The Bible - Roger E. Dickson, 1990, 2018: Africa ...africainternational.org/files/Book 1.pdf · Roger E. Dickson CONTENTS Introduction ... The Old Testament Scriptures were written

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Dickson Biblical Research Library, www.africainternational.orgThe Bible - Roger E. Dickson, ©1990, 2018: Africa International Missions, Hutchinson, Kansas U.S.A., Philadelphia, South Africa

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Contents

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Philadelphia, Western Cape, South AfricaCopyright 1990, 2018, Africa International MissionsScripture quotations from New King James Version

Introductionto theBible

Roger E. Dickson

CONTENTS

Introduction – 3

1 – History Of The Biblical Text – 4

2 – Introduction To The Old Testament – 22

3 – Introduction To The New Testament – 29

4 – The Inspired Word Of God – 39

5 – Old And New Covenants & Laws – 52

6 – New Testament Background – 62

7 – The Gospel Age Of Freedom – 79

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Introduction

INTRODUCTION

What makes study of the Bible exciting is understanding the fundamen-tal principles of its history, nature and content. Once one accepts theBible as the inspired communication of God to man, then his or her in-terests are excited to investigate the means and materials by which Godhas preserved His written communication to man throughout history.When we understand how God used the abilities of man under the direc-tion of the Holy Spirit to communicate and preserve His will for human-ity, then we appreciate the nature of the content of the Sacred Scrip-tures. The word of God has come to us in the languages of men that wereused by the Holy Spirit to communicate human history, historical char-acters, and divine instructions by which men are to live today accordingto the gospel. The Old Testament Scriptures were written to the Jewishnation that God selected from the nations of the world in order to pre-serve a segment of society through which the Redeemer would come intothe world. The books of Matthew through John reveal the life and teach-ings of the Son of God to bring Israel and all mankind to the cross. TheHoly Spirit then begins with Acts through Revelation in order to giveinstruction on how to live the gospel.

The word “Bible” came from theGreek word biblos. During the elev-enth century B.C., this was the wordthat was used to refer to the outer coatof the papyrus reed that grew alongthe banks the Nile River in Egypt. Bythe fourth century A.D., Christianswere using the plural of the wordbiblos, or biblia, to refer to the Sa-cred Scriptures. Both Latin andFrench words were derived frombiblia, and eventually, the Englishword “Bible” evolved from the An-glicized French word. The word“Bible” now refers to all sixty-sixbooks of the present-day Bible.

The Bible is a collection of writ-ings that are considered by Christiansto be the inspired word of God. TheOld Testament writings were also re-ferred to by Christians as “the Scrip-tures” (or “writings”) (At 8:32,35; Gl3:8,22; 2 Tm 3:16), the “Holy Scrip-tures” (Rm 1:2), the “Oracles of God”(Rm 3:2; Hb 5:12), the “word of God”(Mk 7:13; Rm 10:17; Hb 4:12), and“Sacred (Holy) Scriptures” (2 Tm3:15). Though these references referprimarily to the Old Testament Scrip-tures, the term “Scriptures” was alsoused to refer to Paul’s writings (2 Pt3:15,16). From Peter’s reference to

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1 - History of the Biblical Text

Paul’s writings as “Scripture,” wewould assume that when the New Tes-tament writers wrote their inspiredletters, the early Christians acceptedthem as Scripture.

Before the writing of inspiredScripture for men to read, God com-municated directly to man (Hb 1:1,2).The first written oracles of the Biblewere written by the hand of God ontables of stone that were given toMoses on Mount Sinai (Ex 34:1,28).The first man who was used to in-scribe Scripture was Moses, whoprobably wrote Genesis through Deu-teronomy sometime before the nationof Israel entered the Promised landaround 1400 B.C. The last written

revelation from God occurred with thewriting of the letter of Revelation tothe seven churches of Asia. Bible stu-dents differ concerning the date ofwriting of this letter. Some affirm thatthe letter was written sometime be-fore A.D. 70, while others believe thatJohn wrote the letter during his Ro-man exile on the island of Patmosaround 96 A.D. The writing of theletter of Revelation concluded thecanon of the Bible, that is, all the HolySpirit inspired literature from God toman. Christians, therefore, do not ac-cept as inspired Scripture any otherwritings than the sixty-six books ofour present Bible.

In John 20:30,31, John wroteconcerning the ministry of Jesus,

And truly Jesus did many other signsin the presence of His disciples,which are not written in this book;but these are written that you maybelieve that Jesus is the Christ, theSon of God, and that believing youmay have life in His name.

John revealed the purpose forwhich the Scriptures have come to usin written form. Though the preced-ing statement of John was written spe-

cifically about his confirmation thatJesus was the Christ and Son of God,the statement could also be used todefine the central purpose of theBible. The Bible is about confirmingthe revelation of the gospel of JesusChrist from the creation to the timewhen Christ was growing in the heartsof the early Christians. The Bible,therefore, is first about Jesus, and thenabout us.

God knew that it was not pos-sible for men to verbally hand downfrom one generation to another a trueknowledge of His revelation of the

Chapter 1

HISTORY OF THE BIBLICAL TEXT

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gospel. Even within only a few yearsafter the personal ministry of Jesus,Luke wrote that many erroneous state-ments concerning Jesus’ ministry andteachings were being circulated. Lukewrote in order to correct these mis-understandings (Lk 1:1-4). If it werenot for the inspired Scriptures, there-fore, we would have no valid infor-mation about Jesus or His life andteachings. Since it is impossible forpeople to accurately hand down fromone generation to another by word ofmouth uncorrupted facts concerningteachings and historical events, Godinspired the Bible to be written.

Because of God’s work throughthe inspiration of the Scriptures andprovidential care in preserving the textof the Scriptures, Christians through-out the world today have the privilegeof having a copy of the Bible. There-fore, through the Bible God contin-ues to communicate His gospel mes-sage to receptive hearts who seek todo His will.

However, this privilege has notalways existed. Before the existenceof the written record of God’s will,God communicated directly to manthrough various means of revelation.

A. God spoke to man in variousways.

Throughout the history of man,God has chosen to speak to man

through variousmeans of com-munication. TheHebrew writersaid, “God, whoat various timesand in variousways spoke intime past to thefathers by theprophets, has inthese last daysspoken to us by His Son” (Hb 1:1,2).

The advantage that we have to-day is that we have the written recordof both history and God’s word in aprinted form. However, in the past,God did not use a written form in or-der to communicate His will to man.Before the giving of the Old Testa-ment Scriptures on Mount Sinai, Godspoke to man in various ways. Evenafter the giving of the Sinai law, Godcontinued to speak to man in otherways than through the written word.

1. God spoke through angels.The Greek word angelos (angel)means “messenger.” Angels weremessengers sent from God to man. Intimes of special need, they functionedas the medium through whom Godcommunicated messages to man (Gn18,19,22; Ex 3). They did not origi-nate the message that they deliveredto man. They only spoke that which

GOD SPEAKS

AngelsDreams & VisionsUrim & Thummin

ConscienceMiracles

Inspiration

Written Word

MAN

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they were to speak as the messengersof God (See Rv 1:1; 22:8-11). There-fore, it was not the work of angels tocommunicate any revelation to manthat did not first originate with God.

2. God spoke through dreamsand visions. Through this means ofcommunication, God often spoke toindividuals (Dn 2; 7:1; Gn 41).Though this was a subjective methodof communication, the message ofGod was delivered to the recipient insuch a manner that there was no ques-tion that the message came from God.God’s message through dreams andvisions seemed to focus around his-torical events that would happen.Therefore, dreams and visions weremostly prophetic in nature.

3. God spoke through the Urimand Thummin. Under the Sinai law,God instituted that when the highpriest and leaders of Israel needed a“yes” or “no” answer to a particularquestion, they were to allow God tospeak through the Urim and Thummin(Nm 27:21; Dt 33:8,10; see Ex 28:30;Pv 16:33). Unfortunately, there is norevelation for us today as how thisprocess of decision-making was car-ried out. It was probably some typeof lot casting wherein God intervenedto determine the outcome of the lot.

4. God spoke through the con-science of the Gentiles. Paul affirmedthat the Gentiles were a law untothemselves before the revelation of

the gospel in Jesus (Rm 2:14). Thislaw was based on the fact that Godinstilled within man a conscience thatshould direct one to do that which isright. This would be a very subjec-tive means of how God communi-cated to man. It would be subjectivein the sense that the consciences ofsome people have been corrupted.

Nevertheless, the fact that manhas a conscience of right and wrongis proof that God determined thatthrough his conscience one shouldseek after God. For this reason Paulplaced on the shoulders of those hediscussed in Romans 1 the responsi-bility that they should have soughtafter God. One should reason thatGod exists because of the createdworld (Rm 1:20). When one con-cludes that the creation of the worldwas the result of a Supreme Being,then his conscience should drive himto seek the Creator. We should “seekthe Lord, in the hope” that we might“grope for Him and find Him, thoughHe is not far from each one of us”(At 17:27).

5. God spoke miraculously outof heaven. On different occasionsGod spoke directly from heaven. Hedid this when Moses was on MountSinai (Ex 20). He did the same at thetime of Jesus’ baptism (Mt 3:17). Healso spoke directly to Peter, James andJohn on the mount of transfiguration(Mt 17). This was not God’s normal

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means by which He communicated toman. It was an event of communica-tion. The occasion for this specialmeans of direct communication wasbecause of the special need at the timefor Him to deliver a message to therecipients. Those to whom the com-munication was made were subse-quently awed by His presence, andthus, they did not reject the instruc-tions of the message.

6. God spoke through inspiredmen. From the time of creation, andthroughout Old Testament history,God spoke through chosen menwhom He inspired to speak forth Hismessage. These men were known asjudges and prophets. Their work wasto speak the word of the Lord to God’speople. The ministry of the prophetswas explained by Amos: “Surly theLord God will do nothing without firstrevealing His plans to His servantsthe prophets” (Am 3:7).

The prophets functioned in thecapacity of foretelling the future inreference to the history of Israel, aswell as the coming of the Messiah(See Lk 24:25,26,44). The books ofthe prophets in the Old Testamentcomprise the collection of what Godcommunicated to the nation of Israelin His efforts to direct them towardthe revelation of the gospel throughthe Son of God.

7. God has spoken through awritten record. The word of God was

first written for men to read when Godgave Moses the tablets of stone onMount Sinai around 1445 B.C. (Ex31:18). Moses later wrote thePentateuch, the first five books of theOld Testament. The prophets laterwrote messages of warning andprophecy concerning the revelation ofthe gospel (1 Pt 1:10-12). The docu-ments of Matthew through John werewritten to remind us of the ministryand teachings of Jesus, and the factthat He was the Son of God (Jn20:30,31). Acts to Revelation werewritten for Christians of all time togive instruction in how to effectivelylive the gospel of Jesus. The sacredScriptures were thus written for allmen to read and study until the finalcoming of Jesus (2 Tm 3:15; see Rm15:4; 1 Co 10:11).

B. Languages of the Bible:

In order that the word of God bepreserved for all people throughouthistory, God recorded His will in writ-ten form. When Israel was deliveredfrom Egyptian captivity, the peoplefirst journeyed to Mount Sinai. It wasthere that God recorded for the firsttime in history His word in the lan-guages of men. The ten command-ments were written on tables of stone.Moses later wrote the Pentateuch (Gn– Dt) in order that Israel have a writ-ten document of God’s will. The first

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written document that God gave toHis people was written in the Hebrewlanguage.

1. Hebrew: Ancient Hebrewwas referred to as the “Jews’ lan-guage,” or, “the language of Judah”(2 Kg 18:26,28; Ne 13:24). It waslater called the “language of Canaan”(Is 19:18). It was a language oftwenty-two consonants and no vow-els. Except for a few portions thatwere probably written in Aramaic, theOld Testament was written in Hebrew.

2. Aramaic: Aramaic was thespoken language of the Near Eastfrom the sixth to the fourth centuriesB.C. It was the major language of theBabylonian area until the conquest ofBabylon by Alexander the Great.While in Babylonian captivity, Danieland Ezra functioned as prophets ofGod. They, as well as all Jews,learned Aramaic, the language of theircaptors. Therefore, small portions ofthe books of Daniel and Ezra wereprobably first written in Aramaic.These portions would be Daniel 2:4-7:28; Ezra 4:8 – 6:18; 7:12-26.

When the Jews returned fromBabylonian captivity, they returnedwith a second language. It was thelanguage of their captors, the Aramaiclanguage. This became the local lan-guage of Palestine, and much of Syriaby the time Jesus and the apostleswere born. It is probable, therefore,

that both Jesus and the apostles spokeAramaic as they grew up in the landof Palestine. We would assume,therefore, that there would be someAramaic influence in the New Testa-ment. Aramaic words in the New Tes-tament would be such words as talithacumi (Mk 5:41), ephphatha (Mk7:34), eli eli, lama sabachthani (Mt27:46), and abba (Mk 14:36).

3. Koine Greek: The Greekword koine means “common.” KoineGreek was the language that wasspread throughout the Mediterraneanworld during and after the conquestsof Alexander the Great in the fourthcentury B.C. It was a language thatwas adopted by the Roman Empire asthe “trade language” because manypeople throughout the Roman Empireknew this language. Therefore, by thetime of Jesus’ coming, Koine Greekwas commonly spoken in Palestine.This was the language that God choseto communicate His message of thegospel through the New Testamentbecause the people throughout theRoman Empire could readily readKoine Greek.

C. Writing materials for theBible:

In order for God to communicateto man through written word, varioustypes of writing materials were used.The most important material that was

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used in ancient times was papyruspaper. In reference to the preserva-tion of the Scriptures for moderntimes, vellum (or parchment) was alsoused.

1. Stone: God’s will for manwas first written on tablets of stone.Exodus 31:18 states, “He gave Mosestwo tablets of the testimony, tabletsof stone, written with the finger ofGod” (See also Ex 34:1,28). The oc-casion for this statement was the giv-ing of the Sinai law to Israel on MountSinai. Though stone was not a com-mon material for the inscription ofGod’s written word, it was the firstmaterial used, and thus, would cer-tainly symbolize the truth that God’sword is durable. Metaphoricallyspeaking, the word of God would lastas stone throughout the existence ofthis world (See Mt 24:35; 1 Pt 1:23).

2. Papyrus: Papyrus paper wasmade from the papyrus plant that grewalong the banks of the Nile River inEgypt. This type of writing materialwas in existence many centuries yearsbefore Christ. It is possible that theoriginal autographs, that is, the origi-nal writings of Paul and the other NewTestament writers, were first writtenon papyrus paper. Many ancient cop-ies of both the Old and New Testa-ments have been preserved on papy-rus paper.

3. Vellum: Vellum is also called

parchment. The term parchment wasoften used to refer to writings of au-thors because the writing material wasso commonly used for importantscrolls in New Testament times. Thisis how Paul used the term in 2 Timo-thy 4:13 when he wrote to Timothy,“Bring the cloak that I left with Car-pus at Troas when you come—and thebooks, especially the parchments.”

Parchment as a writing materialis made of a fine quality of preparedleather. By a careful process of tan-ning, the leather is prepared on bothsides for writing. It is very durable,and thus, preserved the text of writ-ing for a great period of time. Archae-ologists have discovered many an-cient copies of portions of the Biblethat were originally written on vellum,or parchment.

The most popular writing mate-rial in ancient times was papyrus be-cause it was plentiful and inexpensive.However, vellum was more long last-ing. Because of this characteristic, itwas often used as a writing materialfor important documents, but particu-larly for prized copies of the Bible.Nevertheless, because papyrus paperwas commonly used, it is believedthat the writers of the New Testamentfirst wrote their autographs on papy-rus.

Before the advent of God hav-ing His word communicated to manby inscription on writing materials,

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He first communicated to manthrough the inspiration of the fathersof extended families (Hb 1:1).Though this system of communicat-ing divine instructions to man had ex-isted from the beginning, God in-tended to change from the direct com-munication of His will to chosenheads of families to a means of com-munication by which all men wouldhave the privilege of reading the wordof God. The change would be to thecommunication of His will throughwritten documents. From the time ofMoses, therefore, God spoke throughjudges and prophets to the nation ofIsrael. However, He had His will in-scribed by Moses in the books of Gen-esis through Deuteronomy in order tocommunicate His message to Israel.He later added the other thirty-fourbooks of the Old Testament until thetime of Malachi.

God’s intention was to eventu-ally work through a completed writ-ten word that we now have as theBible. Though in the first century Hebriefly worked parallel through di-rectly inspired men and the inspiredwritten word, it was His final plan tospeak to men exclusively through thewritten word. Since the completionof the New Testament writings, there-fore, God seeks to work through thecompleteness of His word, the Bible(2 Tm 3:16,17). In some way this mayexplain “the perfect” about which

Paul wrote in the context of the directwork of God in 1 Corinthians 13:10.The perfect would be the finality ofGod’s communication to man throughdirectly inspired writings. Since thecompletion of the inspired canon ofScriptures in the first century, it hasbeen God’s intention to communicateto man through that which has alreadybeen revealed in written form. Wethus have today the totality of whatGod wants us to have in order to con-nect with Him.

D. Transmission and translationof the Bible:

In reference to the transmissionand translation of the Bible, there aretwo key words that are important toremember. First, there is the word“manuscript.” A manuscript is ahandwritten literary composition thatis produced in usually a single lan-guage. In reference to the Old Testa-ment, all manuscripts were written inHebrew, except for a few portions ofDaniel and Ezra that were probablyoriginally written in Aramaic. In ref-erence to the New Testament, theoriginal manuscripts would be in theGreek language.

Second, the original autographrefers to the first writing of the manu-script. There are no known originalautographs in existence today. Actu-ally, there is no need for their exist-

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ence simply because of the tremen-dous amount of copies that were madeof the original autographs.

The existing manuscripts of thebiblical text can be divided into dif-ferent categories. Uncials (or, majus-cules) are manuscripts where the texthas been written with all upper caseletters. These New Testament manu-scripts in Greek were produced ingreat quantities from the third to thesixth centuries A.D. This style ofwriting lasted until copyists began towrite in lower case letters. SeveralNew Testament manuscripts that datefrom the ninth to the fifteenth centu-ries were written with lower case let-ters. These manuscripts are referredto as minuscule (also known as “cur-sive”) manuscripts.

When the Holy Scriptures werefirst written, they were written asuncial manuscripts. Their collectiontogether into the canon of Scripturestook place over a period of manyyears. The Bible books were not writ-ten at one time. They were written atdifferent times over a period of about1,500 years. They were eventuallycollected into one book that we callthe Bible. The New Testament let-ters were written over a period ofabout forty years, but their collectiontogether into twenty-seven letters ofthe canon did not begin until the endof the first century.

1. Writing of the books: Theword of God was first spoken by in-spiration of the Holy Spirit. Holy menwere carried along by the Holy Spiritin order to deliver accurately the mes-sage of God to man. In order to pre-serve the message of His spokenword, God commanded that inspiredrecords be made. Therefore, Peter, aswell as all Bible writers, were “movedby the Spirit” (2 Pt 1:20,21). Thecommandment of the Lord was writ-ten “not in words which man’s wis-dom teaches but which the Holy Spiritteaches” (1 Co 2:13). The detail ofthe mystery of God was revealedthrough inspired words (See 1 Co 2:6-16; Ep 3:1-5). John explained thepurpose for inspired Scripture. It waswritten “that you may believe thatJesus is the Christ the Son of God,and that believing you may have lifein His name” (Jn 20:30,31).

The process of inspiration is de-fined by Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:13.He wrote, “These things we alsospeak, not in words which man’s wis-dom teaches but which the HolySpirit teaches, comparing spiritualthings with spiritual [words].” It isimportant to understand that in inspi-ration the Holy Spirit used the wordsof man’s dictionary in order to revealthe will of God. In most areas, thecommunication of divine truth couldbe revealed through human words in

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a manner that could be easily under-stood. However, biblical studentsmust realize that things which areabove the realm of human experiencecannot be completely revealedthrough the words of man. In otherwords, the nature of God cannot beexplained fully by the words of man.The existence of heaven cannot bedefined fully by the words that are ofthis world. When it comes to thosethings that are beyond our human ex-perience, there is always an inad-equate understanding of these thingswhen the words of this world are used.

The New Testament books werewritten in a period of about fortyyears. However, if one accepts theearly date of Revelation—before A.D.70—then all New Testament bookswere written in a period of abouttwenty years.

Galatians and Mark were prob-ably the first letters written and Rev-elation the last. Because the NewTestament books or letters were firstconsidered inspired when they werereceived by the original recipients,these writings were separated fromother religious books of the time. Itis important to remember this pointfor there are other writings of the NewTestament era that some claim to beinspired, but they were never acceptedby the early Christians to be the wordof God.

All New Testament writings

were collected as the canon of NewTestament Scripture upon their writ-ing, though they were not assembledinto one book until many years afterthey were written. Though the NewTestament writings were not imme-diately collected together into onevolume at the time there were firstwritten, they were still considered in-spired by the recipients, and thus, trea-sured and copied as inspired Scrip-ture.

God’s gospel message was re-corded for the purpose of what Paulstated in 1 Thessalonians 5:27: “Icharge you by the Lord that thisepistle be read to all the holy breth-ren.” God’s message to His people,therefore, was to be written, copiedand circulated among all Christians.John was likewise commanded byGod to write the book of Revelationfor the same purpose: “What you see,write in a book and send it to the sevenchurches which are in Asia” (Rv1:11). This process of copying andcirculating the written word of Godwas explained by Paul in Colossians4:16: “Now when this epistle is readamong you, see that it is read also inthe church of the Laodiceans, and thatyou likewise read the epistle fromLaodicea.”

2. Collecting of the books: Thecirculation of inspired books led totheir being copied and collected. Theprocess of collecting the New Testa-

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ment epistles had already started at thetime Peter wrote 2 Peter 3:15,16,which would have been in the middleof the 60s. Peter wrote,

... and also in all his [Paul’s] epistles,speaking in them of these things, inwhich are some things hard to un-derstand, which those who are un-taught and unstable twist to their owndestruction, as they do also the restof the Scriptures.

It is evident that by the time Pe-ter wrote 2 Peter 3:15,16 that Paul’swritings were being copied, collectedand classified as “Scripture.” Theword “Scripture” was used by theJews to refer to those documents thatwere considered inspired by God. Theearly Christians accepted and appliedthis same term to refer to the NewTestament documents. Therefore,when Paul wrote, his writings wereadded to what was considered thecanon of inspired Scripture. The di-vine wisdom that had been given toPaul by God was recorded for all menof history. We have these inspireddocuments today, because they, aswell as the writings of other inspiredwriters, were considered inspired bythe early church, and thus, preservedas Scripture.

E. Collection and translation ofthe Bible:

When we speak of the acceptedlibrary of inspired books and lettersof the Bible, we use the word “canon.”The Greek word kanon was probablyderived from the Hebrew word kanehthat means “a measuring rod” or “arule.” When applied to inspired Scrip-ture, the word “canon” refers to a mea-sure by which the Bible books werefirst considered inspired.

The word “canon” refers to thosebooks that are considered genuine andauthentic autographs of the writers. Acertain book is considered canonicalwhen it “measures up” to rules bywhich a book is classified as inspiredliterature. Once a book or letter be-came part of the canon of Scriptures,copies were made of the book in or-der to preserve the book, as well ascirculate the book as much as possibleamong the early Christians. There-fore, through the art of copying theScriptures, the Bible books have cometo us today in the form that we nowhave them.

1. Translation of the biblicaltexts: The process of biblical trans-lation is a very disciplined science in

Codes AlexandrinusCodex VaticanusCodex Sinaiticus

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the field of literary work. The firststep in making a translation is to makea text in the original language fromwhich to make translations. In otherwords, a text of the book of Isaiahwould be in Hebrew. A text of anyNew Testament book would be inGreek. It is the work of the textualcritic to accumulate all textual evi-dence together in order to make onetext from which the translators can dotheir work.

In order to make a Greek text forthe translating of the New Testament,over five thousand Greek manuscriptsare in existence to be considered. Bycomparing the copy work of thescribes who produced these manu-scripts in ancient times, a single Greektext is produced. From this Greektext, translators make translations ofthe Scriptures.

a. Manuscript discoveries:The first step in producing a transla-tion of the Scriptures is to have inhand ancient manuscripts fromwhich to produce a common Greekor Hebrew text from which the trans-lation can be made. Ancient manu-scripts are usually only portions of theBible books. Some partial Old Tes-tament manuscripts date from 300B.C. to A.D. 500. There are no OldTestament manuscripts that date be-fore the Babylonian captivity of 586B.C. Some significant discoveries

have been made of almost completetexts of the Bible in the fourth andfifth centuries A.D. One of these dis-coveries would be the CodexAlexandrinus that dates to aroundA.D. 450. This is almost a completeBible except for about twenty pagesmissing from the Old Testament andtwenty-five pages missing from theNew Testament. Another discoveryis the Codex Vaticanus. The CodexVaticanus dates to the middle of thefourth century, or around A.D. 350.This ancient Bible contains almost allthe Old and New Testaments. An-other discovery was the CodexSinaiticus that was discovered in amonastery at the foot of Mount Sinaiin the Sinai Peninsula. This text isbelieved to have been producedaround A.D. 340. Add to the abovediscoveries the Cairo Codex (A.D.895), the Leningrad Codex (A.D.916), the Aleppo Codex (A.D. 930),the British Museum Codex (A.D.950) and many others.

In reference to New Testamentmanuscripts, fragments or portions ofthe Greek text have also been discov-ered that are even older than the abovemajor discoveries that contain theNew Testament text. The JohnRylands Papyrus, which is a frag-ment of the gospel by John, dates fromA.D. 125 to A.D. 140. The ChesterBeatty Papyrus, that contains por-tions of Paul and John’s epistles, dates

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to around A.D. 200. Other famousmanuscripts of the New Testamentare the P66, 72, 75, Bodmer Papyri(these date from A.D. 200 to the 225),Codex Vaticanus (A.D. 350), CodexEphraemi Rescriptus (A.D. 345), Co-dex Bezae (A.D. 450-550), CodexClaromontanus (A.D. 555), and a hostof others.

