There is a page in most of our Bibles that, in my opinion, does not belong there. It is a white page on which is written, “The New Testament (Covenant)”. This is a page that makes a separation between the New Covenant and the Hebrew Scriptures, which some refer to as “The Old Testament”. I personally find the words “old” and “new” a bit problematic. While the term “new covenant” is found within the Hebrew Scriptures (Jeremiah 31), it refers to a supernatural writing of God’s law on believers’ hearts by the Holy Spirit, which would come through Messiah Yeshua; it does not refer to a separate set of scriptures!
Now, please don’t misunderstand me; I am a disciple of Yeshua who is very grateful for the Gospel writings, the letters of Paul, and the writings of the Disciples. In fact, my walk with the Lord heavily depends on these writings. The problem is that believers today largely ignore the entire Bible as a whole, and only focus on what is known as “The New Testament”. They do so simply because they think, or they were taught, that the Old Covenant is an obsolete book, and somehow does not apply to them. I wonder, was that the view and the approach of the first disciples; was that the meaning of the “New Covenant”?
Years ago, I had a “heated” debate with another believer about some topics that are found in the Word of God. He based his entire argument on what the New Covenant had to say, believing that there is no more room for the “old” covenant in our lives.
In the midst of our debate I asked him if he knew what 1 Tim 3:16-17 says? We opened our Bibles and read it:
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. “ 2 Tim 3:16-17.
I then asked, “To which ‘Scripture’ do you think that the Apostle Paul (Rav Shaul) was referring? Was there a book called “New Covenant” (or Testament) during that time? Or was he referring to what you call ‘old’ and even invalid for us as Followers of the Messiah?”
My brothers and sisters, in many of the places in the new Covenant that the Word “Scriptures” is mentioned, it refers to the rest of God’s holy and inspired Word that can never grow old. While we will not be judged under the Law as believers in Yeshua, we are certainly not lawless
; our faith in Yeshua actually raises the bar in how we are to live our lives, in accordance to God’s principles set about for us in the Hebrew Scriptures!
According to 2 Tim 3:16-17, if we want to be equipped to do God’s will for our lives, and to know what is pleasing and honoring to Him, we are to read the fullness of His Word. The Bible is ONE book, from Genesis to Revelation. In every book are found pieces to the “puzzle” that we need in order to have the full picture of God, and His plan for redemption, sanctification, and living victoriously in Him. I don’t want to miss any piece of that puzzle…do you?
Shabbat Shalom,
Moran
4 Comments on “God’s Word – Part 3”
Amen. Thank you.
Dear Moran;
You are so correct in your sharing of what is meant by the Holy Scriptures. The entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation
is so important in our lives today! I wished that so many Churches would acknowledge the continued importance of the
entire WORD of God. For me, as I study the Torah and other OT books, I understand the NT writings so much better!
Thanks for your words.
Praying for you and the ministry of Hope for Israel in these difficult days!
Eleanor
No where in the original manuscripts is either part of the Bible called the “Old Testament or the “New” Testament. That is something man had added in my opinion to be anti-semantic! The gentile church was good at adding and subtracting after the second century, and much of the adding and subtracting was to replace the House of Israel. Replacement theology began in the late 1st century. Jeremiah 31 was a New covenant written to the ” House of Isreal. Those Gentiles that have decided to make a commitment to the Jewish Messiah Yeshua are grafted into the House of Isreal and into all its covenants (Romans Chapter 11); in the scriptures spoken by Yeshua and his apostles, and disciples. These concepts were not really “new” just a continuation of being a fulfillment of being a light of scriptures to the gentile world. There was nothing new that hadn’t been prophesied over hundreds of years by many Hebrew prophets and men of G-d. Telling the Jews to believe in a gentile messiah, attend gentile churches, perform gentile activities, and man-made holidays, and feasts; then demanding that the Jewish faith to be abandoned by discouraging all the Jewish activities outlined in scripture, which appears to be anti-semantic and smells of early replacement theology at the least. Much of the churches preaching is splitting the Bible in half and only teaching what they call the New Testament. Moran I too had a pastor that wanted to debate me on various subjects, but stated clearly we could only use the New Testament in our discussion. We must consider and consume the “whole loaf.” Christians historically have continued to bring about what I call the “spiritual holocaust” of the Jewish nation, by trying to destroy all practices of Torah observance. The physical holocaust tried to destroy the body of the Jewish people; but the “spiritual holocaust” is trying to destroy their souls. In the New Testament there is no mention of giving a tenth tithe, only voluntarily offering are mentioned. However, when it comes to the tithe, the “New Testament” theology quickly returns to the “Old Testament” to quote the scripture involving tithes. In most churches the “Old Testament” scriptures are used because the New Testament lacks the authority that is found in the “old”.
Thank you, Moran.