In our first class session we accomplished a lot, we learned about the key themes that can be found in the New testament and how one goes about questioning the themes and connecting the new and old testaments. The one major theme that we found to be one of the big ones of the New Testament was Jesus and all his deeds, death and resurrection. When this theme was first revealed to the class, I thought well obviously! But once we began to talk about all the other themes such as restoration, redemption, the church and the building relationship between the Jews and Gentiles. And Dr. Hall began to connect each theme together with a link and with each connection every last theme eventually led back to Jesus and his deeds, death and resurrection …show more content…
This is something that my Old testament teacher attempted to do something similar. But the I find that lots of believers can not connect the God seen in the Old Testament to the one seen in the New Testament. The separate the two because God in the Old Testament fights in wars and commands people to kill and turns his back on his people. They began to think how can the God of lamentation and Jeremiah be the same God of the gospels. So I like that this year we will focus a bit on the connection between the Old testament and New testament and the the one God shown in different lights in them both. I also like that we will be talking about Old testament law and the monarchy 's because along with the separation of God between the Old and New testaments, many believers cancel out some of the laws that are seen in the Torah and other places in the Old testament because the see Jesus as getting rid of those laws when he came in the New Testament. So I am pretty eager to begin connecting the Old testament and New testament and knocking down some of the strong viewpoints many have on the separation of the Old and New testaments and showing that Jesus did not come to completely override the Old Testament but to act as a barrier in some sorts between the two and that they two link and connect like the themes of the new
“Exploration of Similarities in Religious Texts: A Further Look at the Koran, the Tanakh and the New Testament”
Throughout many of Paul’s letters there are many debates pertaining to the authorship, destination, date, and the purpose. In the book of Ephesians many scholars debate on the authorship and if Paul actually wrote the letter, or if it was a scribe. Although there are some debates on whether Paul actually wrote it or not, he does refer to himself twice in the letter. In 1:1 and in 3:1 Paul states himself, 1:3 states, “For this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles” (NIV) In verse 1:3 Paul states that he is a prisoner, therefore it is debated that he did not specifically write this because he was imprisoned in Rome at this time. According to Wallace “This, of course, is not to say that the letter must be by Paul, but it is to argue that without such internal testimony, no such claim could be made” (Wallace). Many scholars also debate on the vocabulary usage and the structure of the letter. Some believe that the structure is similar, but the vocabulary seems to be different than his New Testament epistles. Hoehner claims that,” Though the book has a close affinity with Colossians, critics claim that Ephesians is uncharacteristic of Paul” (Hoehner 613). The destination of Ephesians is somewhat debated, but many do believe that the letter was sent to the church of Ephesus. “Some to claim that Ephesus is a better starting point, others suggest Caesarea.” (Wallace) Although this is an argument that has many valid points, it is obvious that Paul was imprisoned in Rome while he wrote Ephesians. It is said by Hoehner that “Ephesians was probably delivered by Tychicus (Eph. 6:21-22), who also took Paul’s letter to Colossians (Col. 4:7-9)” (Hoehner 613). As for the date goes m...
Drane, J. W. (2000). Introducing the Old Testament (Completely rev. and updated.) (46). Oxford: Lion Publishing plc.
There are many different forms of covenants in the Old testament that the people of God agree to. The first one being looked at is between God and Abraham. God promised Abraham a great nation and God said he would bless Abraham (Gen 2:2). God also promised him the Promise Land (Gen 15:18) and said he would be the father of many nations (Gen 17:4). All God asked of him was devotion from him and his people and to have circumcision be the sign from the people (Gen 17:11). The promises of the covenant directly impact Abraham, but they also impacted the people who would follow. God would also use these vows in other covenants because they had historic meaning. The Mosaic covenant has several similarities to the Abrahamic covenant. God told Moses that he would make the people of Israel his treasured possessions (Exo 19:5), which corresponds with the promise of blessings in the first covenant. God also promises to bring the people into the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exo 6:8). God still expected the people to follow and adhere to his words and the sign he required was following the ten commandments. These covenants were made when the people were forced to be a nomadic due to persecution. The promise of blessings and nations and land was something the people needed. The next covenant God made was with King David, this covenant also resembles the Abrahamic covenant. After the people had settled into their land God talks to King David, through the prophet Nathan. God tells David he will have a child who will establish a kingdom forever (2 Sam 7:13) and the kingdom, as well as the house, will be forever and his child will not lose the throne (2 Sam 7:16). These promises are like the ones made to Abraham, both are promised nat...