There are over five thousandancient manuscripts of the New Tes-tament that have been discovered thatare used by Bible scholars to formu-late a text from which translations aremade. Add to this manuscript evi-dence the ancient translations, or ver-sions, that have been discovered.Over ten thousand versions of eitherthe Old Testament or New Testamenthave been discovered either in part orwhole.

One of the most significant dis-coveries of an-cient biblicaltexts in refer-ence to the OldTestament tex-tual studies wasmade in 1947.This was thediscovery ofthe Dead SeaScrolls. Thesewere ancientmanuscripts ofOld Testamentbooks. They

were discovered in caves in the north-western Dead Sea area of Palestine.These scrolls were the product of adedicated group of Essene scribeswhose work it is believed, was tomake copies of the Old TestamentScriptures. Portions of all Old Testa-ment books, except Esther, were dis-covered in these caves. An entirescroll of the book of Isaiah was dis-covered. Most scholars believe thatthe materials of this discovery datefrom 175 B.C. to A.D. 68. For all stu-dents of the Bible, the discovery ofthe Dead Sea Scrolls was one the mostsignificant biblical text discoveries ofhistory.

b. Text production: When thetextual scholar has accumulated fromthe vast assortment of manuscript evi-dences every possible portion of text,he is then ready to compose a singleHebrew or Greek text from whichtranslations can be made. The text ismade by consulting the many ancientmanuscripts and versions that havebeen discovered. In reference to theNew Testament, it is the task of thetranslator to use a text that is in theGreek language. Old Testament textswould be in Hebrew.

An example of a Greek text is theGreek Received Text (TextusReceptus) from which the King JamesVersion was translated. The KingJames Old Testament is a translationfrom the Hebrew Masoretic Text.

DEAD SEA SCROLLS

Large container in which theDead Sea Scrolls were

preserved.

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The Masoretic Text was a product ofJewish scribes who made copies ofthe Old Testament from the eighth andninth centuries A.D. to the eleventhcentury. Many Hebrew and Greektexts have been made since the pro-duction of the Received Text. Com-mon texts that are used today for NewTestament translations are the UnitedBible Society Greek text, the NestleText, and the Scrivener Greek Text.For the Old Testament, the BibliaHebraica Stuttgartensia is often used.

c. Translation production:The third step in translation is to makea translation from a common text thathas been composed from the sourcesof all discovered textual materials.Depending on the method of transla-tion of the translators, the thoughtsand ideas of the original text arebrought into the new language. Whenusing a particular translation of theScriptures, it is always good to knowthe background of the translation, spe-cifically, the Greek and Hebrew text

from which the translation was made.This will help in understanding howand why a particular translation wasmade. It will also help one to under-stand why particular variant readingswere chosen during the process oftranslation.

The work of copying the Biblebooks was carried out by men whowere commonly referred to as scribes.This was not an inspired work of theHoly Spirit. The work of translationis also not inspired. Translation andtransmission of the Bible are worksthat God expects men to do. Becausemen have been left to copy and trans-late the Bible texts, we would natu-rally assume that there are no perfecttranslations. However, the gospelmessage, and that which is necessaryto be saved, can be learned from anytranslation.

God expects us to base our faithon translations of His word that havebeen made by faithful and dedicatedtranslators. We know this becauseduring His ministry, Jesus quotedfrom the Septuagint translation of theOld Testament. He, as well as theearly inspired writers of the New Tes-tament, quoted from the Greek Sep-tuagint. We thus have Jesus’ approvalof the work of men who have dedi-cated their lives to the preservationand translation of the word of God ina manner that is acceptable to God forHis will to be imparted to man.

ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS & VERSIONS(Examples: Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, Dead Sea Scrolls)

TEXT(Composed in original language)

T R A N S L A T I O N(Version)

17



Since God has allowed man theresponsibility of transmitting andtranslating His will to man, then wewould assume also that He will allowChristians to deal with the accusationsthat the Bible is supposedly filled witherrors. It is true that copyists madeerrors. It is true that translations arenot perfect. A “variant reading” iswhen a particular manuscript or groupof manuscripts offer different readingsin a particular text. For example, Acts20:28 reads in the King James Ver-sion, “... feed the church of God,which he hath purchased with his ownblood.” However, the Revised Stan-dard Version and American StandardVersion read, “... church of the Lord.”Translators must make a decision asto which reading has the greatermanuscript support. In order to makethis decision, those who compose thetext from which translations are mademust consider the following ques-tions:

• Which reading has the greatermanuscript support?

• Which reading comes from oldermanuscripts?

• From what family of manuscriptsdoes the reading come, for somemanuscripts copied the same error?

• Which is the more difficult read-ing?

One of the more simple means

by which the correct reading is deter-mined in almost all variants is thenumber of manuscripts that support aparticular reading. For example, theword “God” may have been men-tioned in more manuscripts of greaterantiquity than the word “Lord.” Onthis basis—though not always thecase—the word “God” would be thepreferred reading. In the case of Acts20:28, the King James Version has thepreferred reading because of thegreater manuscript evidence.

So why would God allow the artof biblical transmission and transla-tion to carry on if men are fallible intheir work? The answer lies in thefact that God demands faith. With-out faith it is impossible to please Him(Hb 11:6). Faith is the very founda-tion upon which characters are devel-oped for eternal dwelling. Those whoseek always to be empirical in theirliving, that is, to trust nothing unlessit can be encountered through thesenses, have a difficult time living andworking in a realm of faith that isabove the existence of the senses.Since obedience to God’s will de-mands of us faith, it is difficult forthose who seek to walk by sight tofind God. For the Christian, our faithmust first start with trusting in God’smeans by which He has allowed Hiswill to be communicated to man inwritten form.

Another reason why God did not

18


into which the translation is beingmade, the Hebrew or Greek word thatis in the text. This is difficult to fol-low in some cases since idiomaticexpressions make it difficult to trans-late the exact meaning of a phrase intoanother language. Sometimes thereis simply no word in the new languagethat can adequately be used to trans-late a particular Hebrew or Greekword. However, if the translator isguided by the “word-for-word” prin-ciple, he will be striving to be as faith-ful as possible in translating the mean-ing of the original word.

A word-for-word translation hasthe disadvantage of often being awk-ward in the new language. This is truebecause the Greek language structureis different from most language struc-tures today. Therefore, a word-for-word translation demands more fromthe student as to what the text is actu-ally saying. The translator has sim-ply made the translation as accurateas possible. It is the responsibility ofthe student to determine any Hebrewor Greek idioms in the text. It is theresponsibility of the student to deter-mine the values of money and mea-sures of time and distance. Thoughthese challenges often make it moredifficult to determine the meaning ofdifferent portions of scripture, it is thepreferred principle for making a trans-lation.

b. Thought-for-thought


inspire the copying and translation ofthe text of the Bible is that the powerof His word is in the message of thegospel. There is no Hebrew or Greektext that changes the message of thegospel. There is no translation thatchanges the message of the gospel.Since the Bible is about the messageof the gospel of Jesus Christ, then theHoly Spirit did not need to inspire thetransmission and translation of themessage. It is simply a fact that themessage of the gospel is so clear thatit cannot be changed or made obscureby any variant reading or any transla-tion of the Bible.

2. Principles of translation:The type of translation one may havedepends on the guidelines the trans-lators set for themselves when theymade the translation. These guide-lines of translation can usually befound in the “Preface” that is at thefront of any Bible translation.

Here are two general principlesby which translators approach thetranslation of Bibles. Once the prin-ciple of translation is determined, thenthe translators who are involved in thework of translation center their workaround these principles of translation.

a. Word-for-word transla-tion: Generally, a word-for-wordtranslation is an effort to translate withan equivalent word of the language

19


translation: This system of transla-tion is usually referred to as a dy-namic equivalent translation. Thisis the principle of translating into thenew language the thoughts that areexpressed by the original language.By this principle of translation, thetranslators seek to convey as accu-rately as possible the original mean-ing of the text in the new language.The reason behind this principle oftranslation is to make the new versioneasy to read in the new language.

This system of translation ismore “free” in translation, that is,there is more liberty given to the trans-lator to express the original thoughtin the choice of his words of the newlanguage. Therefore, this principle oftranslation is often subject to the dan-ger of a translator inserting his doc-trinal prejudices into the text. In thisprocess of translation, the translatoroften takes on the task of being a bib-lical interpreter, as well as a transla-tor.

In every translation there aretimes when the translator must use hisbiblical background in order to trans-late a word or phrase correctly. Thisis necessary because a strict word-for-word approach cannot be followed inthe translation of any language intoanother in order to produce a transla-tion that is in some way easy for thereader to understand. This is espe-cially true in the translation of idiom-


atic expressions of either Hebrew orGreek. Nevertheless, it should be thegoal of the translator to translate thetext as close as possible to the origi-nal language. Interpretation should beleft to the reader.

Translation work generally fol-lows the guidelines of one of theabove two principles. In translation,emphasis is usually placed on one orthe other, with deviations made attimes in the translation. Generallyspeaking, however, the guidelines fora word-for-word translation help pro-duce the best translation. This is true,though it is more difficult to read aword-for-word translation because theword structure in Greek and Hebrewsentences is different from most lan-guages today.

A paraphrase is not an actualtranslation. A paraphrase is a “run-ning commentary” of the text. Inother words, the one doing the para-phrase is actually commenting on thethought of the original text instead oftranslating the words or sentences ofthe original language. In a paraphrase,the translator is concentrating on in-terpreting the meaning of the text andthen translating this meaning into thenew language. In this process, he isoften commenting on what the text issaying instead of actually translating.A paraphrase, therefore, should not beconsidered a translation. A paraphrase

20



should not be considered more than acommentary of the text.

A paraphrase is usually the effortof one man who is trying to make theBible more understandable. But indoing so, his work is often filled withhis own doctrinal beliefs. Therefore,it is best to use a good translation ofthe biblical text under considerationwhen using a paraphrased version ofthe text.

If one does not know Greek orHebrew, or have access to a Greek orHebrew text, it is best to follow theprinciple of a comparative study of thetext. A comparative study is the useof different word-for-word transla-tions in order to determine what thetext actually says. The great amountof scholarship that is behind each ver-sion can thus be considered when de-termining the actual Greek or Hebrewmeaning of a particular scripture.

F. The Septuagint:

Because of its unique place in thetransmission and translation of theOld Testament, special mention mustto be made of the Septuagint. TheSeptuagint is often referred to with theRoman numerals LXX. This was atranslation of the Hebrew Old Testa-ment into the Greek language. Thework of translation started around 280B.C. by about seventy Jewish schol-ars. They started with the translation

of the Pentateuch and then worked ontranslating the rest of the Old Testa-ment in the years that followed.

This is the translation fromwhich Jesus and the apostles quoted.This is also the Old Testament trans-lation that is quoted in the Greek NewTestament. The quotations of the Sep-tuagint in the Greek New Testamenthave now been translated into En-glish. This explains why the Old Tes-tament quotations that are found inour English translations are some-times slightly different from the OldTestament English translation. Inother words, in the Old Testament thequotation was translated directly fromHebrew into English. The same quo-tation in the New Testament wastranslated from Greek, which was firsttranslated from Hebrew by the Sep-tuagint scribes. Therefore, there willoften be some differences between theNew Testament quotations of the OldTestament.

Keep in mind that the Septuag-int is one of our most valuable sourcesof document evidence for the transla-tion of the Scriptures into other lan-guages. This is especially true in ref-erence of how specific Greek wordswere understood by the Jews. TheGreek words that they used to trans-late Old Testament words help us tounderstand better those same Greekwords in the New Testament. Thoughwe must first understand the Greek

21



words by the culture in which theywere used in the first century, we mustnot neglect the source of the Septu-agint to understand words and theirdefinitions as they are used in the Sep-tuagint.

G. The Old Testament Apocrypha:

Some religious groups todayconsider the Old Testament apocry-pha books to be inspired, and thus,they should be added to the canon ofScriptures. These books are found inthe Septuagint, as well as the LatinVulgate. However, the Old Testamentapocrypha appeared in the Septuag-int of the fourth century A.D., not theoriginal translation of the Septuag-int. They were not a part of the OldTestament canon that was accepted bythe Jews when the Septuagint wastranslated.

Depending on how one woulddivide some of the books, the follow-ing are the apocryphal books of theOld Testament:

OLD TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA1. 1 Esdras2. 2 Esdras3. Tobit4. Judith5. Additions to Esther6. Wisdom of Solomon7. Ecclesiasticus8. Song of the three Young Men9. Susanna

10. Bel and the Dragon11. Prayer of Manasseh12. 1 Maccabees13. 2 Maccabees14. Baruch & Letter of Jeremiah

There are many historical andtextual evidences that argue againstthe addition of these books to thesixty-six books of the Bible. Theseevidences against their addition aresupported by almost all translators andpublishers of the Bible today. Thesebooks were never considered inspiredby the Jewish community at the timethey were written. Neither did theChristians of the first century acceptthem as Scripture.

The word apocrypha means“hidden” or “concealed.” The writ-ing of the Old Testament apocryphaoccurred between 200 B.C. and A.D.100. These books were thus writtenmany centuries after the close of theOld Testament canon of Scriptures.These religious books are not a partof the Bible because they were notconsidered inspired when written.They are not considered inspired to-day by the majority of the protestantworld. They are not considered a partof the canon of Scriptures for the fol-lowing reasons:

REASONS FOR REJECTING

THE APOCRYPHA

• The Jews to whom the Old Testament

Scriptures were first written did not

22


accept the apocrypha as Scripture.

• The apocrypha was not accepted by

any biblical writers.

• The first century Christians did not

accept them as inspired.

• The books were written after the close

of the Old Testament canon of Scrip-

tures.

• Neither Jesus nor the apostles recog-

nized these books.

• The apocryphal books do not fit into

the divine chain of Old Testament

prophets that link the prophets to-

gether as God’s messengers to the

nation of Israel.

• The books do not fit into the revela-

tion of the gospel plan of salvation.

• The books do not claim to be inspired

by the Holy Spirit.

• There are contradictions between

some statements in the books and bib-

lical principles.

• These books do not have the charac-

ter of inspiration as is characteristic

of Old Testament books of the Bible.

• The unknown writers of the books

were not accepted as inspired men.

For the preceding reasons, theapocrypha, as well as many other an-cient religious books of the Jews,

2 - Introduction To The Old Testament

should be rejected and not considereda part of the Bible that the Christiancommunity considers to be Scripture.Simply because a religious book is ofancient origin does not mean that it issacred. The books of the Bible havedefinite characteristics that classifythem to be inspired from God. Forthis reason, we accept only the sixty-six books of the Bible to be from God.

A thorough study of the historyof the Bible results in one overwhelm-ing conclusion. That conclusion isthat God has providentially preservedHis word for man for all history.One’s confidence in the Bible that heor she has in hand grows as one stud-ies through the careful process oftransmission and translation of theword of God. One can be completelyconfident today that he has the mes-sage of the gospel in the manner thatGod intended for us to have it. Hav-ing this confidence in the Bible in-creases our desire to study the Biblein order to be encourage by the gos-pel message. The Bible thus becomesour source of faith. If we seek to growin faith, then we must study the wordof God (Rm 10:17).

Chapter 2

INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT

Paul wrote, “For whateverthings were written before were writ-

ten for our learning, that we throughthe patience and comfort of the Scrip-

23


tures might have hope” (Rm 15:4).The Old Testament was written forour learning. As Christians lookingback to the work of God in history, itis the Old Testament that comes to ustoday as the most reliable documentof history that can be fully trusted totell us how God worked to bring HisSon into the world.

The Old Testament was not onlywritten for the sake of Israel to whomit was first directed, it was written forus today to inform us concerningGod’s gospel plan of salvation. Paulagain stated in reference to theChristian’s use of the Old Testament,“Now all these things happened tothem as examples, and they were writ-ten for our admonition” (1 Co10:11). We study the history of Israelin her relationship with God in orderto understand how God works amongthe nations of men. Examples of bothobedience and disobedience were re-corded in the Old Testament for ouradmonition. It is important for theChristian, therefore, to have a clearunderstanding of the contents of theOld Testament in order to use it to itsfullest in our spiritual growth. It isnecessary to have an understanding ofthe Old Testament in order to under-stand the New Testament.

A. Introduction to Old Testamenthistory:

One of the easiest ways to retaina general organizational view of theOld Testament is to divide Old Testa-ment history into fifteen major events.These divisions begin with the cre-ation. After the creation, a few thou-sand years of time transpired before theflood of Noah’s day. This flood is re-corded in Genesis 6-8. There are fif-teen major Old Testament divisions ofhistory before the establishment of thechurch in Acts 2. The Old Testamentcovers the events of the first thirteenperiods. There was no revelation giventhrough prophets during the approxi-mately four hundred years after thework of Malachi. This period is com-monly referred to as the “interbiblicalperiod.” The next prophetic work af-ter Malachi began with the work ofJohn the Baptist. John preceded Jesusin order to prepare the way for Him asthe Messiah, the Son of God.

The accompanying chart of OldTestament History gives a generalview of the work of God throughouthistory. The dates that are given onthe outline are suggested dates whenthe particular period of history beganor ended. The prophets are listed intheir respective time of work. Thebooks of the Old Testament are alsolisted in the particular period in whichthey were written.

B. Jewish and Roman dates of theNew Testament:


24


PERIODPERIODPERIODPERIODPERIOD DATEDATEDATEDATEDATE PROPHETSPROPHETSPROPHETSPROPHETSPROPHETS BOOKSBOOKSBOOKSBOOKSBOOKS

1. Creation (?)2. Before the Flood (?) Enoch3. After the Flood (?)4. Patriarchal 2000 B.C. (?) Job5. Egyptian Bondage 1871 B.C.6. Wilderness Exile 1441 B.C. Moses Genesis, Exodus,

Leviticus, Numbers,Deuteronomy

7. Canaan Conquest 1401 B.C. Joshua8. Judges 1276 B.C. Joshua9. United Kingdom 1051 B.C. Samuel Judges, Ruth,

Psalms, Proverbs,Ecclesiastes,Song of Solomon,1,2 Samuel

10. Divided Kingdom 931 B.C. Elijah (875-850) Isaiah, Hosea,Elisha (850-800) Joel, AmosJoel (840-830)Jonah (790-770)Amos (780-740)Hosea (760-720)Isaiah (745-695)Micah (740-700)

11. Judah 721 B.C. Isaiah (745-695) 1,2 Kings,Zephaniah (639-608) Jeremiah,Nahum (630-610) Lamentations,Habakkuk (606-586) Nahum, Habakkuk,Jeremiah (626-586) Zephaniah

12. Babylonian 606 B.C. Daniel (606-534) Daniel, Captivity Ezekiel (592-570) Ezekiel,

Obadiah (587) Obadiah,

13. Restoration 536 B.C. Haggai (520-516) 1,2 Chronicles,Zechariah (520-516) Nehemiah,Malachi (450-400) Esther, Haggai,

Zechariah, Malachi

14. Interbiblical Period 440 B.C.15. John & Jesus 4 B.C. - A.D. 30 John, Jesus

Old Testament History


We must keep in mind that Jesus’ministry took place during the Old Tes-tament era. Therefore, when consid-ering the calendar and times of Hisministry, we must keep in mind that

He lived and worked according to theJewish calendar. He kept the Jewishfeasts because He lived under the Si-nai law. When His ministry was re-corded in Matthew, Mark, Luke and

25


John, we must keep in mind that theinspired documents of Luke and Johnwere directed to those who were not liv-ing according to Jewish dates and feasts.This is especially true with the docu-ment of John. John wrote to those whowere not familiar with Jewish laws andfeasts. John, therefore, uses Romantime in order to relate the events ofJesus’ ministry to the Gentiles.

1. The Jewish calendar: TheJews had two calendars. The CivilCalendar was for recording of thedates of kings, contracts and births.The Sacred Calendar was for deter-mining feasts. The Jewish months al-ternated between twenty-nine to thirtydays. Every three years an extra 29-day month was added. This monthwas called Veadar and was added be-tween Adar and Nisan.

Months Corresponds to: Days Month of Month of

Civil Year Sacred Year

Tishri Sept.–Oct. 30 days 1st 7th

Heshvan Oct.–Nov. 29 or 30 2nd 8th

Chislev Nov.–Dec. 29 or 30 3rd 9th

Tebeth Dec.–Jan. 29 4th 10th

Shebat Jan.–Feb. 30 5th 11th

Adar Feb.–Mar. 29 or 30 6th 12th

Nisan Mar.–Apr. 30 7th 1st

Iyar Apr.–May 29 8th 2nd

Sivan May–June 30 9th 3rd

Tammuz June–July 29 10th 4th

Ab July–Aug. 30 11th 5th

Elul Aug.–Sept. 29 12th 6th

2. The feasts of Israel: By thetime of Jesus, there were seven prin-cipal feasts in Israel. All Jewish maleswere to assemble annually at thetemple of Jerusalem for Passover andPentecost (Ex 23:14-19).

Feasts Month Day Present References

Passover Nisan 14-21 Mar.-Apr. Ex 12:43-13:10

Pentecost Sivan 6 May-June Dt 16:9-12

Trumpets Tishri 1,2 Sept.-Oct. Nm 29:1-6

Atonement Tishri 10 Sept.-Oct. Lv 23:26-32

Tabernacles Tishri 15-22 Sept.-Oct. Ne 8:13-18

Dedication Chislev 25 Nov.-Dec. Jn 10:22

Purim (Lots) Adar 14,15 Feb.-Mar. Et 9:18-32v

3. The Jewish days: The Jew-ish day was divided into eight partsand was measured from sunset to sun-rise. The Jewish day began at sunset.

Morning and Night HoursFirst watch: Sunset to 9PM

Second watch: 9PM to midnightThird watch: midnight to 3AM

Fourth watch: 3AM to sunrise

Morning and Night HoursFirst watch: Sunrise to 9AM

Second watch: 9AM to noonThird watch: Noon to 3PM

Fourth watch: 3PM to sunset

4. Weights and measurements:

WEIGHTSTalent (60 minas) 75 pounds 34 kilograms

Mina (50 shekels) 1 1/4 pounds .6 kilograms

Shekel (2 bekas) 2/5 ounce 11.5 kilograms


26


Pim (2/3 shekel) 1/3 ounce 7.6 grams

Beka (10 gerahs) 1/5 ounce 5.5 grams

Gerah 1/50 ounce .6 grams

MEASUREMENTSCubit 18 inches .5 meter

Span 9 inches 23 centimeters

Handbreadth 3 inches 8 centimeters

5. The kings of Israel: Thedates on the list of the kings of Israel(the northern ten tribes) and Judah(the southern kingdom of Judah andBenjamin) are sometimes question-able. Some of the kings overlappedas kings rivaled one another in orderto sieze the throne of either the north-ern or southern kingdom.

C. Introduction to Old Testamentbooks:

The Bible is made up of two


major collections of books and letters.There are thirty-nine books in the OldTestament. These books were origi-nally written in ancient Hebrew be-tween 1440 and 400 years beforeJesus lived on this earth. They weregiven to the Jews as a part of God’scovenant with the nation of Israel andhave come down to us today for learn-ing and admonition (Rm 15:4; 1 Co10:11).

The New Testament containstwenty-seven books, or letters. TheNew Testament writings are inspiredletters that were originally written inthe Greek language. They were origi-nally directed to either churches orindividuals in the first century.

1. Old Testament division andpurpose of books: There are thirty-nine books in the English Old Testa-ment. The Jews generally dividedthese books into the law and theprophets. The first five books of theOld Testament (Gn - Dt) were writ-ten by Moses around 1400 B.C. Thelast book to be written of the Old Tes-tament was Malachi. It was writtenaround 400 B.C. As each of the thirty-nine books was written, they wereadded by the Jews to those books thatwere considered inspired. When theHoly Spirit inspired each to be writ-ten, the purpose for which the bookwas written determined the content orstyle of the book. Today, we can di-

ISRAELNorthern Kingdom

JUDAHSouthern Kingdom

Jeroboam I (931-910) Reoboam (931-913)

Nadab (910-909) Abijam (913-911)

Baasha (909-886) Asa (911-870)

Elah (886-885) Jehosaphat (870-848)

Tibni (885-880) Jehoram (848-841)

Omri (880-874) Ahaziah (841)

Ahab (874-853) Athaliah (841-835)

Ahaziah (853-852) Joash (835-796)

Joram (852-841) Amaziah (796-767)

Jehu (841-814) Azariah (767-740)

Jehoahaz (814-798) Jotham (740-732)

Jehoash (798-782) Ahaz (716-687)

Jeroboam II (782-753) Hezekiah (716-687)

Zachariah (753-752) Manasseh (687-643)

Shallum (752) Amon (643-641)

Menahem (752-742) Josiah (640-609)

Pekahiah (742-740) Jehoahaz (609)

Pekah (740-732) Jehoiakim (609-597)

Hoshea (732-723) Jehoiachin (597)

Zedekiah ((597-587)

27


BOOKBOOKBOOKBOOKBOOK AUTHORAUTHORAUTHORAUTHORAUTHOR PURPOSEPURPOSEPURPOSEPURPOSEPURPOSE

THE LAW:THE LAW:THE LAW:THE LAW:THE LAW:

Genesis Moses Beginning of major historical eventsExodus Moses God establishes a covenant with IsraelLeviticus Moses God’s laws for IsraelNumbers Moses Israel’s journey to PalestineDeuteronomy Moses Reaffirmation of God’s laws for Israel

HISTORY:HISTORY:HISTORY:HISTORY:HISTORY:

Joshua (?) Israel’s conquest of CanaanJudges (?) Israel’s cycle of sin, punishment and

repentanceRuth (?) Reaffirmation of the messianic genealogy1 Samuel Samuel Establishment of the Israelite monarchy2 Samuel Samuel History of David’s reign1 Kings Jeremiah Division of the Israelite kingdom2 Kings Jeremiah History of the divided kingdom1 Chronicles Ezra (?) History of David’s reign2 Chronicles Ezra (?) History of the southern kingdomEzra Ezra Return from Babylonian captivityNehemiah Nehemiah Rebuilding of JerusalemEsther Mordecai (?) Jews’ deliverance from extermination

WISDOM LITERATURE:WISDOM LITERATURE:WISDOM LITERATURE:WISDOM LITERATURE:WISDOM LITERATURE:

Job Job The problem of sufferingPsalms David & others Devotional praises to GodProverbs Solomon or David Wisdom for godly livingEcclesiastes Solomon The vanities of lifeSong of Solomon Solomon Solomon’s beauty of marriage

THE PROPHETS:THE PROPHETS:THE PROPHETS:THE PROPHETS:THE PROPHETS:

Major Prophets:Major Prophets:Major Prophets:Major Prophets:Major Prophets:

Isaiah Isaiah Rebuke & messianic hope for IsraelJeremiah Jeremiah Judgment upon JudahLamentations Jeremiah Lamentation over Jerusalem’s destructionEzekiel Ezekiel Calamity is the result of Israel’s sinDaniel Daniel God is superior to pagan gods

Minor Prophets:Minor Prophets:Minor Prophets:Minor Prophets:Minor Prophets:

Hosea Hosea Righteousness of God and doom of IsraelJoel Joel Appeal to seek God by repentanceAmos Amos Doom of Israel because of apostasyObadiah Obadiah Judgment on EdomJonah Jonah One God of all nationsMicah Micah Doom of Samaria & JerusalemNahum Nahum Judgment of NinevehHabakkuk Habakkuk Faith is one’s guarantee against destruction


28


vide these books according to theircontent or style.

