Swapping truth with myth

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One form of neo-Marcionism exists now in some British and American scholarly circles, and it dominates German New Testament scholarship.

Rudolph Bultmann and his followers maintain that the gospel comes shrouded in myth and needs to be demythologized. In particular, say these men, we need to rid ourselves of the idea that salvation results from the verifiable actions of God in history. The essential characteristic of a myth is that it is a “religious truth” not grounded in real history. Therefore, salvation is punctiliar—it happens in a moment of personal existential encounter with God. Salvation, for Bultmann, has no connection to the Old Testament kingdom of God that reaches its climax in the revelation and work of Jesus Christ. All this Old Testament background is “myth.” The core of gospel must be stripped from its Old Testament context and worldview.

Orthodox Christian scholars maintain against Bultmann that God prepared the history of the world by his sovereign providence. The Old Testament events brought the world to the point of historical maturation for the events of the gospel. Old Testament events also foreshadowed the events of the gospel and shed light on their meaning. The Old Testament worldview establishes the true picture of the world against all pagan worldviews. Only in that true world-picture do events of the gospel make sense.

The irony is that by demythologizing the gospel, Bultmann actually has substituted myth for truth, because if anything is a myth it is the “Jesus” of Bultmann. The Jesus of Christianity is a person of real history, not Bultmann’s fabricated “religious truth.” The real Jesus is not myth, but fact.

While we heartily accept the miracles of Christ, too often we try to strip away his teachings that are uncomfortable, such as his hard teachings on eternal punishment. In your study of the Old Testament, commit to see and worship Christ as he is, rather than as we would like him to be. What have you, like Bultmann, been quick to add or delete to the biblically revealed portrait of Christ?

Sproul, R.C., Before the Face of God: A Daily Guide for Living from the Old Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books) 1994.

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