rightly dividing the word of truth part 5

rightly dividing the word of truth part 5

The Bible depicts God’s covenant with Israel as a marriage.  (Isaiah 54, Jer 3)  We don’t really think in terms of covenant in our culture, though we do practice covenant making.  Marriage is essentially a covenant.

A covenant is a solemn oath or binding agreement, similar to a contract.

God deals with his people in the form of covenant.  For people in covenant with God, their world revolves around that covenant.  That covenant determines the way they live, what they do, where they go and when, what they eat & drink, what they wear, etc.

We have spent the past few weeks discussing principles of Biblical interpretation.  Recently discussed the relevance of the text to its original audience and the importance of noting the historical-cultural context of the biblical audience; this morning we are going to take a very close look at the covenantal context of the original audience and how that contributes to our interpretation of the Bible as we continue this series in hermeneutics in order that we may rightly divide the word of truth.

This morning’s principle and the 8^th in our series is consider the covenantal context.

New Horizons in Hermeneutics: The Theory and Practice of Transforming | Anthony C. Thiselton  (p 32)  “In the case of the Biblical writings, the persistence of the terms Old and New ‘Testament’ serve to remind us of a covenantal context in which pledge and promise feature prominently.”

In other words, covenant is a prominent feature in the Bible.

Gospel-centered hermeneutics by Graeme Goldsworthy (p 73) “All human history after Genesis 3 is history under both judgment and the redemptive covenant of the Creator.  All human history is thus given its ultimate and true interpretation only when viewed within this framework of covenant and redemption.”

Goldsworthy goes so far as to say the ultimate and true interpretation comes only when viewing the Scriptures within the framework of covenant.

Bible explorer’s guide: how to understand and interpret the bible by John Phillips (p88) “We see eight different covenants in the Scriptures.  They are a remarkable set of contractual agreements drawn up between God and members of the human race.  That is what a covenant is: a contract, a legal agreement between two or more parties.  If we are to rightly divide the word of truth, we must learn to differentiate between these various contracts, their provisions, their parties, and their purposes.”

He lists the 8 as:

1.       Edenic

2.       Adamic

3.      Noahic

4.      Abrahamic

5.      Mosaic

6.      Palestinian

7.      Davidic

8.      New

Then he goes on to say (p89), “Even a casual glance at those divisions shows some differences.  Some of them, for instance, are conditional (“If you will do this or that, then…”).  Others are wholly unconditional (“I will, I will, I will”).  We have an example of a conditional covenant in Exodus 19:5 and of an unconditional covenant in Genesis 17.  Be sure always to note specifically the actual beneficiary, the clauses of the agreement, and the circumstances under which it was made.  Note, too, that some of the covenants have special “signs” or seals attached to them.  The seal of the Abrahamic covenant, for instance was circumcision; the seal of the Noahic Covenant was the rainbow; the seal of the Mosaic Covenant was the Sabbath.”

There are several covenants in the scriptures.  John Phillips sees 8.  Some dispute the covenant with Adam.  I would combine the Palestinian with either the Abrahamic or the Mosaic.  Either way, we are in agreement with the essence of the promises and conditions of these covenants.  Understanding this covenantal framework of the Scriptures is essential to proper interpretation.

Covenants can be unilateral or bilateral – meaning one sided or two sided.  A one-sided covenant is one in which only one person or party is responsible to deliver.  A two-sided covenant involves requirements by both parties. 

Covenants can be conditional or unconditional.  An unconditional covenant is one in which a benefactor says I will do this.  I will, regardless of what you do, I will.  A conditional covenant is one that has contingencies.  If you do this, then I will do that.  If you don’t do this, then I won’t do that.

3 of these covenants seem to have the most impact on our Biblical understanding: the Abrahamic, Mosaic, and New. 

THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT was a covenant that God made with Abram who later became Abraham.  This covenant was a unilateral or one-sided unconditional covenant.  God said I will…

This covenant begins to take root in Gen 12

Gen 12 ¹ The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

 ² “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

We see God expanding on this in Gen 15

Gen 15: 1-6

¹ After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram.  I am your shield, your very great reward.” ² But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

 ⁴ Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” ⁵ He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” ⁶ Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Gen 17:1-8  ¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. ² I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”  ³ Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, ⁴ “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. ⁵No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶ I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁸ The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

Main stipulations

·         Blessing

·         Numerous descendants

·         Inheritance

Abraham was the father of Isaac, who was the father of Jacob aka Israel, whose descendents became the nation of Israel.  In the life of this nation, Israel, we see God begin to fulfill these promises made to Abraham.