Jesus mentioned three divisionsof the Old Testament:

These are the words which I spoke toyou while I was still with you, thatall things must be fulfilled which werewritten in the Law of Moses and theProphets and the Psalms concern-ing Me (Lk 24:44).

Throughout history various sub-divisions of the Old Testament havebeen made by Old Testament Biblestudents. All have been made in or-der to place into groups those OldTestament books that have similarcontent or literary style.

a. The Law: The first fivebooks of the Old Testament are re-ferred to as “the law.” These first fivebooks contain the Sinai law that wasgiven to the nation of Israel at MountSinai. These were the original writ-ings of Moses that God provided forIsrael (Ne 8:1). Other than the tencommandments that were written ontablets of stone, the first five booksof the Bible were the first inspiredScriptures given to man by God inwritten form. The Jews referred tothese books as the Torah. They were

also referred to with the Greek word“Pentateuch” which means “five-volumed.”

b. History: There are twelvebooks in the Old Testament thatrecord Jewish history. These booksgive a history of the Jewish nationfrom the time the Israelites entered theland of Palestine around 1400 B.C.,until the time of their last return fromBabylonian captivity around 444 B.C.The Old Testament record of historyends around 440 B.C. with the re-building of Jerusalem under the direc-tion of Nehemiah.

c. Wisdom Literature:These five Old Testament books aregenerally written in Hebrew or Jew-ish poetry. As a section of study, theyare sometimes referred to as “poetry.”Reading these books will give one agreater understanding of the innerfeelings of the Jewish mind.

d. The Prophets: There areseventeen books of the prophets in theOld Testament. The work of a prophetwas to teach God’s word to Israel inan effort to restore the Israelites torighteousness. The Holy Spirit in-spired the prophets to record in booksthe central message of their teaching.These books are usually divided intotwo groups: (A) the Major Proph-


Zephaniah Zephaniah God’s judgment is for all menHaggai Haggai Rebuilding of the templeZechariah Zechariah Rebuilding of the templeMalachi Malachi Final warnings and restoration of Israel

29


ets, and (B) the Minor Prophets.This division is based only on the fact

that the Major Prophets’ books arelarger than the Minor Prophets.

3 - Introduction To The New Testament

Chapter 3

INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

There are twenty-seven books inthe New Testament. These bookswere originally written as letters toindividuals or churches. Therefore,the word “letters” is more appropri-ate as a reference to the New Testa-ment canon. The twenty-seven let-ters of the New Testament were writ-ten for specific purposes to Christiansin different regions or cities.

The word “epistle” is also usedto refer to the New Testament letters.This is an older English word that wasused in reference to a letter that onewrites to another person. Regardlessof what term one chooses to use, theemphasis is not on what word is usedto refer to the New Testament docu-ments, but on the content of the ma-terial and the reason for which the let-ters were originally written.

A. Survey of New Testamentbooks:

As with the Old Testamentbooks, the New Testament letterswere not all written at the same time.However, all letters were written inthe first century A.D. When a letterwas written by a man of God, it was

accepted as inspired, and thus, pre-served by those who made copies ofit. Eventually, all twenty-seven let-ters came together into one collectionthat we now call the New Testament.

1. Understanding biblical con-tent: The twenty-seven letters of theNew Testament are divided accord-ing to their general content. One mustkeep in mind when reading the NewTestament that each letter was writ-ten for a specific purpose and to a spe-cific individual or group of Christiansin a general region. Generally speak-ing, the letters of Matthew throughJohn were written to answer specificquestions concerning the life of Jesus.Acts was written to present a defensefor Paul who was going to trial be-fore a Roman court. Romans throughJude were generally written to dealwith dysfunctional behavior and re-lational problems among disciples.The book of Revelation was writtento encourage Christians in times oftrouble.

One might view the New Testa-ment from the perspective of causeand effect. Matthew, Mark, Luke andJohn deal with the ministry and

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miracles of Jesus. This would be thecause of Christianity. This purposefor the writing of Matthew throughJohn would be expressed in John20:30,31.

And truly Jesus did many other signsin the presence of His disciples,which are not written in this book;but these are written that you maybelieve that Jesus is the Christ, theSon of God, and that believing youmay have life in His name.

Acts through Revelation are di-rected to the church, the effect of thegospel in the lives of people whoobeyed the gospel. These letters aredirected to those who believed inJesus who is the cause of Christian-ity. Church is the effect. Through theletters that were written to establishedthe early disciples, the Holy Spiritsought to fine tuned the dysfunctionalbehavior of many in the early dis-ciples.

It is also significant to understandthat Matthew, Mark, Luke and Johnwere written concerning Jesus’ activi-ties while He ministered under theSinai law. Since the New Testamentcovenant was not enacted until the dayof Pentecost in Acts 2, then we mustunderstand that what takes place in therecords of the ministry of Jesus areactually records of events of Old Tes-tament history. Jesus’ ministry was

to the Jews. Therefore, what Hetaught was directed specifically to theJews in order to lead them to the newcovenant that would be established onthe day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

2. Understanding inspired au-thorship: As with the Old Testament,all New Testament letters were di-rected in writing by the Holy Spirit.For this reason, Peter, an apostle, con-sidered Paul’s writings to be “Scrip-ture.” This was a Jewish term thatreferred to inspired writings. Paul af-firmed that everyone should recognize“that the things which I write to youare the commandments of the Lord”(1 Co 14:37). What he wrote was theword of God (1 Th 2:13). (More onthis later.)

The style of writing of each let-ter of the New Testament is not easilydistinguished by reading a translation.Nevertheless, when considering theoriginal language in which the letterswere first written, one can see differ-ences in writing style between differ-ent authors of the New Testament let-ters. In the process of inspiration,therefore, the Holy Spirit allowed the


OLDTESTAMENT

MatthewMarkLukeJohn

NEWTESTAMENT

Actsthrough

Revelation

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writers to use their own style of writ-ing, and often, their own vocabulary.This is particularly noted in referenceto the letters of Luke, the belovedphysician. Within the letters of Lukeand Acts, Luke, the physician, usedsome words, specifically medicalterms, that are not used anywhere elsein the New Testament. It is also char-acteristic of Luke’s writings that theyare the most difficult literary structurein the Greek language. The books ofJohn are much easier to read in theGreek language.

In a critical study of the NewTestament, therefore, sometimes onemust consider the writing styles of theauthors in order to determine whichauthor wrote which letter. The simi-larity between the writing styles ofbooks helps us to determine whatwriter wrote specific books.

3. Understanding dates of writ-ing: All the New Testament bookswere completed by the close of thefirst century A.D. However, it is dif-ficult to determine an exact date ofwriting of each book. Different his-torians sometimes assigned differentdates to the books. However, no datesbetween the various historians variesover two or three years.

The importance of the dates issignificant when compared to the timewhen a particular church was estab-lished with the secular historical factsthat were transpiring during the time

the letter was written. For example,believers obeyed the gospel in Thes-salonica no more than six months toa year before Paul wrote the 1 Thes-salonians letter to these new disciples.When we read 1 Thessalonians, there-fore, we interpret what Paul said inview of the fact that the Christians towhom he wrote were less than a yearold as Christians. When Paul wrote1 Corinthians, the Christians to whomhe wrote were less than five years oldas Christians. This helps us to under-stand what God expects of Christiansin their spiritual growth after obedi-ence to the gospel.

One principle concerning spiritualgrowth is evident in determining thedate of writing of the New Testamentletters. This principle is that God ex-pects Christians to take ownership oftheir spiritual grow upon their obedi-ence to the gospel. If there is no spiri-tual growth, then the gospel is havinglittle impact on their lives.

4. Understanding the purposeof writing: The Bible student mustkeep in mind that there was a prevail-ing problem that existed that stimu-lated the writing of each New Testa-ment letter. Therefore, when study-ing each of the twenty-seven lettersof the New Testament, the studentmust seek to determine this purposefor writing, and then understand thewhole of the letter on the foundationof this purpose.


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B. Survey of New Testament au-thors, dates and purposes:

The following is a brief surveyof the author, date and purpose (s) ofthe New Testament letters. It is im-portant for the Bible student to spe-cifically understand the general pur-pose of writing of any Bible docu-ment. An understanding of the gen-eral purpose of a letter helps guideone’s study through the content of theletter. It helps one to remain focusedon the purpose for which the letter waswritten. The pearls of truth in a letterare always strung on a line of the gen-eral purpose the author was trying toaccomplish when he wrote the letter.

I. THE LIFE OF JESUS

MATTHEW1. Author: Matthew, the apostle2. Date: Around A.D. 603. Purpose: Matthew wrote prima-rily to Jewish Christians. He accom-plished at least three purposes in de-fending the messiahship of Jesus: (1)By collecting various teachings andevents of the life of Jesus, he devel-oped the theme that Jesus was theMessiah who fulfilled Old Testamentprophecy. (There are sixty-four ref-erences to the Old Testament in theletter with forty-three direct quota-tions. See 1:1,22; 2:15; 12:17; 21:4)(2) Matthew wrote to reaffirm that

Jesus, as the Son of God, is the foun-dation upon which our faith is built.Jesus was the Messiah and Son of Godupon which believers founded theirfaith (See 16:13-20). (3) By empha-sizing holiness, Matthew stressed thefact that Jesus as a teacher did notcome with a system of legalistic reli-giosity that was characteristic of theJudaism of His time (23:16-24).

MARK1. Author: John Mark, the cousinof Barnabas2. Date: Between A.D. 65 & 703. Purpose: In writing primarily toGentiles, Mark presents a condensedand fast moving record of the worksand teaching ministry of Jesus. Hedoes such in order to reaffirm the factthat Jesus is the Christ, the Son ofGod (See 1:1; 4:41) who died in or-der to save man from sin (10:45). Byemphasizing such concerning Jesus,Mark seeks to call all men to live thegospel life of discipleship.

LUKE1. Author: Luke, the physician2. Date: A.D. 61,623. Purpose: As a Gentile, Lukewrote to Theophilus, possibly a gov-ernment official, in order to presenta defense of Christianity by giving atrue account of the facts concerningJesus and His teachings (1:1-4). Inconsidering the fact that Luke was


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with Paul at the time of Paul’s firstdefense before the Roman court (At27:1ff), and in defense of Paul, Lukewrote for Theophilus a defense forPaul’s case by proving that Jesus, asthe Son of Man, was the reason forthe existence of Christianity and themotivation for the behavior of Paul.Acts, which is also directed toTheophilus, should be considered acompanion document to the purposefor which the document of Luke waswritten. In Luke, Luke presents thecause of Christianity. The cause ofChristianity was the Christ. Acts pre-sents the effect of the Christ on thelives of those who believed that Jesuswas the Christ and Son of God.

JOHN1. Author: John, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 60 & 703. Purpose: John wrote to present adefense that Jesus is the Christ (Mes-siah) and Son of the living God(20:30,31). By emphasizing keymiracles of Jesus, and material thatis not recorded in either Matthew,Mark or Luke, John wrote with anapologetical argument to those whowere not familiar with Palestine andits culture. He does so in order todefend the foundation of Christian-ity, that is, that Jesus is the Christ andSon of God. John accomplished hispurpose by giving an accurate recordof seven miracles that Jesus worked

to proved that He was sent from God(See 2:1-11; 4:46-54; 5:1-9; 6:1-14;6:16-30; 9:1-12; 11:1-46). The bookof John is the apologetic book of theNew Testament that affirms the de-ity of Jesus (1:1,2).

II. HISTORY OF EARLYCHURCH

ACTS1. Author: Luke, the physician2. Date: Between A.D. 61 & 633. Purpose: Since the document ofActs ends with Paul and Luke inRome for Paul’s trial before the Ro-man court, Luke wrote both Luke andActs as defense material forTheophilus on behalf of Paul. Inmaking a defense, Luke wrote in thedocument of Luke to present thecause (Christ) of Christianity. In Actshe wrote to present the effect (thegospel living of the early disciples).Luke’s method was to present histori-cal arguments that can be answeredonly in the fact that both cause andeffect in reference to the early dis-ciples had divine origin. Amongthese arguments was one of Luke’sgreatest defenses, that is, the rapidgrowth of the Christianity, whichgrowth can be answered only in thefact that God was behind the gospelof the cross and resurrection of theSon of God (See 2:47; 9:31; 11:21;12:24; 16:5; 19:20; 28:31).


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III. LETTERS TO CHURCHES

ROMANS1. Author: Paul, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 56 & 593. Purpose: Romans deals with thecentrality of the gospel. Since wecannot be justified by perfect law-keeping, nor receive atonementthrough meritorious good works,then our justification stands on thegrace of God. In writing to the dis-ciples in Rome, Paul had at least threethoughts in mind as he wrote to de-fend our justification by faith throughthe grace of God (See 1:17): (1) Hereaffirmed the sufficiency of thegrace of God as opposed to the infil-tration of Jewish legalism among thedisciples (chs 1-8). (2) He explainedthe problem of national Israel’s un-belief in Jesus as the Messiah in re-lation to God’s eternal plan of thegospel (chs 9-11). (3) He emphasizedthe fact that gospel living is producedin the hearts of those who respond tothe gospel of God’s heart throughJesus Christ (chs 12-16).

1 CORINTHIANS1. Author: Paul, the apostle2. Date: Around A.D. 54, 553. Purpose: There were some inAchaia who were arrogant, and thus,opposed the apostleship of Paul.They questioned the fundamentalteaching of the resurrection. There

were some who were puffed up anddefiant in reference to the apostolicauthority of Paul. Upon hearing ofthese dysfunctional attitudes and be-havior among the disciples that dis-rupted their assemblies, Paul wroteto correct their erroneous spirit ofsectarianism that resulted in theirdysfunctional assemblies. He wroteto correct relational behavior that wascontrary to living the gospel of love.

2 CORINTHIANS1. Author: Paul, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 54 & 563. Purpose: The disciples in allAchaia had favorably responded tothe first letter concerning their dys-functional fellowship according tothe gospel. In this second letter tothe disciples in Corinth and Achaia,Paul wrote in order to further instructthe disciples in their struggles to livethe gospel: (1) As a defense of hissincerity, he reminded the Achaiandisciples of recent trials in his trav-els (1:1-2:13). (2) In defense of hisministry against those in Achaia whoopposed his apostleship, he definedthe character of true discipleship(2:14 - 6:10). (3) To emphasize theholiness of the Christian, he urgedseparation from that which wouldcompromise gospel living (6:11 -7:16). (4) In order that he not cometo them with the rod of discipline ofa Christ-sent apostle, he exhorted


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them to correct some dysfunctionalbehavior before his arrival.

GALATIANS1. Author: Paul, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 47 & 493. Purpose: The influence of a Jew-ish legal religiosity had soon enteredamong the disciples of southern Ga-latian soon after Paul had preachedthe gospel in the region. Paul wrote(1) to refute the judaizing teachers’belief that God’s grace must besupplemented with meritoriousworks of law. (2) He defended thesufficiency of the grace of God thatwas revealed at the cross. (3) He de-fended such in opposition to thosewho preached “another gospel,”which was a system of self-justifica-tion through self-sanctifying perfor-mance of law.

EPHESIANS1. Author: Paul, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 61 & 633. Purpose: Paul wrote to Chris-tians in the region of Ephesus whowere older in the faith (See At 18:18-23; 19). He wrote for three mainpurposes: (1) He wrote to remind thedisciples of God’s eternal redemptivepurpose of the gospel through thechurch (1:4-20; 2:4-6; 3:11). (2) Hewrote to remind the Ephesians of theunity believers have as a result ofGod manifesting the gospel to the

world through those who obeyed thegospel (2:11-22). (3) He remindedthis predominately Gentile fellow-ship of believers of their blessings inChrist as a result of the grace of God(1:3; 2).

PHILIPPIANS1. Author: Paul, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 61 & 633. Purpose: Paul wrote this letterto the disciples in the city of Phil-ippi, whom Paul, Silas, Timothy andLuke initially made on the secondmissionary journey of Paul (At 16).He wrote (1) to thank them for theircontribution of things to sustain himin prison (4:14-18), and (2) to remindthem to maintain a harmonious fel-lowship and life-style of unity andjoy that is the nature of the one gos-pel they had obeyed (1:27; 2:16; 4:4).

COLOSSIANS1. Author: Paul, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 61 & 633. Purpose: Paul wrote to the dis-ciples in Colosse who evidently weremade from evangelistic work out ofEphesus (At 19:8-10). He wrote (1)to exalt the preeminence of Jesus asthe Creator who is over all things(1:15-23), (2) to explain his apostolicwork (1:24 - 2:5), (3) to argue againstthe infiltration of Judaeo-gnosticismthat affirmed that Jesus was aboveman, but was not deity as God (2:5 -


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3:4), and (4) to exhort Christians torefuse a legalistic approach to gos-pel living. He concluded the letterby exhorting Christians to maintaingodly principles in their lives (2:16 -4:6).

1 THESSALONIANS1. Author: Paul, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 50 & 523. Purpose: From Corinth on hissecond missionary journey, Paulwrote to this young fellowship of dis-ciples who were probably less than ayear old in the faith (At 17). He wrote(1) to commend them for their evan-gelistic outreach (1:2-10), (2) to re-mind them of how they came to Jesus,and (3) to give them further instruc-tion concerning gospel living andteachings concerning the coming ofJesus and the resurrection (4:1 -5:11).

2 THESSALONIANS1. Author: Paul, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 50 & 523. Purpose: Paul wrote this secondletter to Thessalonica in order (1) tocomfort the disciples in times of per-secution (ch 1), (2) to correct misun-derstandings concerning the finalcoming of Jesus (ch 2), and (3) toexhort the Christians concerning howto deal with those who were notworking (ch 3).

1 TIMOTHY1. Author: Paul, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 61 & 633. Purpose: In this letter Paul wroteto the young evangelist Timothy inorder (1) to give guidance inTimothy’s evangelistic outreach. (2)He wrote in order to exhort him tostop the infiltration into the fellow-ship of the disciples the teaching ofjudaizing false teachers who hadadopted Gnostic theologies, and (3)to give instructions concerning gos-pel living.

2 TIMOTHY1. Author: Paul, the apostle2. Date: Around A.D. 673. Purpose: As a prisoner in Romearound A.D. 67, Paul wrote this let-ter to the young evangelist Timothywho was somewhere in the region ofAsia Minor at the time of writing. Hewrote in order that Timothy standagainst Gnostic Jewish teachers whoturned the grace of God into a licenseto live after the flesh (3:1-9; see 1Tm 6:3-5; Jd 4) and those who taughta legalistic asceticism (1 Tm 4:1-3).In view of the constant threat of falseteachers who twisted Christianity toconform to their own desires, he en-couraged Timothy to teach faithfulmen to carry on with their responsi-bilities as teachers of the word of God(2 Tm 2:2).


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TITUS1. Author: Paul, the apostle2. Date: Around A.D. 673. Purpose: After Paul’s releasefrom his first imprisonment, he trav-eled throughout Crete with Titus. Be-cause he had to travel on soon afterpreaching in Crete, he left Titus onthe island. He later wrote to instructTitus concerning the work and spiri-tual conduct of the infant disciples(1:5). In giving these instructions,Paul specifically instructed Titus todeal with false judaizing teacherswho threatened the unity of the fel-lowship of disciples and correcteddysfunctional gospel living (1:10-16;3:9-11).

PHILEMON1. Author: Paul, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 61 & 633. Purpose: Paul addressed this let-ter to his friend Philemon on behalfof Onesimus who had run away as aslave from Philemon. Paul wrote toencourage Philemon to receiveOnesimus back as a brother in Christ,for Paul had converted him in prison.

HEBREWS1. Author: Paul, Barnabas, or someother writer2. Date: Between A.D. 64 & 683. Purpose: This letter is directedto Jewish Christians who had beenChristians for some time. In the face

of Jewish intimidation and persecu-tion, they were on the verge of re-turning to Judaism. Therefore, thewriter explained (1) the supremacyof Jesus (chs 1,2), (2) the better hopewe have in Christ (3:1 - 4:13), (3) thesuperiority of the high priesthood ofJesus (4:14 - 7:28), and (4) the bettercovenant and sacrifice of Jesus overthe Sinai covenant and sacrifices(10:19 - 13:25). In a discussion ofthese major subjects, the Hebrewwriter sought to convince his audi-ence that any return to their formerJudaism would be forsaking the gos-pel that was revealed through Jesus.

JAMES1. Author: James, Jesus’ brother2. Date: Between A.D. 62 & 683. Purpose: In writing to the spiri-tual Israel of Christians who had beenscattered throughout the world be-cause of persecution (At 8:4), Jameswrote to encourage these predomi-nantly Jewish Christians to maintainChristian values in the hostile envi-ronment in which they lived. Theymust remain faithful to their commit-ment in view of the impending de-struction of Jerusalem and the Jews’heritage in A.D. 70 by the coming ofJesus in time in judgment on nationalIsrael (5:7-9).

1 PETER1. Author: Peter, the apostle


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2. Date: Between A.D. 63 & 663. Purpose: In view of the imminentdestruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70,Peter wrote a few years before theevent in order to exhort primarily Jew-ish Christians to remain faithful totheir commitment to Christ through-out the calamity of the fall of nationalIsrael (1:13 - 3:12). He wrote that theyremain faithful regardless of the pe-ripheral persecution through which theJewish disciples would suffer as theRoman Empire terminated nationalIsrael in A.D. 70 (3:13 - 4:19).

2 PETER1. Author: Peter, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 65 & 673. Purpose: In this second letter toJewish Christians who were scatteredthrough Asia Minor (See 3:1), Peterwrote to correct the misunderstand-ing that grace relieved one of con-ducting himself after Christian stan-dards of gospel living. Peter wrote(1) to explain the nature of trueknowledge (1:2-21), (2) to remind hisreaders of the dangers of falling fromtheir salvation if true knowledge isforsaken (2:1-11), and (3) to give hisreaders hope in the passing of thethings that now existed (3:1-18).

1 JOHN1. Author: John, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 60 & 703. Purpose: The apostle John wrote

to reassure Christians that they mayknow that they have eternal life inJesus who was God incarnate in theflesh (5:11-13). In upholding thispurpose of writing, he argued againstsome teachers who denied that theSon of God had come in the flesh.Believing that He did, says John, isthe basis of Christian fellowship(1:3). Our belief in the incarnate Sonof God should move us to obey thecommandments of God and growcloser in fellowship with one another.

2 JOHN1. Author: John, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 60 & 703. Purpose: John wrote this shortletter (1) to exhort the elect lady tocontinue in love, and thus, obey thecommandments of Jesus. (2) Hewrote to encourage her to resist thosewho come to her with the belief thatthe Son of God did not actually comein the flesh. (3) He thus reaffirmsher faith in believing that Jesus wasthe incarnate Son of God.

3 JOHN1. Author: John, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 60 & 703. Purpose: Because Gaius hadbeen discouraged and intimidated bythe dictatorial control of the somedisciples by Diotrephes, John wrote(1) to reassure and commend Gaiusfor his financial work in supporting


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traveling evangelists (vss 1-8), (2) toidentify the arrogant dictatorial ruleof Diotrephes over other disciples(vss 9,10), and (3) to recommendGaius to fellowship with Demetriusand follow after his good example(vss 11,12).

JUDE1. Author: Jude, Jesus’ brother2. Date: Between A.D. 65 & 673. Purpose: Jude wrote to counterthe influence of arrogant Judaeo-gnostic teachers. These teacherstaught that one could claim to beChristian as a result of the grace ofGod, but at the same time live a lifeof arrogance and lewdness. Theseteachers also denied the incarnationof the Son of God. In writing prima-rily to a Jewish audience, Jude en-couraged the godly to remain faith-ful during the coming of the Lord injudgment on national Israel. Thisjudgment came in the destruction ofJerusalem in A.D. 70 (vss 14,15).

IV. PROPHECY

REVELATION

1. Author: John, the apostle2. Date: Between A.D. 65 & 963. Purpose: By writing this apoca-lyptic message in figurative languagewith cryptic images and symbols (Rv1:1), John desired to encourage thedisciples who were beginning to en-ter the state persecution of the Ro-man Empire, which persecutionwould last for well over a century.John wrote to reassure the saints thatregardless of the force of state andreligious persecution, they wouldovercome in the end because they hadjoined themselves to the Lamb(Jesus) who had overcome all things(See 15:2; 17:14). The historicalevents about which John wrote wouldshortly come to pass in reference tothose of his audience (1:1; 22:6). Hewas not writing of judgments thatwould happen at the end of time, butto judgments that God would shortlyunleash in time on those who perse-cuted the flock of God. Though writ-ing of judgments in time, there aremany lessons for the persecuted toremember when they are in times oftrials.

