One of the great strengths of our Christadelphian community is that we use the whole of the Bible as the basis of our faith and hope. We are confident that the Old Testament is inspired by God in the same way as is the New Testament. In reading the Old Testament carefully to hear what it is actually saying and in seeking to understand what God means, it is very important that we take into account how the Lord Jesus and his apostles explained these Old Testament passages.
Jesus often quoted the Old Testament to prove that his teaching was in harmony with God’s will: “Go and learn what this means…” (Matt. 9:13); “Have you not read what David did…?” (Matt. 12:3; Mark 2:25; Luke 6:3); or, “Have you not read in the law…?” (Matt. 12:5). These are just a few of many examples of Jesus using the Old Testament as the benchmark of truth. The Apostle Paul speaks of the minds of the children of Israel being hardened and a veil remaining over their hearts in the reading of the Old Testament: “Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord (Jesus) the veil is taken away” (2 Cor. 3:16).
On the day that Jesus was raised, he walked with two disciples near Jerusalem. They did not recognize him until he blessed and broke bread and gave it to them as they ate together. Jesus had been showing them from the prophets that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer crucifixion and to enter into his glory. “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” Later that day, when Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples, “he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures” (Luke 24:13-49).
Thus, we find that both the Lord Jesus and his apostles open up for us the meaning of many Old Testament passages. In some cases, we should not at all have understood the meaning God intended without their inspired and enlightening words. Always, when searching for the meaning of the Old Testament passages, we must take into account the meaning Jesus and his apostles give them, and how they fit into the purpose of God revealed in Christ.
An illustration of the extraordinary import the apostles give to an Old Testament passage is God’s word to Abraham in Ur (later repeated to him, to Isaac, and to Jacob): “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). The Apostle Paul says these words are “the gospel preached to Abraham beforehand”, and “the scripture foreseeing that God would justify (count as righteous) the nations by faith” (Gal. 3:6-8). How important these few words in Genesis 12:3 are!
The LORD repeated these words to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in a slightly expanded form: “In your seed (singular) all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 22:15-18; 26:2-4; 28:10-14). The LORD called Abraham to be the father of a particular great nation, Israel. However, His purpose with that nation, as seen in these promises, was to bring blessing, through Abraham and his seed, to all families and nations of the earth. Israel was intended to be the channel of God’s revelation of His call and purpose to all the other peoples of the world. As Paul would say of the advantage the Jew had, “Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God” (Rom. 3:1,2).
In the letter to the Galatians quoted above, the apostle explains that “blessing” (in the gospel God spoke to Abraham) means that God would justify, or forgive, and count as righteous all families and peoples of the earth. As we learn from Galatians 3 and Romans 3-6 in particular, this blessing of forgiveness is bestowed by God on all those, Jew and Gentile, who have faith in Jesus Christ — a faith expressed in baptism and in a life committed to his way.
Without these New Testament words, we could read in Genesis about this promised “blessing” without really understanding what God means. We might focus on Israel and the land as the essential elements of these promises. The Apostle Paul teaches us that the key point in God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the blessing (forgiveness in Christ) for all families of the earth.
Until Jesus and his apostles explain this meaning, we might read these promises without realizing who the seed of Abraham is. It is Jesus, himself, the Apostle teaches us, and Jews and Gentiles who have faith in Jesus. It is only to Abraham, together with this special seed, that the everlasting possession of the land is promised (Gal. 3:26-29; Gen. 13:14-16; 17:5-8; 26:3-5; 28:13-15).
The Apostle Paul explains in Romans that “blessing”, the key word in the gospel preached to Abraham, means the forgiveness of sins. This blessing (which David describes so beautifully in Psalm 32) is promised by God to both Jews and Gentiles. It is not earned, Paul tells us, or bestowed on the basis of racial descent. It is granted by the grace of God on the basis of our faith in Him and in His Son as the savior ‘who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification’ (Rom. 4:25). Paul continues in Romans 5:1-11, describing the peace, the rejoicing in hope, and the joy in God that this blessing of forgiveness brings to those who have hope.
The Apostle Peter speaks of this blessing too. To Jews in the temple at Jerusalem, he says, “You are sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ To you first, God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities” (Acts 3:25,26). Here, Peter shows the full intent of God’s gracious forgiveness. His intent goes beyond forgiving and not punishing our sins. His grace is meant to change us within so that we turn away from our iniquities (cf. Rom. 2:4; Tit. 2:11-14).
What did this promise of blessing for all families of the earth really mean? The answer is found in the Lord Jesus and in the words of his inspired apostles. It is a thrilling answer! It fully meets our need with a transforming grace, peace and joy in the present time and a glorious hope for the future. In those simple words to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the full scope of God’s gracious purpose for us in Christ is expressed.
It was very hard for Jewish disciples, including the twelve apostles, to accept this fundamental truth of the gospel. To faithful Jews, their necessary separation from idolatrous and immoral Gentiles was ingrained from birth and reinforced by eating only “kosher” food, observing the Sabbath, and carefully distinguishing between the ritually clean and unclean. For a Jew even to enter a Gentile’s house or eat with him was unthinkable. Many Jewish disciples believed that Gentile converts must be circumcised (that is, must become Jews) and keep the Law of Moses. This issue (described in Acts 15:1-6) was addressed by the apostles and elders and the whole church at the conference in Jerusalem described in Acts 15.
There, the Apostle Peter recounted how God had chosen him to speak the gospel to Gentiles and had made no distinction between “us” (Jewish believers) and “them” (Gentile believers). The purifying of hearts through faith — not circumcision — was the basis of God’s acceptance. That was true of Jews as well as Gentiles. “For”, Peter adds, “We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we (Jewish believers) shall be saved in the same manner as they (Gentile believers)” (Acts 15:7-11).
In Acts 15:13-21 James described God choosing Peter to be the first to preach to Gentiles in this way: “God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.” With this, James says, the words of the prophets agree; he quotes God’s words by Amos (Amos 9:11,12).
In the days of Amos, both Israel and Judah had become militarily strong and their ruling class very wealthy. Yet, in God’s eyes, the tabernacle of David, the house that He had promised to build for David, had fallen down. The kingdom was divided; all the kings of the ten tribes had been wicked; the kings of Judah a mixed lot; and only a remnant of their people were faithful to the LORD. God knew that this divided house would fall. Yet He promises to rebuild it (a promise now being fulfilled by Jesus Christ) “in order that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the Gentiles who are called by My name.”
What does God mean by possessing the “remnant of Edom”? James, using the Greek language translation of Amos, says that the tabernacle of David would be rebuilt “so that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, even all the Gentiles who are called by my name” (Acts 15:17). Thus James tells what the LORD means in Amos. David’s house will include Gentiles. In Christ, God is taking out of the Gentiles a people for His name.
Thus Paul, Peter, and James are inspired to tell us what God is actually saying and what He means by the words He has spoken “to us” in the Old Testament.
“The “Old” is in the “New” revealed.
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