Who’d A Thunk It?
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 6:00AM 
I can’t predict which of my blog posts will get the most traction. The one from last week that got the most comments, all of them on other venues, was on nose rings. As the noted philosopher, Mortimer Snerd, would have said, "Who'd a thunk it?”
This is a lot more of an important issue in Biblical interpretation than one would think at first glance. The reason is that it is difficult to directly apply a portion of the Bible because our customs are quite different. Nose rings are just the proverbial “camel’s nose in the tent.”
I used to be what is called a Biblicist. I wanted to directly apply the Bible to modern life. While I still fit loosely in that category, I have to acknowledge that one can’t apply the Bible woodenly to our modern society. If one wants to be a strict Biblicist, then I suggest that all the women get nose rings.
While this problem is greatest in the Old Testament, it also exists in the New Testament. Paul tells us 4 times that there is a certain activity that was integral to first century church services. The original Greek is even in the imperative mood, which for the grammatically disinclined like me means that it is a command. 1 Thessalonians 5 tells us:
26 Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss.
I had almost as much fun with this over the years as I had as an insecure teenager with "women should be silent in the church." I have pointed this scripture out in sermons and suggested that we need to kiss each other. The implication I give is that men need to be kissed by women. Of course this is not what is commanded. It was men kissing men, usually on the lips. It would have been totally culturally inappropriate for first century men and women to kiss in public. So if this command is to be obeyed without consideration of the culture of the time, we men need to greet each other with a kiss on the lips when we meet in church. I may have a French surname, but I am not that French!
Instead the proper approach is to understand what role the holy kiss played in the culture and try to suggest a way to express that same idea in a more culturally appropriate way. J.B Phillips translates the 'holy kiss" verses as "shake hands all around"-how very British of him. Eugene H. Peterson's The Message paraphrased Bible suggests a holy embrace. The Holy Hug seems to be the appropriate cultural response for Americans. Be friendly is the general principle.
If it is difficult to apply these kind of things directly to our modern situation, how much more difficult is it in the area of economics? While the Bible is very clear that “wealth inequality” is not a good thing, it is difficult to apply the Biblical solutions. As I blog on wealth inequality starting next week, I will try to keep this in mind.
Bible 
Reader Comments (5)
Men kissed each other on the beard, not the lips. I believe the holy kiss is the one which would have been culturally accaptable and that would have been to kiss the beard.
You could be right. I suggest reading this blog post which is a summary of the Michael Penn Kissing Christians: Ritual and Community in the Late Ancient Church (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006)
http://amywelborn.typepad.com/openbook/2006/03/greet_each_othe.html
I have not read the book but this summary says that it was usually on the lips. It also says that men and women kissed, which I find surprising.
In Japan, I suppose it would be "bow low to everyone."
I've thought about this kissing thing some recently. At a farmers market which I frequent a friend (he gives me discounts I am another vendor) will actually really kiss on the lips his Iranian buddies who will come and sit with him. Old time Russians will often be kissing each other on the cheek. There are four places in the new testament where we are "commanded" to greet each other with a holy kiss: I Thessalonians 5:26, Romans 16:16, 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12. Once in a enthusiastic conversation with a sister (middle aged) in the church talking about not being passive aggressive to each other I kissed her on the cheek. I think we are both shocked.
You try to kiss me Dennis and I will kill you!
Luv
Eddie H. Nessul
Amboy , California