4 - The Inspired Word Of God

Chapter 4

THE INSPIRED WORD OF GOD

The content, history, nature andevery word of the Bible has been ex-amined and scrutinized by scholars

throughout centuries of diligent Biblestudy. And yet, it continues to be con-firmed by millions of people to be the

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inspired word of God. No other bookin the history of the world has beenexamined in greater detail than theBible. If there were any valid reasonfor it not to be a book beyond the abil-ity of men to produce, then certainlysuch evidence would have beenfound.

Unbelievers have made numer-ous accusations against the Bible, andyet, men cannot explain its existenceother than to say that it is existence isbeyond the ability of men. Skepticshave accused that the Bible contra-dicts itself. And yet, no supposed con-tradiction has stood the test of a rea-sonable explanation. It is with greatboldness, therefore, that Christianscan confidently affirm that the Bibleis from God. There is no other logi-cal answer for its existence.

Contrary to the claim of somewho have assumed that their own per-sonal writings are from God, God de-termined to use several men over aperiod of many centuries in order toreveal His will to man in written form.There are numerous books in circula-tion today that were written by indi-viduals. The Quran, the Book of Mor-mon, Science and Health and Key tothe Scriptures, and such like areclaimed to be from God. However,these and similar writings are thework of individuals whose content inno way compares to the Bible.

When one studies the Bible, it

too is a collection of the writings ofdifferent individuals. However, whenthese writings are considered togetheras one book, they do not contradictone another in their themes. The factthat they do not is evidence that theirauthorship is above the authors whooriginally penned the individual docu-ments. Only through the inspirationof God could such a feat have beenaccomplished. We conclude, there-fore, that we have the word of Godtoday in the Bible only because suchcould not have been invented by men.

A. The origin of the Bible:

The Bible could not be the inven-tion of men. If it had been the inven-tion of men, then the invention wouldhave superseded the men who wroteit. God used men, however, to bringthe Bible into existence. He used mento communicate His will to the world.This was accomplished in the follow-ing manner:

1. Definition of inspiration:The word of God came to man by theinspiration of the Holy Spirit. TheGreek word that is translated “inspi-ration” is theopneustos. It literallymeans “God-breathed.” The Bible asthe word of God, therefore, has beenbreathed out by God.

2. Biblical use of the word “in-spiration”: The word theopneustos


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is used in the New Testament in 2Timothy 3:16 where it is stated thatthe word of God is inspired by God.Paul wrote, “All Scripture is given byinspiration of God ....”

Through the Holy Spirit, God“breathed out” His word to chosenmen in a manner that all men couldunderstand His will (See 1 Co 2:10-13; 2 Pt 1:20,21; Ep 3:3-5). Paulwrote,

You have heard of the dispensationof the grace of God which was givento me for you, how that by revelationHe made known to me the mystery(as I wrote before in a few words, bywhich, when you read, you may un-derstand my knowledge in the mys-tery of Christ) (Ep 3:2-4).

3. The process of inspiration:God’s work through the Holy Spirit toreveal His will to man came throughinspiration. It was a work of God touse spiritually qualified men in orderto convey to all men spiritual concepts.

a. Writing by the directionof the Holy Spirit: Men were in-spired to write the word of God. Pe-ter explained,

Knowing this first, that no prophecyof Scripture is of any private inter-pretation, for prophecy never cameby the will of man, but holy men of

God spoke as they were moved bythe Holy Spirit (2 Pt 1:20,21; see 2Sm 23:2; Mt 22:43; At 1:16; 2 Tm3:16; Hb 3:7; 9:8; 10:15).

b. Writing God’s words bythe direction of the Holy Spirit: Byinspiration, the Holy Spirit guided thewriters of the Bible (Jn 14:26; 16:13;2 Pt 1:20,21). He did so in order toreveal the mind of God to manthrough the use of inspired words.Paul affirmed,

But God has revealed them to usthrough His Spirit.” (1 Co 2:10).“These things we also speak, not inwords which man’s wisdom teachesbut which the Holy Spirit teaches,comparing spiritual things withspiritual [words] (1 Co 2:13).

c. Writing the command-ments of God by the direction of theHoly Spirit: The Holy Spirit inspiredthe writers of the Bible both to speakand to write the word of God for man.Paul wrote,

If anyone thinks himself to be aprophet or spiritual, let him ac-knowledge that the things which Iwrite to you are the commandmentsof the Lord (1 Co 14:37; see Ex 2:7;3:4,10; 24:4; 35:1; Nm 22:35;23:5,12,16; Dt 18:18; 2 Sm 23:2; Is51:16; Jr 1:9; 36:4-6; 1 Co 7:40).


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d. Writing the communica-tion of God by the direction of theHoly Spirit: The word of God isGod’s medium of speaking throughinspired men (Dt 18:18; Jr 1:9; Ez 2:7;3:4,10,11,17; 2 Tm 3:16,17; 2 Pt 1:21),to men (2 Th 2:14; Hb 1:1,2). It is Godspeaking through the Holy Spirit tomen (2 Sm 23:2; Ez 11:5; Lk 1:67),and God speaking through the HolySpirit through men to men (Lk 1:70;At 28:25; Rm 1:2; 16:26). It is God’srevelation to man through inspiredwords of truth (1 Co 2:13; Jr 36:4).

Any book can claim to be in-spired. If a book as the Bible is in-spired by God, then certainly wewould expect it to claim to be in-spired. Because the Bible claims tobe inspired, men who doubt its inspi-ration must deal with this claim. Onecannot deny the inspiration of theBible without first investigating thetext of the Bible. But when men in-vestigate the text of the Bible, theymust investigate it from the viewpointof how we would expect the Bible tobe inspired and preserved for us to-day. We must remember that God in-spired His word to be written in amanner that would demand faith onthe part of those who are hungeringand thirsting after righteousness.

B. The confirmation of the Bible:

If the Bible is the inspired wordof God, then certainly we would ex-pect that God would in some way giveHis miraculous approval that it wasactually His word. In other words, Hedid not give His word to man withoutconfirming it to be from Him. Theword of God thus came to man in adifferent manner than the word of or-dinary men. God not only inspiredmen to preach and write His word, butHe also sent confirming miracles toprove that His word was more thanthe product of mere men.

1. The work of confirmation:God did not expect us to believe Hisword simply by having it written forus to read. There are other greatpieces of literature that have beenwritten throughout the centuries.What makes the Bible different is thefact that God confirmed His wordwith that which only God can do, thatis, manifest Himself through miracle.Mark recorded, “And they went outand preached everywhere, the Lordworking with them and confirmingthe word through the accompanyingsigns” (Mk 16:20).

a. Confirmation: The word“confirm” in reference to the word ofGod means that God’s word wasproven to be the direct work of God.It means that the Bible is not the in-


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vention of men, though men wereused to bring the Bible into the handsof men.

b. Miraculous confirma-tion: The word that was spoken bythe early messengers of God wasproven to be from God by the miracu-lous work of the Holy Spirit in thelives of those who first spoke the wordof God. In reference to the work ofthe early Christians who preached theword of God, the Hebrew writer statedconcerning God’s work in their lives,

How shall we escape if we neglectso great a salvation, which at the firstbegan to be spoken by the Lord, andwas confirmed to us by those whoheard Him, God also bearing wit-ness both with signs and wonders,with various miracles, and gifts ofthe Holy Spirit, according to His ownwill (Hb 2:3,4; see 1 Kg 18:30-40;Mk 16:20; At 2:33; 4:29,30; 1 Co 2:1-5; 12:7; Gl 3:5; 1 Th 1:5).

Once God proved that He wasbehind His messengers, He then ex-pected everyone to listen to the wordthey spoke. Confirmation of theBible, therefore, means that God con-firmed His messengers as His spokes-men in order to confirm their word.

2. The writing of the confirmedword: Once God confirmed the spo-ken word, then the spoken word could

be written and believed by men of allhistory.

a. The spoken word waswritten. The inspired writers of theBible recorded by the aid of the HolySpirit their miraculously proven wordfor the benefit of all men of all ages.Inspired truth was usually first spo-ken through God’s messengers. It waslater written in order to be preservedfor later generations. Paul wrote inreference to this point,

For whatever things were written be-fore were written for our learning,that we through the patience andcomfort of the Scriptures might havehope (Rm 15:4; see Rm 15:18,19; 1Co 2:4; 10:11; 1 Th 1:5).

b. The word was recordedfor all time. The written word of Godis the Bible. This word need not bereconfirmed today by miracles be-cause we have the record of confirm-ing miracles recorded in the Bible.Once the word of God was confirmedto be from God, then it was confirmedfor all history. We thus believe theBible today because we believe thetestimony of those who first experi-enced the confirming work of God intheir lives.

C. The all-sufficiency of the Bible:


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If the Bible is from the God whocreated man a free-moral individualin order to make choices, then wewould assume that God would deliverto man His word that would be suffi-cient for all the choices that a free-moral individual would have to make.In this way, the Bible is all-sufficient.It is all-sufficient in giving every free-moral individual that which is neces-sary in order to live a godly life in hisrelationship both with God and hisfellow man.

The fact that the word of God isall-sufficient in order to furnish theChristian with all that is necessary tobe acceptable to God, affirms also thatbinding religious traditions of men areunnecessary as requirements for sal-vation. Every self-sanctifying reli-gious tradition that is bound on theconsciences of men is an attackagainst the sufficiency of the Bible.God expects us to accept His word assufficient, for He expects to accom-plish great things in our lives throughHis word. If the following can be ac-complished through the revealedword of God, the Bible, then the bind-ing of religious traditions on the con-sciences of men is not necessary:

1. The Bible has the power tochange lives. The word of God iscompletely able, if obeyed by an hon-est individual, to change the moralbehavior of that individual to be well-

pleasing to God. Paul affirmed thatthe word of God is ...

... profitable for doctrine, for reproof,for correction, for instruction in righ-teousness, that the man of God maybe complete, thoroughly equippedfor every good work (2 Tm 3:16,17;see 1 Pt 2:1,2; 1 Th 4:1,2; 3 Jn 3,4).

Peter wrote that ...

... His divine power has given to usall things that pertain to life and god-liness, through the knowledge of Himwho called us by glory and virtue (2Pt 1:3).

2. The Bible has the power tosave souls. Because the word of Godcan change the behavior of those God-fearing people who accept it as theword of God, the Bible can do thefollowing:

a. The word of God giveslife. Jesus said that if we keep Hisword, we will never eternally die.“Most assuredly, I say to you, if any-one keeps My word he shall never seedeath” (Jn 8:51; see Jn 5:24; 11:26).The obedient will physically die.However, they will not suffer the sec-ond death of separation from God (2Th 1:7-9).

b. The word of God saves.The word of God is sufficient to eter-


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nally save one’s soul. James wrote,

Therefore lay aside all filthiness andoverflow of wickedness, and receivewith meekness the implanted word,which is able to save your souls (Js1:21; see At 11:14; 20:32; Hb 4:12).

The word of God is able to save one’ssoul because in God’s word are thoseprinciples by which we must conductour lives (Ph 3:16; 1 Th 4:1; 1 Jn1:6,7; 2 Jn 4; 3 Jn 3,4).

c. The word of God revealsspiritual principles. The word ofGod is the perfect law of liberty thatgives principles by which we have theliberty to free-morally direct our livesaccording to the will of God (Js 1:25).Through His word, God has deliveredunto us the spiritual principles bywhich we must conduct our lives.Those who are hungering and thirst-ing after righteousness will seek tolive by these principles.

d. The word of God is suffi-cient for godly living. The word ofGod is sufficient in the Christian’s lifeto produce that which God requiresof all Christians. The following arethings that God expects to be accom-plished through the power of His wordworking in receptive hearts. Chris-tians are to use the word of God to dothese things:

• To preach in order to be heard

(Mt13:9,43; Lk 16:29; Jn 6:45), un-derstood (Ep 3:4,5), and believed (Jn20:30,31; At 8:12,13,37,38; 13:48).• To teach Christians (Rm 15:4; Pv22:6; Ps 119:103,104).• To admonish Christians in moralconduct (1 Co 4:14; 10:11).• To reveal the will of God (2 Co13:10; 2 Pt 1:12).• To direct the Christian’s behaviorin relation to others (Cl 1:5-10; 1 Tm3:14,15).• To guard the Christian againstapostasy (Mt 4:4-11; 2 Tm 3:14-17;2 Pt 1:12; Jd 17-21).• To assure the Christian of salva-tion (2 Pt 1:9-11; 1 Jn 2:2-4; 5:13).• To reprove, rebuke, correct andinstruct Christians (2 Tm 3:16).• To bring fellowship between theChristian and God (1 Jn 1:1-4,6-10).• To motivate the Christian to a bet-ter life (1 Pt 5:12; 2 Pt 1:12-14).

The fact that the Bible producesthat which is necessary to direct ev-ery aspect of one’s behavior in rela-tion to his fellow man is evidence thatthe Bible is from God. It is not a cul-turally linked book in that it was writ-ten for only one cultural group in onenation. It was written with principlesthat permeate time and culture. It waswritten with principles that will guideeveryone unto an abundant life (Jn10:10). Such is proof that the Bibleis not of human invention, for only


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God could have produced that whichis applicable to all men for all time.

D. The completion of revelationthrough the Bible:

It was never God’s plan to con-tinually speak directly to the fathersof tribal families throughout history(Hb 1:1,2). It was never His plan toalways use living judges and proph-ets as a means of revealing His willto man. The giving of the ten com-mandments on Mount Sinai wasGod’s first indication that the commu-nication of His will, and the obedi-ence of His people, should rest ontheir knowledge of and obedience toa written record of His will. For thisreason, God planned that through acomplete revelation of what Hewanted man to know should be re-corded for His people to study andobey. It is for this reason that we havethe word of God in written form to-day.

All that God wants us to know isrevealed in the Bible. He has com-pleted His revelation of truth to man.No more inspired revelation has beenadded to the Bible since the last bookof the Bible (Revelation) was writtenby inspiration.

1. All truth from God has beenrevealed through the Bible. All truththat is necessary for godly living in a

world where free-moral individualslive has been revealed through theBible. Paul wrote that the Scripturesare sufficient to thoroughly equip theman of God unto every good work (2Tm 3:16,17). Because we are free-moral individuals with the freedomand ability to choose, God has re-vealed His instructions for us to livein this environment of free-moral ex-istence.

a. Revelation to the fathers:God revealed His will to fathers ofextended family groups in the OldTestament era before the giving of theSinai law on Mount Sinai. “God, whoat various times and in various waysspoke in time past to the fathers bythe prophets” (Hb 1:1,2).

b. Revelation to Israel: Godrevealed His will to Israel on MountSinai. To Israel, God gave His oracles(Rm 3:1,2; see Dt 4:1,13; 5:1-5; Ex19:4-6; Ne 8:1).

c. Revelation for our learn-ing: God revealed His will to the OldTestament writers who recorded suchfor our learning. Paul wrote, “Forwhatever things were written beforewere written for our learning” (Rm15:4; see 1 Co 10:11).

d. Revelation of final truthto the apostles: God revealed alltruth to the New Testament apostlesin the first century. Jesus promisedHis apostles,


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But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whomthe Father will send in My name, Hewill teach you all things, and bringto your remembrance all things thatI said to you (Jn 14:26)

However, when He, the Spirit of truth,has come, He will guide you into alltruth; for He will not speak on Hisown authority, but whatever He hearsHe will speak; and He will tell youthings to come (Jn 16:13).

We have all necessary truth today thathas been recorded for our doctrinaland moral guidance. Peter wrote,“His divine power has given to us allthings that pertain to life and godli-ness” (2 Pt 1:3; see Gl 1:11,12; Ep3:3-5; 2 Tm 3:16,17).

e. Revelation of the mysteryto the apostles: The truth that wasrevealed to the apostles was recordedby the New Testament apostles andprophets. Paul reminded the Eph-esians,

... how that by revelation He madeknown to me the mystery (as I havebriefly written already, by which,when you read, you may understandmy knowledge in the mystery ofChrist), which in other ages was notmade known to the sons of men, as ithas now been revealed by the Spiritto His holy apostles and prophets (Ep

3:3-5; see 1 Co 2:10-13; 14:37).

Throughout the Bible it is statedthat God has revealed His will to manthrough a written medium of commu-nication. The written will of God isnow God’s medium by which Heseeks to communicate to us today.Anyone who would seek communi-cation from God apart from the Bibleis actually forsaking God by forsak-ing the medium of written communi-cation through which He seeks to di-rect man.

2. The revelation of God hasbeen completed through the Bible.Since God has revealed His will forman to live in an environment for free-moral individuals, then we must as-sume that His revelation (directionsfor living) is complete and sufficientfor men of all time to direct their steps.It is necessary to come to this conclu-sion lest we question the very suffi-ciency of the Bible as God’s meansby which He seeks to direct man.Since the written word of God is themeans of communication throughwhich God seeks to direct men today,then we would naturally assume thatthe Bible would claim to be sufficientto accomplish God’s purpose of di-recting our steps in gospel living.

a. God’s word is all-suffi-cient. The word of God is complete


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and able to furnish us with all thingsthat are necessary for life and godli-ness (2 Tm 3:16,17). It furnishes manwith all that is necessary for gospelliving (2 Pt 1:3). The point is that ifwe did not have the written record ofGod’s directions in the Bible, wewould not know how to live accord-ing to the will of God. The vast as-sortment of world religions that havebeen created after the desires of manis evidence of this fact. Men are reli-gious. They must express their reli-giosity in some manner. If men for-sake the communication of Godthrough His word, then they will cre-ate a religion after their own desiresand a god after their own image. Be-cause men seek to do this, it is abso-lutely necessary that people allowGod to explain Himself and His willfor man through the written revela-tion of the Bible.

b. Additions or subtractionsfrom God’s word is condemned.God has explained Himself. He hasrevealed truth by which all men candirect their paths. The truth, or thefaith, to which we are warned not toadd or subtract (Gl 1:6-9; Rv22:18,19), has been once and for alltime delivered to man (Jd 3).

There are three very importantstatements concerning this matter inthe New Testament. In the Galatiancontext, judaizing teachers were in-filtrating the church with “another

gospel.” This other gospel was a le-galistic teaching of perfect law-keep-ing that attacked the sufficiency of thegrace of God. The judaizers taughtthat meritorious works of law andgood deeds must supplement thegrace of God. However, Paul statedthe principle that we must not allowthe addition of man’s religious ritesto be added to that which is requiredof God for salvation.

I marvel that you are turning awayso soon from Him who called you inthe grace of Christ, to a differentgospel, which is not another; butthere are some who trouble you andwant to pervert the gospel of Christ.But even if we, or an angel fromheaven, preach any other gospel toyou than what we have preached toyou, let him be accursed (Gl 1:6-8).

Second, Jude wrote to those whowere suffering from the same attackagainst the grace of God that washappening among the Galatian dis-ciples. In this brief document of in-spired direction, Jude wrote,

Beloved, while I was very diligent towrite to you concerning our commonsalvation, I found it necessary towrite to you exhorting you to contendearnestly for the faith which wasonce for all delivered to the saints(Jd 3).


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The nature of Jude’s statement is that“the faith” has once and for all timebeen delivered to the saints. The con-clusion is that there will be no morerevelation from God until Jesus comesagain. There will be no more religiousrites added to that which has alreadybeen revealed.

A third important passage on theabove theme is the last statement ofthe New Testament canon of scrip-tures. In making the statement ofRevelation 22:18,19, the Holy Spiritcertainly knew that men would seekto add to or revise what was revealedin the book of Revelation. Because itwas a book of figurative literature, theSpirit knew that the uncontrolledimaginations of misguided religion-ists would distort what He had re-vealed through John. Therefore, theSpirit warned,

For I testify to everyone who hearsthe words of the prophecy of thisbook: If anyone adds to these things,God will add to him the plagues thatare written in this book; and if any-one takes away from the words ofthe book of this prophecy, God shalltake away his part from the Book ofLife, from the holy city, and from thethings which are written in this book.

The principle from the precedingstatement of the Bible is very clear.God intended that His revelation to

man through a written record shouldbe complete, and since it is complete,then men should never add to or sub-tract from this word of revelation. Allwho would lay on the consciences ofmen the religious rites of men or thedirections of misguided emotionalhysteria, would do well to take seri-ous heed to what God has instructedconcerning His word. Since the Bibleis the final communication of God toman, then men must humbly searchthe Scriptures (See At 17:11).

3. God warns against adding toHis word. Since the Bible is God’sfinal word to man, then naturally onewould conclude that this revealedword should be guarded against ad-ditions and subtractions. God createdman a religious being who is a free-moral individual with the freedom tochoose. In man’s rebellion against hisCreator, it is always the desire of mento stray from the directions of the Cre-ator. Therefore, within the revelationof God to man, there are stern warn-ings against adding religious laws towhat God would require of man to doin order to be saved.

a. Warnings against addi-tions: There has been no more rev-elation of truth from God since thefirst century A.D. The word of Godwarns that some would stray from thetruth, but it exhorts Christians not to


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follow such false teachers. Therewould also be those who have no loveof the truth, and thus, would seek tocreate their own expression of religi-osity. Paul wrote,

... and with all unrighteous deceptionamong those who perish, becausethey did not receive the love of thetruth, that they might be saved. Andfor this reason God will send themstrong delusion, that they should be-lieve the lie, that they all may be con-demned who did not believe the truthbut had pleasure in unrighteous-ness” (2 Th 2:10-12; see Rm 16:17;2 Th 3:6; 2 Tm 4:1-4; 2 Jn 9-11).

b. Warnings against addingreligious traditions: The Bible con-tains stern warnings against any whowould attempt to add human religiousrites or traditions as law in order thatmen might self-sanctify themselvesbefore God. When anyone leaves thedirection of God through His writtenrevelation, he will seek after an ex-pression of religious behavior that isaccording to his own desire to justifyhimself before God.

It is also true that when a cultureof people seek to maintain their ownreligious traditions, those traditionswill lead those of the cultural groupaway from the word of God. This isprecisely what happened to the Jewsby the time Jesus came. Jesus said of

the religious leadership of Israel, “Alltoo well you reject the command-ment of God, that you may keep yourtradition” (Mk 7:9; see Dt 4:2; Mk7:1-9; Gl 1:6-9; 2 Jn 9-11; Rv22:18:19).

The biblical claim of the all-suf-ficiency of the word of God assumesthat men not add to it. If the Bible iswhat it claims to be—the word ofGod—then men must assume thatGod is able to produce a timeless bookof principles for man’s direction. IfGod could not produce a guide formoral behavior for all time, then wewould question His ability to revealtimeless moral values to man. Theresult of adding human invented reli-gious traditions, therefore, is to accuseGod of being unable to produce abook of timeless moral principles bywhich we can live according to Hiswill. Any religious law of man that isbound on man is an attack against theall-sufficiency of the word of God,and thus unproductive in bringing onecloser to Jesus.

E. The power of the Bible:

The word of God is the activeinstrument of God to convict theworld of sin, as well as to build upthe saint (At 20:32; 1 Th 2:13; Hb4:12; 1 Pt 1:23; Jr 20:9; 23:29). It isnot a dead letter. When believed by


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honest, God-fearing people, the Bibleproduces great spiritual lives. It pro-duces such lives because God-fearingmen and women seek to live in re-sponse to the gospel they haveobeyed.

1. The characteristics of theword of God: The characteristics ofthe word of God are manifested in thefact of what the Holy Spirit says God’sword is to do in our lives. It is able todo the following when men andwomen allow it to direct their lives:

a. The word of God is to belaid up in our hearts. The word ofGod can be laid up in our hearts inorder that we not sin against God.David wrote of the righteous man,“The law of His God is in his heart;none of his steps shall slide” (Ps37:31). He wrote of himself, “Yourword I have hidden in my heart, thatI might not sin against You” (Ps119:11).

b. The word of God candwell in our hearts. It can dwell inour hearts as we allow its principlesto permeate our behavior. Paul wrote,“Let the word of Christ dwell in yourichly in all wisdom ...” (Cl 3:16; see1 Jn 2:14,25; 3:9; 2 Jn 2).

c. The word of God is writ-ten on the hearts of the righteous.The word of God can be written onour hearts when we submit to its prin-

ciples. David wrote, “I delight to doYour will, O my God, and Your law iswithin my heart” (Ps 40:8; see Jr31:32,33; 2 Co 3:3; Hb 8:10; 10:16).

d. The word of God dwellsin the hearts of the obedient. Itdwells in our hearts when sincerelybelieved and obeyed. James wrote,“... receive with meekness the im-planted word, which is able to saveyour souls” (Js 1:21; see Js 1:22-25;1 Jn 1:6,7; 2 Jn 4; 3 Jn 3,4). Peterwrote, “Since you have purified yoursouls in obeying the truth through theSpirit in sincere love of the brethren,love one another fervently with a pureheart” (1 Pt 1:22).

2. The work of the word of God:God intends that His word functionin the following ways in the lives ofthose who submit to the authority ofHis word:

• Produce faith (Jn 20:30,31; Rm10:17).• Sanctify the soul (Jn 17:17; Ep5:26: 1 Tm 4:4,5).• Cleanse the heart (Jn 15:2; Ep 5:26).• Purify the soul (1 Pt 1:22).• Quicken the soul (Ps 119:50,93;Ep 2:1,5).• Enlighten the mind (Ps 19:8).• Give understanding (Ps 119:104,130: Ep 3:4).• Lead one’s life (Ps 73:24;119:105).


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• Comfort the heart (Rm 15:4; 1 Th3:2; 4:18).• Produce spiritual growth (At20:32; Cl 1:10,11).• Strengthen the heart (At 20:32; 2Tm 2:1,2).• Admonish (1 Co 4:14; 10:11).• Exhort (1 Pt 5:12).• Instruct (Ne 9:20,26,30; 2 Tm3:16,17).• Move to obey the gospel (At18:5).

Since God intends that the Biblebe the final revelation of His will toman, then it is imperative that all menseek to obey what is revealed in theBible. We live in a world where menhave sought to create every sort of re-ligion. The fact that men have donethis is evidence that men do not havea love for the truth. They do not havea desire to seek for written communi-cation from God through His word.Therefore, since men will refuse toseek after their Creator, we must guardourselves from being led astray by themasses of humanity who do not havea love for the truth.

