Okay, all you long-time Christians, ponder this: If you never knew about the Old Covenant, how would your experience with God be affected as a Christian?
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I have only been a Christian for 7 years, not really a long time. But if the Old Testament didn't exist, I would not be worried about the judgement of a Holy God. I would not have really painful worries about sins that are not clear cut. Is it or isn't it? Some say yes, some say no. I would be free to let God tell me when He wanted me to stop something.
ReplyDeleteI really like your response, Connie.
ReplyDeleteMost of us have been subjected to a toxic blend of Old and New Covenants, and the result is what you describe--and worse. Some teach, "Here's how to get what you want from God (forgiveness, health, wealth, deliverance, etc.)," while the truth is that we have everything already in Christ.
Under the former Covenant, hope for my life was something like the following equation: my righteousness + God's faithfulness = desired outcome. But in the NC, hope is secure in Jesus; He achieved and earned everything for you and me, and gave it freely to us. We have it all.
Hooray.
Thank you, Connie, for your candid response.
Are you looking for the reformed perspective??? Oh the Places You'll Go! That was Seuss. They're related.
ReplyDeletereally an excellent question to ponder.....
ReplyDeleteI once heard between two pastors at the retreat up in Running Springs; "The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed." As I understand it your relationship with God will not be affected by knowing or not knowing the Old Testament. It is the more you know the Old Testament, the more you will appreciate and marvel at the depth and grace that God extended to you with His Son. A rough parallel might be the relationship you have with your spouse. You know them very intimately after you met them and grew closer to them, like God and the New Testament, but how well did you know your spouse before you met them, like the Old Testament? However the more you do know about their life before you met them, perhaps the more you appreciate the depth and grace of the love they give. It's one thing to know that God and your spouse give unconditional love to you and cherish that with your joyous heart. It's even more profound when you know "Where they came from" to give you that unconditional love.
ReplyDeleteIt would not be nearly as rich. I can look back 3000 years and know that my God has been actively working to bring me into peace through the reconciliation of Christ. "Yaweh Yireh" echos in "Jesus Saves." Not to mention the Psalms and Prophets for understanding the Gospels and the Ways of the Triune God. Gives me goose bumps.
ReplyDeleteam i missing something here? in my mind, the old covenant is not the same thing as the old testament. the old testament is a written record of God revealing who He is, the old covenant is the basis on which man may deal with Him. there is a lot more to the old testament than the old covenant, with which we have nothing to do, thank God!, because we have a better one. but those are not the same thing, are they? testament and covenant?
ReplyDeleteHeather--Good question. The two have sometimes been used interchangeably, but for our purpose, let's say the whole tamale. All you have is the New Testament. And this has to do specifically with your experience of Him, your knowing Him.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, really hard to answer that one. The Old Testament is such an important part, it's the first half of the story, it's history itself. It would be like seeing the best movie ever, but only seeing the happy ending part. I like the beginning to end story of anything, especially this one! Still pondering this one, but good question Ralph!
ReplyDeleteWhat if all you had was the book of John? That was often the case in the first few centuries. I have concluded that it would not make the difference you would think it would, because of the Moral Law engrained in every human heart. Whether you had the luxury of the Ten Commandments or not, the Moral Law provides us our innate knowledge of good and evil. Thus, whether Jew, Christian, or other, I would assume The Creator would not be pleased with my behavior if I bumped into him. Having bumped into him, I am full of gratitude that he is not at all what I expected. To the Jewish-Christian, this gratitude might be overwhelming, having been burdened with the impossible task of keeping God’s Law.
ReplyDeleteHmmm....very good question, Ralph.
ReplyDeleteI'm running a bit more than I thought I would be this morning, so I'll have more to say later today. But for now, how might the following equation relate to our topic and why might it bother me: My righteousness + God's faithfulness = Desired outcome.
ReplyDeleteI believe you would feel and know freedom in Christ more because there would have been no Law hinderance to put away or no IF you do this than I will do this to deal with.The Old Cov was about Isreal and NOT gentiles but growing up in church they never rightly divided the word 2Tim 2:15 so alot of us are in the dilema of putting the Old away Heb 8:13 and for some that struggle is hard.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a little more confusing. I don't know how I'd understand the NT w/o the OT.
ReplyDelete18 hours ago · Like
Some of the comments seem like people think we'd be better off without knowing about the O.T. "I'd be more free in Christ," "I wouldn't be tempted towards legalism." But God included it for a reason. I'd have to say I'd be much less impressed with the awesomeness of God and would probably have zero fear of the Lord. I can't imagine not know things about the Lord, like when Moses tells him, "Now show me your glory." And he did!
ReplyDeleteIn a simple nutshell I look at it like this: The OT taught me God is not a pushover; so despite the fact I'm forgiven and God has covered me with His mercy and grace-sin separates us from God and He hates it. I have a clear picture of how deeply evil and sin effect God and I want to avoid it in my life.
ReplyDelete