Deut 1:6-10 ⁶ The LORD our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. ⁷ Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. ⁸ See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the LORD swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.”

 ⁹ At that time I said to you, “You are too heavy a burden for me to carry alone. ¹⁰ The LORD your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.

So we see begin to see fulfillment.  Abraham’s numerous descendents were brought into the land as God promised.

On the way into the land, God made another covenant.  In the wilderness, God made a covenant with these Israelites.  This covenant was mediated through Moses.  So this covenant is known as the Mosaic Covenant.  We speak of it as the Old Covenant.

This covenant was a bilateral covenant or a two-party covenant, which means that not only was God responsible for certain aspects of the covenant but also, the people were responsible for certain aspects of the covenant. 

Central to this covenant was God’s Laws, also known as the Law or the Law of Moses.  There were around 600 commands, which were essentially summed up and represented by 10 commandments written on stone tablets.

The Mosaic Covenant was a conditional covenant.  If Israel fully obeyed the Law, God would bless them.  If Israel disobeyed, God would curse them.

Through this covenant, the elements of the Abrahamic Covenant are conditional.

·         If you obey you will be blessed (but disobey, cursed)

·         If you obey I will increase your numbers and multiply you (disobey, destroy you)

·         If you obey I will let you live in the land (disobey, you will be exiled)

Deuteronomy 28  ¹ If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. ² All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:

 ³ You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.  ⁴ The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. ⁵ Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. ⁶ You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. ⁷ The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. ⁸ The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

 ⁹ The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in obedience to him. ¹⁰ Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. ¹¹ The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.

 ¹² The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. ¹³ The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. ¹⁴ Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

 ¹⁵ However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:

 ¹⁶ You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. ¹⁷ Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. ¹⁸ The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. ¹⁹ You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. ²⁰ The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.^[a] 21The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. ²² The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. ²³ The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. ²⁴ The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

 ²⁵ The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. ²⁶ Your carcasses will be food for all the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. ²⁷ The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. ²⁸ The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. ²⁹ At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.

 ³⁰ You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. ³¹ Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. ³² Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. ³³ A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. ³⁴ The sights you see will drive you mad. ³⁵ The LORD will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

 ³⁶ The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the LORD will drive you.

That is the essence of the Mosaic Covenant, centered around the Law.  Blessings for obedience to the Law, curses for disobedience to the Law.  This is the covenantal context of most of the bible.

It is introduced in Exodus 20, perpetuated in the rest of the Pentateuch or Torah, dictates the life of Israel in historical narratives, serves as the framework and context of poetic and wisdom literature, and is the central foundation of the prophets, who point back to it. 

Look at how much of our bibles are centered on this covenant!!!  Almost all of it.  It is therefore, very important for us to understand the context of this particular covenant. 

Grasping God’s Word (p333) 

 (p334) “Since the Old Testament law is tightly intertwined into the Mosaic covenant, it is important to make several observations about the nature of this covenant:

1.       The Mosaic covenant is closely associated with Israel’s conquest and occupation of the land

2.       The blessings from the Mosaic covenant are conditional

3.      The Mosaic covenant is no longer a functional covenant

4.      The Old Testament law as part of the Mosaic covenant is no longer applicable over us as law

5.      We must interpret the law through the grid of New Testament teaching”

We must remember as we move into the NT that the MOSAIC Covenant was the covenantal context.  God didn’t make the New Covenant with Israel between the pages of Malachi 4 and Matt 1 and then send his son Jesus to the New Covenant Community.  God sent his son into Israel into a community whose covenantal context was the Mosaic Context.  Gal 4:4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law to redeem those under law.  They were under the OC.  That is crucial to keep in mind as we read the gospel narratives.

There is no explicit mention of the New Covenant until the end of Jesus’ ministry.

In fact, Jesus makes it quite clear that his earthly ministry was operative in the framework of the Mosaic Covenant.  Matt 5:17-20  ¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. ¹⁹ Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Here we have a reiteration and an emphasis on the fact that Jesus’ original audience, his first century contemporaries were under the Old Covenant, under the Mosaic covenant.  He assures them that he didn’t come to abolish the thing that defined and regulated their lives – ie the Law.  Further, he said that not the smallest letter or the least stroke of a pen will disappear from the law until heaven and earth pass away.  So in Jesus day the Law was in effect, they were still under the OC until heaven and earth passed away.  Determining what exactly Jesus meant by this is an important task for the interpreter since it determines when the stipulations of the OC would cease to function as binding on God’s people. 

