Page 162 - Biblical Backgrounds

same word mean the same thing every time we encounter it. We also need to be careful not to assume
the concept is gone simply because the word is not used.” 209

Honor/Shame in Jewish Culture and its effect on Biblical interpretation:

If someone is reading the New Testament and misses the honor/shame aspect of culture present in the
Jewish world at the time of Christ and the epistles, they will miss so much that helps them understand
what is happening. Why was it that there were times when Jesus’ opponents would ask certain
questions, but at other times they did not dare? Why would they not dare? Randolph Richards explains
that it is because there is an honor/shame game going on. He explains that in Jesus’ day, if you wanted
an answer, you came to someone privately. Nicodemus is a great example of this. He came and asked
Jesus questions in a private place at night. If you asked publicly, you were challenging the other person
to a game of honor. The person who could silence the other was the winner and gained public honor.
The person who lost would decrease in honor. So, when the Jews came to Jesus and said, “Is it lawful to
pay taxes to Caesar?”, it was a trap designed to shame him in public. The same is true of asking him
about whose wife the woman who married seven times would be in eternity. The goal was to put Jesus
to open shame. Jesus’ opponents kept losing, and therefore being publicly shamed, so they wanted Him
dead.

Abdu Murray explains the impact of this issue as he preached on John 9. The parents deny knowing who
the person who healed their son was. Rather than being put out of the synagogue themselves, they tell
the council that the healed man was of age and to ask him. When he says Jesus healed him, he is put out
of the synagogue. The parents' fear of public shame led them to watch as their son was thrown out of
the synagogue.

In the epistles, the issue of shame comes up as well. Paul shames Peter in public for playing the shame
game by not eating with the Gentiles (Galatians 2). Peter was trying to avoid shame in front of the men
from James. Paul said his shame was even greater because of his hypocrisy. The author of Hebrews says
He wants the people not to be ashamed at the coming of Christ. This is a cultural fear. Richards also
points out that in Hebrews, there is a fascinating statement in Hebrews 11:6 that because the patriarchs
were faithful, “God is not ashamed to be their God.”

It is important to understand that a person’s shame in this culture was equal to their identity. A shamed
person was not just a person who had been shamed; they were a shameful person. It was almost
impossible to remove themselves from shame once it had been acquired. This is especially important
when we realize that in this culture, Jesus endured the cross “despising its shame.” That a person dying
on a cross could rise above that shame was unthinkable. Yet when Jesus had borne the shame for the
sins of the world, He was given the name above every name. Jesus redeems the shameful people and
restores them to His honor. As pastors, will we allow Jesus to do that to those we deem appropriately
shamed in our churches and cultures? Will we see them as the redeemed people He has made them, or
force them to remember their former shame the rest of their lives? In short, would you do so to Jesus?
The honor/shame cultural background has much to teach us about interpreting the Bible and pastoral
ministry today.

209 This quote is taken from the Soteriology course written for AIU by the authors of this course.

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