The Sense of Scripture: Studies in Interpretation . . .

THE GRACE OF GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
   

This would better read The Grace of God in the Old Testament Scriptures, for there is an important difference between the Old Testament (better still, Old Covenant) and the Old Testament Scriptures. God made a covenant (that we call "Old" only because it was superseded by the "New") with his special people, the Hebrew nation, at Mt. Sinai. There were of course no Scriptures at this time. The Scriptures grew out of the ensuing experience between God and Israel. First came the covenant, afterward the Scriptures.

The same is true of the New Testament (better, New Covenant), which is a relationship between Christ and his church, sealed by the Holy Spirit through faith and baptism. If the Old Covenant was made with the Jews at Mt. Sinai, the New Covenant was ratified on the day of Pentecost when the church of Jesus Christ became "the new man" or "the new creation." After a generation or so the New Covenant people began to write out of their experiences and eventually there was what we call the "New Testament." So, it was the New Covenant people that produced the New Covenant Scriptures, just as it was the Old Covenant people that produced the Old Covenant Scriptures.

If the Messiah had come shortly after Mt. Sinai, there would never have been what we call the "Old Testament," but there would nevertheless have been the Old Covenant. Or if Jesus had returned within the first generation after Pentecost (as the early Christians thought he would), there would never have been what we call the "New Testament," but there would have been the New Covenant nonetheless. Another way to say it is that the New Testament did not produce the church but the church the New Testament.

This is why we say now and again in this Journal that unity and fellowship are not based upon a correct understanding of all the "New Testament," but upon a common relationship to the New Covenant. So it is not a matter of being "right" about every point in the "New Testament" that makes fellowship between us possible, but being right in our relationship with Jesus Christ, who is administrator of the New Covenant.

This distinction in no way discredits the place of the Scriptures, either Old or New, but only puts them in proper perspective. It is simply that we need to realize that it wasn't the Bible that produced religion, but religion that produced the Bible. Once produced, it is of course the case that the Bible does much to enhance religious faith.

My thesis for this installment is as follows:

The Old Testament is to be interpreted in the light of the New Testament, particularly in reference to the grace of God as revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

One way to say it is that the Old Testament is the gospel in preparation while the New Testament is the gospel in realization. Our people have often said that the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. The Old Testament is meaningful to us as it points to the Cross, however distantly, and as it reveals the God of grace, even if obliquely in comparison to the New Testament. As Christians the Old Testament is meaningful to us only as it in some way and to some degree shows us the grace of (and sometimes the Judgment of) God that reaches its ultimate expression in Jesus Christ. This means that we have special interest in the great texts and the mountain peaks of the Old Testament as they anticipate the only thing that really matters, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This means that as we study the Old Testament we are to look for the grace of God, which often shines forth in the more obscure passages as well as the better known ones. A few examples of both: 

Then the Lord said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of his heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done." (Gen. 8:21) 

This great (and neglected) text points to the grace of God in an impressive way. The flood is past and the world has supposedly been cleansed of its wicked people. God takes Noah and starts over, but soon humanity is as wretched as before. Even Noah, who is supposedly an example of righteousness, gets drunk and disgraces himself, and instead of accepting the blame he curses his own children for finding him out. Noah is now a farmer and offers sacrifices to God, which was like "soothing aroma" to God. Sinful man worships God and God is pleased! And God assures man that he has not given up on him. He will not bring another flood, and he will continue to bear with mankind. God's grace! 

I will make of you a great nation: I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. (Gen. 12:2) 

This is one of the mountain peaks, the call of Abraham, and it reveals that God will take one man and make a nation of him, a nation that will eventually fulfill God's purpose by bringing the Messiah into the world. 

I will set up my dwelling among you, and I will not cast you off. I will live in your midst: I will be your God and you shall be my people. It is I, Yahweh your God, who have. brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you should be their servants no longer. I have broken the yoke that bound you and have made you walk with head held high. (Lv. 26:12-13, Jer. Bible) 

This shows that even Leviticus, with all its ritual, is rich in the goodness and mercy of God. Lev. 26:41 shows that it is circumcised hearts that God wants. The book calls for untainted holiness, offerings that cost something, and a caring brotherhood. In this great passage, which beautifully anticipates the spirit of Christ, a longsuffering God promises to be with his people, deliver them from oppression, and give them such dignity that they can walk with head held high. 

And Yahweh said, "I have seen the miserable state of my people in Egypt. I have heard their appeal to be free of their slave-drivers. Yes, I am well aware of their sufferings. I mean to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians and bring them out of that land to a land rich and broad, a land where milk and honey flow. And now the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me, and I have witnessed the way the Egyptians oppress them, so come, I send you to Pharaoh to bring the sons of Israel, my people, out of Egypt." (Ex. 3:7-10, Jer. Bible.) 

Notice how the God of grace acts for his people: I have seen, I have heard, I am well aware, I will deliver, I have witnessed, and at last one of the great lines of the Old Testament, "Come Moses, I send you to Pharaoh." Note too the emphasis on "my people," and the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey. 

God create a clean heart in me, put into me a new and constant spirit, do not banish me from your presence, do not deprive me of your holy spirit. (Ps. 51:10-11, Jer. Bible)

    Notice how Yahweh (or lord) is regularly used up to this Psalm, which is the name of God and implies more intimacy. God is what he is, creator and judge as well as savior, and not his name. Now that David has committed a grievous sin he bows before the great Judge of all mankind, who is God. It is remarkable that in this prayer of contrition David believes that God has never left him, that he is still in God's presence, and that the holy spirit (meaning here the presence of God in his life) has not yet left him. This shows there is forgiveness of sins in the Old Testament as well as in the New. This majestic passage is but one of hundreds in the Psalms alone that point up the grace of God, some of which refer to the Messiah himself, such as Ps. 22. 

