Storge, Justice, and the Ten Commandments: Rethinking Biblical Love (Mike Tolliver) Ep. #201

May 22, 2025

Mike Tolliver, the Executive Director of the Center for Hebraic Thought, dives deep into familial love and biblical justice. He challenges the notion of prioritizing family over neighborly love, arguing that Storge is vital for societal function. Tolliver discusses the roles of the kinsman-redeemer and adoption in scripture, shedding light on how family ethics permeate the Ten Commandments. His exploration includes the complexities of family loyalty versus love for strangers, offering fresh perspectives on ancient concepts and modern implications.

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INSIGHT

Kinsman Redeemer as Social Safety Net

Kinsman redeemer in ancient Israel acted as a social safety net for widows, orphans, and the poor.
This kin-based system effectively eliminated social vulnerability categories by ensuring family responsibility.

INSIGHT

Adoption vs. Kinsman Redeemer

Paul's metaphor of adoption for Gentile inclusion highlights their outsider status in God's family.
Adoption differs fundamentally from kinsman redeemer, which is rooted in natural kinship bonds.

INSIGHT

Divine Kinship Underpins Israel's Election

The incarnation means God’s kinship with ethnic Israel, grounding Israel's election in divine-human relationship.
God's Jewishness through the incarnation underwrites Israel’s special election.

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Is loving your family first a biblical idea—or a betrayal of Jesus’ call to love your neighbor? In this thought-provoking episode, Mike Tolliver—Executive Director of the Center for Hebraic Thought—joins Dru Johnson to explore his developing PhD thesis on Storge (family love), the kinsman-redeemer, and what biblical justice actually looks like.

Drawing on Torah, philosophy, and early Christian texts, Mike argues that Storge love is not only natural—it’s essential to a functioning society, and that Israel’s family-based justice system was designed to eliminate categories like “orphan” and “widow.” He explores why Paul uses the metaphor of adoption—and not kinsman-redeemer—for Gentile inclusion, and why the Ten Commandments are saturated with family ethics.

From Sophie's Choice-style sermon illustrations to questions about circumcision, baptism, and ethnic election, this episode unpacks the implications of what it means to love your kin without devaluing the stranger.

As Mike prepares for PhD work, his big question is: What does rightly ordered family love look like in Scripture—and what happens when it gets misordered?

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Chapters:

00:00 Exploring Academic Pursuits and Career Paths
05:47 The Kinsman Redeemer: A Social Safety Net
14:35 Storge and Kinsman Redeemer in Biblical Context
19:54 Theological Implications of Kinship and Election
27:34 Exploring the Promise of Descendancy
29:03 Navigating the Path to a PhD
30:56 The Challenge of Proposal Writing
31:57 Understanding Storge in Hebraic Thought
39:07 The Role of Storge in the Ten Commandments
41:07 Stranger Love vs. Family Love
43:55 Moral Dilemmas in Love
49:56 The Future of Intergenerational Family Focus