Posted on 07/06/2014 3:19:13 AM PDT by HarleyD
“You’ll find our text this morning in the Old Testament…” I know this is a rare announcement on a Sunday morning, but when you heard it last, what did you think? “Oh no! Not another historical lecture.” “We’re going to get a whipping with the law today.” “Why? I came to church to hear about Jesus.” “What’s Israel and Babylon got to do with my family struggles?”
Or maybe you didn’t just think it. You said it or emailed it to the pastor afterwards. And pastors are feeling the pressure. Some surveys put the ratio of Old Testament to New Testament sermons at 1 to 10. Some would like it nearer 0 to 10.
But might this imbalance in the spiritual diet of most Christians explain many of the spiritual problems in the modern Church and in modern Christians? Or as Gleason Archer put it: “How can Christian pastors hope to feed their flock on a well-balanced spiritual diet if they completely neglect the 39 books of Holy Scripture on which Christ and all the New Testament authors received their own spiritual nourishment?”
Where did the Old Testament go?
It wasn’t always like this. The Church used to have a much more balanced diet. So how did we get here?
1. Liberalism: The sustained attack on the Old Testament by liberal scholars has shaken many Christians’ confidence in this part of the Bible.
2. Ignorance: It is almost impossible to understand large parts of the Old Testament without knowledge of the historical context and geographical setting. But, while this knowledge was once widespread, many now know little or nothing of biblical history.
3. Irrelevance: Some look at the historical and geographical details of the Old Testament and wonder what possible relevance can events and places from thousands of years ago have for me? And anyway, the New Testament teaches that many Old Testament practices have stopped. So, why study them?
4. Dispensationalism: Although unintended, the dispensational division of Scripture into different eras tends to relegate the Old Testament to a minor role in the life of the Church, and of the individual Christian.
5. Bad Examples: Bad examples of Old Testament preaching and teaching are easy to find and even easier to ridicule. The malpractice of some, however, should not lead to the non-practice of others.
6. Laziness: Studying the Old Testament is often more intellectually demanding than the New Testament. The familiar paths of the Gospels seem much more inviting than Leviticus, 2 Chronicles, or Nahum!
7. Christ-less preaching: Perhaps the greatest reason for so little interest in the Old Testament is that there has been so much Christ-less teaching from the Old Testament. At a popular level, Old Testament preaching has often degenerated into mere moralism (e.g. “Ten lessons from the life of Moses”). At an academic level, there seems to be a determination to downplay and even remove any possibility of Christ-centeredness in the Old Testament. Little surprise then that many turn away from the Old Testament and towards the New in order to find and enjoy Jesus.
How do we get the Old Testament back?
How can we fight and even reverse these trends? Well, we must combat liberal theology by treating the Old Testament as the inspired Word of God. We must patiently study biblical history and geography, and learn how to profitably connect the past to the present. We must avoid the weaknesses of dispensationalism. We must identify and avoid bad practice, as well as search for, value, and learn from good preaching and teaching models. And we must be willing to put in the hours, the sweat, the toil, and the tears, as we break up the long-untilled ground of the Old Testament.
Above all, despite the prevalence of Christ-less moralism and the pressures of Christ-less academia, we must strive to find and enjoy Christ in the Old Testament. That alone is what makes Old Testament study profitable and enjoyable. It also produces the wonderful blessing of Christ-centered spiritual heartburn (Luke 24:32).
Adapated from Jesus on Every Page by David Murray.
Genesis wasn’t easy to do. It was just easier to understand some of the time. Yes, the mentioning of Abraham and all the other details were ones we spent quite a bit of time on.
We also used a timeline that tied into other Old Testament writings as well as to where various passages were quoted in the New Testament.
What is amazing about Christ’s teachings is how often he pulled on the Old Testament to teach the Pharisees and rich Sadducees, but they never seemed to grasp his teachings.
I think that is one of the reasons most people shy away from the Old Testament. Every commandment ever given was given for our benefit by a loving and caring Father. One should read the Old Testament with the view that since God is love, what are we doing that is making God so angry or for what purpose was a command given? (Yes, even in Leviticus.) It gives a whole different perspective.
We didn’t do comparisons for the Minor Prophets. Maybe next time we read through them we will.
Have any of you become tired of a Bible Study series and started to use other sources as you taught a class. This has happened to me. We had a left-leaning Adult Education leader who chose the Little Rock series. It is good for a beginning Bible Study, but takes a lot from Collegeville Commentary (modern leanings.)
