The Old Testament Witness to Christ and His Kingdom, Student Workbook, SW09

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T H E O L D T E S T A M E N T W I T N E S S T O C H R I S T A N D H I S K I N G D O M

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? 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 emerging congregations. Unlike them, however, it is difficult to find follow-up material and discipleship curriculum where the teaching, stories, figures, and prophecies of the OT are made the heart and soul of the material. In some ways, the OT is in some sort of exile in many evangelical church settings. It is rarely read, and often even more rarely preached. A story here, a proverb there, but rarely do you find even expositors spending weeks or months in OT literature in the instruction of Christians. Obviously, this neglect has produced a kind of illiteracy of the OT in many Christians, those who have never had ongoing, systematic teaching of the OT. What should we make of this neglect of the OT in our churches—is it a product of the times, something more fundamental, or something else altogether? The OT and Equipping the Saints

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