Jesus and the Old Testament

Have a read through this quote by Tim Keller on how the Old Testament relates to Jesus....

• Jesus is the true and better Adam, who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.


• Jesus is the true and better Abel, who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out not for our condemnation, but for our acquittal.


• Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar, and go out into the void, not knowing whither he went, to create a new people of God.


• Jesus is the true and better Isaac, who was not just offered up by his Father on the mount,but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “now I know you love me, because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me, now we can look at God, taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing Him, and say,” now we know that you love us, because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from us.”


• Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserve, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.


• Jesus is the true and better Joseph, who at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold Him, and uses His new power to save them.


• Jesus is the true and better Moses, who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.


• Jesus is the true and better rock of Moses who was struck with the rod of God’s justice, and now gives us water in the desert.


• Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.


• Jesus is the true and better David, whose victory becomes his people’s victory though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.


• Jesus is the true and better Esther, who didn’t just risk losing an earthly palace, but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.


• Jesus is the true and better Jonah, who was cast out into the storm so we could be brought in.


• Jesus is the real passover lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so that the angel of death would pass over us.
  

Amazing! The whole of the Old Testament works to point us to Jesus...

'[The scriptures] testify to me' John 5:39

HT: Ed Goode

Applying Christ to Every Text

Four ways to apply Christ by Tim Keller:

1) Theme Resolution
Certain theme run throughout scripture for example the theme of law and grace. Christ has fulfilled every theme of scripture. Christ met the demands of the law by living a perfect life and brings God's grace to us through His death.

2)Law Completion
This is preaching Christ from ethical principles. Every duty that we should perform has been completed by Christ. Every law points us to Christ because the law says to us ‘you can never fulfil me, you need a saviour' (Gal 3:24).

3) Story Insertion
The holistic narrative of scripture is the message of Jesus. Preach Christ from the story to be considered by looking for pictures of Christ in the text. For example: Jesus is the true Adam, Abel, Abraham….' Every story is about Jesus.

4) Symbol Fulfilment
Every major figure points us to Christ. The non-personal symbols point us to Christ. The entire sacrificial and temple system points us to Christ.

Read my notes from the whole lecture here.

Interpreting and Applying Scripture

Here are my notes from last nights Bible study at MPBC. Click here to see the additional handout.

Before we start we need to understand Jesus’ Warning to the Pharisees:

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. John 5:39-40

Implications of this warning
a) It’s possible to know a lot about the Bible and not have the real meaning
b) It’s possible to know a lot about the Bible and have the original meaning and then refuse this meaning
c) Searching the scriptures is not a definite sign that we are glorifying God
d) All scripture points to Jesus
e) Life is found in Jesus through Bible study. Bible study is never an end in itself

How can we interpret to the glory of God?
What’s the difference between sinful interpretation and God-glorifying interpretation?
John 17:3- Eternal life is about knowing God; meaning eternal life is about enjoying God.
If we are not interpreting the scriptures to strengthen our worship of God we are interpreting the scriptures sinfully.

Pray for help to interpret scripture correctly

Interpreting and Applying Genesis chapters 1 and 2
To understand the Bible we first accept that scripture has one coherent meaning
On this basis we can start our interpretation.

The goal of interpretation is application. This is bringing relevant meaning from scripture to the people living in 21st century Brighton. To do this we first need to see what the original meaning of a text was at the time it was written.

1) Exegetical Statement – ‘What did Genesis mean then?’
i) How can we find this meaning?
We need to establish the author’s purpose of writing a text.

ii) Why did Moses write Genesis?
The book of Genesis had a relevant message to the audience that was hearing it.

iii) What were the concerns of Moses readers?
The readers were the 2 generations of Israelites travelling from Egypt to Canaan:

The concerns of the 1st generation:
‘Did we do the right thing by leaving Egypt and marching through the miserable wilderness?’

The concerns of the 2nd generation:
Numbers14: ‘Entering Canaan and conquering the giants will be a hard thing’

Moses wrote Genesis to address both of the issues. He didn’t write Genesis just to a record history!

iv) The Meaning of Genesis to the Israelites:
‘Leaving Egypt and possessing Canaan is God’s design for Israel.’
The Israelites were to read the stories of Genesis to see that it’s right to go onto the Promised Land.

v) The meaning of Genesis 1 and 2 to the Israelites

How did Genesis 1 and 2 teach the Israelites to leave Egypt and pursue Canaan?
Consider the parallels:
Perfect created order (Gen 1:26-2:25) with life in Canaan
The pre-created world (Gen 1:1-25) with life in Egypt

Genesis 1:2 claims that ‘The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.’ The same poetic use of words (formless and hovering) are found in Deuteronomy 32:10-11. The parallel is therefore that the pre-created world is a symbol of Egypt and the created good order is Canaan.

Egyptians say only Pharaoh is the image of God
Babylonians say only the emperors are in the image of God
Genesis says that all people are in the image of God!

Adam and Eve are supposed to subdue and fill the earth, same for Israel in Canaan.