When would it cease to be true that whoever breaks the least commandment in the Law of Moses would be least in the kingdom?

When we walk through the gospel narrative we do so in the context of the OC seeing that in Judea the priesthood is operating under the OC sacrificial system, worshiping at the Temple, eating according to the dietary laws, observing the Sabbath, celebrating the festivals.  They are living life according to the covenant to which they belong; they are living life as prescribed by the Law.  The Covenantal context for the gospel narratives is Mosaic.

Then at the end of Jesus’ ministry he sent his disciples to find a room prepared for the Passover meal, which by the way, is a meal prescribed by the Mosaic Covenant; it would be the last supper.  He told them to go into the city, find a man carrying a water jar, follow him to the place prepared.

Luke 22:13-20 ¹³ They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. ¹⁴ When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. ¹⁵ And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶ For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁷ After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. ¹⁸ For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” ¹⁹ And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁰ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. 

So at this Passover meal at the end of Jesus’ ministry he clearly identifies the shedding of His blood with a New Covenant.  This isn’t the first time they heard the idea of a new covenant.  God introduced the idea around 600 years earlier through the prophet Jeremiah in Jer 31.

The question facing the interpreter is: when exactly was the NC put into effect and when exactly was the OC done away?  Most people agree that it was sometime in the first century.  Some say the NC was inaugurated at the cross.  Others say at Christ’s ascension, others say at Pentecost.  It’s pretty safe to say that it was sometime during that short period.

However, the OC did not end at the moment the NC was inaugurated.  Several passages in the Scriptures indicate that there is an overlap in the Old and New Covenants.  The New was inaugurated.  The Old was still around, still active, but had been rendered obsolete and it was fading and would soon come to an end. 

This seems to be the thrust of the transfiguration Matt 17 as well as 2 Cor 3.  However, the clearest teaching on this besides Matt 5:17-20 is Heb 8 – 10.

Take a look with me at Hebrews 8  ¹ The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ² and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.

 ³ Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. ⁴ If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. ⁵ They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” ⁶ But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.

 ⁷ For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. ⁸ But God found fault with the people and said:

   “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. ⁹ It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. ¹⁰ This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ¹¹ No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. ¹² For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

 ¹³ By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

So, here, we have the book of Hebrews written around 62 63 AD saying that the new covenant has made the old one obsolete and that which is obsolete, aka the OC was aging and would soon disappear.  So in about 62 AD, the OC was still operative; it was obsolete, but it wasn’t over yet.  It would soon disappear.  There was an overlapping of the covenants, a period in which both covenants were operative simultaneously.

Recognizing this fact that there is an overlapping of the old and new covenants is an important interpretive key that makes sense of the rest of the NT.  The believing Jews were struggling with their identity in Christ and a history under the Law.  The question for them was to what degree is the law still applicable?  As Gentiles were coming into the family of God through faith in Jesus, the question was then, to what degree do we impose the law of Moses on these Gentiles?  Do they need to be circumcised, obey the dietary laws, etc?  A council was actually held in Jerusalem to discuss those issues (Acts 15).

Bottom line: The NT needs to be understood in light of covenant transition. 

So as we come to the Scriptures, we must be aware of the covenantal context of a text. 

Otherwise we may find ourselves attempting to live under the laws of the Mosaic Covenant which were never intended for us.

Duvall & Hays put it well in Grasping God’s Word and we will end with this quote.

Grasping God’s Word (p20) We are separated from the text by a river (culture, history, language).  “If that were not enough, the Old Testament widens the river by adding another major interpretive barrier that separates us from the audience.  Between the Old Testament biblical audience and Christian readers today lies a change in covenant.  We as New Testament believers are under the new covenant and we approach God through the sacrifice of Christ.  The Old Testament people, however, were under the Old Covenant, and for them the law was central.  In other words, the theological situation for the two groups is different.  There is a covenant barrier between the Old Testament audience and us because we are under different covenants.

Thus the river between the Old Testament text and us consists not only of culture, language, situation, and time, but also of covenant.  We have much more in common with the New Testament audience; yet even in the New Testament, the different culture, language, and specific situations can present a formidable barrier to our desire to grasp the meaning of the text.  The river is often too deep and too wide simply to wade across.”

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