Life

Martin Henry: Inconsistency is not all bad, just look at the Bible

True consistency is beyond mere mortals - only God is truly constant, writes Fr Martin Henry

In the Sermon on the Mount, depicted here in an 1890 painting by Carl Bloch, Jesus urges us to 'turn the other cheek' - but is this message consistent throughout the Bible?
In the Sermon on the Mount, depicted here in an 1890 painting by Carl Bloch, Jesus urges us to 'turn the other cheek' - but is this message consistent throughout the Bible? In the Sermon on the Mount, depicted here in an 1890 painting by Carl Bloch, Jesus urges us to 'turn the other cheek' - but is this message consistent throughout the Bible?

IT has often been remarked that inconsistency is a distinct liability in anyone holding a position of leadership or authority.

Critics tend to feel they are on safe ground with the powers that be when they can cite examples of discrepancy between words and actions or between theory and practice.

In such cases, the notion of hypocrisy can usually be relied on to make a triumphant appearance sooner or later, and to seal the fate of any offenders, or at the very least seriously inconvenience them.

But is inconsistency really such a bad thing? To question the wisdom of seeing consistency as a value or even a virtue might appear to be irresponsible, if not perverse, or to be giving the notion of playing the devil's advocate quite unreasonable latitude.

Yet in life, from the weather to people's moods, inconsistency seems to be a more evident force than consistency.

While some may lament this state of affairs, it is difficult to deny it. It is possible, of course, both to acknowledge the pervasive nature of the inconsistent and yet to feel the desire to circumvent it. G.K. Chesterton is reported as saying that faith enables us to survive our moods.

However, this slightly begrudging attitude to inconsistency may not do full justice to its possible advantages.

It also may be hard to square with a curious feature of the New Testament: its seeming accommodation of inconsistency.

To list some of the apparent inconsistencies in the New Testament is not too difficult.

We are encouraged to "turn the other cheek" when attacked, and yet the Magnificat talks about casting the mighty from their thrones and raising the lowly (Luke 1:52).

All this may seem a far cry from such humdrum matters as the weather, but might it be plausible to suggest that part of Christianity's appeal - perhaps a major part of it - may lie in its implicit endorsement of inconsistency down through the centuries?

In the Acts of the Apostles and St Paul's Letter to the Romans, the assessment of the secular state is quite positive, with Christians encouraged to respect its legitimacy and authority. But, in the Book of Revelation, it is seen as an apocalyptic monster to be resolutely resisted.

St Paul's writings stress the paramount importance of divine grace in the Christian dispensation, whereas the Gospel of Matthew strongly suggests that all must make some moral contribution towards their salvation.

The New Testament, for all its emphasis on the love and mercy of God, is replete with chilling references to hell and its terrors, yet we are also assured by the same source that God lets his sun rise and his rain fall on good and bad alike, indiscriminately (Matthew 5:45).

And moving just slightly beyond the New Testament itself, we can see the same pattern emerging: in particular St Paul in his writings made much play of the distinction between philosophy and the Christian faith, claiming that the latter transcended the former.

And yet almost as soon as the young Christian faith emerged into the light of world history, it immediately sought the assistance of philosophy in advancing its cause.

Early Christian thinkers were not even usually referred to in their own times as 'theologians' but as 'philosophers'.

Indeed, it might be claimed that the Gospel of John shows Christianity warmly embracing the attractions of philosophy even within the New Testament period itself.

All this may seem a far cry from such humdrum matters as the weather, but might it be plausible to suggest that part of Christianity's appeal - perhaps a major part of it - may lie in its implicit endorsement of inconsistency down through the centuries?

As such, it has shown itself to be in tune with the rhythms of human life: with life's seeming arbitrariness ("Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left", Luke 17:35); with the longing for certainty and the unappeasable need to question; with, to take another random example, the human attraction both to attempt to capture something of the ineffable glory of God in religious architecture, and to annihilate all such attempts in a frenzy of iconoclasm.

In other words, with the message perhaps most memorably expressed in the Bible by Qohelet: "For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven" (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

If inconsistency can be defended, its defence might at bottom be a recognition or an acceptance of humanity's contingency or created status.

As we are not inherently divine, inconsistency may be our inevitable lot. And if so, we can safely leave consistency to God.

  • Martin Henry, former lecturer in theology at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, is a priest of the diocese of Down and Connor.