God’s rests after created the world. Israel can rest from their travelling once they enter Canaan. As God created the universe in a finite time so Israel’s travels in the wilderness were going to come to an end one day.

The Israelites are encouraged by the start of Genesis to pursue Canaan as it was a good place for them to be. It is not formless and void. It is a fruitful and prosperous place.

2) The Theological Statements of Genesis 1 and 2
When looking for theological statements we are looking for truths from a particular passage that will apply to all people at all times.
We have to remember that when we find truth statements from the text we are not giving the whole truth. There is one absolute truth. We are only describing part of that truth.

i) The Atlantic Ocean
It’s like the Atlantic Ocean. We can ask: ‘How many Atlantic oceans are there?’ There’s one objective, coherent ocean. But how many ways are there to describe this ocean? Multiple. You can describe the ocean in terms of location, types of water, colour, etc. We can describe the ocean in multiple ways.

ii) Partial Theological statements of Genesis 1 and 2:
God created everything in 6 days
God rested on the 7th day
There’s only one God
Man is given a higher position of authority than animals
God created the world in perfection
God created man from nothing
God and Man had a relationship

There are different ways of summarising the same absolute reality.
Many disagreements happen over emphasis not heresy.

3) Homelitical Statement
i) Contextualisation
We need to bring the Bible to Brighton. In order to do this we need information about the Bible and about Brighton. Studying scripture is not enough. We need to understand the different cultures that exist in Brighton and how they operate. When missionaries move to another country they study the culture in order to be relevant to the people. We live in a multi-cultural society. Brighton is full of people living in and under different cultural values. We need to know these cultures in order to apply the gospel in the most effective way.

Contextualisation is the method of showing the people in this city that the Bible is a necessary and relevant book for their lives.

ii) To contextualise anything we need to know the text and context. The text is scripture and the context is the culture.

ii) Exercise: Application
How would you apply the truths of Genesis 1 and 2 to these groups of people?
Christian
Arminian Christian
Non-Christian
Evolutionist
Avid cinemagoer
Mormon
Indifferent person
Buddhist
Doubting Christian
Homosexual
Lukewarm Christian
Single Mum
High-paid city worker

How would you apply Genesis 1 and 2 to these Christian concepts?
Sunday
Heaven
Work
Human worth and value
Nature
Death

Interpretation and Application of Scripture

Here's a helpful diagram I found today on how to apply and interpret the Bible. I'm leading a Bible study tonight at MPBC on this topic. Notes will be uploaded soon.

New Bible

I am now the proud owner of the famous ESV translation.
Some call it the English Standard Version, others the Extremely Sound Version, others the Extremely Smudgeable Version. I'm not sure which is true.

I've been reading it the last few days and I like the flow. It's good. Modern language and a word for word philosophy. (Can't be dealing with the NIV's thought-for-thought method of translation!!).

Many modern Calvinists like it. Piper is an advocate, in fact he's written a good article on Bible translations. Driscoll is a fan. I'm told at Mars Hill you'll see Indie Rockers who smoke holding an ESV under one arm. Grudem, Packer and Kent Hughes were on the translation committee. It seems to be the Bible for the 'Emerging Calvinists' who are springing up everywhere.

Not sure if I'm going to abandon the New King James yet. If I do I wont be telling my fellow King James brothers who claim that the textus receptus is the only accurate text to translate a Bible from. More about that here.
Bibles like the New King James and the King James are based on the Received Text (or textus receptus). This text is based on 6 Greek manuscripts dating from the the 12th to the 14 century. We now have over 5000 other texts. The ESV uses these other texts for the translation. Differences occur in the texts. Take for example Acts 8v37 and the end of Marks gospel. 1 John 5v7 is another. The KJV and the NKJV contain 'the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit' in the verse whereas the ESV omits these words. As it happens the additional words that appear in the KJV and the NKJV date from a later and unreliable manuscript. (See as a source for this paragraph: 'Hermeneutical Issues' lecture from the link given below).

To be honest I get a bit annoyed when people are more concerned with minor differences in Bibles when souls are plunging into Hells fire. Take a look at this guy who overeacts to the NIV, here. Without being too critical I assume he's my brother, I must love him. I do get annoyed at some of the civil battles that some Christians take pride in fighting. Saying that there are some worth fighting.

I am against the King James (or Authorised Version) because it is an in-accurate translation of the Bible to our culture. It's written in a 400 year old language. The Bible has to be written in the language of the day. Words and their meanings currently evolve at an incredible rate. The translation of the Bible needs to adapt to this. It's Gods infallible word-we need to understand it!!
Not really liking the NIV. I feel a Bible that tries to translate meaning-for-meaning (at the cost of accuracy) is dangerous. Bible translators need to translate word-for-word into a cultural language. I'm under the conviction that it is the preachers job to translate meaning.

Some good lectures on Bible translation from a guy called Robert Stein can be found here. The guy is good; real, down to earth, and helpful.

ESV Endorsements. ESV Blog. Read the ESV online.