An Old Way of Thinking

The just shall live by faith. Love your neighbor as yourself. A man reaps what he sows. The law of God is in our minds and written in our hearts. These are all concepts and biblical truths with which every Christian can recite by heart and proudly proclaim that he lives by the grace of the New Testament and not under the law of the Old Testament. There is, however, a slight problem with this way of thinking. All of the verses quoted above come from the Old Testament. The just shall live by faith is found in Habakkuk 2:4. You shall love your neighbor as yourself is a direct quote from Leviticus 19:18. A man reaps what he sows comes from Hosea 10:12-13. And the promise of a new covenant where the law is in our minds and written in our hearts and not on tablets of stone is found in Jeremiah 31:33.
The only Bible that Jesus, his disciples, the Apostle Paul, and all of the first century believers possessed, used, and quoted from was the Old Testament. And yet, it is that portion of the Bible which makes up 39 of the 66 books of the entire Bible that most of us remain ignorant. It was the Old Testament from which came the fulfillment of the prophecies about the Messiah. Philip, in Acts 8:35, shared the gospel with the Ethiopian eunuch from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. He did not have the Romans road at his disposal. The New Testament was not written in a vacuum, nor as a book to replace the Old Testament. The New Testament is not the Christian Bible and the Old Testament only a book for the Jews. If that were the case, then everything that we teach as Christians, as believers in Jesus, could be dismissed out-of-hand by the Jews as simply Christian teachings and doctrines that do not apply to the Jews.
Jesus was speaking to a Jewish audience when he said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled". (Matthew 5:17-18 KJV)

Living in Israel has caused me to dig deeper into God's word in order to proclaim its truth. It is not enough to quote passages from the New Testament to "prove" a doctrine. The New Testament often explains a doctrine succinctly, especially to someone who was raised in a Christian environment and takes for granted teachings on the Trinity, the virgin birth, the relationship of Jesus to the Father, etc, etc. But what if your audience doesn't recognize "your Bible" as authoritative?
My challenge to you is to read, study, and learn the whole Bible, not just the 27 books of the New Testament. If we say that we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, then it is important to partake of it all. Understand that the Old and New Testaments form the whole counsel of God. They are joined together by the common threads of God's redemption for mankind. The next time you are reading in the New Testament and there is a quote from the Old Testament, stop, turn to that passage and seek to understand its history and application. And he (Abraham) believed in the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness, Genesis 15:6. Phinehas stood up for the Lord and it was counted to him for righteousness (see Psalm 106 and Numbers 25). Jesus, God's servant, humbled himself, but was raised up, and will one day be highly exalted (Isaiah 52:13).

Blessings from Jerusalem,
David

Guest Blog

I have invited a couple of friends to be "guest bloggers" on my blog. I thought it would be a blessing for you to hear from these other men periodically. So, this week we will be hearing from one of these men.

So, let me introduce this friend to you. His name is David and he is a "sent one" from our church. You may have noticed the hits on the blog from Israel. They are from David and his wife Anne. David and Anne served for many years in local church ministry in the States as lay-leaders before answering the call to overseas work. They were appointed in 2001 and have been active in the country since January 2005. David is an MA student at the University in Cultural Anthropology (cultures of the Bible). He serves as a deacon in a local congregation in Jerusalem of 200 believers. Anne leads the ladies' ministry of their congregation. Their children all attend national or Hebrew speaking schools. They have a planned furlough beginning in August 2009. So, enjoy getting to know this family through our blog and when they come to the states, please make a point to visit with them and be a blessing to these "sent ones".