The Old Testament and the Church - Essay Example

? The Old Testament and the Church 6 Question Explain how an understanding of the Old Testament is essentialfor understanding the New Testament. One needs to understand the Old Testament in order to understand the New Testament. One reason for this is the connection between the two Testaments because of the fact that the same God existed in both the Old and New Testaments. This is the same God who served as the Creator, Liberator and Savior. Moreover, the promises of God in the Old Testament are finally fulfilled in the New Testament. The beginning of this fulfillment is in the death and resurrection of Jesus in the New Testament (Lesson 6.1). Moreover, in order to better understand the New Testament, one needs to study the Old Testament because the salvation that Jesus brought was first offered to the Israelites. As this salvation was universally offered to Gentiles in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ offered the same salvation to the Gentiles in the New Testament. The new Passover that happened with Christ in the New Testament was the same as the covenant that God made with Moses and the Israelites during the Passover in the Old Testament (Lesson 6.1). Another reason for the need to understand the Old Testament before one can fully comprehend the New Testament is the unity between the two Testaments in terms of Jesus Christ as the Word of God incarnate. The Old Testament was actually devoted to the Holy Spirit speaking through the prophets and predicting the arrival of Christ through figurative language. The fulfillment of the word of the prophets in the Old Testament is the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in the New Testament (Lesson 6.1). Question 2. Describe with examples the use of the term “scriptures” in the New Testament. The Scriptures, as mentioned by Jesus Christ in the New Testament, refer to the collection of Jewish books known as the Torah, which were produced by the writers of the Old Testament. In his sermons, Jesus made a number of references to the Scriptures in order to show the reader and all people during and after His time that He recognizes the authority of the prophets of the Old Testament and most especially the authority of God the Father. In the New Testament, Jesus defended many times the sanctity of the Scriptures and hinted several times too on their fulfillment in Him. Examples of the mention of “Scriptures” by Jesus include the following passages: “Scripture cannot be annulled” (Jn. 10:35), “This Scripture must be fulfilled in me” (Lk. 22:37), and “But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled which say it must happen this way?” (Mt. 26:54). These passages clearly show how much Jesus acknowledges the authority of the Scriptures of the Old Testament while indirectly telling the reader that He is the fulfillment of these Scriptures. Paul, in his epistles also used the term “Scriptures” repeatedly. He mentioned in 1 Cor. 15:3-4, “…Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures” and “that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.” From this passage, we can see that Paul believed that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Scriptures. Moreover, there are many other instances where the word “scriptures” are quoted in the New Testament, such as in the case of 2 Peter 3:16, where it states “There are some things in them [the letters] hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures” (Lesson 6.1). This specific passage, however, is trying to tell us that the scriptures can be “twisted” or modified but they are not destroyed for it is those who twist them that undergo destruction (Lesson 6.1). This means that the scriptures themselves can never be destroyed, but a wrong interpretation of them can lead to the destruction of the one who misinterprets it. Question 3. Explain why the Church teaches the unity of the Old and New Testaments. The Church teaches the unity of the Old and New Testaments because of many reasons but the ultimate reason of all is Jesus Christ, who is considered the “the Word of God incarnate” (Lesson 6.1). Through Jesus Christ, the writings of the Prophets of the Old Testament are fulfilled in the New Testament. In fact, it is the unity of the Jewish (Old Testament) and Christian (New Testament) covenants that expresses themselves in the unity of Jesus Christ Himself for it is only Jesus Christ who embraces the unity of these two covenants. It is also interesting to note that when if Christianity is divorced from the Old Covenant or the Old Testament, the former has the tendency to degenerate into Gnosticism or any other similar heretical concept. The phenomenon of unity between the Testaments as brought about by Jesus Christ is the core explanation for why the Church teaches such unity. The root is actually a divine one as the Holy Spirit spoke through the Prophets of the Old Testament, then Jesus Christ Himself preached the words of the Holy Spirit as a fulfillment of the same words that the Holy Spirit gave the Prophets. Eventually, the unity between the Testaments concludes with the preaching of Jesus’ apostles of the Gospel after the Savior’s death until now and will only end by the time of Christ’s Second Coming, which is an indefinite time in the future (Lesson 6.1). Moreover, another reason for the unity between the Old and the New Testaments is that they share several themes like the revelation of God, the role of God as liberator and savior, the reproaches and condemnations from God, and the promises (Lesson 6.1). Moreover, aside from the continuity of thought between the Old and New Testaments, as exemplified by the existence of Jesus Christ to fulfill the word of the Old Testament prophets, another common theme between the two Testaments and one that explains their unity is the fact that salvation was offered to Gentiles (Egyptians) in the Old Testament as it was offered to the same Gentiles (like Paul) in the New Testament (Lesson 6.1). The offer of salvation through Jesus Christ was therefore not limited only to Jews or Christians but for all who