Scripture, Culture, Obedience, Continuity

One of the things I find myself thinking about often as a Christian is how to reconcile Scripture with modern society. I have to begin from a settled place. Scripture cannot be broken. There is a clear warning attached to adding to it or taking from it. That means I cannot approach the Bible casually or selectively just because the world has changed.

That forces me to think holistically.

When I read the Old Testament, I am engaging an entirely different civilization. A different social order. A different historical moment. This was a world where slavery was normalized, patriarchy was unquestioned, and women were often not treated as fully human in the way we now understand personhood. Yet we must be honest. Slavery existed for far longer in human history than its abolition. Even today, in 2026, slavery has not disappeared. It has only changed form. Human trafficking, economic coercion, and migration desperation still trap people in bondage, including across parts of North and West Africa.

So the question is not whether these realities existed. They did. The deeper question is how God’s revelation engages broken human systems without endorsing their brokenness.

When I look at patriarchy, for example, I do not see it as part of God’s original design. Genesis 3 shows it emerging after the Fall. It is described as a consequence of disobedience, not a creation ideal. That matters. It reframes how we read power, hierarchy, and gender throughout Scripture.

Then we come to the Law. We often speak about ceremonial law, civil law, and moral law, especially within the Pentateuch. Christ’s death does not erase the Law. Jesus is explicit about that. Heaven and earth may pass away, but not a single stroke of the Law will fail. What He fulfills is the sacrificial and atoning system. His blood answers once and for all what animal sacrifices pointed toward.

Yet obedience still matters.

We see God’s standards clearly stated in places like Exodus and Leviticus. We also see continuity in the New Testament. Teachings on conduct, worship, modesty, order, and holiness do not disappear. This is why questions about attire, head covering, gender distinctions, and sexual ethics cannot simply be dismissed as “cultural” without careful study.

This is where modern tension becomes sharpest. Sexual ethics, in particular, are often reframed today as misunderstandings of language or context. Appeals are made to Greek terms, historical exploitation, or power dynamics to soften or overturn longstanding interpretations. Yet when Scripture is read as a whole, from Genesis to Revelation, there is a consistent moral framework that begins before culture and transcends it.

Genesis 1 and 2 are foundational. They are brief, but they establish order, structure, purpose, and design. Everything else flows from there. Creation gives us the blueprint. The Fall explains distortion. Redemption restores without redefining the blueprint.

So the question I keep returning to is this. How do we live faithfully in a world that looks nothing like the one Scripture was written in, without reshaping Scripture to fit the world?

The answer cannot be rejection of society, nor can it be accommodation at the cost of truth. It has to be depth. Careful reading. Patience. Study. Meditation. Submission. We must be willing to sit with difficult texts without rushing to resolve them in ways that make us comfortable.

God’s standards are clear. Obedience still matters. At the same time, wisdom is required to apply eternal truth within changing contexts without violating the integrity of Scripture itself.

These are not conclusions I claim to have fully resolved. They are thoughts I am still working through. But I believe these are the kinds of conversations Christians must be willing to have if we are serious about honoring the whole counsel of God while living faithfully in the age we have been placed in.