latest article for TGCC

A conversation between two Christians can go like this:

Joe: We should be bold. When something becomes a theological or ethical mess, we need to flip tables like Jesus did.

Gavin: No, Joe. We must always be gentle.

Joe: That’s too restrictive. Are you saying we shouldn’t imitate Jesus?

Gavin: Well… it’s complicated.

You can watch the actual discussion between Gavin Orlund and Joe Rigney. They didn’t use quite these words, but the ideas were present. They discussed whether Christian leaders are permitted to use certain kinds of profanity and strong language. While this is an important dialogue, I’d like to step back and think about the question: what does it mean to imitate Jesus?

A lazy move here, which I want to get out of the way, is saying that the other side only believes what they believe because of their personality disposition or political leanings. The liberals like Gavin Ortlund are soft! The conservatives like Joe Rigney are harsh! Our side has the Bible (and our exegesis) and their side has their impression of the Bible which they falsely read into the Bible (eisegesis). They are blinded by their own character flaws!

This is silly, uncharitable, and reflects something of the genetic fallacy: arguing on the basis of someone’s background or origin of belief to refute their view (and by the way, Gavin is not a “liberal”). If you’re on Gavin’s “side” then you must not demean your Christian brother or sister by assuming their argument is based on their personality or politics. Likewise, if you’re on Joe’s “side,” the same goes for you.

We also must not say, “well, some people follow some Bible verses and some people follow others.” This is always a pet peeve of mine. Neither Joe nor Gavin would say this. But some people, when seeing that there are two sides to a biblical debate, conclude that no answer is possible. The mere presence of debate proves, for them, that no right answer can be found! Nonsense. Just because my neighbour believes I have elephants dancing on the roof of my house doesn’t make it true.

As is often the case in biblical debates, we must go back to the text itself.

In the discussion between Gavin and Joe, both made good points. It’s good to wrestle with the text.

I decided to take up the question of imitating Jesus in flipping tables in my latest article for The Gospel Coalition Canada, which you can read here. Part of this stemmed from reviewing a book called Imitation in Early Christianity by Cornelius Bennema, which is an excellent resource.

Bennema argues that imitation was always understood to include reflection prior to action. In other words, there has to be some moral deliberation rather than merely following someone’s actions one-to-one. I build on this by arguing from the New Testament texts on imitation which, once considered, prioritize some kinds of imitation over others. Hence, the New Testament guides us in how we should imitate Jesus’ whole person, not his every act. We should pick and choose, even! But not without biblical grounding. See what I mean here:

Click the image to read the full article.

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Here are a few podcasts episode I’ve recently hosted:

Thinking About It | Season 5: Live Like a Christian (Links: Website | Apple | Spotify):

• Love God with Your Mind

• Rejoice and Weep

What Would Jesus Tech (Links: Website | Apple | Spotify | YouTube):

• Does God Care if AI Does My Job?