Several conundrums in the
Hebrew Scriptures are resolved in the New Testament. They are such that they require solutions that are not offered in the Hebrew Scriptures but
that are offered in the New Testament.
Ten of these will be noted here.
First, the Hebrew
Scriptures present God as one and yet as relational. His relational character is not an acquired
part of His identity after the creation, for His goodness and loving-kindness are part of His very essence. This is
resolved in the New Testament with the understanding that God the Father and
God the Son both partake of the Divine Identity and with the understanding that
God is Father, Son, and Spirit. As the
Church would come to articulate this in the doctrine of the Trinity, God is One
and exists eternally in three persons.
Second, the Hebrew
Scriptures present God as Spirit and yet as present in the Temple. This understanding of God as both omnipresent
and incarnational is resolved in the New Testament with the understanding that
God is incarnate in Jesus.
Third, the Hebrew
Scriptures present God as holy and yet making a covenant with a sinful people. This is resolved in the New Testament with
the understanding that Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, became sin for us so that
we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5.21).
Fourth, the Hebrew
Scriptures present God’s Law as command and as grace (for what is the giving of
the Law in Exodus 34 if it is not given by God’s grace?). The conundrum of Law and grace is resolved in
the New Testament by understanding that salvation is by grace through faith and
not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, lest any person should boast, and that we are God’s workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works (Ephesians 2.8-10).
Fifth, the Hebrew
Scriptures warn of God’s punishment for sin and yet God offers redemption
from sin. Justice is not denied in
favour of love (mercy, grace, forgiveness), but both are held together. The Hebrew Scriptures resolve this through
sacrifices for sin, but not in a final overcoming of sin. The New Testament resolves this in the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ, offered once for all, that sinners might be
forgiven.
Sixth, the Hebrew
Scriptures understand human beings as fallen and sinful and yet offer the hope
of a new covenant (Isaiah 59.20-21; Jeremiah 31.31-34; Ezekiel 36.24-27) in
which God would bring about transformation such that sinners would not only be
forgiven but transformed and abide by God’s Law. The New Testament resolves this in teaching
that Jesus Christ, by His death on the cross, made this possible. Through his shed blood, sinners are cleansed,
sanctified, and made righteous (1 Corinthians 5.11). Moreover, he sends us the Spirit from God the Father. The Holy Spirit is God’s empowering presence,
and God is at work within us to will and to do His good pleasure (Philippians
2.13).
Seventh, the Hebrew
Scriptures appear to offer too much with Davidic kingship. The promised eternal dynasty comes to an end
with the exile of the southern kingdom to Babylon in 586 BC, and texts that
celebrate Davidic kingship do so with language that overextends the reality of
any human rule (e.g., Isaiah 9; Psalms 2, 110).
This is resolved in Jesus Messiah (Christ), born of the seed of David (Romans
1.3) and yet Lord over all things (Romans 1.4; Ephesians 1.20-22).
Eighth, the Hebrew
Scriptures focus on God’s particular, covenantal relationship with Israel, and
yet they repeatedly understand God to rule universally and to be about a work
that will include the nations. This
narrative of Israel and the nations is resolved in the New Testament, where God’s
people are drawn from every tongue, tribe, nation, and people. The restoration of Israel as God's righteous and chosen people includes the Gentiles; neither is excluded, and that not because of attaining their own righteousness but because God has shown mercy to both through Jesus Christ.
Ninth, the Hebrew
Scriptures narrate the history of Israel while holding out hope of an age to
come when there will be no more suffering and sin, the dead will be raised, and
righteousness will reign over all the earth.
This is partly resolved in the New Testament, for Jesus suffered on the
cross to conquer sin and death, was raised on the third day, and ascended to the
right hand of God the Father, from whence He reigns in righteousness and from
which He will come again to judge the whole earth. The New Testament understands this age to
come as having begun already, as an overlapping of the present age and the age
to come between Jesus’ first and second coming. We look for Jesus' second coming, when this hope will be fully realized; but we are assured of its coming because it has already begun through Jesus.
Tenth, the Hebrew
Scriptures understand God’s own mission to be to show forth His glory upon the
whole earth, and yet God’s own people failed to bear and hallow His name and
brought Him shame among the nations because of their sin. The
New Testament understands God to show forth His glory through Jesus Christ and
those who are in Christ. God declares
His glory foremost in demonstrating His grace—His steadfast love and
forgiveness—in Jesus’ death for sinners on the cross; and the world knows God’s
glory in the Church’s witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the
earth.
As a scholar of the
Hebrew Scriptures once said, the Hebrew Scriptures read as a book of ever-increasing
promise. The promise derives from the
tensions of unresolved conundrums such as those noted above. Without the New Testament, these would be
unfulfilled promises. In Christ Jesus,
these conundrums are not only resolved but constitute the ‘good news’ of the
Gospel.
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