Jesus and the Old Testament

"These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."
(Luke 24:44 NASB)
(Luke 24:44 NASB)
John Calvin on the Psalms

John Calvin, the famous 16th-century French theologian who became a major player in the Protestant Reformation in Europe, said that the Book of Psalms featured "the anatomy of all the parts of the soul, for not an affection will anyone find in himself whose image is not reflected in this mirror. All the griefs, sorrows, fears, misgivings, hopes, cares, anxieties, in short all the disquieting emotions with which the minds of men are wont to be agitated, the Holy Spirit hath here pictured exactly."
WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS MONTH -- JUNE?
Continue to generate your own list of Psalm genres. Do not rely on footnotes, explanations, introductions, or subtitles that may be found in your Bible. Instead, based only on your own reading of each Psalm, cate-gorize it. Add Psalms to existing categories as you go along.
Watch for passages that, if you read them without knowing that they were from the Book of Psalms, you might think came from the New Testament based on their themes, emphases, or understanding.
Watch for patterns and recurring themes in the Psalms. For what things do the writers repeatedly ask God? What are the common complaints or laments?
How a person talks to God reflects what that person believes about God. Select occasional prayers in your reading and evaluate what the writer of that particular Psalm seems to believe about God.
Watch for the role of nature in Psalms. What is the Psalmist’s relationship to nature? What is God’s relationship to nature?
Watch for the use of first-person, second-person, and third-person pronouns in each Psalm. Is God being spoken to or spoken about? Are people addressed by the Psalmist? If so, who do they seem to be? Are people being talked about by the Psalmist? If so, who are they?
Watch for references to folks who might be regarded as “outsiders.” Perhaps other nations, or the ungodly, enemies, the wicked, etc. Evaluate what the attitude of the Psalmist is toward those folks. Also, note what the Psalmist seems to assume about God’s attitude toward those peoples.
At the end of a day’s reading, it might be helpful to ask, “If I didn’t know anything about God except for what I read today, what would I know about Him?”
Continue to generate your own list of Psalm genres. Do not rely on footnotes, explanations, introductions, or subtitles that may be found in your Bible. Instead, based only on your own reading of each Psalm, cate-gorize it. Add Psalms to existing categories as you go along.
Watch for passages that, if you read them without knowing that they were from the Book of Psalms, you might think came from the New Testament based on their themes, emphases, or understanding.
Watch for patterns and recurring themes in the Psalms. For what things do the writers repeatedly ask God? What are the common complaints or laments?
How a person talks to God reflects what that person believes about God. Select occasional prayers in your reading and evaluate what the writer of that particular Psalm seems to believe about God.
Watch for the role of nature in Psalms. What is the Psalmist’s relationship to nature? What is God’s relationship to nature?
Watch for the use of first-person, second-person, and third-person pronouns in each Psalm. Is God being spoken to or spoken about? Are people addressed by the Psalmist? If so, who do they seem to be? Are people being talked about by the Psalmist? If so, who are they?
Watch for references to folks who might be regarded as “outsiders.” Perhaps other nations, or the ungodly, enemies, the wicked, etc. Evaluate what the attitude of the Psalmist is toward those folks. Also, note what the Psalmist seems to assume about God’s attitude toward those peoples.
At the end of a day’s reading, it might be helpful to ask, “If I didn’t know anything about God except for what I read today, what would I know about Him?”
The Bible as a Perfect Treasure

"We believe the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired, and is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction; that it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter; that it reveals the principles by which God will judge us; and therefore is, and shall remain to the end of the world, the true centre of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinion should be tried."
(The New Hampshire Confession, 1833)
(The New Hampshire Confession, 1833)
"Concerning the hardness of scripture; he that is so weak that he is not able to brook strong meat, yet he may suck the sweet and tender milk, and defer the rest until he wax stronger, and come to more knowledge. For God receiveth the learned and unlearned, and casteth away none, but is indifferent unto all. And the scripture is full, as well of low valleys, plain ways, and easy to for every man to use and to walk in; as also of high hills and mountains, which few men can climb unto. And whosoever giveth his mind to holy scriptures with diligent study and burning desire, it cannot be, saith St. Chrysostom, that he should be left without help. For either God Almighty will send him some godly doctor to teach him... or else, if we lack a learned man to instruct and teach us, yet God himself from above will give light unto our minds, and teach us those things which are necessary for us, and wherein we be ignorant."