To some American Christians, the Old Testament is obsolete. They see no correlation between living in today’s world as a Christian, and the happenings of the past. They attribute the Ten Commandments as laws for the Jews, “intended only for the nation Israel before the death of Jesus” (Gane, 1997, para. 1). They reinforce that idea by pointing out that the fourth commandment was for the nation of Israel specifically. “The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. ‘It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed’” Exodus 31:16-17 (New International Version). While
The Old Testament and the Bible itself has been studied extensively for centuries. Archeologists and Scholars have labored and pondered over texts trying to decipher its clues. It does not matter how many times the Old Testament has been studied there will always be something new to learn about it or the history surrounding it. In the book Reading the Old Testament: an Introduction, the author Lawrence Boadt presents us with a few different authors of the Old Testament that used different names for God and had a unique insight into the texts. These four sources are titled P for priests, E for Elohim, J for Jehovah, and Y for Yahweh (95). These four unique sources help us realize that there is more than one author of the Pentateuch. These authors took the text and adapted for their culture. This independent source is used by scholars to help gain insight into what was behind the texts of the bible so we are not left with an incomplete picture of what went into the creation of the bible. Julius Wellhausen used these four sources to publish a book to able us to better understand the sources and to give it credibility with the Protestant scholars at the time (Boadt 94). These sources that is independent of the bible as in the DVD Who Wrote the Bible? and the Nova website aide in shedding light on the history that surrounded the writers who wrote the text and what inspired them to write it in the first place. The DVD shows the discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls and the extensive history of the texts and all its sources in an effort to try to find exactly who wrote the bible (Who Wrote). These scrolls have aided scholars immensely by giving us some of the oldest known manuscripts of the bible in the world today. It shows that the bible w...
There are many Christians, whether you believe or not that question why they should read the Old Testament/Hebrew bible. They feel it is unnecessary because of todays’ times and how things have changed, so they think that the Bible is far behind in what is going on in today’s world. Nevertheless, the Bible is current and is never outdated; therefore, we should never assume, especially as Christians that there is nothing new we can learn from the Bible. Reasons why Christians should read the Old Testament is because we should know that the Bible is still relevant in today’s world, to know God and his nature which in turn can transform one’s life, and to get wisdom and understanding so that they can apply to their lives.
The most highly referenced and revered as sacred are The King James Version, considered a masterpiece of English literature, The Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, The Aprocrypha, the books believed left out of some bibles, The Vulgate, the Latin Bible used for centuries by the Roman Catholic religion, and The Septuagint, the first ancient Greek translation of the Tanakh (Geisler and Nix 15, McCallum 4). The Bible is considered a sacred text by three major world religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Many believers consider it to be the literal truth. Others treat it with great respect, but believe that it was written by human beings and, thus is often contradictory in its tenets.
LaSor, W., Hubbard, D., Bush, F., & Allen, L. (1996). Old Testament survey: The message, form, and background of the Old Testament (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans
In the days of Christ’s life on this earth, believers did not have access to the Bible in its entirety as we know and are familiar with today. Believers in this ancient time period only had access to the Old Testament. However, through their access to the Old Testament, believers were provided a foundation for New Testament times. This foundation provided New Testament believers with the Lord’s established principles of right and wrong they were expected to follow. In addition, the Old Testament is overflowing with accounts of people whose lives exemplified the future life of Christ on this earth. These pictures allowed the Israelite nation to begin to have an understanding of why Christ needed to come as their Messiah and the work He needed to do on earth. Finally, there are common themes that are interwoven throughout the entire Old Testament. Three of these themes: transgression, redemption, and consummation point to the purpose of Christ’s atoning death on the cross. These themes portray God’s work both in the lives of Old Testament believers, but they also foreshadow God’s desire and plan for believers in New Testament times and beyond.
In this paper, there will be a discussion about the canonization of the New Testament. Along with an investigation of who was involved in this process. The people and institution looked at will include the following: Marcion, Irenaeus, Origen, Synod of Hippo, and God.
Throughout the semester, while reading the Old Testament and taking the class at the same time, I did not particularly see common themes stick out at first. As I looked back on the semester and reflected on what I had read and what I had gone through, one particular topic pervasively came to mind. It was something that kept coming back to me as I mentally flagged down the verses related to what I was dealing with in my life, and something that was well detailed in the Old Testament to the point that I could not ignore it. This topic of sexual sin and immorality was the one thing that festered throughout my time of reflection, and the verses and passages that I picked up on after rereading the Old Testament was enough evidence for me to write about it and how the grip it has on my life impacts me both personally and as a Christian. Sexual sin and immorality are both abhorred by the Lord, and through the words of the Old Testament, I am able to see his revelation of truth for me and see that it is something I have to put aside if I am to become a more wholehearted and clean follower of him.
Levine, Amy –Jill and Douglas Knight. The Meaning of the Bible: What Jewish and Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us. New York: HarperOne, 2011
First and foremost, I will always be focused on the fact that it is my responsibility as a teacher to “cause my students to learn”. I cannot teach my students content unless I have prayed and asked God for illumination and for an “appliers heart”. It is important that I understand the content and application before I teach this to my students which should result in a life change for them. Application is the main reason for God’s revelation and it is my responsibility to share this with my students. My ultimate goal is to illustrate how scripture can be used in daily
Lea, Thomas D., and David Alan Black. The New Testament Its Background and message. 2nd edition. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003.