Feb/080
The Old Testament
The Bible – The Word Of God
By Ronald Fabri
The Old Testament
If there is one area of misguided theological thinking and confusion for Christian believers it is the acceptance and understanding of the Old Testament. Many believers, including pastors, teachers, priests etc., reject, partly or wholly, the Old Testament as being non-Christian or sub-Christian.
This point of view contends that Christ has fulfilled the Old Testament for us; therefore we do not need to adhere to its teaching, nor accept the Pentateuch, which contains the first five books of the Law, including the Ten Commandments. The Christian view of the Old Testament should be very much in line with Christ’s view of it. We are told by the Apostle Paul to imitate him as he also imitates Christ. (see 1 Cor. 11:1).
It is quite clear in the Bible that Jesus Christ accepted the authority and validity of the entire Old Testament, and by imitating Him, we also must accept fully its authority and validity.
If there is a chapter in the New Testament that could be completely misunderstood and misconstrued by some Christian theologians and teachers it is chapter 5 in the Gospel of Matthew.
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” ( Matt. 5:17-20)
Most of the misunderstanding in this passage is based on the word fulfill. The word fulfill has wrongly been taken to mean complete, consume, to fill, to finish, to stop. If this passage of the Bible is read according to this wrong interpretation, it will, of course, be understood that Jesus Christ has completed and done away with the Old Testament. But, is this the correct interpretation?
The Apostle Paul warns the believers to prove, examine and test whatever is taught and not to unquestionably accept wrong teachings based on men’s interpretations, traditions, precepts and wrong motivations. Jesus Christ rebuked the Pharisees and the Scribes because they were disregarding the Scriptures but enforcing their own traditions and precepts.
“But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thess. 5:21-22)
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 Thess. 5:21-22)
And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
THESE PEOPLE HONOR ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN. Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” ( Mark 7:6-8)
He was also saying to them, you are experts at setting aside the commandments of God in order to keep your traditions. (Mark 7:9)
To be able to understand what Jesus really meant in Matt 5:17-20, we will examine some of the well known Christian commentaries on the Bible, in the next post in this series.
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Read my personal thoughts on this topic.
Next: Various Commentaries on Matt 5:17-20