With an increased faith in theBible as the word of God, one is en-

couraged to study the Bible in orderto understand the will of God. In un-derstanding the will of God, one isdirected in his life to live a godly life.It is imperative, therefore, that onefirst understand that the Bible is theactual word of God. If he or she doesnot, then there will be no motivationto either study or apply what the Bibleteaches concerning godly living. Butif one understands that the Bible is theactual word of God, then he or shedoes not have enough time in the dayto study. Every Christian should makeevery effort to increase his or her con-fidence in the fact that the Bible isGod speaking to us in order to bringus into an eternal dwelling in heaven.If we understand this, then the Biblecomes alive in our lives as we seek todo the will of God, as well as learnthe mind of God and the knowledgethat God has revealed to us throughthe pages of the Bible.

When one has confidence in theBible as the word of God, then heexcludes any other religious rites asconditions for salvation. He con-cludes that the word of God is our soleauthority in matters of faith.

5 - Old And New Covenants And Laws

Chapter 5

OLD AND NEW COVENANTS AND LAWS

The Bible contains two majorcovenants and two written laws that

God has given in history to Hispeople. The first covenant was made

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NEW

TESTAMENT

Law&

Covenant

OLD

TESTAMENT

Law&

Covenant

only with the nation of Israel. Thefirst law of this covenant was the Si-nai law that was given as the condi-tions for keeping of the covenant.This law was referred to as the “lawof Moses” (Ne 8:1), the “law of God”(Ne 8:8,18; see 8:14), the “law of theLord” (Lk 2:22-24), or simply “thelaw” (Jn 1:17; 8:9-19; Rm 8:9-19;7:7).

The second covenant and law, theNew Testament covenant and law ofChrist, were brought into force afterJesus died on the cross. This covenantand law were brought into force at thefirst official announcement of thekingdom reign of Jesus. The first of-ficial announcement of Jesus’ reignoccurred in Acts 2 when Peter pro-claimed Jesus’ reign on the throne ofDavid (At 2:29-36; see Cl 2:14; Hb9:16,17). A new covenant has nowbeen established between God andHis people (Mt 26:26-29). God’speople today are under a new lawwhich is referred to as the “law of theSpirit of life” (Rm 8:2), the “perfectlaw of liberty” (Js 1:25), and the “lawof Christ” (Gl 6:2).

It is important to understand thedivision between the Old and NewTestaments in order to understand theBible. Most people today do not un-derstand the Bible correctly simplybecause they do not understand thedifference between the two covenantsof God that are explained in the Bibleand the two laws of these two cov-enants. This is even true in referenceto understanding the ministry of Jesus.Jesus did not live under His new lawand covenant. Jesus was a Jew. Hisministry was to the Jews. He thuslived under the Sinai law in order tobring Israel to the cross and the newcovenant that God had promised Hewould establish with all men whowould come into a covenant relation-ship with Him (Jr 31:31-34). For thisreason, we must understand the booksof Matthew, Mark, Luke and John ashistory books concerning the minis-try of Jesus who lived and ministeredunder the Sinai law.

A. The Sinai covenant and law:

The Sinai law of the covenantthat God established with the nationof Israel existed because God wantedto preserve a segment of society forthe coming of the Son of God. Whenconsidering the origin and purpose ofthe Sinai law, we must always keepin mind that both the nation of Israeland the Sinai law were established and


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given for the purpose of bringing theSavior of man into the world.

1. Origin of the Sinai law: TheSinai law (Gn - Dt) was given to thenation of Israel by God about 3,500years ago on Mount Sinai. In God’seternal gospel plan of redemption, thislaw was given to prepare and preservea remnant of society for the revela-tion of the gospel of the Son of God.God worked in history by establish-ing a covenant with the nation of Is-rael at Mount Sinai. The conditionsfor Israel to keep this covenant wasthe giving of the Sinai law to the na-tion of Israel.

a. Establishment of a cov-enant: God established a covenantwith the nation of Israel at Mount Si-nai. He first made a covenant withAbraham, the father of the Israelitenation (Gn 15:18). When Israel cameout of Egyptian captivity over fourhundred years after Abraham lived,Moses was directed to bring the Isra-elites to Mount Sinai. At Mount Si-nai God then went through the ritesof establishing a covenant relationshipwith the entire nation of Israel (Ex 24).

b. Establishment of the lawof the covenant: The ten command-ments of the Sinai law were given onMount Sinai in the fifteenth centurybefore the revelation of the gospel (Ex19:11,18-20; Dt 33:2; Ne 9:13). The

Sinai law was given as the conditionupon which Israel was to maintaintheir covenant relationship with God.

c. Establishment of the lawthrough the medium of angels: TheSinai law was given through angels.The Angel of God spoke to Moses onMount Sinai (At 7:38). Israel thenreceived the law through the directionof angels (At 7:53; see Gl 3:19; Hb2:2)

d. Establishment of the lawthrough the mediatorship of Moses:The Sinai law was given through an-gels to Moses for Israel. As Christwas the mediator through whom theNew Testament law came, Moses wasthe mediator through whom Godworked to give the Sinai law to Israel(Ne 8:14; 9:14 Jn 1:17; 7:19).

e. Establishment of the lawwith Israel: The Sinai law was givenonly to the Jews, the children of Is-rael. The Sinai covenant was not es-tablished with all men. The condi-tions for keeping the covenant, there-fore, were not for all men of all his-tory. Before their entrance into theland of promise, Moses said to Israel,

Now, O Israel, listen to the statutesand the judgments which I teach youto observe, that you may live, and goin and possess the land which theLORD God of your fathers is givingyou (Dt 4:1, see vs 13).


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And Moses called all Israel, and saidto them: “Hear, O Israel, the stat-utes and judgments which I speak inyour hearing today, that you maylearn them and be careful to observethem. The Lord our God made acovenant with us in Horeb [MountSinai]. The LORD did not make thiscovenant with our fathers, but withus, those who are here today, all ofus who are alive (Dt 5:1-5; see Ex19:4-6; Ne 8:1).

The conditions for this covenant, theSinai law, were given specifically tothem (Rm 3:1,2). For this reason,Christians today are not under eitherthe Sinai covenant or law.

2. The purpose of the Sinai law:Once we understand that the Sinaicovenant and law were never meantto be an end within themselves. TheSinai covenant and law were prepa-ratory for the coming Messiah and therevelation of the gospel. Through therevelation of the gospel, God ex-plained the purpose for which the Si-nai law was given and the special cov-enant He made with Israel. Under-standing this purpose helps us to un-derstand that once the purpose of theSinai covenant and law were fulfilled,they were terminated.

a. The law was a shadow.The Sinai law was a shadow that was

cast by good things to come in thefuture of national Israel (Hb 10:1; Cl2:16,17). Therefore, it was not thesubstance. It was only an indicationof better things that were to come.The better things to come have nowcome, and thus, we are not subject tothe shadow, but to the substance thatcast the shadow.

b. The Sinai law was a tu-tor. The Sinai law was a tutor, orheadmaster, to preserve a portion ofhumanity (the nation of Israel) untilmen could be delivered to faith inJesus (Gl 3:24,25). Once a tutor ac-complished his purpose, he was nolonger needed. Once the Sinai lawhad accomplished its purpose, it wasno longer needed for the purpose forwhich it was originally established.

c. The Sinai law was givento manifest imperfection. The Si-nai law was given to reveal one’s in-ability to be justified by perfect law-keeping. It is impossible for any manto live without sinning against law. Inorder to prove this point, Israel wasgiven law in order that they mightunderstand that all have sinned, andthus, fall short of the glory of God(Rm 3:9,23). Therefore, when Jesuscame, sincere believers in Israel weremoved to depend on the grace of Godthat was revealed through Jesus (Gl2:15,16). They were thus moved tograce because no one could perfectlyobey any law in order to be justified


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before God (Rm 3:20; 7:7,24,25; Gl2:16).

d. The Sinai law preserveda heritage. The Sinai law was givento preserve Abraham’s heritage untilGod could fulfill His promise that inAbraham’s seed all nations of theearth would be blessed with the eter-nal offering of the Son of God (Gn12:1-3; Gl 3:8,16-19). God did notwant to happen with Israel what hap-pened before the flood of Noah’s daywhen every imagination of men be-came evil continually (Gn 6:5). In or-der to direct man to the cross, He gavea segment of society (the nation ofIsrael) a law by which there would bethe preservation of this group of faith-ful followers who would accept theSon of God when He was revealed.

e. The Sinai law was writ-ten for our learning. The Sinai lawwas written, and thus, it preserved forour instruction today the will of God.Paul wrote, “Now all these thingshappened to them as examples, andthey were written for our admonition,upon whom the ends of the ages havecome” (1 Co 10:11; see Rm 15:4).

3. Weakness of men under theSinai law: The Sinai law that wasgiven to the Jews was not faulty forthe purpose for which it was given. Itwas God’s law, and thus, it was holy,just and good (Rm 7:12). It was notgiven to man as a means to salvation,

for no one can keep law perfectly inorder to save himself (Rm 3:20; Gl2:16). One can never be saved by hisown meritorious works of law, for allmen sin (Rm 3:23). Because all aresinners, no one could keep the Sinailaw in order to save himself fromspiritual death, for the law demandedperfection in order to be saved (Hb8:7,8). Therefore, the weakness of thelaw was not in the law itself, but inthe ones to whom the law was given.

a. Insufficiency of animalsacrifices: Animal sacrifices of thelaw could not in and of themselvestake away sins. The Hebrew writerstated, “For it is not possible that theblood of bulls and goats could takeaway sins” (Hb 10:4; see 9:15).

b. Insufficiency of man: Noman can be justified by meritoriousworks of the law (At 13:39; Rm3:20,28; Gl 2: 16; 3:10,11; Hb 10:1-4). It was the misunderstanding of theJews that they could acquire salvationby meritoriously doing good works inorder to atone for sins against the law.They also believed that through theirself-sanctification through goodwords, they could merit justificationbefore God.

Many Jews did not understandthat God’s salvation has always beenextended to man by His grace and isto be accepted by obedient faith (SeeHk 2:4; Rm 1:17; Gl 3:11; Hb 10:38).


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Therefore, by the performance of lawmen could not be justified by the Si-nai law. Paul clearly stated, “There-fore by the deeds of the law no fleshwill be justified in His sight, for bythe law is the knowledge of sin” (Rm3:20; see Gl 2:16).

The fact is that no man can bejustified by any law of God simply be-cause no man can keep any law per-fectly in order to demand salvation onthe basis of meritorious obedience.Our problem, therefore, is that righ-teousness (justification) before Godcannot be achieved by meritoriousworks of law. It is not possible forman to keep law perfectly in order tosave himself.

By works of merit one cannotreceive life under law (Gl 3:21,22).God never intended that the Sinai lawcould make man perfect before Him(Hb 7:18,19). It was only a shadowthat was cast by the good things tocome. The law was a shadow of thegospel of Christ (Hb 10:1). There-fore, there was forgiveness under theSinai law only in prospect of the bloodof Christ that was given for those whoresponded to God through faith (Rm3:27; Hb 9:15). The blessing of ourforgiveness, therefore, is not in ourmeritorious obedience to law, but inthe cross of Jesus Christ.

4. Abolishment of the Sinai law:

The Sinai law was never meant to bea permanent law of God It was onlytemporary, for God promised a newlaw and covenant that was to come(Jr 31:31-34). Therefore, God in-tended that the Sinai law exist onlyuntil the time came for the establish-ment of the New Testament law ofChrist. When the law of Christ came,the Sinai law vanished away.

a. Enforcement of the Sinailaw until the coming of the Messiah:When the fulfillment of Old Testa-ment prophecy concerning the com-ing of the Messiah was fulfilled, Godsent forth Jesus into the world. “Butwhen the fullness of the time hadcome, God sent forth His Son, bornof a woman, born under the law” (Gl4:4). Therefore, the Sinai law was tobe in force only until the time whenthe Seed (Christ) came (Gl 3:19).

b. Abolishment of the Sinailaw by the Seed: Jesus came to ful-fill the Sinai law (Mt 5:17,18). Hesaid, “Do not think that I came to de-stroy the Law or the Prophets. I didnot come to destroy but to fulfill” (Mt5:17,18). His fulfillment of the Sinailaw meant that it would be taken awayas a law that God would demand thatmen obey.

c. Nailing of the Sinai lawto the cross of Christ: When Jesusdied on the cross, the Sinai law wasmade void. In reference to the abol-


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ishment of the Sinai covenant and law,the Hebrew writer stated of Jesus,“Then He said, ‘Behold, I have cometo do Your will, O God.’ He takesaway the first that He may establishthe second” (Hb 10:9). The Sinai lawwas thus abolished at the cross (Cl2:14; Ep 2:14-16). This was accom-plished in order that the new covenantand law of Christ be brought into force(Hb 9:16,17). The abolishment of theSinai law made room for the estab-lishment of the New Covenant law ofChrist. We are thus under Christ, notthe Sinai law.

d. Dead to the Sinai law bythe body of Christ: The early Jewsduring the time of Christ were madedead to the Sinai law by the death ofJesus. When they submitted to thegospel of Christ, they were no longersubject to the Sinai law. Paul wrote,

Therefore, my brethren, you alsohave become dead to the lawthrough the body of Christ, that youmay be married to another—to Himwho was raised from the dead, thatwe should bear fruit to God” (SeeRm 7:1-6).

Christians are not obligated by Godto submit to the ordinances of the Si-nai law as a legal system of justifica-tion. Their obedience to the gospelfrees them from the bondage of ani-mal sacrifices and the ordinances of

the Sinai law.e. Benefit from the priest-

hood of Jesus: There was a changeof priesthood when Jesus ascended toheaven (Hb 7:11-25). Jesus becameour high priest (Hb 8:1; 9:11; 2:17).Therefore, the change in priesthoodnecessitated a change from the Sinailaw to the law of Christ (Hb 7:11-14),for under the Sinai law only those ofthe tribe of Levi could be priests. ButJesus was of the tribe of Judah. There-fore, He could not be our high priesttoday unless the law was changed.

The Sinai law has been nullifiedand Christians are free from its bond-age through the freedom of the gos-pel (Gl 4:21-5:1). Since it has beennullified for those who are now sonsof God by faith, then the sons of Godare no longer subservient to its ordi-nances.

B. The new law of liberty:

The Sinai law was given in viewof the revelation of the gospel throughJesus Christ. The termination of theSinai law was exemplified by thecoming of the new covenant of Christ,for the new covenant manifested theweakness of those who lived under theSinai law. The giving of law mani-fested the inability of man to keep lawperfectly in order to be saved. TheSinai law functioned in this manner


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to reveal the sinfulness of man. Thecoming of the new law of liberty con-tinued to manifest the inability of manto be justified by meritorious worksof law. However, the new covenanthas a law of grace and faith. In thisway, it is a law of liberty (Js 1:25).John wrote, “For the law was giventhrough Moses, but grace and truthcame through Jesus Christ” (Jn1:17). Jesus came with a message ofgrace, not a message of law. It is forthis reason that Christians concentrateon the superiority of the law of lib-erty over the old law.

1. Establishment of the law ofliberty: When Jesus came, He camewith a new covenant (testament) andlaw for man. This was a better cov-enant with a better law. It was a cov-enant and law of grace and truth thatwas purchased by His own blood. Ourfocus today should be on Jesus andHis covenant that He has establishedwith all those who have submitted tothe gospel.

a. God speaks throughJesus. Before the cross, God spoketo the fathers through the prophets, but“has in these last days spoken to usby His Son, whom He has appointedheir of all things” (Hb 1:1,2). Godspeaks to man today through Jesus(See Mt 17:5; Jn 12:48; At 4:12).Therefore, it is to Jesus every man

must turn in order to be directed byGod.

b. God revealed His gracethrough the cross. Grace and thetruth of the gospel were revealedthrough Jesus (Jn 1:17). The revela-tion of God’s grace and the truth ofthe gospel came through the sacrifi-cial offering of Jesus on the cross.“For the grace of God that brings sal-vation has appeared to all men” (Ti2:11). Therefore, those who seek tobe saved by the grace of God mustflee to the cross where there is re-demption and sanctification of sinsthrough the blood of Jesus (Ep 1:7).

c. The way to life is throughthe gospel. Jesus is now the way,truth and life. Jesus said, “I am theway, the truth, and the life. No onecomes to the Father except throughMe” (Jn 14:6).

d. Jesus is our final author-ity. At the final judgment, Christianswill be judged by the words of Jesus.Jesus said, “He who rejects Me, anddoes not receive My words, has thatwhich judges him—the word that Ihave spoken will judge him in the lastday” (Jn 12:48; see At 17:30,31).Therefore, Jesus has the words ofspirit and life (Jn 6:63). It is throughHim that all men must approach untoGod (See At 4:12).

e. Jesus instituted a newcovenant. The Hebrew writer wroteof Jesus’ work of establishing a new


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covenant with man:

For where there is a testament, theremust also of necessity be the deathof the testator. For a testament is inforce after men are dead, since it hasno power at all while the testatorlives (Hb 9:16,17).

The Hebrew writer’s point is thatthe new testament (covenant) underwhich Christians now live in their re-lationship with God was dedicatedwith the sacrificial blood of Jesus (Hb9:18-28). Therefore, Christians do notseek a blood offering through animalsas was the case under the Sinai law.They seek for the blood offering ofthe incarnate Son of God who gaveHimself on the cross.

f. Christians are under aperfect law of liberty. Because ofthe grace of God that was revealedthrough Jesus on the cross, Christiansare not under law. They are undergrace. They are under a law that al-lows liberty. The new covenant has aperfect law of liberty as the conditionfor the keeping of the covenant policy(Js 1:25).

2. Superiority of the law of lib-erty: The law of liberty and covenantis superior to the Sinai law and cov-enant because the new has a betterhope (Hb 7:19), a better covenant (Hb7:22; 8:6), better promises (Hb 8:6),

better sacrifices (Hb 9:23), a betterpossession (Hb 10:34), a better resur-rection (Hb 11:35) and a better bloodoffering (Hb 12:24). Because of thesebetter things, the law of liberty andcovenant are superior to the old.

a. The law of liberty andcovenant are for all nations. Jesuscommanded His disciples to take thegospel into all nations (Mk 16:15).Those who were discipled to Christwere to be baptized (Mt 28:19,20). InChrist there is neither Jew nor Gen-tile (Gl 3:26-28). The New Testamentlaw and covenant, therefore, are of-fered to all nations, not just to theJews.

b. The law of liberty andcovenant were dedicated withblood. The new covenant was dedi-cated by the sacrificial blood of theSon of God (1 Co 5:7; Hb 10:10,19,20; 1 Pt 1:19). Therefore, all whocome into a covenant relationshipwith Jesus through obedience to thegospel, come into a covenant that wasdedicated by the blood of the incar-nate Son of God.

c. The law of liberty andcovenant come with the eternal of-fering of Jesus. The law of libertyand covenant have Jesus as an eter-nal offering (Hb 9:28) and high priest(Hb 8:1; 9:11). Therefore, those whocome into this covenant relationshipwith Jesus need not worry about the


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insufficiency of any offering that is ofthis world.

d. The New Testament lawand covenant save to the uttermost.The Hebrew writer stated, “ThereforeHe is also able to save to the utter-most those who come to God throughHim, since He always lives to makeintercession for them” (Hb 7:25).

e. The law of liberty andcovenant offer justification. Paulwrote that the Corinthians were justi-fied when they came into Christ (1 Co6:11). They, as well as all Christians,have been justified by the blood ofChrist (Ep 1:7).

f. The law of liberty andcovenant are written on our hearts.In quoting Jeremiah 31:31-34, theHebrew writer stated, “For this is thecovenant that I will make with thehouse of Israel after those days, saysthe Lord: I will put My laws in theirmind and write them on their hearts”(Hb 8:10).

g. The law of liberty andcovenant give an eternal inherit-ance. Through Jesus, God hasbrought us forth unto “an inheritanceincorruptible and undefiled and thatdoes not fade away” (1 Pt 1:4).

h. The law of liberty andcovenant contain spiritual ordi-nances. The words that Jesus spokeare spirit and life (Jn 6:63; 4:23,24;Rm 12:1,2). Those who submit to thewill of Jesus will reap the eternal life

that He has promised to the obedient.i. The law of liberty and

covenant were ordained by the Sonof God (Hb 2:1-4). Since they havebeen ordained by the Son of God, thenwe have faith in the fact that the Soncan also deliver that which He prom-ised to those who are in a covenantrelationship with Him.

C. The nature of the law of liberty:

A comparison between the Sinailaw and the law of liberty reveals thesuperiority of the law of Christ. Thesuperiority of the new teaches thatGod expects us to cling to the new.Though Christians refer to the Sinailaw and covenant for instruction (Rm15:4), it is the new by which theyguide their lives for the following rea-sons:

SUPERIORITYOF THE LAW OF LIBERTY

• It was established with all believ-ers in all nations throughout theworld (Mt 28:19; Mk 16:15).• It was dedicated by the blood ofJesus (1 Co 5:7; Hb 10:10,19,20).• Jesus is its eternal offering (Hb9:28).• Jesus is its high priest (Hb 8:1;9:11).• It completely saves (Hb 7:25).• It provides justification by grace(1 Co 6:11).


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• It is written on the hearts of people(Hb 8:10).• It contains spiritual ordinances (Jn4:23,24; 6:63).• It was ordained by the Son of God(Hb 2:1-4).• It will be the standard of judgmentfor people today (Jn 12:48).

Because Christians are under anew law and covenant relationshipwith God today does not mean thatwe discard the Old Testament. Wehave the Old Testament today as an

inspired record for our learning andadmonition (Rm 15:4; 1 Co 10:11).However, the Sinai law of the OldTestament is no longer binding onmankind as a religious law. All menthis side of the cross of Christ mustsubmit to the law of Christ (Rm 6:17;Hb 5:9). It is the perfect law of lib-erty that offers life (Js 1:25). It is thelaw of grace and faith that will bringsalvation to all those who will submitto Jesus in loving obedience (See Rm5:1,2).

6 - New Testament Background

Our understanding of the NewTestament is increased by knowing afew events and facts concerning thehistorical setting of Palestine at thetime of Jesus’ ministry and the estab-lishment of the church in the first cen-tury. There are some key historicalevents and facts that shaped the po-litical and religious environment ofthe world at the time of Jesus.

To understand the historicalbackground of the New Testament, wemust go back about four thousandyears ago to a man named Abraham.God promised Abraham that from himwould come a great nation. His namewould be great. God would give hisdescendants a land. From his seed,

God would bring a great blessing toall men.

In Genesis 12:1-3, God promisedthat He would give Abraham and hisdescendants a specific land for theirpossession (Gn 17:8). In Genesis 15,God specified that the land was theland of Canaan or Palestine (Gn15:18). When the nation of Israel (thedescendants of Abraham) was deliv-ered from Egyptian captivity under theleadership of Moses, the twelve tribesof Israel were brought by God into thisland (Ja 1:3,4). However, through-out their history they continued torebel against God. As a result, thenorthern ten tribes of Israel were takeninto Assyrian captivity in 722/21 B.C.

Chapter 6

NEW TESTAMENT BACKGROUND

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(2 Kg 17). While the Assyrians scat-tered Jews throughout their empire,they also brought people from theirempire into the land of Palestine (2Kg 17:24). The intermarriage of thesepeople with the Jews who were leftin Palestine, eventually led to the Sa-maritan people.

In 586 B.C. the two southerntribes of Israel, Judah and Benjamin,were carried away into Babyloniancaptivity (2 Kg 24). They remainedin Babylonian captivity until a rem-nant from each tribe of Israel beganto return to Palestine beginning in 536B.C.

The two major captivities of Is-rael (the Assyrian and Babylonian) aresignificant to New Testament studies.They are important because throughthese captivities the Jews were dis-persed throughout the ancient world.Many of the dispersed Jews were stillliving among the nations when Jesuscame. It was through the conversionof these Jews that the gospel waseventually preached to all the world.We can see the providence of God inthe captivities of Israel. The scatter-ing of the Jews throughout what laterbecame the Roman Empire led to therapid evangelization of the ancientworld. Therefore, when Jesus cameinto the world, it was a time ready forworld evangelism. All things wereready for the coming of the Savior ofthe world (Gl 4:4).

When the Jews came to Pales-tine from their former lands of cap-tivity for the annual Passover/Pente-cost feast, a special Passover/Pente-cost event was waiting for them inA.D. 30. On the Passover/Pentecostof that year, Jesus was crucified andresurrected. The mystery of the gos-pel was revealed (Ep 3:3-5). As theSon of God, Jesus ascended to heavenafter His resurrection.

Fifty days after He was crucifiedon Passover, Jesus sent forth the HolySpirit on a few chosen men on the dayof Pentecost. On this Pentecost ofA.D. 30, the apostles made the firstofficial announcement of Jesus’ king-dom and reign in heaven (At 2:1-4).When this first announcement of thegospel was made, about three thou-sand people obeyed the gospel (At2:41). After Pentecost, and furtherteaching from the apostles, these im-mersed Jewish believers returned totheir homes throughout the RomanEmpire. They returned with the mes-sage of the gospel, and thus began theevangelization of the world.

A. The political world of the NewTestament:

The events of the New Testamentwere influenced by the historicalevents of three world empires. Theywere the Medo-Persian, the Greek andthe Roman Empires. The Maccabean


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period was a local Jewish time ofstruggle in Palestine to rid the land ofPalestine of foreign occupation. Dur-ing the end of the Greek Empire, andsubsequent rise of the Roman Empire,the Jews were tossed from one con-trolling foreign power to another. Inall this political turmoil, the founda-tion was laid for the establishment andearly spread of Christianity beyondthe boundaries of the Roman Empireand into all the world.

