Biblical Interpretation of The Lex Talionis In the Old Testament and The Role of Christian Education in Educating Church Members

Jura, Demsy (2021) Biblical Interpretation of The Lex Talionis In the Old Testament and The Role of Christian Education in Educating Church Members. Proceedings from the 1st International Conference on Law and Human Rights.

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Abstract

Law in community life exists as part of an effort to organize a better and civilized community life. That is why every rule is made to become a guideline for someone in living life, in which there are norms, ethics, and civilization. There are several laws introduced to regulate the order of human life, and one of them is lex talionis. The lex talionis principle is known as the law of compensation. There is a strong suspicion that the application of this law has been there since the Babylonian era as stated in the laws of Hammurabi (1780 BC). The study in this article is about the lex talionis principle which was introduced to the Jewish community and later became known in Christian life. In the Torah, namely the book of Moses, the lex talionis principle was introduced as the law "Eye for Eye", where this is alluded to in the book of Exodus 21: 22-25, Leviticus 24: 19-21 and Deuteronomy 19: 16-21. The general principle in this law emphasizes that humans are so valuable and need to be protected from every threat. In the church age, the concepts of gift and grace were introduced, and many people misunderstood them when the impression appeared as if they were to dispense with the laws that were applicable in the Old Testament, including the lex talionis principle. In order not to misunderstand it, it needs the correct and justified biblical interpretation. The study of hermeneutic for this needs to be done correctly. Furthermore, the role of Christian Education in educating church members to understand the lex talionis principle needs to be done properly so that it is avoided the perceptions misunderstanding. The research conducted in this article uses descriptive qualitative methods, where the data source in this study is through literature review. This research begins with describing the lex talionis in the Old Testament and the biblical interpretation of it then the role of Christian Education in educating church members. Keywords: Lex Talionis; Bible’s Interpretation; Christian Education; Church Members

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