My Questions About American Religion #4 - How Many Stories Do We Have To Tell?

This one is a little sticky...

Very early on in the development of Christianity, there began to arise an "anti-Semitic" sentiment in Greek Jesus followers. The range of writings about this span from Augustine (A.D. 354-430) to Martin Luther (A.D. 1483-1586).  It seems that Gentile Christians have had it out for their Jewish roots almost from the beginning of the Christian movement.

Some Quotes:
"Augustine’s characterization of the Jews, their beliefs, and their practices is insulting, but it springs not from any real encounter with practicing Jews, but from his interpretation of their religious practices as understood through Scripture." - See more at: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godandthemachine/2012/05/unwilling-witnesses-st-augustine-and-the-witness-doctrine/#sthash.tn3FDo9w.dpuf

His dependence upon Jewish tradition did not, however, prevent him from reproaching the Jews for not understanding, or not wishing to understand, the O. T. In his "Tractatus Adversus Judæos" he endeavors, as his main object, to prove from Scripture that the Law is fulfilled in Jesus, and that therefore Christians may rightfully have recourse to the O. T. even if they do not observe the Law. His endeavor to prove the Messianic character of Jesus from Psalms xliv., xlviii., and lxx. is very far-fetched; as well as his plea for the rejection of the Jews, based on Isaiah ii. and Mal. i. 10, 11. He says on this point, "If the Jews in the Isaiah passage [verse 5] understand 'the house of Jacob' to be equivalent to 'Israel,' because both names were borne by the patriarch, they only show how incapable they are of comprehending the true contents of the O. T.

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2136-augustine#anchor9

Martin Luther wrote an entire book called The Jews and Their Lies. In it, he writes:
"I had made up my mind to write no more either about the Jews or against them. But since I learned that these miserable and accursed people do not cease to lure to themselves even us, that is, the Christians, I have published this little book, so that I might be found among those who opposed such poisonous activities of the Jews who warned the Christians to be on their guard against them. I would not have believed that a Christian could be duped by the Jews into taking their exile and wretchedness upon himself. However, the devil is the god of the world, and wherever God's word is absent he has an easy task, not only with the weak but also with the strong. May God help us. Amen."

"Therefore the blind Jews are truly stupid fools..."

"Now just behold these miserable, blind, and senseless people ... their blindness and arrogance are as solid as an iron mountain."

These are just a few of the absolutely horrendous things that have been said over the generations by well meaning "Christian" theologians trying to deal with the relationship between Jews and Christians.

Frank Viola in his book Pagan Christianity addresses the roots of this and ties it to Constantine legalizing Christianity and needing to separate it from the Jewish roots of Christendom.

I don't know where it all started for sure. But I know that it sure is prevalent in the church today. I recently had a conversation with a man who has been in ministry for 42 years. As my dad and I were talking with this man about our trip to Israel, he said very matter of fact like, "You know why that place is a desert over there? Because it is no longer under God's blessing."

HUH?!?!?!

Here is an opening thought... God NEVER breaks His covenant. God doesn't just change His mind mid-stream to make another provision. He doesn't have to.

And that is a big deal. Because if that is true, then from creation to the end of things, God story is being told as  He intended it to be told.

But do we talk about the Bible that way?

Here is the story I was raised in and taught over and over again all the way through my advanced theological education...

God created this perfect world.  We messed it up. So, God came up with another way to work among His people - the Law. Jews messed it up. So they got replaced (whether that is a full blown "replacement theology" or some lesser version of it) by the church. And through Jesus we have NEW understanding and therefore we must read the Bible from Jesus to the end.  We are NEW TESTAMENT Christians. it is a new story that replaces the old story that replaced the first story.

I know that some of you reading this are saying... It's not that simple.  I know, it never is.  And what about the prophecy of Genesis 3:15, blah , blah, blah...

I am not defending or critiquing any theological positions. I am simply talking about how we actually talk about the story being told in the Bible. Because regardless of our theological and doctrinal positions, we talk about things in a certain way.  And that is what people catch.

