We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded by your direct support for ReKnew and our vision. Please consider supporting this project.

When Jesus Referred to Canaanites as “Dogs”
Last week I discussed Paul’s harsh language regarding his opponents, the worst example being his reference to certain opponents as “dogs” (Phil 3:2). I suggested that such language simply reflects the fact that Paul wasn’t perfect, as he himself admitted. Several people pushed back on this suggestion by pointing out that Jesus once referred to Canaanites as “dogs.” If Paul’s reference reflects his imperfection, doesn’t the same apply to Jesus? Today I will explain why I think it does not.
This strange episode is found in Matthew 15:21-28. Here we find a Canaanite woman pleading with Jesus to free her demonized daughter (v. 22). Jesus initially ignored her and his disciples urged him to send her away (v. 23). Despite this, and despite the fact that Jesus reminded her that Jews looked down on Canaanites as “dogs” (v.26), the lady persisted. As a result, Jesus praised this woman’s “great faith” and then granted her request (v. 28).
Now, some NT scholars who don’t accept the biblical witness to Jesus’ sinless nature (Heb 4:15) argue that this episode indicates that Jesus shared his Jewish culture’s racist view of Canaanites. And if Jesus actually intended his comment to disparage the Canaanites, I see no way of avoiding their conclusion. Moreover, since racism is a sin, we would have to consider the biblical claim that Jesus was sinless to be mistaken. On the other hand, if we accept that Jesus was without sin, we simply cannot believe Jesus intended his remark to disparage Canaanites. And in this case, it is incumbent upon us to explain what Jesus did intend by his remark.
To discern what Jesus was up to, we need to recall that Jesus was a descendant of King David (Matt 1:6), the paradigmatic, mighty warrior king at the height of Israel’s glory. We need to remember as well that the name “Jesus” is the Greek version of “Joshua” in Hebrew. In this light, some have argued that this exchange between the contemporary “Joshua” and a descendent of those whom the ancient Joshua attempted to exterminate suggests that Matthew intends this story to be read against the background of the conquest narrative.
Read in this light, it becomes apparent that by extending mercy to a descendent of the people whom the ancient Joshua had shown no mercy, this contemporary Joshua is subverting the “show no mercy” command of the conquest narrative. Hence, Philip Jenkins argues, in this exchange the story of the attempted annihilation of the Canaanites “comes full circle, and the extermination order is repealed” (Laying Down the Sword [HarperOne, 2011], 241).
This interpretation helps explain why Jesus tested the woman’s faith by bringing up the Jewish stereotype of Canaanites as “dogs,” which was itself part of the legacy of the conquest narrative. Engaging in what some have called “prophetic theater,” Jesus dramatically exposed the racial hostility that lingered from the violent conquest in order to dramatically reveal that faith in his barrier-crossing mercy overcomes this hostility and frees people from its demonic oppression.
In short, Jesus was role-playing when he referred to Canaanites as “dogs,” and he was doing this with the loving motive of freeing people from the racist curse that had persisted since Joshua’s bloody conquest of the land of Canaan. I can frankly see no similar motive at work in Paul’s disparaging reference to his theological opponents, which is why I conclude that Paul’s reference to “dogs” reflects his imperfection while Jesus’ reference does not.
Photo on VisualHunt
Category: General
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Cruciform Theology, Paul Copan
Related Reading

The “Third Way”: Seeing God’s Beauty in the Depth of Scripture’s Violent Portraits of God
A publishing house recently sent me an advance copy of a book written by a well known scholar on the topic of the non-violent God revealed in Jesus, asking me to endorse it. (Publishing protocol stipulates that endorsers not critique a book before it’s released, so I will not mention the name of the author…

Jesus, the Word of God
“[T]he standing message of the Fathers to the Church Universal,” writes Georges Florovsky, was that “Christ Jesus is the Alpha and Omega of the Scriptures both the climax and the knot of the Bible.”[1] It was also unquestionably one of the most foundational theological assumptions of Luther and Calvin as well as other Reformers. Hence,…

Rethinking the Resurrection
As much as every other aspect of Jesus life and ministry, I submit that the resurrection must be understood in light of the cross. This event was not anything like the resuscitation of a random corpse. It was the resurrection of the Incarnate Son of God who had fulfilled the human side of the God-human…

Getting Honest about the Dark Side of the Bible
Eddy Van 3000 via Compfight While most of the Bible exhibits a “God-breathed” quality, reflecting a magnificently beautiful God that is consistent with God’s definitive revelation on the cross, we must honestly acknowledge that some depictions of God in Scripture are simply horrific. They are included in what is sometimes called “the dark side of…

Why Are Jesus’s Parables So Violent? (podcast)
Greg pops the hood to offer a helpful tutorial on how parables operate. Episode 609 http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0609.mp3

Should Innovative Theology Be Rejected?
In some conservative Christian circles innovation is suspect, if not sin. And as a result, theologians and pastors who take this stance often criticize what I propose in my writings simply because it’s innovative. However, I would like to suggest that the attitude that would dismiss hermeneutical or theological proposals simply on the grounds that…