To me it was good because it was basic and historic in most cases. I had some differences with it and used supplementary materials in Genesis, John, and one other study.
I just did a search on Little Rock and the Catholic Answers forums have three discussion on it, verifying my judgments.
I’m ready for something deeper and am thinking of Jeff Cavins or Scott Hahn or Ignatius. Tax-chick — any experience with any of those?
I think it's almost inevitable that guidance would be taken from additional sources. When someone claims they "just read the Bible", look closely. Usually, they're just unaware of their own presuppositions, and are unable to examine them.
I’m ready for something deeper and am thinking of Jeff Cavins or Scott Hahn or Ignatius. Tax-chick — any experience with any of those?
My understanding is Scott Hahn has done some writing in covenant theology, that (from the excerpted quotes I saw) looked interesting. Reformed protestant theology is thick with it. (See the link in my post earlier in this thread.) I've got no idea how that would integrate into an RCC worldview.
Several things that I plan on doing when I retire is go through the writing of the early church fathers and read some commentaries. I’ve often wonder why, if someone is going to study a book of the bible, they don’t take a commentary or even a topical study dictionary as the book to study? These are scholarly works rather than opinions and conjectures. Even if you took John Calvin or Anselm’s writings, there should be some nuggets there to agree or disagree with. And, choosing a Protestant if so incline, should make for a lively bible study.
Reading is one thing.
Exposition is another. The writer.is correct. Where it used to be that Christians we’re well versed in old testament history and geography they are no more.
I think you have a wise plan there.
I do have a fairly good study Bible but would love to find one for the Jerusalem Bible since it is used worldwide almost everywhere other than the U. S.
I also think that every person who teaches a Bible Study should have a concordance. I don’t take mine to class, but I always have it handy. Maybe I should change that, despite the weight of the book.
Scott Hahn writes a lot about covenant theology. Try “A Father Who Keeps His Promises” for an overview; this is a high-school level text, iirc, but gives an idea of what to expect from some of his other work.
I have the Navarre Bible commentaries. This set has the RSV text (English) and the New Vulgate (Latin), with commentaries that include simple historical explication, quotations from the Fathers, and modern European theologians.
The “New Advent” website has a substantial amount of early writings available online, iirc. If you want to read St. John Chrysostom’s sermons on the Gospel of Matthew, for example, they can be found there.
How about an electronic version? Not everything modern is bad ;-)
“God is love...What the Old Testament shows is that no matter how God tries to entice us, either through encouragement or punishment, we simply don’t want much to do with Him.”
So true Harley. Many times I’ve been driven to tears by the pleading and reasoning of God the Father with his people. He is so tender and, yes, wrathful. It is all very PERSONAL, though. Really gets me.
Catholics have an old testament reading every mass.
And in pre Vatican II days we were told the g rated version of the stories. Given the fact that some of those stories were r rated, that might explain why some churches avoid parts of the OT
Great stuff. I am grateful for pastors, Sunday school teachers & Bible Study Fellowship who taught the Old as much as the New Testament all my life.
I see so much error that could be avoided. One example. People look at just the 4 years of Jesus’ earthly preaching & think the sins most offensive to Him are legalism & hypocrisy. (Or worse. I was once told while visiting a Methodist church that Jesus’ primary message was nonviolence. My head about exploded.)
But the context is Israel had suffered so horrifically due to God’s punishment for their sin of idolatry, they were trying to “build a fence around” the possibility of that ever happening again, which led to the legalism, which led to the hypocrisy. Yes, that was the wrong reaction, but when you know the back story it helps.
Marcion.... :)
Couldn't hoit.
You've heard of the new Catholic student drinking game? You open any book by Hahn, and every time you see the word "covenant" you drink a shot.
Many think the game is a bad idea because, like the previous one which was based on lousy puns, it leads too quickly to perilously high blood alcohol levels.
JUST KIDDING!
Chug chug!
One thing that irks me is when people - even preachers - say “Jesus never said anything about homosexuality.” The implication being that God the Son had absolutely nothing to do with the OT law.
Yes, I know what you mean. This is one of my pet peeves as well.
On occasions our pastor has been know to warn the parents and the church has set up special services for minors when talking about some of the more steamier parts of the scriptures.
He always explains that it is in the scriptures and God certainly wants us to know about it.
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