Christianity According to the Old Testament

September 27, 2011Posted inChurch, New Covanent, Spiritual Life, Theology5 Comments

31The days are coming, declares the LORD,
when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,
declares the LORD.
33 This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time, declares the LORD.
I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, Know the LORD,
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,
declares the LORD.
For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more. – Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NIV)

I find this passage fascinating – I can get out of this some interesting aspects of this “New Covenant” from this passage alone.  These thoughts were inspired by a class I was in a couple of years ago, but more recently have been on my mind…

“The Fool” of Psalm 14

April 26, 2011Posted inAtheism, Doctrinal Issues, Paper, PsalmsNo Comments

The themes of Psalm 14, although exegetically difficult, have been popular subjects of theology and philosophy from the time of Paul until today.  Paul loosely quotes verses 1-3 in Rom 3:10-12 to describe the fallen state of godless Jews and Gentiles to a Jewish audience.  Anselm of Canterbery, who developed his logical argument for the ontological existence of God in Proslogium,  cited Psalm 14 as an important building block in his line of reasoning.  He was refuted by Gaunilo of Marmouter in an essay entitled In Behalf of the Fool, who based his criticism on the theology of Psalm 14.

Neo-Calvinistic scholarship of the later reformation era later begin exploring these themes as well with the goal to define a concrete theological doctrine to refute Arminianism.  The tenant of total depravity,  a cornerstone belief in Reformed theology, rests heavily on a universalized interpretation of verses 1-3.  It is likely that the origin of this interpretation came from an understanding based on Pauls re-contextualization of its verses in Romans, a creative practice he sometimes employed in the formulation of his arguments but obscured their original meaning and context.

The purpose of this research is to conduct a formal study of Psalm 14 from a literary-theological exegetical approach.  Pauls treatment and usage of this text will not be used for understanding the psalmists original meaning in this review, although a study of that subject would be a good compliment to more fully understand the issues they both address.

“Knowing” God in the Old Testament

February 2, 2011Posted inDivine Revelation, Doctrinal Issues, God4 Comments

In my experience in popular theology, I have frequently read and heard the notion that the God of the Old Testament scriptures was somewhat distant from his people in relation to how the modern Christian experiences him today. With the advent of the coming of Christ and the ushering in of the New Covenant, a new closeness and intimacy with God was now possible to a degree not experienced before through the impartation of the Holy Spirit.  This concept may be further solidified by Jesus comment that ‘the Counselor’ will not come to his people until Christ had completed his work and returned to the Father.[1] This idea of God’s closeness to his people being different from one Covenant to the next has always bothered me, most likely because of a perceived consistency of God’s character and his dealings with people summarized by the author of Hebrews, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.[2] It seems odd to me that he would treat his people differently in terms of relational intimacy from one covenant to another.

In order to understand this issue better, I have chosen to examine the Old Testament’s use of the Hebrew word yada, (to perceive, to know) in terms of God ‘knowing’ man or man ‘knowing’ God.  With a thorough study of this word and its nuanced meanings found throughout the Old Testament and a brief look at its counterparts in the Ancient Near Eastern languages of the time, a good foundation can be laid for further studies in the disciplines of theology and philosophy.None of these disciplines or any topic within them, however, will be addressed.