Article VI - Of
the Old
Testament
The
Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old and New
Testaments everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator
between God and man, being both God and Man. Wherefore they are not to be heard
who feign that the old fathers did look only for transitory promises. Although
the law given from God by Moses as touching ceremonies and rites doth
not bind Christians, nor ought the civil precepts thereof of necessity be
received in any commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian whatsoever is
free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral.
You’ve heard of WWJD, “What Would Jesus Do?” but have you
heard of WWJQ? What Would Jesus Quote?
The answer is: The
OLD TESTAMENT. The more scholarly
answer is The Hebrew Bible, but ---- same thing.
Speaking to His
detractors, Jesus said: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in
them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me” (John 5:
39)
We end the Old
Testament with Malachi, but Jesus said that the Old Testament period ended with
John the Baptist.
“ For all the prophets and the law prophesied until
John.” (Matthew 11: 13)
After the John the Baptist died, Jesus still kept the Old
Testament law and prophets. In fact,
Jesus maintained that reason religious people didn’t understand Him and His
gospel message was that they didn’t accept the relevance and power of the Old
Testament.
“But Jesus answered
them, ‘You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of
God.’ “ (Matthew 22: 29)
Jesus believed that even after the Old Testament era ended,
the Old Testment doctrines were still true, still relevant, and still powerful.
One of the reasons that so many churches are spiritually power-less and unable
to stand against the shifting winds of culture and circumstance is that they
have ignored all of those OT stories and teachings.
Plus there’s the logic issue.
ALL of the New Testament doctrines of the church are based
on Old Testament scriptures. Even some
of our most cherished New Testament scriptures are actually just Old Testament
quotations.
When Jesus said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”
He wasn’t overruling angry Old Testament commandments. He was sustaining Old Testament commandments
by quoting from the book of Leviticus.
“You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against
the children of your people, but you
shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19: 18)
In Mark 12: 36, to prove the validity of His claims to be
the Messiah and the Son of God, Jesus quoted David from Psalm 110.
“The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, Till I
make Your enemies Your footstool.’ ”
There is this beautiful quote from 1 Corinthians 15: 54, 55
that says:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
That quote is based
on Hosea 13: 14. And the line of
reasoning that lead to that quote, beginning in 1 Corithians 15: 45 is based on
a literal reading of Genesis chapters 1-3 and a direct correlation of Jesus to
Adam.
The Old Testament
is the premise on which the conclusions of the New Testament are built. Toss the Old Testament and you invalidate the
New.
But, the New
Testament does provide us with a better deal.
As the writer of Hebrews said.
The New Testament brings “ a better covenant, which was established
on better promises.” (8: 6)
Jesus fulfilled the
ritual and sacrificial requirements of the OT so we don’t have to keep the
ritual expectations of the law. No more
sacrifices or dietary restrictions or ethnic isolation.
The cross fulfilled
the system of blood sacrifices.
“Every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man [Jesus], after He had
offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from
that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.” (Hebrew 10: 11-13)
God used Peter to reiterate
the fulfillment of the dietary part of the sacrificial system.
“What God has
cleansed you must not call common.” (Acts 10)
And the inclusion
of all nationalities into the new covenant (New Testament)
“Then Peter opened his
mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and
works righteousness is accepted by Him.” (verses 3-35)
But, let’s be
real.
The real reason we
want to throw out the Old Testament under the accusation of “legalism” is because
we don’t like God telling us what we can’t do.
We don’t want a bunch of moral thou-shalt-nots, so we claim that Jesus
tossed the commandments and left us with nothing but love.
That’s sweet. It’s
also wrong.
Matter of fact, it’s
beyond wrong. It’s a lie, wrapped in a
delusion, served on a plate of hypocrisy.
Jesus didn’t throw
out the objective moral standard of the
OT commandments. Jesus clarified that
standard, and in clarifying the standard He demonstrated that the moral standard
for believers is actually higher than was traditionally thought.
Read Matthew 5
which is almost all direct quotations from Jesus.
Jesus saw the
prohibition on being a murderer and raised it to a prohibition on even being a
hater. (verses 21-23)
Jesus endorsed the
expectation for worship and expanded corporate worship to include going to fix
a damaged relationship and then coming back to church to continue worshiping.
(verses 23-24)
Jesus was merciful to a woman caught in adultery but He never gave the
okay to sexual immorality. Shoot, Jesus said
that not only should you not touch but you also shouldn’t look (verses 27, 28).
Jesus raised the moral bar on divorce (verses 31-32), honest (verses
33-37), forgiveness (38-42), and brotherly love (43-47).
In the Old Testament God demanded holiness.
“Speak to all the congregation
of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord
your God am holy.’ “ (Leviticus 19:2)
Jesus demands PERFECTION.
“Therefore you shall be
perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5: 48)
Jesus attacked the
Pharisees for their legalistic traditions of supposed moral purity, but not so
Christians could live by lesser, more relativistic moral standards.
So we could live by
higher moral standards.
“For I say to you, that unless your
righteousness EXCEEDS the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5: 20)
So any Christian
running around telling people that God doesn’t care how you live as long as you
praise Him, love people, shout during church, and pay your tithes---- that
Christian is not just ignoring the Old Testament, he/she is lying on Jesus.
Cause Jesus said, “Whoever
therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so,
shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them,
he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5: 19)
But, Rev. Graves
(this is me imagining you arguing about this), they must be telling the truth.
The “anointing” is all over them.
I don’t dispute
their anointing.
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in
Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
And then I will
declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice
lawlessness!’ “
The Old Testament
still matters to Jesus. Therefore, the
Old Testament should still matter to us.
And seriously, how
can we stand in our churches naming and claiming promises about the seed of the
righteous never begging for bread (Psalms), being the generation to receive the blessings
of Abraham (Genesis), reciting the prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles), and
demanding that people stop robbing God of their tithes and offerings (Malachi),
while thinking we can conveniently skip over everything else in the first 60% of the Bible when we find it inconvenient to our preferred moral
lifestyles?
That is a lie,
wrapped in a delusion, served on a plate of hypocrisy.
---Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and
consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T.
Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church (5220
Myron Massey Boulevard) in Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of
the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director of rural
leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
You can help support
this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.
Support by check or
money order may be mailed to
Miles Chapel CME
Church
P O Box 132
Fairfield, Al 35064
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