(The Edwardian Homilies, 1547)
(The Edwardian Homilies, 1547)
What The Creeds Say About The Bible

"In this Holy Scripture, the universal Church of Christ has all things fully expound-ed which belong to a saving faith, and also to the framing of a life acceptable to God... We judge, therefore, that from these Scriptures are to be taken true wisdom and godliness, the reformation and government of churches; as also instruction in all duties of piety; and, to be short, the confirmation of doctrines, and the confutation of all errors."
(The Second Helvetic Confession, 1566)
(The Second Helvetic Confession, 1566)
There are several additional online resources that I think I'd like to provide for folks, though I am unsure how to provide them and when...
I think, for example, that it would be cool to have a page featuring a map of Israel, which would have clickable links on certain places. Those links would take a person to informational pages about that particular place -- pictures of Galilee, for example, along with details about elevation, climate, and a summary of biblical references; or pictures of Jerusalem, along with historical details and biblical references; etc.
I also think it would be beneficial to folks if there were a page that was just about the Jewish holy days. It could be introduced during the January and February days of reading the Law, but then it would be there as an evolving reference for other, later references in Scripture to those holidays.
Perhaps, too, some summary/explanation of the different sacrifices and offerings.
If you didn't want to write additional resources (books) that eventually would be highlighted for sale through this web site, you would probaby devote an entire page to The Ten Commandments, and perhaps that page would be a sub-page of an entire section devoted to The Law.
Meanwhile, there are some ongoing themes that you're tracing:
League of Nations
What's in a Name
When you re-develop, revise, and perfect The 3x5 Club in 2014, you should revisit your "League of Nations" theme. What you wrote in Week 13 is good, but it is too long. You should have introduced some of this material earlier -- the warning part from Moses and the Law, as well as the challenge part from Joshua -- and then you could unpack the story of what happens as folks are reading it. Also, given more space, you could cite the insight implicit in that sermon title, "Worshpping the Gods of a Conquered People," or some such. You'll need to look that up -- perhaps even link to it?
I think, for example, that it would be cool to have a page featuring a map of Israel, which would have clickable links on certain places. Those links would take a person to informational pages about that particular place -- pictures of Galilee, for example, along with details about elevation, climate, and a summary of biblical references; or pictures of Jerusalem, along with historical details and biblical references; etc.
I also think it would be beneficial to folks if there were a page that was just about the Jewish holy days. It could be introduced during the January and February days of reading the Law, but then it would be there as an evolving reference for other, later references in Scripture to those holidays.
Perhaps, too, some summary/explanation of the different sacrifices and offerings.
If you didn't want to write additional resources (books) that eventually would be highlighted for sale through this web site, you would probaby devote an entire page to The Ten Commandments, and perhaps that page would be a sub-page of an entire section devoted to The Law.
Meanwhile, there are some ongoing themes that you're tracing:
League of Nations
What's in a Name
When you re-develop, revise, and perfect The 3x5 Club in 2014, you should revisit your "League of Nations" theme. What you wrote in Week 13 is good, but it is too long. You should have introduced some of this material earlier -- the warning part from Moses and the Law, as well as the challenge part from Joshua -- and then you could unpack the story of what happens as folks are reading it. Also, given more space, you could cite the insight implicit in that sermon title, "Worshpping the Gods of a Conquered People," or some such. You'll need to look that up -- perhaps even link to it?
In Defense of Repetition
We noted above the Law's tendency toward details and repetition, and we tried to offer some insight into the significance of details. We turn, now, to the matter of repetition.
What's in a Name?
Part 1
At the beginning of last week's reading assignment, we came across some of the most familiar material in the Bible: the Ten Commandments. All of the commandments are familiar to us, of course, and most of them are what we might expect. For example, laws about killing and stealing are standard fare in any civilized society, and prohibitions of idolatry and the worship of other gods are unsurprising within the context of Israel's covenant relationship with the Lord.