It is almost as if God has to keep adapting to us. By the way, this may very well have its roots in the fact that most folks start their story in Genesis 3 - with man.  And because of the western focus on self first, we see the story of the Bible from ourselves out rather than as it was perhaps intended. If we start our story in Genesis 1, Then we start with God telling the story.  And the rest of the Scripture is a continual unfolding of His story that was, is, and will always be His. So there are no "new" twists and turns.  There is no need for "adaptation" by God to make up for our silliness.

So, what does Jesus mean when He says in the upper room, "The cup represents a 'new covenant' in my blood?"

Well, that is what I really want to address in this post. What is God's view of covenant? And based on that, what are the implications for how we tell the story (or stories)?

Anytime that God works with mankind, He works with us in covenant. I will briefly touch the 3 major Jewish covenants and of course our new covenant.

After the flood, God came to Noah and made a covenant with him that God would never destroy the earth with water again.

God came to Abram, and changed his name to Abraham and made a covenant with him that the whole world would be blessed through his offspring, that God would give him a promised land, that he would be the father of many nations (true of both the Jews and the Arabs), and that whomever blessed him and his offspring would be blessed and whomever cursed them would be cursed.

Genesis 17:13 says this is to be an everlasting covenant. Does God know how long everlasting is? I think He has a pretty good idea.

God made a covenant through Moses with the Jewish people. His covenant is that they would be His treasured possession (Exodus 19:5-6), a kingdom of priests (this will be another post down the line as well). They are to be for Him an example to the world of who He is.

There are lots of other covenants God made with His people as well. (i.e. priestly, Davidic) What I would ask is this...

Did God undo the Noahic Covenant in order to make the Abrahamic covenant? Are we still under the rainbow?

Did God undo the Abrahamic Covenant to make the Mosaic covenant? Were God's people still special and blessed among the nations?

There is never an example in all the covenants that God made where God undoes one covenant to make another.  That is not the way covenant works.

Matthew 5:17-19 (ESV) - Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For, truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Did Jesus intend to do away with any of the former covenants? He didn't do away with Noah's covenant. He can't break Abraham's covenant, it is an everlasting covenant. And He flat out says that He is not abolishing the Mosaic covenant? So what is this "New covenant" thing He talks about and why does this matter to us?

The way covenant works is pretty straight forward. God is telling a story with this world He made and He is inviting us to be a part of it. There are points in which He reveals new pieces of Himself, and this is at the heart of making a new covenant.  But never EVER does a new covenant negate the older ones - EVER.  They are simply a further unfolding of what already is. And so Jesus doesn't negate the "Old Testament." in fact He validates and honors it.  He unfolds the heart with which we must honor Torah.

So am I saying that we should all be Jewish? No, but that will be another post as well.

Here is the bottom line: God has been telling His story since the creation of the world. And what we must remember as modern Christians is 21st century, western Christianity not the crowning achievement of His story.  His story has been continually unfolding for a long time and we have been grafted into THAT story, not the other way around.

There is only one story. From Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 it is all one story.  Perhaps there is a better label to put on us than "New Testament" Christians. We are either a part of the story that has always been true and continues to be told or we are not.

There are some profound implications that I will state here for the sake of discussion but will not build much of a case for because this is already too long...

1. We cannot negate the first 2/3's of the Bible because that is the "before Jesus" stuff. That is not only detrimental to our understanding of God and the story He is telling, but it is also hypocritical because...

2. If we say we believe in "plenary verbal" inspiration of the Scripture (every word fully inspired by God), then we cannot treat parts of the Bible as more important than others. Even in a philosophical sense, that doesn't work. But it certainly doesn't work in practice.

3. I do not believe that you can truly know Jesus without knowing the Old Testament well. Not just Jesus in the Old Testament, but the Old Testament as it is intended, written, and interpreted. Everything that Jesus did, and everything that Jesus said is anchored in the Old Testament Scriptures.

It is important for us to understand that we don't have multiple tracks working in the mainframe of the story God is telling.  And that the Jesus covenant doesn't undo the Mosaic covenant. It expands, broadens and deepens what already is.  This is how God has worked from the beginning. And that is where we start our story.