1. The Medo-Persian Empire(538 B.C. - 332 B.C.): The Medo-Persian Empire came into prominencewhen Cyrus defeated Media in 550B.C. and the Babylonian Empire in539 B.C. Cyrus was a humanitarian,and thus, encouraged exiled people toreturn to their homelands. This policyled to the return to Palestine of a rep-resentative remnant of Jews who hadbeen scattered throughout the worldmany years before by the Assyrian andBabylonian captivities. There werethree returns led by three Old Testa-ment characters: (1) Zerubbabel (536B.C.), (2) Ezra (457 B.C.) and (3)Nehemiah (444 B.C.). Though allJews did not return to Palestine, thosewho did brought with them influencesof foreign culture, religion and lan-guage that molded the Jewish cultureof Jesus’ day.

One of the greatest contributionsthe returning exiles brought back to

Palestine was the Aramaic language.Most of the exiles had been raised inan Aramaic-speaking culture in Baby-lonia. Upon returning to Palestine,Aramaic was their primary language.It is probable that the language Jesusordinarily spoke during His life andministry on earth was Aramaic.

The scattering of the Jewsthroughout the ancient world was re-ferred to as the Dispersion (Gr.,diaspora, see Js 1:1; 1 Pt 1:1). Thisdispersion was the foundation uponwhich initial world evangelism oc-curred in the first century. When theearly evangelists went forth to preachthe gospel, they went to the Jewishsynagogues that had been establishedthroughout the regions to which Jewshad been scattered. They thus wentto a religious culture that had a back-ground of God as He was revealedthrough the Old Testament. Fromthere they preached to the Gentilenations of the world.

Add to the preceding historicalfact that the Jews also made their wayto Jerusalem for the annual feasts ofPassover and Pentecost. While inJerusalem on the annual feast of Pen-tecost in A.D. 30, God made the firstofficial announcement of the gospeland kingdom reign of Jesus. As a re-sult, the church was established whenabout three thousand people submit-ted to the kingdom reign of Jesus (At2:41). From the conversion of these


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first believers, the message of the gos-pel went into all the world as theseconverted Jews returned to the nationsfrom which they came.

2. The Greek Empire (332 B.C.- 167 B.C.): Alexander the Great tookcontrol of Palestine in 332 B.C. Hemaintained control until his death in323 B.C. After his death, his empirewas divided among his generals.However, during his rule, the Greeklanguage spread throughout theworld. Greek became the commoninternational language of commerce,government and literature. The Greekculture permeated the Jewish cultureto the extent that many Jews adoptedthe Greek language and culture. Thisled to the rise of what was referred toas Hellenism. Hellenism was the ac-ceptance of the Greek language andculture by many Jews and other con-quered people who generally livedoutside Palestine.

The Greek language was so in-fluential among the Jews after the eraof Greek conquest and rule, especiallyamong those Jews in Egypt, that por-tions of the Old Testament were trans-lated from Hebrew into the Greek lan-guage around 250 B.C. This transla-tion of the Old Testament was referredto as the Septuagint (LXX). This wasthe translation from which Jesus andthe New Testament writers quoted.The Septuagint was quoted becausethis was the translation of the Old

Testament Scriptures with which mostJews in the first century were famil-iar.

3. The Maccabean Period (167B.C. - 63 B.C.): This was a period ofguerrilla warfare that was waged byzealous Jews to rid Palestine of for-eign occupation. The turmoil of thisperiod began when Antiochus IV ofSyria, who now ruled Palestine, triedto persuade the priest Mattathias tooffer sacrifices to pagan gods inJerusalem. Mattathias refused andfled to the hills in order to lead a mili-tant revolt against foreign occupation.Before his death in 164 B. C.,Mattathias appointed his son, Judas,as his successor.

Judas soon gained the nicknameMaccabee (“the hammer”). He con-ducted a guerrilla war to expel theSyrians from Palestine and to restorerightful temple worship in Jerusalem.On December 14, 164 B.C., he suc-ceeded by restoring daily burnt offer-ings at the temple. This day was setaside as the feast of Dedication (orfeast of lights) and was kept at thetime of Jesus’ ministry (Jn 10:22).

After Judas Maccabee’s death,his brothers assumed the leadershipin the war against Syria. Jonathan(160-143 B.C.) restored the priestlyaristocracy and Simon (143-134B.C.), and gained political indepen-dence. Succeeding Jewish leadersfurther solidified the Jewish nation in


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an effort to secure independence.Under the leadership of JohnHyrcanus (134-104 B.C.), the son ofSimon, the Pharisees and Sadduceesbecame prominent by influencingpolitical policies among the Jews.Aristobulus I (104-103 B.C.), the sonof Hyrcanus, was the first Jewishleader during this inter-testamentalperiod to assume the title of “king.”After his rule, his widow, SalomeAlexandra, designated his oldestbrother, Alexander Jannaeus (103-76B.C.), as high priest and king of theJewish nation. After the death ofAlexander Jannaeus, SalomeAlexandra served as Israel’s onlyqueen during the inter-testamental pe-riod (76-67 B.C.). She was the firstwife of Hyrcanus and later the wife ofJannaeus. During her reign, the Phari-sees were active in the Sanhedrin.

Civil war broke out in Israel un-der the leadership of Hyrcanus II andAristobulus II (67-63 B.C.), the sonsof Salome Alexandra. The Romanswere asked to settle the dispute.Rome decided in favor of Hyrcanus.Hyrcanus was subsequently appointedhigh priest to rule over Judea andIdumea. This is when Roman influ-ence and control entered the land ofPalestine. Palestine was under Ro-man occupation during the time ofJesus’ ministry and the early historyof the church.

It was during the Maccabean pe-

riod that the Old Testament apocry-phal books were written. Thoughsome of this literature was writtenduring the early Roman period, themajority of the works were producedduring the Jewish struggles to rid Pal-estine of Syrian influence. Thesebooks are 1 & 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith,Additions to Esther, Wisdom of So-lomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, Letterof Jeremiah, Prayer of Azariah andthe Song of the Three Young Men,Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, Prayerof Manasseh and 1 & 2 Maccabees.

These books were not acceptedas inspired books by the Jews, Jesus,the apostles, or the first centurychurch. They were simply written forthe purpose of encouraging Jews dur-ing their time of struggle in the inter-testamental period. They were thusaccepted by the Jews only as lettersof encouragement, not as inspiredmessages from God.

4. The Roman Empire (63 B.C.- A.D. 476): In the last part of thefirst century B.C., the Roman Empirebegan to grow as a dominant worldempire because of the turmoil of nu-merous civil wars that the Romanarmies settled. The city of Rome, thatlater become the capital of the RomanEmpire, was founded in 753 B.C. Asdisputes were settled and peoples con-quered by the Romans, vast areas ofthe ancient world came under the con-trol of Rome. The Empire eventually


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encompassed North Africa, theMiddle East, Europe, Asia Minor,Macedonia and Greece. Peace wassecured by Roman power in thetroubled areas of the ancient world.As a result, Rome eventually becamethe world-ruling empire into whichJesus came and the New Testamentchurch was established with thepreaching of the gospel on the Pente-cost of A.D. 30 (At 2).

The Roman government laid afoundation of social and political sta-bility for the establishment of thechurch. It opened up communicationwith a system of roads and commercethat reached to the far corners of theEmpire. Rome thus established an en-vironment and system of communi-cation by which world evangelismcould be accomplished in one genera-tion.

a. Roman government: Atthe top of the Roman government wasCaesar. He possessed the final powerof authority. Caesars eventuallyclaimed deity, and thus required wor-ship from citizens throughout theEmpire. The Roman Caesars duringNew Testament times, and their datesof rule, are the following page:

ROMAN CAESARSOF 1ST CENTURY

1. Augustus (27 B.C. - A.D. 14; seeLk 2:1)

2. Tiberius (A.D. 14-37; see Lk 3:1)3. Caligula (A.D. 37-41)4. Claudius (A.D. 41-54; see At

11:28; 18:2)5. Nero (A.D. 54-68; see At 25:10-

12; 27:24; 2 Tm 4:16,17)6. Galba (A.D. 68)7. Otho (A.D. 69)8. Vitellius (A.D. 69)9. Vespasian (A.D. 69-79)10.Titus (A.D. 79-81)11.Domitian (A.D. 81-96)

The Roman Senate was generallymade up of about three hundred mem-bers who were members of the Sen-ate for life. They were an advisorybody in Rome. At times in Romanhistory, however, they acted as theruling body to maintain continuity ofthe government of the Empire whenthere was struggle between opposingCaesars. The Caesars, with the guid-ance of the Senate, continued rulingthe Roman Empire until the fall ofRome in A.D. 476.

Herod the Great had more influ-ence on the political environment ofPalestine by the time of Jesus than anyother Jewish king. When John theBaptist and Jesus came preaching thekingdom of heaven, Herod was firmlyin control of the Jewish nation as thepuppet ruler of the Roman Empire.According to our calendar today,Herod the Great died in 4 B.C. SinceJesus was born within two years be-


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fore Herod died, and was crucifiedwhen He was about thirty-three yearsold, the church, according to our cal-endar today, was established on thePentecost of A.D. 30.

During the time of Jesus and theearly church in Palestine, Rome al-lowed the Jews to govern themselvesto some extent by their own kings.This succession of kings began withHerod the Great (37 B.C. - 4 B.C.)who brutally reigned over the Jews(See Mt 2:1-18; Lk 1:5). By his wife,Doris, Herod had a son named,Antipater. By Mariamne of Simon hehad Herod Philip I (Mt 14:3; Mk 6:17;Lk 3:19), the first husband ofHerodias (Mk 6:17-28; Lk 3:19). ByMalthace he had Herod Antipas (Mt14:1-10; Mk 6:14ff; Lk 3:1,19) andArchelaus (Mt 2:22). By Cleopatrahe had Herod Philip II (Lk 3:1). ByMariamne I he had Alexander andAristobulus. From Aristobulus cameHerod Agrippa I and Herodias (Mt14:1-12) who left Herod Philip I for

his brother Herod Antipas (Mk 6:17).From this marriage came Salome (Mt14:6-11). From Herod Agrippa I (At12) came Bernice (At 25:13), andDrusilla who married Felix (At24:24), and Herod Agrippa II (At25:13-17; 26).

After Herod’s death, his territorywas given to his sons, though they didnot receive the title of “king.” Herod’sson, Archelaus (4 B.C. - A.D. 6), wasmade a tetrarch and given Judea, Sa-maria and Idumea. Philip (4 B.C. -A.D 34) was made tetrarch ofAuranitis, Betanea and Trachonitis(Lk 3:1). Antipas (4 B.C. - A.D. 39)was made tetrarch of Galilee andPerea (Mt 14; Lk 23:7-12). HerodAntipas appointed his brother-in-lawAgrippa I as overseer of markets inTiberias from A.D. 37 to A.D. 44 (At12). One of the daughters of AgrippaI, Drusilla, married Felix, the procu-rator of Judea. Eventually, the onlyson of Agrippa I, Agrippa II, wasgiven the areas formerly ruled by


THE FAMILY OF HEROD THE GREAT

By Doris Antipater(Executed 4 B.C.)Aristobulus Herod of Chalcis(Executed 7 B.C) (Died A.D. 48)

By Mariamne I Alexander Herodias(Executed 7 B.C) (Wife of Herod Antipas)Herod Agrippa I Bernice

Herod Agrippa IIDrusilla(Married to Felix)

By Malthace Herod AntipasArchelaus

By Cleopatra Herod Philip II

By Mariamne II Herod Philip I Salome

of Simon

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Philip and Lysanias. He was alsogiven Galilee and Perea (See At25:13-23:32). Agrippa II died in A.D.100.

The Roman Empire was dividedinto provinces and districts. The prov-inces were divided into public and im-perial provinces (At 13:7; 18:12).Public provinces were generally gov-erned for one year by proconsuls whowere chosen by lot or selected by theRoman Senate. Imperial provinceswere governed by one who was di-rectly appointed by the Roman Em-peror (See Lk 2:2). Governors, orprocurators, who were often militaryofficials, were usually appointed torule these areas for an indefinite pe-riod with the power of strong militarylegions (Jn 19:12). At the time ofJesus, Palestine was governed byPontius Pilate who was appointed asgovernor by Rome (Mt 27:11).

b. Roman military: Theprincipal military unit of the Romanarmy was the legion that consisted of4,000 to 6,000 men. Each legion wasdivided into ten cohorts (At 10:1;21:31; 27:1). The smallest militaryunit was the century that was com-manded by a centurion. There weresix centuries to a cohort (See Mt27:54; Mk 15:39ff; At 10:1ff).

c. Roman citizenship: Ro-man citizenship was a prized posses-sion. It could be acquired by birth,service in the army, purchase, special

service given to the state, or a specialgrant by the state in honor of a par-ticular individual. The death penaltywas enacted on those who falselyclaimed citizenship. A citizen couldnot be punished without trial (At16:39), or bound and scourged with-out thorough examination and convic-tion of a crime (At 22:24-29). A citi-zen had a right to appeal his case tothe Caesar (At 25:10-12).

d. Roman economy: Slaverywas at the center of the Romaneconomy. Some have estimated thatat the time of Jesus, from a third to ahalf of the Roman Empire’s popula-tion were bondservants. Support ofthe Roman state was through taxationthat was often left in the hands of lo-cal officials. Tax collectors exactedthe funds from the public, keeping aportion and sending the remainder toRome. This system was filled withcorruption. Tax collectors (publicans)thus gained the reputation for beingsome of the most corrupt people ofsociety.

5. The destruction of Jerusalem(A.D. 70): One of the most signifi-cant events that occurred in the firstcentury that greatly affected thechurch was the end of national Israelwith the destruction of Jerusalem inA.D. 70. Bible interpreters must notunderestimate the significance of thishistorical event in reference to bibli-


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cal interpretation and the early evan-gelistic work of the first century. Thisis particularly true in reference toJesus’ teachings in the parables, andspecifically, the context of Matthew24 where He prophesied the consum-mation of Israel with the destructionof Jerusalem.

Israel was chosen through Abra-ham from among the nations of theworld in order to preserve a segmentof society through which God wouldsend the Redeemer into the world (SeeGn 12:1-3). Bible students must un-derstand that through the seed ofAbraham the Messiah (the Christ)would come (Gl 3:16). Once the Seedcame, then Israel was dissolved inChrist (Gl 3:26-29). The Israeliteswho were sons of Abraham by faithwere brought into Christ, whereinthey enjoy a prophesied new covenantrelationship with God (See Jr 31:31-33). The consummation of all thatGod planned through Israel was final-ized in the destruction of national Is-rael in A.D. 70. Any who would nowclaim some physical identity as na-tional Israel are no longer consideredto be in a special covenant relation-ship with God. The church of Christis now the new Israel of God, whichpeople of God are now in a covenantrelationship with God through Jesus(See Hb 8:7-13).

The early evangelists and writ-ers of the epistles had in mind the

prophecy of Jesus concerning the de-struction of Jerusalem when theywrote to the disciples of Christthroughout the early years of thechurch (See Mt 24). This is particu-larly true in reference to those epistlesthat were written in the middle andlatter 60s. When Jesus and the NewTestament writers prophesied con-cerning the coming of the Lord injudgment on Jerusalem, they werewarning Jewish Christians to stayaway from Jerusalem and Judaism.When the time came for the destruc-tion to occur, the early church hadbeen thoroughly prepared to acceptthe end of national Israel. This prepa-ration was particularly important forJewish Christians.

B. The religious world of the NewTestament:

It was generally Roman policy toallow freedom of religion among sub-dued peoples. This practice allowedthe free expression of numerous reli-gions throughout the Roman Empireat the time of Jesus. However, thispolicy changed as Roman Caesarsbecame more oppressive, even to thepoint of claiming deity for them-selves, and subsequently, makingChristianity an illegal religion. Ro-man state religion thus became theoppressor of Christians during the lastpart of the first century. This is evi-


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dent in the book of Revelation thatJohn wrote to the seven churches ofAsia. Some of the religious and philo-sophical thinking in the Empire wouldbe the following:

1. Greek/Roman Pantheon:Under the Greek/Roman Pantheon,Roman names were applied to Greekgods. These gods were worshipedthroughout the Empire (At 14:12;19:27,35). Jupiter, the god of the sky,was identified with the Greek godZeus. The Greek god Poseidon, thegod of the sea, was called Neptune.Hades, the god of the underworld, wascalled Pluto. Hermes, the messengergod, was identified with Mercury (At14:11ff). Rome built temples andappointed priests to administer thesetemples and conduct religious rites forthis pantheon of gods.

Wherever the gospel went, therewere many who converted from falsegods that had been created after theimagination of men (See At 17:22-29;1 Th 1:9,10). This conversion fromfalse gods eventually led the Chris-tians into conflict with local tradi-tional religious leaders (At 19), andthe “beast” (the Roman state) and“false prophet” (Roman religion) ofthe Roman Empire at the end of thefirst century (Rv 13).

2. Emperor Worship: Emperorworship began as early as the deathof Julius Caesar who was deified af-

ter his death. Various Caesars claimeddeity during their lives. Domitian wasparticularly open to make this claim.The refusal of Christians to worshipthe Emperor branded them as unpa-triotic, and thus, insurrectionistsagainst the Empire. Because Chris-tians were accused of being insurrec-tionists, for almost 150 years they suf-fered severe persecutions at the handof the Roman state. The book of Rev-elation was written to reassure Chris-tians as they suffered through thisperiod of persecution. Roman statepersecution of Christianity did notofficially end until the signing of theEdict of Toleration in A.D. 311 andthe Edict of Milan in A.D. 313 byConstantine, the Caesar of Rome.

3. Mystery Religions: Mysteryreligions permeated Roman society tofill a void in the individual’s life for apersonal experience with deity.Cybele of Asia Minor, Isis and Osirisof Egypt, and Mithras of Persia wereonly a few of these deities. Through-out the Roman Empire there was anassortment of religions that had beencreated after the desires of men. Itwas from these gods that thousandsturned when they found, throughJesus, the true and living God (1 Th1:9).

Luke wrote the documents ofLuke and Acts. It was one of his pur-poses in these documents to distin-guish the true faith that was the result


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of God’s supernatural intervention inthe affairs of man from false religiousinventions of men. Christians livedin a world that was filled with the re-ligions and gods that had been cre-ated after the imagination of men.Therefore, the defense of Christian-ity that was made by Luke in bothLuke and Acts sets forth the belief thatthere is only one God and that thisGod has revealed Himself through HisSon Jesus. The book of John arguesthat Jesus is the Christ and Son of God(Jn 20:30,31).

4. Occultism: Occultism wasthe practice of magical arts as a reli-gion. Occultism was very prevalentthroughout Roman society (At 8:9-24;13:6-11; 19:19). In general, the wor-shipers of the various cults of Romansociety superstitiously believed thatevil spirits and demons could be con-trolled by those who either knew theright ceremonial rituals or could re-cite the right incantation to move andcontrol the spirits. Though these re-ligions claimed miraculous workings,there is no indication in the New Tes-tament that any occult workers exer-cised any miraculous works (See At8:1-25; 19:11-20). Their works werecentered around great abilities to de-ceive people through their magicalarts, which arts they claimed to be mi-raculous.

5. Philosophy: Plato lived in thefourth century before Jesus. His phi-

losophies permeated the philosophi-cal world at the time of Jesus. Platobelieved that the real world was com-posed of ideas. The material worldwas only an extension or manifesta-tion of these ideas. To him, knowl-edge was salvation. Systematic Gnos-ticism resulted from the combining ofseveral philosophical and religiousthoughts into a system of religiousbelief that influenced most religionsof the second century.

The Epicureans believed thathappiness was acquired by those plea-sures that brought about more perma-nent pleasures. The Stoics believedthat happiness was acquired by prac-ticing self-control in all aspects of life.The Cynics believed that the greatestvirtue was to have no desires. To befree of desire, one must suppress lusts.

Those of the Roman society whohad no faith in the gods believed thatthere was no final authority in life andmorals because each person’s experi-ences in different environments aredifferent. They believed that whatruled one’s life in one society wouldnot serve to guide one in another so-ciety.

It would be safe to say that thediversity of the many philosophicalreligious beliefs that we see today inthe world existed also in the first cen-tury. These beliefs were clothed indifferent systems of religion. How-ever, the basic premises of modern-


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day beliefs also existed at the time ofJesus. When one studies the New Tes-tament, therefore, he or she is sure todiscover an answer for any ungodlyphilosophy of false religion that ex-ists today (See Cl 2:20-22; 2 Tm3:16,17).

Gnosticism was a belief that ledto the apostasy of many in the churchin the second century. This system ofthought had its beginnings in the firstcentury, and thus, there are severalwarnings concerning the fundamen-tal beliefs of the Gnostics that arefound in New Testament letters as Co-lossians, 1 & 2 Timothy and 1,2,3John.

The general belief of theGnostics was based on the arroganceof the individual to presume that aknowledge of his inner self elevatedhim to a higher level of spirituality.The focus of his salvation, therefore,depended on his self-awareness of thesupposed inner spark of light thatbrought salvation. This religious be-lief was essentially a spiritual arro-gance that led many in the first andsecond centuries to turn away fromthe truth of the gospel in order to seekinner awareness. Thousands thus dis-torted the truth of the gospel by blend-ing it with the teachings of misguidedmen who gave up their commitmentto the fundamentals of the gospel (2Th 2:10-12).

5. Judaism: Judaism at the time

of Jesus and the apostles was largelya digression from the Sinai law thatwas originally given to Israel by God.Jewish tradition and world religionshad destroyed the true intent of thelaw that God had revealed throughMoses. Judaism was thus a mixtureof the Jews’ traditions and the reli-gious beliefs of the cultures in whichmany of the Jews lived outside Pal-estine (See Mt 15:1-9; Mk 7:1-9; At26:5). Paul referred to this religionas the “Jews’ religion.” He did sobecause the Jews who promoted Ju-daism no longer conformed to thenature of the Sinai law (Gl 1:13,14).

Judaism developed into a systemof legalistic obedience. Religiouscodes and rites were bound on adher-ents in order to guarantee strict com-pliance to the Sinai law and Jewishreligious traditions (Mt 23; Cl 2:20-22). This system of theology thus di-gressed to imposing on men the ne-cessity of conforming to the traditionsand opinions of the Jews. In the Jews’efforts to make everyone conform totheir legalistic code of religious be-havior, they promoted the belief thatone’s supposedly perfect keeping ofthe law and added traditions wouldguarantee salvation. However, by em-phasizing the religious traditions ofmen, they rejected the law of God (Mk7:1-9). Throughout the New Testa-ment, the Holy Spirit dealt extensivelywith this system of a legal-oriented


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religion. It was a system of religios-ity that was in contrast to the grace ofGod that was revealed through Jesus.In the letter that Paul wrote to theRomans and Galatians, he dealt withthe fallacy of any legalistic religionthat affirms that one can be saved byself-sanctifying works of merit or at-tempts at self-justification throughperfect law-keeping.

The religious leaders of Palestineat the time of Jesus practiced the Ju-daism that had evolved into an insti-tutional religion. The following arethe major religious groups of Judaismthat had great influence at the time ofJesus’ ministry:

a. The Pharisees: It is believedthat the Pharisees originated amongthe Jews after the Babylonian captiv-ity. By the time of Jesus, the Phari-sees had developed and maintained anelite religious group that dominatedthe religious structures of Judaism.Their religious and political influencegrew throughout the inter-testamen-tal period. By the time of the minis-try of Jesus, they had gained a holdon the minds of many people, andthus, intimidated much of the popu-lace to conform to their system of alegal and meritorious obedience to theSinai law, plus a host of religious tra-ditions.

The Pharisees were the mostpowerful and influential religious sect

in Judaism. They accepted the Sinailaw as their religious authority. Theyalso accepted many oral traditions thathad been handed down from genera-tion to generation in the history of theJewish nation (Mt 15:1-9; Mk 7:1-9).They were a group of religious lead-ers who loved money (Lk 16:14).They also loved their power that theyexercised over the people of Israel (Mt23).

b. The Sadducees: The originof the Sadducees is difficult to deter-mine. Some Bible students believethat they originated from Jewish gov-ernment officials who descended fromthe priest Zadok (See Ez 44:15,16;48:11). Some have thought that theywere simply a political party amongthe Jews. Others have believed thatthey were a religious party, of whichmany scribes were a part during thetime of Jesus. Still others believedthat they were an aristocratic body ofreligionists. Regardless of their ori-gin, at the time of Jesus they wereconsidered a separatist group whoconsidered it honorable to disputewith any who disagreed with theirteachings.

The Sadducees, of whom manywere priests, were the aristocrats ofJewish religious society. They placedmore emphasis on the Pentateuch (thefirst five books of the Old Testament).They were often in conflict with thePharisees and always in jealous con-


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flict with Jesus (Mt 22:23-33). Theirphilosophy of life was basically ma-terialistic, for they did not believe inthe soul, the resurrection of the dead,or life after death (At 23:8). Theybelieved in the free-will of man andthat one’s life was dependent on thechoices he made during life.

c. The Essenes: The Essenesare not mentioned in the New Testa-ment, though their influence of a pi-ous life influenced many faithfulJews. The Jewish historian Josephusrecorded that the Essenes were foundin towns and villages throughoutJudea. They were a religious peoplewho were hospitable toward one an-other. They dedicated themselves toprayer and interpretation of the OldTestament Scriptures. It is believedthat they lived in separate communi-ties, practiced celibacy, and were dili-gent in caring for one another. Theywere a very devout sect of the Jewsand were diligent in preserving cop-ies of the Old Testament Scriptures.Some believe that John the Baptistwas a product of the Essenes.

The Essenes are often associatedwith the Qumran Community that wasdiscovered in the northwestern areaof the Dead Sea. This community wasdedicated to copying the Old Testa-ment Scriptures. In 1947 several oftheir copies of the Old Testament andother writings were discovered incaves. This has proved to be the most

important discovery of biblical textsmade by biblical archaeologists.

d. The zealots: The zealotswere Jewish nationalists whose objec-tive was to deliver Palestine fromRoman rule and taxes. In the firstcentury the group was led by Judasthe Galilean who rebelled againstRome in A.D. 6, which revolt wasbrutally suppressed by Rome. Inmodern-day terms, the zealots wouldbe called terrorists. They followed thezeal of Mattathias and his sons whowere zealous for the Sinai law.