On the other hand, those familiar Ten Commandments also prominently feature at least two instructions that we might not expect. If we knew that God had given ten special laws, but we did not know what they were, we might do a good job guessing half of them or more. But I wonder how many possible laws we might propose before we would come to commandments about the Sabbath and the Name.
We began to write a bit last week about the Sabbath. This week, we want to begin to give some thought to the Name. It is, in fact, a major theme in Scripture, and so we will trace that theme and explore its meaning through-out the course of this year.
The first thing to be noted is that the Name is a more prominent theme than we realize. It is right before our eyes, and we don't even see it. To illustrate the point, let me invite you to turn to Psalm 110 in your Bible.
Depending upon the translation you use, the first verse will read something like this: "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool" (Psalm 110:1KJV). Hidden within that text is a clue to the prominence and the significance of the Name.
The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, and in our English translations of the Hebrew text, we have a conventional way of presenting the Name that is unrecognized by most readers.
You wlll note that the English word "lord" appears twice in the verse above, yet it is printed two different ways. That is because the same English word is being used to translate two different Hebrew words. The second instance, "Lord," is a translation of the Hebrew word adonai, which was a title meaning "lord" or "master." The first instance, however, is a translation of the Hebrew name for God. The English word "lord" is still used, but the long-established convention has been to use all capital letters (LORD) to indicate that it is actually the name (rather than a title) that appears in the original Hebrew text.
As you read, watch for that textual clue, and you will discover how frequently the Name is appearing in the text. And with that information in mind, look again at the commandment about the Name: "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain" (Exodus 20:1 KJV).
In the weeks ahead, we will give more thought to the Name. For now, though, just keep a careful eye on the text. We want to begin to recognize the Name of the Lord whenever it is there.
Week 5 -- Part 1 -- introduction to theme and how the Name appears in the text
names vs. titles
how they handle(d) the Name
names in the ancient Middle East
thoughts on the meaning of "in vain"
medley of what Scripture says about the name
the Sanhedrin's instruction not to teach or heal in the name of Jesus
what the disciples do (and are instructed to do) in His name -- baptize, preach, gather, heal, cast out demons, pray/ask, etc.
the name of Jesus
On the other hand, those familiar Ten Commandments also prominently feature at least two instructions that we might not expect. If we knew that God had given ten special laws, but we did not know what they were, we might do a good job guessing half of them or more. But I wonder how many possible laws we might propose before we would come to commandments about the Sabbath and the Name.
We began to write a bit last week about the Sabbath. This week, we want to begin to give some thought to the Name. It is, in fact, a major theme in Scripture, and so we will trace that theme and explore its meaning through-out the course of this year.
The first thing to be noted is that the Name is a more prominent theme than we realize. It is right before our eyes, and we don't even see it. To illustrate the point, let me invite you to turn to Psalm 110 in your Bible.
Depending upon the translation you use, the first verse will read something like this: "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool" (Psalm 110:1KJV). Hidden within that text is a clue to the prominence and the significance of the Name.
The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, and in our English translations of the Hebrew text, we have a conventional way of presenting the Name that is unrecognized by most readers.
You wlll note that the English word "lord" appears twice in the verse above, yet it is printed two different ways. That is because the same English word is being used to translate two different Hebrew words. The second instance, "Lord," is a translation of the Hebrew word adonai, which was a title meaning "lord" or "master." The first instance, however, is a translation of the Hebrew name for God. The English word "lord" is still used, but the long-established convention has been to use all capital letters (LORD) to indicate that it is actually the name (rather than a title) that appears in the original Hebrew text.
As you read, watch for that textual clue, and you will discover how frequently the Name is appearing in the text. And with that information in mind, look again at the commandment about the Name: "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain" (Exodus 20:1 KJV).
In the weeks ahead, we will give more thought to the Name. For now, though, just keep a careful eye on the text. We want to begin to recognize the Name of the Lord whenever it is there.
Week 5 -- Part 1 -- introduction to theme and how the Name appears in the text
names vs. titles
how they handle(d) the Name
names in the ancient Middle East
thoughts on the meaning of "in vain"
medley of what Scripture says about the name
the Sanhedrin's instruction not to teach or heal in the name of Jesus
what the disciples do (and are instructed to do) in His name -- baptize, preach, gather, heal, cast out demons, pray/ask, etc.
the name of Jesus