1.READING OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS AS IF THEY WERE NT TEXTS. TO GIVE BUT TWO EXAMPLES, THE ‘ANGEL OF THE LORD’ WAS NOT CHRIST SHOWING UP IN OT SALVATION HISTORY. WHY NOT? FOR STARTERS, THE SON OF GOD WAS IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ONTOLOGICAL CATEGORY THAN ANGELS, AS HEBREWS 1 MAKES PERFECTLY CLEAR.
FOR ANOTHER THING, OT INDIVIDUALS SHOULD NOT BE EVALUATED ON THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER STANDARDS. ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB, DAVID, SOLOMON ARE NOT CHRISTIANS BEFORE THEIR TIME. BY NT STANDARDS, THESE FIGURES OFTEN COMMIT SERIOUS SINS, EVEN SINS CONDEMNED IN THE MOSAIC LAW INCLUDING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, BUT THEY ALSO DO SOME THINGS THAT GLORIFY GOD.
2. ASSUMING A LITERAL READING OF ANY TEXT IN THE BIBLE IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY TO INTERPRET THE TEXT. THIS ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT WORK WITH FIGURATIVE, METAPHORICAL, OR POETIC MATERIAL, FOR INSTANCE READING THE PSALMS LITERALLY WHICH OFTEN USES METAPHORICAL OR ANALOGICAL LANGUAGE TO MAKE A POINT (E.G. ‘THE HILLS SKIPPED LIKE RAMS’). OR MAKING A BIG MISTAKE OF INTERPRETING METAPHORICAL APOCALYPTIC PROPHECY LITERALLY. (E.G. WHEN WE HEAR ABOUT THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH IN REV. 7.1 ‘THEN I SAW ANGELS STANDING AT THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH’. JOHN IS NOT TRYING TO TEACH THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH, HE IS MAKING A POINT THAT THE ANGELS WILL BE HOLDING BACK THE WINDS THAT COME FROM ALL POINTS ON THE COMPASS. THE SUBJECTS THE BIBLE TEACHES US ABOUT ARE THEOLOGY, ETHICS, SALVATION HISTORY, AND SPIRITUAL FORMATION. IT DOES NOT TEACH US ABOUT THE SHAPE OR AGE OF THE EARTH, OR ABOUT EVER SO MANY OTHER SUBJECTS (E.G. COSMOLOGY, GEOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY, ETC.)
3. ASSUMING THAT OT INSTITUTIONS SIMPLY CARRY OVER INTO THE NT ERA AND ARE FINE FOR APPLYING TO CHRISTIANS AND THE CHURCH. FOR EXAMPLE, NT MINISTERS ARE CALLED ELDERS, DEACONS, APOSTLES, PROPHETS, EVANGELISTS, BUT WHAT THEY ARE NOT CALLED IS PRIESTS. IN THE NT THERE ARE ONLY TWO KINDS OF PRIESTHOOD— CHRIST’S HEAVENLY HIGH PRIESTHOOD, AND THE PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS. THE REASON THERE IS NOT A SPECIAL CLASS OF CLERGY CALLED PRIESTS, IS BECAUSE CHRIST’S DEATH AS THE ONCE AND FOR ALL SACRIFICE FOR SIN MEANS WE DO NOT NEED PRIESTS OFFERING SACRIFICES AS A KIND OF MINISTERS OR AS A PART OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. WE ARE NOT CALLED TO FOLLOW THE OT MODEL OF PRIESTS, TEMPLES, SACRIFICES, TITHES, SABBATH OBSERVANCE ETC. TO THE CONTRARY, CHRISTIAN WORSHIP INVOLVES US AS INDIVIDUALS PRESENTING OURSELVES AS LIVING SACRIFICES (ROM. 12) WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH NOT TIED TO A SPECIFIC LOCATION THAT IS CONSIDERED SACRED SPACE (SEE JOHN 4), AND FOLLOWING JESUS’ TEACHING ABOUT SACRIFICIAL GIVING, RATHER THAN TITHING, AND WORSHIPPING ON THE LORD’S DAY, THE DAY OF RESURRECTION, NOT THE SABBATH.
4. FORGETTING THAT ONLY THOSE ETHICAL TEACHINGS THAT ARE REAFFIRMED FROM OT ETHICS IN THE NEW COVENANT ARE BINDING ON CHRISTIANS. FOR INSTANCE, WHILE THE EXCLUSIVE WORSHIPPING OF THE BIBLICAL GOD IS STILL REQURED (‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD…..’) SWEARING OATHS (NOW BANNED BY JESUS) IS NOT REQUIRED. NOTICE THAT THE ONLY COMMANDMENT OF THE BIG TEN NOT SPECIFICALLY REAFFIRMED IS THE SABBATH COMMANDMENT, AND INDEED IN COLOSSIANS PAUL URGES CHRISTIANS NOT TO OBSERVE FOOD LAWS, NEW MOONS OR SABBATH, AS JEWISH PERSONS DO (COL. 2.16).
5. THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE NT IS TREATED AS A PERSON WHO CAN BE GRIEVED OR BLASPHEMED. ONLY PERSONS CAN BE GRIEVED OR BLASPHEMED. THEREFORE, THE SPIRIT SHOULD NOT BE TREATED AS A MERE POWER OR FORCE, OR SOMETHING ONE CAN RECEIVE FROM GOD ON THE INSTALLMENT PLAN, SOME AT CONVERSION, MORE LATER. THE REFERENCE TO BEING BAPTIZED BY THE ONE SPIRIT INTO THE ONE BODY OF CHRIST IN 1 COR. 12 IS TALKING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A PERSON IS FIRST JOINED TO THE BODY OF CHRIST, NOT TO SOME SUBSEQUENT SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE AFTER CONVERSION. INDEED, THE PHRASE ‘BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT’ IS NEVER USED OF SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES SUBSEQUENT TO CONVERSION. OF COURSE, THERE CAN BE MANY SUCH BLESSINGS, AND NEW GIFTINGS BY THE SPIRIT AFTER CONVERSION, BUT THE PHRASE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT IS ONLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE FIRST BEING UNITED TO THE BODY OF CHRIST.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In