After the crushing of the zealotrevolt of A.D. 6, the spirit of the zeal-ots remained alive until the Romanstook the zealot stronghold of Masadain May of A.D. 74. The zealots hadintensified their anti-Rome activity inPalestine during the 60s. Their zeal-ous leadership among the Jewsagainst Rome eventually led to thedestruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

Simon, one of the apostles, wasa zealot before he was called intoapostleship (Lk 6:15; At 1:13). Thetheology of the zealots was based onthe belief that God would restore Is-rael as a nation to the glory it enjoyedduring the days of former kings asDavid and Solomon. The zealots’ the-ology influenced the thinking of theJews, and subsequently, distortedsome of the disciples’ understandingof Jesus’ statements concerning Hiskingdom reign throughout His min-


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istry. When Jesus spoke of the king-dom, their interpretation was that Hewould restore the nation of Israel toher former nationalistic glory (At 1:6).But such was not the case, for thekingdom was not to be of this world(See Jn 18:36-38).

All of the preceding philosophiesand religions permeated the minds ofthose to whom Jesus and the earlydisciples preached the gospel. It wastruly a time that had been prepared byGod to bring forth His Son into theworld (Gl 4:4). It was a time of rela-tive peace. Communication andtravel were possible over great por-tions of the Roman Empire. It was atime of expectation in the midst ofreligious confusion. Jews had beenscattered throughout the world wheresynagogues were built. God hadprovidentially placed these Jewsthroughout the world in order to laythe foundation for world evangelismthrough converted Jews who wouldreturn home after their conversionduring the annual Passover/Pentecostfeast in Jerusalem. God had thus pre-pared the best environment, at the besttime in the history of the world inwhich to send Jesus into the world forthe redemption of all men of all his-tory. When Jesus came, therefore, itwas time for a transition from the OldTestament era of the Sinai law to thegospel of the Son of God. It was a

time for grace and truth to go to allmen in all the world.

C. Change from the Old Testa-ment to the New Testament:

One of the most important sub-jects in Bible studies is the separationof the Old Testament era from theNew Testament era. Separating thelaw and covenant mentioned in theOld Testament from the law and cov-enant mentioned in the New Testa-ment is necessary in order to under-stand God’s work among menthroughout history. From Genesis 1to Exodus 19, God worked in a cov-enant relationship with all mankind.There were no Jews, for a Jew is de-fined as one who was an Israelite andin a covenant relationship with Godthrough the Sinai covenant. However,from Exodus 20 until the activationof the new covenant that was revealedand established in Acts 2 in A.D. 30,God had established a special cov-enant relationship with the nation ofIsrael. Studying through the materialthat is revealed in Acts through Rev-elation, therefore, one must keep inmind that the new covenant and laware now in force (Hb 9:16,17). Thiscovenant and law will be in force un-til Jesus comes again. The Bible stu-dent must be cautious, therefore, notto bring laws of the Sinai covenantthat God had with the nation of Israel


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over into the new covenant relation-ship that God now has with His peoplethrough Christ.

In the books of Matthew, Mark,Luke and John, God recorded for usthe last days of the Old Testament era.It was during this time that Jesus cameto finalize the Sinai covenant relation-ship and law that were establishedbetween God and Israel. By fulfill-ing the purpose for which the Sinailaw and covenant were given, Jesusfulfilled the law. This is the meaningof Jesus’ statement of Matthew5:17,18.

Jesus fulfilled the Law and theProphets. The fact that He fulfilledthe purpose of the Sinai law meansthat there was an end of the Sinai law.At the end of His ministry, and priorto His ascension, He reminded Hisdisciples that all things had been ful-filled (Lk 24:44). What Jesus statedin Matthew 5:17,18 was completed bythe end of His ministry. Therefore,the Old Testament prophecies werefulfilled in Christ, and the covenantthat God had with the nation of Israelcame to an end. Jesus’ work in refer-ence to the Sinai law and covenantwas explained by the writer to theHebrews (Hb 10:9). Jesus took awaythe Sinai covenant that God had withthe nation of Israel in order to estab-lish His covenant that was purchasedwith the blood of His Son (See Mt26:26-29).

It is important to understand thatMatthew, Mark, Luke and John recordJesus’ ministry to the Jews in order tobring them to repentance and accep-tance of His kingdom reign that wasto be established in Acts 2. Jesus livedunder the Sinai covenant and law (Gl4:4). Many things that Jesus said dur-ing His ministry must be understoodin the context of His ministry to theJews, who with Himself, were livingunder the Sinai law. Jesus’ obediencewas to the Sinai law. It is importantto understand this lest the Bible inter-preter bring the teachings of the Sinailaw into the New Testament underwhich the disciples of Jesus now live.

In order to understand the NewTestament by rightly dividing theword of God (2 Tm 2:15), we mustunderstand what Jesus teaches con-cerning the Sinai law. His revelationof New Testament law was revealedthrough the apostles (Jn 14:26; 16:13).The new law of liberty of Jesus wasestablished when men and womenfirst came into a covenant relationshipwith God on the Pentecost of A.D. 30that is recorded in Acts 2. Matthew,Mark, Luke and John, therefore, arebooks that record events of the OldTestament era while the Jews werestill in a national covenant relation-ship with God. Acts through Revela-tion record the events of the early dis-ciples who were in a new covenantrelationship with God. Jesus’ teach-


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ings concerning the will of God wererecorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke andJohn for the benefit of the church.

Throughout His ministry, Jesusprophesied of the new covenant andlaw that would come (Mt 26:26-28;Jn 3:3-5). However, He reminded Hisdisciples that in His immediate audi-ence many would not understand Hismessage to Israel (See Mt 13:10-17).However, it would be understood bythose who would later come into acovenant relationship with Godthrough their obedience to the gospel.Throughout His ministry, therefore,Jesus pointed people toward the eventthat is recorded in Acts 2 when menand women first came into a covenantrelationship with God through theirobedience to the gospel in baptism.

In fulfillment of Jesus’ promiseof Matthew 16:18,19, Peter stood upon the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 inA.D. 30 and officially proclaimed forthe first time in history the good newsof the death of Jesus for our sins andHis resurrection for our hope (At2:29-36). When thousands heard thismessage, they were cut to the heart.They repented, and on that very day,about three thousand people were im-mersed into a new covenant relation-ship with God (At 2:37-41). This ini-tiated the new covenant that God es-tablished with mankind through JesusChrist. Beginning with this day, Godrevealed through the apostles all truth

for the nurturing and building up ofthose who obeyed the gospel (Jn14:26; 16:13; Jd 3). The New Testa-ment era began in Acts 2 and will con-tinue until Jesus comes again. It be-gan with the first official announce-ment of Jesus as the reigning Son ofGod. It will end at the time of Hisfinal coming when He returns king-dom reign to God the Father so thatGod will be all in all (1 Co 15:24-28).

Israel continues as a nation, butthey do not continue in a special cov-enant relationship with God. The Si-nai covenant that God had with na-tional Israel was dissolved in Christ.For all men today, the statement ofGalatians 3:26-29 applies:

For you are all sons of God throughfaith in Christ Jesus. For as many ofyou as were baptized into Christ haveput on Christ. There is neither Jewnor Greek. There is neither bond-servant nor free. There is neithermale nor female. For you are all onein Christ Jesus. And if you areChrist’s, then you are Abraham’s seedand heirs according to the promise.

Christians are now the new spiritualIsrael of God, for they are in a cov-enant with God that was purchasedwith the blood of His Son whobrought us into the age of the gospel.

The most significant obstaclethat faced Jesus during His earthly


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ministry was the “Jews’ religion” (Ju-daism) that was propagated by theJewish religious leadership. It is im-possible to understand the setting ofthe ministry of Jesus without under-standing the nature of the religiousworld of Judaism in the first century.God used the misguided religiosity ofthe religious leaders of Israel to takeJesus to the cross and reveal the gos-pel. This occurred because the gos-pel of grace that Jesus brought into

the world was entirely different fromthe legal system of religion that waspromoted by the Jewish religiousleaders. In defending their legal reli-giosity, the antagonism of the reli-gious leaders against Jesus became sotense that they eventually schemed,and subsequently were successful inhaving Him crucified. All of this wasin the eternal plan of God to bring thegospel into the world.

7 - The Gospel Age Of Freedom

Jesus was sent forth into theworld at a predetermined time. Godknew that the religion of Israel woulddigress to a legal system of meritori-ous religiosity. Men have a tremen-dous urge to meritoriously self-sanc-tify themselves before God. This isexactly where the religious leaders ofIsrael had led the people. Jesus camethis people at a time when this sys-tem of religion had developed to itsfullest in Israel.

Israel’s digression into legalisticand institutional religion was no dif-ferent from the thousands of similarreligions throughout the world today.Therefore, when we study the con-frontation of the religious leadershipof Israel against Jesus throughout Hisministry, we discover how the gospelconflicts with the religious world to-

day that is built on the foundation ofmeritorious religiosity. Our study ofJesus’ ministry is our preparation forthe conflict that we face when deal-ing with the religions of the world inwhich we live today. Jesus’ conflictwith meritorious religion gives us aninsight into how the religions of menconflict with the gospel.

Understanding this conflict be-gins by understanding that we werecreated religious beings. God createdus with a spiritual yearning so that we“should seek the Lord” (At 17:27).Paul stated to the Athenians that theinstinct of man should be that hewould “grope for God” (At 17:27).Man is thus a religious being. Regard-less of his selfish wanderings in or-der to satisfy the lusts of the flesh,lusts of the eyes and pride of life, he

Chapter 7

THE GOSPEL AGE OF FREEDOM

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must eventually satisfy his religiouscravings to worship God.

The problem with men satisfy-ing their religious yearnings is thatmost people do not seek the one trueand living God through His inspiredrevelation. They seek to create a godafter their own image and a religionafter their own desires. In order tofulfill their innate desire to search forand worship a being that is higher thanthemselves, people throughout theworld have resorted to various “sys-tems” of religiosity in order to self-sanctify themselves before their gods.In the absence of God’s word, and aknowledge of the one true God, reli-gious people throughout the worldhave created self-sanctifying religiousrites after their own desires.

Regardless of the system of reli-gion that one might create in order tofulfill the desire to worship, all reli-gions of the world fall into two basiccategories. The first is that people fol-low after their emotions or feelings.Man is certainly an emotional being.Those religions of the world that arebased on emotions as the fundamen-tal foundation of the religion, are car-ried to and fro by the emotional stateof the adherents in order to self-sanc-tify themselves emotionally beforeGod. The adherents say, “If it feelsright, then it must be right.” Such self-sanctification in religion places manat the center of the religion and his

emotions as the authority upon whichfaith is based. Such religions are ba-sically humanistic in the sense thatman himself is the foundation uponwhich the religion is based.

Solomon wrote, “There is a waythat seems right to man, but its end isthe way of death” (Pv 14:12; see Pv16:25). It is not within the power ofman to direct his own self-sanctify-ing religious behavior. This is espe-cially true in reference to one’s reli-gious feelings and beliefs. When thefoundation of one’s religiosity isbased on his own feelings, the end re-sult will be death. Therefore, we cannever trust our feelings to be the finalauthority by which we should judgefaith to be on a solid foundation.

The second system of religionthat is established by man is the mostcommon, and thus, the most difficultfor the gospel to penetrate. This isreligion that is based on the traditionalreligious institutions of men. Mostworld religions that have been devel-oped throughout the history of man-kind have found their foundation intradition. This was particularly trueduring the time Jesus came into theworld (See Mk 7:1-9).

It is only natural for people to es-tablish religion upon their religioustraditions since people are beings oftradition. We are creatures of culture,and culture is a systematic obedienceto behavioral characteristics by which


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individuals live in harmony in any so-ciety. We thus seek to mold our reli-gious behavior around the traditionsof the fathers in order to live in har-mony with one another. However, theproblem is that the traditions becomethe final authority of our traditionalreligion, and thus, the religious tradi-tions of the fathers lead the childrenaway from God. The traditions insti-tutionalize the religion by becomingthe identity of the adherents who seekto self-sanctify themselves by adher-ence to their religious traditions.

Traditional religion in Israel wasat its peak when Jesus came into theworld. This was the system of reli-gious thought and behavior that Jesusconfronted throughout His ministry.This was the religious behavior thatJesus stirred up in order to take Him-self to the cross (Jn 10:17,18). It isimperative, therefore, that every Biblestudent understand the nature of thetraditional religion that was main-tained by the Jews of the first centuryin order to understand the same con-flict between the gospel and religionin this age.

The majority of the early dis-ciples were Jews. Therefore, some ofthese Jewish converts brought into thechurch the legalistic system of reli-gious behavior that defines Judaismfor several centuries. The greatestthreat against the church in its earlybeginnings was the legalistic system

of Judaism that was characteristicwith the religious world of the firstcentury.

Meritorious legalism is the be-lief that one can legally justify him-self before God on the merit of hisself-sanctifying performance of lawand good works. When sin occurs,the self-sanctifying legalist assumesthat He can atone for his violations oflaw through meritorious good works.The legalist assumes, therefore, thathis salvation is centered around hisability to perform law and do merito-rious deeds in order to stand justifiedbefore God. He thus seeks to earn hissalvation by putting God in debt tosave him because of his self-sancti-fying meritorious law-keeping andgood works.

Combined with traditional reli-gious codes, the traditional legalisthas constructed a religion that con-forms to his desire to justify himselfbefore God through perfect law-keep-ing. The result of this thinking movesthe legalists into numerous erroneousconclusions. Principle among theseis the fact that religious legalists of-ten move their traditions into therealm of law, and thus, make their tra-ditions meritorious requirements forsalvation. The result is that the legal-ist moves himself further away fromthe commandments of God. Becausehe has assumed that he can meritori-ously justify himself before God


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through law-keeping, he often arro-gantly sets forth his religious deedsbefore others in order to manifest hisreligiosity and self-imposed righ-teousness.

When Jesus began His ministryamong the Jews, the fury of the reli-gious leaders was inflamed againstHim because He did not conform totheir legal codes of Judaism. He wasthus rejected as the Messiah of Israel.The intensity of the legal mentality ofthe religious leaders was manifestedin their scheme to murder Jesus,which thing they eventually did.

Therefore, one must never under-estimate the control religious legalthought places on the behavior ofpeople. Judaism was a religion thatwas based on the theology of merito-rious religious behavior. This was thereligious environment into whichJesus came. It was the leaders of thistheology that put Jesus on the cross.It was the leaders of this theology whodefiantly continued to oppose to thepreaching of the gospel.

When Jews were converted inthe first century, many often broughtinto the church the religious legalismof the Judaism from which they came.The letters to the Romans and Gala-tians specifically dealt with this threatthat denied the foundation of the gos-pel of freedom.

Galatians was possibly the firstinspired letter of the New Testament

canon to be written. It was a sternletter that was directed against theself-sanctifying legalist theology thatwas invading the fellowship of thedisciples in southern Galatia. If Ga-latians was the first letter of the NewTestament, then the Holy Spirit con-sidered Jewish legalism to be a greatdanger to the continued existence ofthe early church. The sternness bywhich the letter was written indicatesthe seriousness of the attack of legal-ism against the truth of the gospel.

Paul’s purpose in writing Gala-tians was to investigate the erroneousnature of the Jewish legalism of thefirst century in reference to the threatof any legalistic theology that wouldattack the gospel at any time in his-tory. One of the great threats againstthe church today is systematic legal-ism. This was the primary threatagainst the church in the first century.

Throughout every century, sys-tematic legalistic theology has alwayssought to divide Christians from oneanother. It is imperative, therefore,that disciples be very familiar with thecharacteristics and behavior of legal-istic religiosity.

In the first century, the Jewsviewed religion from the standpointof the ability of the individual to per-form established religious rites in amanner by which one could self-sanc-tify himself before God. This systemof meritorious justification inevitably


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made an attack against the gospel.There was thus the rise of thejudaizing teachers who sought to pro-mote in the church this system of le-galistic justification by meritoriousworks. The evidence of this invasionof heresy was the judaizing teachers’binding on Christians various statutesof the Sinai law, as well as many ofthe religious traditions of the Jews.

When Paul wrote the letter to theGalatians, he sternly attacked the the-ology of the self-sanctifying religiousteachers in the church. It must be em-phasized again that the sternness ofthe letter reveals the fact that the HolySpirit did not view this as a minorthreat to the gospel. The nature of theGalatian letter clearly indicates thatGod was serious about this system oftheology that attacked the very foun-dation of the truth of the gospel.

There were judaizing teachersthreatening the Galatian disciples, andthus, the disciples in Galatia were onthe verge of a whole scale apostasyfrom the truth of the gospel. The na-ture of the Galatian letter, therefore,reveals to us that God will not toler-ate today those who marginalize thegospel through the teaching of meri-torious self-justification.

We must not accuse the judaizingbrothers in Galatia of being insincere.Neither should we view many of thePharisees during the ministry of Jesusof being insincere. They sincerely

thought that they were right. Theynever viewed themselves as falseteachers. Such is often the case withthose of a legalistic persuasion. Be-cause their legalism has come to themthrough the tradition of their fathers,they feel confident in their self-sanc-tifying religious heritage. However,the zeal of the Jewish legalists waswithout knowledge of the will of God.Their goal was often one of selfishambition (See Gl 6:13).

The problem with legalistic reli-gion is manifested in the results orbehavior of those who believe in andpractice such. In order to understandthe confrontation of Jesus with thereligious leaders during His ministry,and to understand the backgroundupon which much of the New Testa-ment was written, it is imperative tounderstand the nature of self-sancti-fying legalism, which is basically thedefinition of religion. Our under-standing of this system of religiousthought helps us to guard ourselvesfrom denying the truth of the gospel.

We must understand that the na-ture of the Jews’ religion into whichJesus came is the same nature of anyreligion throughout history. Religionexists because men obey self-sancti-fying religious rites of each uniquereligion.

The Jews’ religion that was con-structed after the traditions of the fa-thers is typical of institutional reli-


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gious structures today where heritageand tradition has been exalted over theBible. We live in a world of tradi-tionally oriented religions that viewtheir traditions after the same mannerthe religious leaders of the Jewsviewed their traditions during theministry of Jesus. Religious traditionwas sacred to the Jews. It is sacred toreligions throughout the world today.

Because traditions have becomeso sacred to religions in the world,such traditions are viewed as a legalsystem by which one is to stand justi-fied before God. In other words, ad-herents of the particular religion musthonor the traditions of the religion inorder to supposedly be pleasing toGod. It is essential, therefore, to un-derstand the nature of religious legal-ism in order to understand the religionthat confronted Jesus and the legalis-tic system of religion that made at-tacks against the gospel.

A. Gospel freedom delivers usfrom self-sanctification.

The gospel is the message thatone is saved by the initiative of God,who at the cross, justified us legallybefore Him apart from our efforts toself-justify ourselves by legal perfor-mances of law (Rm 5:1,2,8; see Is53:5; Jn 3:16; 15:13). In other words,there is no salvation apart from thegospel of grace simply because it is

impossible for anyone to keep lawwithout sinning against law (Rm3:9,23). If meritorious works canatone for sin against law, then it wouldbe assumed that the grace of the crosswas insufficient.

The religious legalist believesthat his law-keeping and meritoriousworks must be the foundation uponwhich he is saved. He may believe inthe grace of God. However, by hisbelief to self-sanctifying himselfthrough meritorious works of reli-gious laws, he feels that the grace ofGod must be subsidized by his legalperformances.

The judaizing brethren of the firstcentury believed in the gospel ofGod’s grace. However, they also be-lieved that circumcision and otherJewish religious rites of their traditionwere also necessary. Paul’s argumentwith these religious legalists, there-fore, was directed toward the false im-plications of their teaching. Theirteaching assumed that the grace of thegospel was not sufficient. If self-sanc-tifying legalism were correct, thenmen could add to the gospel of Godin reference to one’s salvation. If le-galism is correct, then the atonementof Jesus on the cross was insufficient.They were obligating God to add toHis grace their self-sanctifying meri-torious religious rites in order that sinbe forgiven. In other words, since theatonement of the cross was suppos-


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edly insufficient, then complete for-giveness must come from somewhereelse. Complete forgiveness mustcome from one’s self-sanctifyingmeritorious good deeds.

The problem with self-sanctifi-cation through good deeds is that onecan never feel that he does enough inorder to be confident that he hasatoned for the wretchedness of sin inhis life. If he does feel confident, thenhe becomes religiously arrogant. Itwas this religious arrogance that cameinto the early church through self-sanctifying religionists who stoodconfident before God on the basis oftheir religious performances. Theirreligious arrogance changed their be-havior. Jude wrote of them:

For certain men have crept in unno-ticed, who long ago were marked outfor this condemnation, ungodly men,who turn the grace of our God intolewdness and deny the only Lord Godand our Lord Jesus Christ (Jd 4).

Such men “reject authority, and speakevil of dignitaries” (Jd 8). They“speak evil of whatever they do notknow; and whatever they know natu-rally, like brute beasts, in these thingsthey corrupt themselves” (Jd 10).

The arrogance of the religiouslegalist is in the fact that he believeshis performance of law and gooddeeds are sufficient to add to the in-

sufficiency of the gospel of grace. Hesubsequently puffs himself up in hisrelationship with those who are notperforming according to the excel-lence of his religious rites.

B. Gospel freedom frees from le-gal religious rites.

The religious legalist actuallypromotes a quick fix for Christiangrowth. He feels that rules and regu-lations will guarantee the structuredlife that is in agreement with the be-havioral pattern prescribed by law.Therefore, in order to guarantee obe-dience to law, the religious legalistprescribes codes and religious rites inorder to marshal the believers’ livesinto conformity with the traditionallyaccepted pattern of behavior that guar-antees obedience to law. Law, there-fore, takes second seat to the practiceof the codes that are emphasized tomake sure law is obeyed.

The same scenario exists today.Those who march according to thereligious rites of a legal system of re-ligion are thus judged to be “faithful”to a particular religious group by thosewho have set themselves up as judgesand lawgivers of the group to makesure that the religious rites of the de-nominated religious heritage are per-formed. In religions that become le-galistic in their behavior, the membersare judged by those who have estab-


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lished and maintained the legal heri-tage by which all members mustmarch. Thus, faith digresses to a be-havioral system of religious rites thatare established after a particular reli-gious group. This is exactly whatJesus was confronting when He saidto the Jews, “This people honors Mewith their lips, but their heart is farfrom Me. And in vain they worshipMe, teaching as doctrines the com-mandments of men” (Mk 7:6,7).

In the Galatian situation, themembers of the body were being con-vinced to return to a system of reli-gious slavery. Paul wrote to them,“But now after you have known God,or rather are known by God, how isit that you turn again to the weak andbeggarly elements, to which you de-sire again to be in bondage?” (Gl4:9).

Paul could not understand whythey wanted to go back to a system ofreligious slavery from which they hadescaped through their obedience to thegospel of freedom. They were allow-ing the judaizing teachers to regimentthem again into conformity to legalreligion in order to supposedly guar-antee their salvation.

The problem was that the Gala-tians were not recognizing the legaltrap into which they were going. Theywere being drawn into a religionwhere the heart could go uncheckedas the believer legally enslaved him-

self after a system of obedience tooutward religious ceremonies. Thisis what Jesus meant when He said,“Their heart is far from Me” (Mk7:6).

The Jewish religious leaders dur-ing Jesus’ ministry expressed outwardreligiosity, but their religious actswere regimented behavioral actionsthat could be performed without anyheart. They could keep the religiousrites without checking their hearts. Inone’s zeal to conform to the acceptedregimentation of legal rites that havebeen established by the traditions ofthe fathers, one begins to ignore Godin order to focus on strict obedienceto the legal identity of a particular re-ligious group. One’s mind is slowlychanged from focusing on pleasingGod to pleasing those who have setthemselves up to be the guardians ofthe “truth.”

The religionist in this structureof religion moves from focusing onGod to focusing on making sure hisbehavior is according to the leadersof the group who enforce the legalcodes of identity of the group. Themembers of the group have a greaterconcern about being accepted by thegroup than allowing the gospel ofJesus to reflect their appreciation forthe grace of God. Their motivationas a member of the group turns fromGod to doing those things that willmake one accepted to the group lead-


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ers and group itself. In order not tobe an outcast of the group, their moti-vation turns from God to upholdinggroup heritage in order that they notbe intimidated by others in the group.In the slow, and often unintentionalchange of focus, each member of thegroup gives up being motivated by thegospel of God’s grace.

C. Gospel freedom inspires spiri-tual growth.

The problem with a legal ap-proach to serving God is that one canperform legal rites of religion with-out true or long-term spiritual growth.However, once one becomes frus-trated with keeping all the rules, it iseasy to fall away. Since the religiouslegalist has given up his focus on thegospel in order to focus on his perfor-mance of the identity of his religion,apostasy becomes an act of fallingfrom the accepted rules of his particu-lar religion. It is not apostasy fromthe gospel of Jesus. Changingchurches is simply a matter of chang-ing sets of rules. Living the gospel isblurred in the maze of denominationalregulations that identify each particu-lar religious group. When one fallsaway, it is simply apostasy from a re-ligion of man.

In the first century context, thejudaizing teachers saw the church asanother “sect” of Judaism. Therefore,

there were some who accepted Jesusand obeyed the gospel by immersion.However, they simply added the rulesof another faith to their existing rulesof Judaism. They were as John de-scribed, “not of us” because they hadnot submitted in their hearts to thegospel (1 Jn 2:19). They had simplyjoined the “Christian” movement inJerusalem when thousands were be-coming members of the body ofChrist.

Because those who were “not ofus” were not converted in response toGod’s grace that was manifestedthrough Jesus on the cross, they weresimply moving from one religiousgroup to another. At the same time,they believed that they were remain-ing within the broader community ofJudaism. When they saw many Gen-tiles becoming members of the“Christian sect” of Judaism, it wasonly natural for them to demand thatthe Gentiles also become circumcisedand adhere to other ceremonies of theSinai law.

