Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition

LESSON 3 | THE OT WITNESS TO CHRIST AND HIS KINGDOM: THE PROMISE GIVEN / 147

• Do I tend to see Jesus both as the seed of the woman who will destroy the devil’s work, as well as the seed of Abraham through whom all the families of the earth will be blessed? What is the primary way in which I view Jesus in light of these revelations about him? • Do I (more often than not) affirm Jesus’ teaching that he himself is the key theme and subject of all biblical revelation (cf. Luke 22.25-27, 44-48; Matt. 5.17-18; John 1.45; 5.39-40; Heb. 10.5-10 with Ps. 40.6-8)? How do I most often use the Bible in my life – as an affirmation of the person of Jesus or more related to my own troubles, needs, and issues? How ought we use the OT in light of Jesus’ teaching about it? It Was Our Hebrew Bible before it Was Your Old Testament Gang violence has been on the climb in your community for some time. In a show of unity and support, various religious groups have sent their religious representatives to an ecumenical panel discussion on violence, tolerance, and respect for others. As one of the panel members began to share his views about the “Old Testament” the local rabbi very warmly but firmly suggested the following: “As I know that many followers of Christ, Christian believers, are in attendance, and that it is their habit to refer to the first portion of their Bibles as the Old Testament, I would suggest that during our time together that we would refer to the Christian Old Testament as the Hebrew Bible. You see, for us, believers in Judaism, it has never been an old book; it is our Scripture and we refer to it as our Hebrew Scriptures. Would it be too much for us to refer to it in this way, as we dialogue together about respect, unity, and support for one another?” How would you answer the rabbi in this setting? Is this much ado about nothing, or is there something important about refusing to see the OT as merely the old portion of the Bible? How does viewing the “Hebrew Bible” as the “Old Testament” limit our ability to see its relevance for Christians today? The OT and Equipping the Saints It is quite clear that the Scriptures that Paul referred to in 2 Timothy 3, which could make God’s woman or man outfitted for the work of the ministry, was the OT. The Bible of Jesus and the apostles was, in fact, our OT, and from even a cursory reading of the epistles we see that they quoted and referred to it often in their writings to new believers and

CASE STUDIES

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B i b l i ca l S tud i e s

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