believe in Him. 6.2 Question 1. Explain how the fulfillment of the Old Testament in the New Testament is related to the unity of God’s plans for Christians and Jews. With fulfillment comes unity. The unity of God’s plan for Christians and Jews can only exist in the context of fulfillment. This means that without the fact that the New Testament fulfilled the Old Testament, then there would not have been any unity between the testaments. Unity between the Old and New Testaments can only occur in the context of fulfillment. This means that both Jews and Christians share the creation of the world by God, the fall of humans from perfection, and the history of Israel as guided by God. Then the Jews separate from the Christians in that the former experience the exile from the Holy Land, the destruction of the Temple in 70AD and the final deliverance of the Israelites by God. For the Christians, the next events succeeding the God-guided history of Israel are as follows: the life and work of Jesus, his death, resurrection and ascension; the current times from the preaching of the apostles and Paul to the present where the Gospel of Christ is being proclaimed; and the unfulfilled return of Christ in the end, through the power of God the Father (Lesson 6.2). Now, it is interesting to note that the first three events are shared by both the Jews of the Old Testament and the Christians of the New Testament, but the best thing is that the end is also shared by both Jews and Christians despite the fact that they parted ways sometime during the middle. This is because Christ fulfills both the final deliverance of the Israelites and the Second Coming as viewed by the Christians. Thus, the unity of the spiritual lives and journey of the Jews and the Christians was only made possible when Jesus Christ fulfilled the conclusion of both the histories of both people. Furthermore, as the prophets of the Old Testament have predicted, Jesus would fulfill the deliverance of the Israelites someday, which is the only way through which the spiritual histories of both Jews and Christians unite. Question 2. Describe the difference between fulfillment and supersession. The idea of fulfillment means agreeing with what was previously said, and the idea of supersession means overriding what was said before in lieu of what is existent now. In the context of the Christian Bible, fulfillment refers to the idea of Jesus Christ fulfilling the predictions of the prophets of the Old Testament, thus fulfilling the scriptures of the Jews and not superseding or replacing them (Lesson 6.2). In fact, Jesus Himself explained that he did come for the purpose of fulfillment of the scriptures and not for supersession. In the Gospel of Matthew 5:17-18, He stated, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” [and that] “until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter [of the scriptures] will pass away until all is accomplished” (Lesson 6.2). This means that Jesus Himself says that there is no one or nothing and not even He can or rather choose to destroy the scriptures or the law or the prophets. Jesus’ existence therefore does not threaten to obliterate Jewish law but rather to fulfill its prophecies. On the other hand, supersession is the idea that “the church replaces or supersedes the Jewish people as God’s covenant community after the coming of Jesus” (“Supersession”). This means that with the coming of Jesus, the old Jewish church as well as all the writings of the Old Testament, or the Scriptures, are already made null and void. However, as we know, this is not the case as Jesus Himself stated. Moreover, supersessionism means that “God has rejected Israel and replaced her with the church because of Israel’s rejection of Jesus” (“Supersession”). This means that supersessionism refers to the coming of Jesus as a punishment for the Jews. They rejected Jesus, thus God rejected them too. However, this is not what Jesus said He was supposed to accomplish. Question 3. Explain why the Catholic Church emphasizes the importance of both the literal sense and the historical-critical methodology. The literal sense of the Bible was given top priority after Thomas Aquinas. As Aquinas stated, “All senses are based on one, namely the literal, from which alone an argument can be drawn, and not from those which are said by way of allegory” (Lesson 6.2). This particular line from the Summa Theologica means that only the literal sense can be trusted in the interpretation of the Scriptures. Otherwise, if it is based on a spiritual sense, then it must be subjective and probably an adulterated interpretation. Nevertheless, according to the Pontifical Biblical Commission in 1995, or the voice of the modern church, the historical-critical method of interpretation is the “indispensable method for the scientific study of the meaning of ancient texts” including the Holy Scriptures (Lesson 6.2). This means that the modern church believes that just the mere literal interpretation of the scriptures is not enough and would fall short of the spiritual meaning that they are supposed to convey. Moreover, if the interpretation of the scriptures were but literal, Christians would have “no clear awareness of the concrete and diverse historical conditions in which the Word of God took root among the people” (Lesson 6.2). Thus, there is a need for something beyond just literal interpretation. Since one does not really know which particular method of interpretation works better than the other, one should therefore use various approaches in the interpretations of the scriptures. The most important thing is that “Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written” (“On Scripture, the Literal Sense and the Historical Critical Method,” 2012). This means that although we do not know we should try and pray that we be accurate or precise in the interpretation of the scriptures. Top of Form Bottom of Form Works Cited Lesson 6.1 notes. Lesson 6.2 notes. “On Scripture, the Literal Sense and the Historical Critical Method.” 2012. Sentire Cum Ecclesia. 8 Nov 2013. “Supersession.” 2013. Ferrum College. 8 Nov 2013. Read More