This is what Yahweh asks of you: only this, to act justly. to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God. (Mic. 6:8, Jer Bible)

This may well be the most important passage in all the Old Testament because in but few words it shows what religion is all about. To act justly is to do what is right, to love tenderly is to show mercy or lovingkindness, the Hebrew word being the one that refers to God's covenant love, one of the great words of the Bible. To walk humbly refers to how we should reverence God in all that we do.

When we apply our hermeneutical rule to these passages, look for the grace of God in the Old Testament, they pass with flying colors. It is the case with hundreds of other references. A good rule is to mark your Bible, underlining the lines in red that inspire you. The more you study and the more good sources you use, such as a devotional commentary, the more marking you will do. Then as you thumb through your Bible time and again you can easily be reminded of your favorite verses. It is enriching to commit some of them to memory. This means that we recognize that some things in the Bible are much more meaningful than other things. All truths from God's word are equally true but not equally important.

Our test of subjecting things in the Bible to the principle of God's grace will lead us to reject some things as not edifying to the soul. if we mark some passages in red to note their relevance, we might put a question mark alongside others.

I have a question mark alongside Noah's curse of Canaan in Gen. 9:25, not only because Noah should have accepted the blame for his own sin of drunkenness and not blamed his sons, but also because the curse anticipates such evils as apartheid and racism in today's world more than it does the grace of God that we see in Christ. The curse is there probably because the Canaanites eventually became Israel's enemies. It also points to the exclusivism of the Jews in those days, and so it reminds us of radical Zionism of today, advocated by some Jews and Christians alike, who are willing to "curse" the Arabs, denying them any rights to Palestine, in favor of the Jews. Is there any mercy in that? After all, the Arabs too are sons of Abraham!

If it bothers you to sit in judgment on the Bible like that, I would remind you that we all do it when we select our favorite verses, for we choose some and not others. Moreover, the Bible itself does this sort of thing. The book of Job drones on and on, chapter after chapter, with the speeches of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, and if you are turned off by what they say you have some excellent company, God himself! In Job 42 God rebukes Job's three friends "for not speaking truthfully about me," and he forthwith charges them to repent. offer a sacrifice, and let Job pray for them. God himself rules that upward of one-half of one of the longest books in the Bible is not true.

Indeed, the entire book of Job can be questioned if one is expecting to find the answer as to why the righteous suffer, which it is purported to answer. Unless that answer is: faith must remain even when understanding fails, which is its conclusion. But there is little comfort in that answer. Those who are advised to turn to the book of Job for an answer to tragedy and suffering in their lives are ill- advised. I would rather recommend Job to a college class in the philosophy of religion, for it has more philosophy in it than religion.

The value of the book of Job is that it challenges the superficial view of suffering that was held by Jewish orthodoxy at that time, that if one suffers disaster and tragedy it must be because of his sins, and if one is righteous calamity will not befall him. This is the position taken in the 'Wisdom Literature" of the Old Testament (Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and some Psalms) as well as several books of the Apocrypha, which is part of the Roman Catholic Bible, which creates another problem between the Old Testament and the New.

Psalms 1 assures the righteous man that "whatever he does shall prosper," and Ps. 91 promises "But it will not come near you" when it refers to "terror by night" and "the pestilence that walks in darkness," "A thousand may fall at your side," it assures the righteous, but not you! David never saw a righteous man forsaken nor his seed begging bread, according to Ps. 37:25. And one can garner a "health and wealth" gospel from the Proverbs.

But we soon learn in our cruel world that the best of Christians  fall in battle, meet with tragedy and calamity, suffer from hunger, pestilence and terrorism, and die of the most dreaded diseases. And they do not always prosper. Jesus assures us that in this world we will suffer hardship, and he promises neither health, wealth, ease or success. But he does say, "But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world" (Jn. 16:33).

So, as we look for God's grace in the Old Testament we will apply  question marks as well as underline in red.

Christians should seek their answer to why the righteous suffer in the New Testament where there is an answer, three in fact. One is in Acts 14:22 where we are told that -we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God." Another answer comes from one who, unlike Job, actually rejoiced in his suffering: "In my flesh I make up for what is lacking in Christ's trials, for the sake of his Body, which is the Church" (Col. 1:25). And the most impressive answer of all, which is a million miles from Job: "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Ro. 8:18). The only answer we need is that there is another world where we will suffer no more, and everything will be made right. Amen!

But poor Job, he received no such answer. Even when God at last speaks, not one word is said about Job's wretched condition or his crying need. Not one word of comfort. God zaps him with the likes of: "Job, do you know how mountain goats give birth?," which is hardly what you would expect from a merciful God to one overwhelmed by suffering and doubt. God even invites the poor man to debate! You might say that Job needed to be zapped. So did the prodigal son. There is a vast difference between the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and the God of Job. The God of Job wanted to ask questions: the father of the prodigal son had no questions to ask. He was too busy loving and forgiving.

And that is my point: there is a vast difference between the Old and New Testaments, between law and gospel, between exactitude and mercy. In the New Testament and in Christ we have the greater light, and it is by that light that we evaluate the lesser light. There is light in the Old Testament, and there is love, grace, mercy, and truth. It is like mining for gold. Now and again we come upon an extra large nugget, such as this one, which I make my daily prayer and which C. S. Lewis declared to be the most majestic lines in the English language. 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, 0 lord, my strength and my redeemer. (Ps. 19:14)

It doesn't take many of those to make you a rich man! —the Editor

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Crowns and thrones may perish,
     Kingdoms rise and wane,     
But the Church of Jesus,            
     Constant will remain.          

                               —Sabine Baring-Gould