When one obeys the gospel, hehas left religion for grace. He has re-sponded to the grace of God in re-sponse to grace. However, when oneseeks to produce spiritual growththrough religious regulations, one’slife-style is only superficial. Truegrowth in the grace and knowledgeof our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ(2 Pt 3:18) comes as a result of sow-


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ing works of thanksgiving for one’ssalvation (See 1 Co 15:10 2 Co 4:15).The fruit of the Spirit comes forthfrom the heart of the one who trulyhas Christ in his heart (Gl 2:20; 5:24).Those who “live in the Spirit” willmanifest long-term growth as op-posed to the one who simply followsthe accepted pattern of religiosity thathas been formed after the traditionsof men. When one maintains his fo-cus on Jesus, he will obediently livethe gospel in gratitude for that whichhe has in Christ (Rm 3:31).

On the other hand, there are thosereligious groups that require little ina legal response to belief. These arethose groups that have created a reli-gion after their own desires. And theirdesire is to have as little involvementin religion as possible, while at thesame time, feel comfortable abouttheir faith. There is thus a stagnationof gospel behavior in these groups. Aslong as one is doing the minimal re-quirements for “faithfulness,” he isaccepted by the group as a “faithful”member. Legalism in this system ofreligion produces a mental compla-cency, a self-deception that everythingis fine while one is on the road to de-struction. This legalistic religion thuslimits spiritual growth because theadherents believe that they are spiri-tually acceptable to God in their stateof indifference.

This “easy going” legalism con-

vinces one that as long as he or sheaccomplishes the ceremonies of wor-ship of the particular religious group,then he or she has worshiped God. Aslong as one has gone through the le-gal steps of conversion, he is oncesaved and always saved. As long asone clones the correct religiousphraseology of the group, then he islegally sound. As long as one func-tions with accepted methods, then heis sound and of “the truth.”

This form of legalism lacks sub-stance. Adherents become frustratedwith their lack of spiritual growth. Intheir frustration they feel a change ofrules, or a change of churches, or achange in preachers, will producegrowth. It is believed that the solu-tion to the problems of stagnation isthat the change will produce growth.When we make superficial changes tocorrect deep spiritual problems, weare failing to deal with the sin beneaththe sin.

Once rules and regulations takea back seat to the gospel of Jesus, thenHis commandments are not burden-some (See 1 Jn 5:3). The Christianwho is truly motivated by thanksgiv-ing for his or her salvation finds nocommandment of God burdensome.He finds no limits to his spiritualgrowth. If we deal with the sin of theheart, then we are beginning to cor-rect the sin beneath the sin.

Herein is revealed the nature of


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the law of Christ, the perfect law ofliberty (Js 1:25; 2:8). There is lawunder grace, but the law of Christ isusually stated in principle. For ex-ample, James stated,

Pure and undefiled religion beforeGod and the Father is this: to visit[take care of] orphans and widowsin their trouble, and to keep oneselfunspotted from the world (Js 1:27).

The principle is to care for orphansand widows. However, there are fewinstructions in the New Testament onhow this is actually carried out inone’s life. Thus, there is law to dothis work, but there is liberty on howit is to be carried out. It is a law ofliberty. God gives the principle. Heexpects our gratitude for His grace tomotivate us through love to act in re-sponse to grace in order to take careof orphans and widows. When lovereplaces indifference in the heart, thenwidows and orphans eat.

The above frustrates the legalist.He needs a set of rules by which hecan measure his meritorious perfor-mance in taking care of orphans andwidows. He must know exactly howto take care of the orphans and wid-ows by establishing regulations onhow the law is to be carried out. Hemust establish a system by which theorphans and widows are cared for, andthe number of orphans and widows

for which he must care in order to feelconfident that he has self-sanctifiedhimself in obedience to the law to takecare of orphans and widows. He thusdestroys his liberty under the law byestablishing self-sanctifying laws forhimself.

D. Gospel freedom avoids de-nominating over religious rites.

When the self-imposed laws be-come the tradition of a particular reli-gious group, then a legal system ofreligion has been imposed on themembers. The members of the grouphave thus become a denomination be-cause other churches would have im-posed other regulations on themselvesas to how they must legally take careof orphans and widows. The differ-ent means and methods by which eachgroup has established laws for them-selves separates them from one an-other. They thus become denomina-tions in their relationship with one an-other.

Regardless of how we might de-fine legalism, one thing is commonand central to all legalistic thought.The legalist will establish regulationson how the principles of law are to beobeyed. His regulations often digressto tradition, and then, tradition di-gresses to religious law. His problemthen becomes his emphasis on main-taining the “doctrines and command-


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ments of men” in order to make surethat the accepted religious laws of aparticular religious group are main-tained.

The problem comes when hismanner or method to accomplish theprinciple of the law becomes law orwhen his way of carrying out the prin-ciple contradicts the manner ormethod of carrying out the same prin-ciple of law that is established by an-other church. Because he has in hismind determined that his way of car-rying out the command is the only wayit can be carried out, he judges hisbrother as liberal and in violation oflaw when he does not conform to hisaccepted traditional way by which hecarries out the principles of law.When the traditional definition forcarrying out a principle of law be-comes the heritage that identifies aparticular religious group, then a de-nomination has been born.

Add biblical ignorance to thisscenario and one can see the difficultymany churches are in today. They donot know the Bible well enough todistinguish between tradition andBible. When the freedom that wehave in Christ is preached to thesereligious groups, the conflict comesbetween allowing freedom where Godhas not bound law. The problem inrestoration, therefore, comes not indealing with obedience to what theBible teaches, but in giving up tradi-

tional religious marks of identity thathave been accepted as law for manyyears.

This was the problem of the Jewsin the first century when they becameChristians. By the time of Jesus andthe establishment of the church, manyJews found it difficult to give up thoseJewish traditions that had been estab-lished that identified the “Jews’ reli-gion.” Their answer to the conflictof giving up such traditions was tobind the traditions on the Gentiles.They thus sought to bind where Godhad not bound.

If we view Christianity to be alegal system of religion, then we willlay the foundation for laying burdenson members of the body as the Jew-ish religious leaders laid burdens onthe backs of the Jews. The establishedmethods to accomplish the prescribedprinciples of the law of liberty almostalways become a burden to the oneswho are struggling to maintain a be-havioral checklist. Traditional lawscontinue to be bound on the con-sciences of brothers and sisters untila frustration level is reached.

Those disciples who have a highfrustration level are usually those whoare very legalistic in their religion.When one is not motivated in heart ingratitude of the gospel, he or she sim-ply becomes frustrated with not feel-ing good about doing what he or shebelieves is the will of God. The frus-


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trated become weary of feeling guiltyabout wondering if the good he doesis pleasing to God. There is no peaceof mind in the heart of the legalist. Ifthere is peace, then he or she is self-righteous, believing that his self-sanc-tifying performance of law is acceptedby God. The next step to this feelingis spiritual arrogance.

On the other hand, the one whohas responded to the heart of God inobedience to the gospel knows that hecan never perform enough for othersto repay the debt God has cancelledin his life by grace (See Lk 17:10).He is driven by thanksgiving (See 1Co 15:10). The legalist is driven byguilt. The one who works in thanks-giving knows he can never performenough, thus he must trust in God’sgrace. The legalist trusts in his check-list that assures him that he haschecked off his responsibility towardorphans and widows. The one who isdriven by the gospel knows that hecan never care for enough orphans andwidows. There are too many. There-fore, he must trust in the grace of Godfor that which he cannot do.

There is a vast difference herebetween legal religion and the spiritof true gospel living. One systembrings frustration. The other bringspeace of mind. One breeds arroganceand boasting. The other produces thefruit of humility and service. One putsa ceiling on spiritual growth. The

other has no limits to which one willspiritually grow. If one can discoverthis difference, then the gospel ofJesus has won a victory.

E. Gospel freedom avoids spiri-tual discrimination.

Obedience to the gospel naturallybring unity between all those whoobey the gospel. However, religiouslegalism inherently works against thisunited fellowship. Since the legalistviews his good works as an effort tomeritoriously justify himself beforeGod, then he views his works as a“spiritual level” of attainment. Hethus compares his works with thoseof this brother in order to determinehis level of spirituality. He views righ-teousness to be based on deeds. Hethus begins comparing himself withothers, and others against others. Hisreligious arena becomes a field ofcompetition between brothers whocompare religious achievements. Insuch a competitive environment,brotherhood is lost.

Jesus said that the self-righteouspray, “God, I thank you that I am notlike other men ...” (Lk 18:11). Thisexpresses the attitude of the religiouslegalist in reference to his brother.The legalist starts counting his or hermeritorious works by comparing themwith the works of others. He or shedevelops a spiritual scorecard of


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works that are used in reference toothers who may not have performedequally as well. The legalist thusspiritually discriminates against thosewho do not score as high accordingto his own meritorious scorecard.Paul had this group of religionists inmind when he wrote,

For we dare not class ourselves orcompare ourselves with those whocommend themselves. But they, mea-suring themselves by themselves,and comparing themselves amongthemselves, are not wise (2 Co10:12).

In the Galatian situation, the Jew-ish believers had come out of a reli-gious environment of believing in theone true God. On the other hand, theGentiles were converted out of idola-trous religions that promoted manygods. Since the Jewish believersthought they had an advantage in thearea of belief, they naturally thoughtthat their past religiosity gave theman advantage over the Gentiles con-verts. For this reason Paul stated,“There is neither Jew nor Greek, thereis neither slave nor free, there is nei-ther male nor female; for you are allone in Christ Jesus” (Gl 3:28).

In Christ there are no spiritualscorecards by which one brothermight compare himself with another.In Christ one cannot consider his

background to be a spiritual advan-tage because all come to Christ as sin-ners and in need of the grace of God(Rm 3:23).

Religious legalism also tends topuff up those who have been older inthe faith, and thus, promotes eitherscholastic or seniority discriminationamong believers. Knowledge of thelegalistically established codes sup-posedly gives one an advantage in thestatus of brotherhood scholarship.One’s knowledge and teaching of the“precision” of the system often pro-motes one to be the judge and law-giver in the brotherhood on mattersof the heritage of the particular reli-gious group.

It is often stated that the new con-vert will “fall in line” as he or shegrows. Since the accepted rules oftraditional conduct of a particulargroup have been firmly established inthe group into which the new converthas come, he or she usually succumbsto the heritage that identifies the par-ticular group into which he is con-verted. Once the cloning process iscompleted, he or she “falls in line”and is no longer considered a newconvert. One has thus identified withand accepted the new culture of newlyaccepted religion.

Religious legalism promotes dis-crimination in reference to perfor-mance. Since the legalist is measur-ing the faithfulness of his life by his


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performance of those religious ritesthat identify a particular religiousgroup, he naturally compares his be-havior with that of others (2 Co10:12). In competitive cultures thisoften leads to “spiritual” competitionamong disciples. For this reason, Pauloften placed statements concerningthe problem of boasting in the con-text of discussions against perfor-mance oriented religiosity. To theEphesians, he wrote in reference tosalvation, that it is “not of works, lestanyone should boast” (Ep 2:9). Tothe Roman disciples he wrote,“Where is boasting then? It is ex-cluded” (Rm 3:27).

In view of the fact that one issaved by the grace of God, he has noopportunity to boast in reference togospel living. When one comes intoChrist through obedience to the gos-pel, his religious competitiveness thathe had as a member of some man-made religious group, must be dis-carded as he grows in gratitude for thegrace of God.

F. Gospel freedom prevents per-sonal boasting.

As stated in the preceding point,the less talented Christian is not onlydiscriminated against, he becomes theoccasion for the talented brother tobecome arrogant concerning his sup-posed meritorious abilities. The

brother who considers himself greaterin good deeds boasts in reference tothose he considers not to have reachedhis level of the Holy Spirit workingin his life.

Boasting arises out of an envi-ronment where there exists differentabilities or talents within the samefellowship. If all had the same abil-ity, there would be no occasion for oneboasting of his abilities over those ofhis brother whom he believes is per-forming in an inferior ministry. Oncea legal chart of performance is pro-duced in a religion that measures per-formance according to one’s abilities,there is judgment according to thatchart. The self-righteous start boast-ing about “fasting twice a week,” hav-ing contributed so much, taught somany Bible classes, or baptized somany people. All such measurementsaccording to the performance chartbecome occasions for one brother toboast against another.

The judaizing legalists of Galatiawere no doubt teachers with great cre-dentials and degrees of education.Because they were such, the Galatianswere in awe of their positions andabilities. The legalist had high stan-dards, and thus, used such as the mea-sure by which others were to bejudged (See Gl 4:17,18; 6:12-14).Their abilities and standards, there-fore, became the occasion for theirinternal boasting and intimidation,


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even of those as Peter and Barnabas(See Gl 2:11-13).

If one is saved by performanceof either law or meritorious deeds,then certainly there is the opportunityfor one brother to boast of his worksin comparison to his fellow brother.For this reason, Paul wrote to the Eph-esians concerning our salvation, thatit is “not of works, lest anyone shouldboast” (Ep 2:9). If salvation is de-pendent on the gospel of God’s grace,then Paul states, “Where is boastingthen? It is excluded. By what law?Of works, No, but by the law of faith”(Rm 3:27). The problem in Galatiawas boasting over meritorious deeds.There was even boasting on the partof the judaizing teachers concerningtheir recruitment of Gentiles by hav-ing them circumcised. Paul wrote,“They desire to have you circumcisedthat they may glory in your flesh” (Gl6:13). But if one is saved by the graceof God, and not the performance ofmeritorious works of law and gooddeeds, then there is no room for boast-ing.

Paul’s answer to the precedingboasting in the flesh was boasting inthe cross of the gospel. “But God for-bid that I should glory except in thecross of our Lord Jesus Christ, bywhom the world has been crucifiedto me, and I to the world’ (Gl 6:14).Since one is totally dependent onGod’s grace for salvation, he has no

opportunity to boast of earning ormaintaining his salvation throughself-sanctifying meritorious works.

If our friend wakes up one morn-ing and writes us a check for a mil-lion dollars because we are his friend,how can we boast that we earned themillion dollars? God has freely givenus the gift of the gospel. How can weboast that we deserved or earned thegift? In fact, Paul wrote, “But Goddemonstrates His own love toward us,in that while we were still sinners,Christ died for us” (Rm 5:8).

It is the nature of the religionistto compare, and thus, boast of hisworks in relation to his brother. He isthe one who will pray, “God, I thankyou that I am not like other men” (Lk18:11). He is thus the man aboutwhom Jesus said, “For everyone whoexalts himself will be abased” (Lk18:14). The legalist exalts himselfabove his fellow brother and assumesthat his law-keeping and meritoriousdeeds are better or greater. As thePharisees, he thus boasts concerninghis “righteousness.”

G. Gospel freedom inspires worldevangelism.

The religious legalist is so busysorting out the brotherhood over themost recent issue, his thinking is di-verted from the mission of the gos-pel. He is so busy troubling the


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church over issues (Gl 1:7), that themembers’ thinking and energies areoften consumed and diverted from thework of preaching the gospel to theworld. The legalist frets so muchabout issues that he has no mentaltime for the lost. His mission changesfrom saving the lost to saving thesaved. When this change has beenmade, those who revere him as a greatprophet among them, also have theirthinking diverted. The legalisticleader is in such a struggle to keepthe saints in line with “his gospel” thathe has no time or energy to preach thegospel of grace to the lost world.

The religious legalist haschanged the focus of evangelism. Hisconcept of evangelism is quite differ-ent from the one who seeks to preachthe gospel of the crucified Christ (1Co 1:23,24). The Jewish legalists ofthe first century sought to proselyteGentiles to their system of religiousrites that were manufactured after thetraditions of the fathers. Of themJesus said,

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,hypocrites! For you travel land andsea to win one proselyte, and whenhe is won, you make him twice asmuch a son of hell as yourselves (Mt23:15).

Jewish legalism was evangelis-tic in that the Pharisees sought to bring

Gentiles into conformity with the tra-ditions of Judaism. This system ofevangelistic thought was brought intothe first century church by Jews whodid not understand the nature of thegospel of freedom in Christ. WhenJews were converted, they tried tomake the church Jewish by enforcingon the disciples circumcision and cer-emonies that God had not bound.Evangelism to the judaizing teachers,therefore, was not bringing people tothe cross, but to their system of reli-gious regulations.

Legalistic leaders today functionin the same manner in their work asthe scribes and Pharisees functionedin the first century. They searchamong the disciples for those whowould be loyal to them and their sys-tematic theology. They do as thejudaizing teachers who followed Paulthroughout southern Galatia. Theywere recruiting Gentile converts to theblade of the scissors of circumcision(Gl 4:17).

The mission of the judaizing le-galists was not focused primarily onthe lost. Their focus was on the saved.Since they believed that unless onewas circumcised he could not besaved (At 15:1), they searchedthroughout the brotherhood in orderto find uncircumcised Gentiles. Oncefound, they brought innocent Gentilesinto conformity to the law of their


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scissors.

H. Gospel freedom avoids conten-tion.

The judaizing teachers of the firstcentury taught a concept of grace thatdemanded the addition of self-sancti-fying meritorious law-keeping andgood works on the part of Christians.They wanted and taught the gospel,but they added their religious rites ofconduct after the Sinai law (circum-cision and ceremonies). By their ad-ditions they became an occasion fordivision among the disciples.

Their concept of grace, therefore,was similar to the religious world oftoday. Those of the religious worldbelieve in the cross. They believe thatJesus died for our sins and was raisedfor our hope. However, in conjunc-tion with belief in the gospel—thoughthey often deny the necessity of obe-dience to the gospel by immersion—one must conform to the traditions ofa particular religious heritage. Theirview of salvation is the same as thejudaizing teachers of the first century.They believe the gospel, but they addself-sanctifying obedience to the ritesof their particular religious heritage.

We must not miss a significantpoint here. It was the legalistic falseteachers in the first century whowere binding where God had notbound. They were binding circum-

cision and other religious rites of Jew-ish heritage in order to marshal theGentile converts into their Jewishheritage.

This is the nature of religious le-galism. By binding where God hasnot bound, the truth of the gospel iscompromised. Another gospel is be-ing taught. It is this other gospel, thebinding where God has not bound,that divides brethren. Paul wrote,“They zealously court you, but for nogood; yes, they want to exclude you[from the rest of the saints], that youmay be zealous for them” (Gl 4:17).

The result of the legalistic teach-ers’ work in Galatia and Rome wasdivision among the saints by the re-cruiting of Gentile converts to the“gospel of works.” The judaizers hadestablished what was necessary forsalvation according to their system ofreligious codes. They thus sought tobind on the Galatian and Roman dis-ciples what they considered to be ad-ditional requirements for salvation.Their binding where God had notbound produced trouble and divisionamong the disciples (See Rm16:17,18).

When religious legalism arisesamong disciples, division is inevitableunless all members are intimidatedinto conforming to the same regi-mented practices and religious rites.And this is exactly what the falseteachers from Jerusalem sought to do


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when they came down from Jerusa-lem to Antioch in order to bind whereGod had not bound (See Gl 2:11-14).This is what was happening amongmany disciples in the first centuryconcerning those who were teachingcircumcision as a condition for sal-vation. Luke recorded of the situa-tion, “And certain men came downfrom Judea and taught the brethren,‘Unless you are circumcised accord-ing to the custom of Moses, you can-not be saved’” (At 15:1). By bindingwhere God had loosed (circumcisionand the law), these teachers were di-viding the brotherhood of believers.In doing this, Paul stated that theywere preaching another gospel (Gl1:6-9). Therefore, anyone who wouldteach the gospel, plus their added re-ligious traditions, is actually preach-ing another gospel.

The irony of division over thebinding of religious rites is in the factthat the legalist often accuses othersof dividing the church than himself.He accuses those who refuse to bebound by the precepts of the legalist’schecklist of actually dividing thechurch.

The legalist fails to separate hisreligious traditions from the gospel.His legal religious rites have becomelaw in his mind, and thus he assumesthat in order for the saints to be united,everyone must conform to his systemof religiosity. He often does not know

enough Bible to separate traditionfrom what is Bible, and thus, sin-cerely, but ignorantly, binds his tradi-tions on the brotherhood of believers.When some rise up and discover thatthe accepted tradition is not Bible, andthus, seek to change, then these peopleare often accused by the religionist ofbeing liberal and dividing the church.The religious legalist thus gives a pre-tense of spirituality because he is “de-fending the faith” against those he hasjudged not to be living according tothe “truth” of his religious rites.

The truth of the matter, however,is in the fact that he has defined “thetruth” by the addition of matters ofopinion or the traditions of the fathers.He has actually twisted the truth ofGod to his own destruction (2 Pt3;15,16).

The religionist’s accusation of-ten becomes more intense as he ispressed to find scripture for his tradi-tions, but cannot. His only recourseto maintain his position is to defen-sively cry out “church divider,” “lib-eral” or “unsaved.” However, one’sposition is not proved right by thevolume of one’s voice or the zeal bywhich he defends his religion. It isproved right only by a finger on a pas-sage in the Book of God.

An explosion into division al-ways lies under the surface of a broth-erhood that is constructed on a foun-dation of religion. Because no free-


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dom has been taught in order to pro-duce an atmosphere of loving forbear-ance (Ph 4:5), the potential for con-flict between parties within a religionis always present.

Among those disciples whereforbearance and liberty have alwaysbeen maintained in a spirit of gospellove and unity, the potential for divi-sion is always defused by love and for-bearance before it has any opportu-nity to divide the saints. It is for thisreason that Paul wrote to the Coloss-ians, “Now this I say lest anyoneshould deceive you with persuasivewords” (Cl 2:4). The zeal of the reli-gious legalist may deceive one intobelieving that his position is correct.However, Paul warned,

Beware lest anyone cheat youthrough philosophy and empty deceit,according to the tradition of men,according to the basic principles ofthe world, and not according toChrist (Cl 2:8).

G. Gospel freedom denies theworks of the flesh.

Legalistic theology often devel-ops a dichotomous behavior. In otherwords, a supposedly religious personwill do those things that are contraryto the word of God, and yet, he willjustify his behavior by his self-sanc-tifying obedience to the religious rites

of his particular religion. He will of-ten justify his behavior because he hasconvinced himself that such behav-ior does not conflict with God’s will,for he has successfully self-justifiedhimself by his performance of legalrites of worship.

The religious legalist can feeljustified before God by performingthe act of contribution, or supposedleadership action of taking up the con-tribution in the assembly, but then tak-ing the contribution for his own usebecause he feels that his personal needoutweighs the purpose for which thecontribution was taken. The meansjustifies the end. The legalist oftenbelieves that the merit of his leader-ship and the performance of a legalact of contribution has atoned for whatsin may have committed in taking thecontributed money. If the legalistfeels he has checked off all necessaryrequirements for his self-justifiedworship, then he often believes he ispermitted to partake of some sin afterthe “closing prayer.”

But the problem with the legalreligionist is that he fails to deal withthe sin beneath the sin. His legalisticapproach to religion has diverted himfrom concentrating on holiness in hisheart while he feels self-justified byhis legal worship. His concentrationon the outward appearance of legal re-ligious rites has hindered his focus tocorrect inward attitudes that give rise


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to outward sin.One does not have to wonder

much in order to understand the le-galistic mentality of Judas in takingmoney from that which was contrib-uted to Jesus and the disciples (Jn12:6). He was born into a Jewish re-ligious system of legalism that justi-fied actions that were wrong, but wereright if the end justified the wrong.In this way, the legalist sees the im-portance of the outward performanceto be more important than inner holi-ness. It was for this reason that Paulhad to write concerning the works ofthe flesh in the Galatian context ofJewish legalism (Gl 5:19-21). Thisexplains why the supposedly faithfulmember can worship God accordingto legal acts of accepted worship, andthen, commit adultery with the churchsecretary. This explains why thepreacher can preach on kindness, andyet be unkind to his family. This ex-plains why the legalistic church canteach longsuffering, and yet hastilydraw up disfellowship papers.

This explains how a self-sancti-fying experientialist can enjoy anemotional euphoria that is poured outon a Sunday morning, but in his self-righteous religiosity live a life of sinfrom Monday to Saturday.

When outward performance be-comes more important than inwardholiness, then all sorts of contradic-tions are witnessed in legalistic reli-

gion. This is why Paul immediatelysaw the hypocrisy in the situationwhere Peter withdrew from the Gen-tiles when Jerusalem teachers cameto Antioch. “And the rest of the Jewsalso played the hypocrite with him,so that even Barnabas was carriedaway with their hypocrisy” (Gl 2:13).

Peter and Barnabas behavedhypocritically because they “were notstraightforward about the truth of thegospel” (Gl 2:14). They were not liv-ing according to the gospel. Theirbehavior on that occasion was con-trary to the nature of the gospel ofJesus Christ. Though their sin wasnot of the flesh, they were not livingin tune with the straightforwardnessof the gospel.

Because legalism appeals to theflesh, the flesh is trapped in a systemthat does not offer complete controlover the flesh. Since the flesh cannotremain controlled by law, it eventu-ally rebels against all the rules, andthus breaks out of control. When thefrustration with meritorious law-keep-ing reaches a certain point, the legal-ist spiritually crashes. He often dis-cards religion and blames God in hisfrustration, and then falls away to theworld. When the crash comes in thereligious life of a legalistic church, themembers will fight and devour oneanother (Gl 5:15; Js 4:1,2).J. Gospel freedom avoids self-

sanctifying religious rites.


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In a legalistic religion, all mat-ters of belief of the religion have beenestablished. These beliefs are some-times recorded in a written form as acreed book or church manual. Some-times they are unwritten, but believedby the group. The unwritten codesand regulations of a particular groupare often more damaging to the unityof the group in the sense that mem-bers of the group are always in ques-tion concerning what someone elsebelieves and does. What is developedis a committee of watchdogs in thegroup who appoint themselves to beguardians of the beliefs of the group.Suspicion and intimidation thus de-velop in the atmosphere of the fellow-ship of people who are intimidated tostudy their Bibles for fear of beingattacked by the guardians with whomthey might disagree.

This atmosphere of fear and in-timidation was prevalent during theministry of Jesus. For example, Jesushealed a man in Jerusalem who hadbeen born blind. The Pharisees inter-rogated the man’s parents concerningthe healing that had taken place on theSabbath. However, the parents wouldnot confess to the Pharisees who orhow the man had been healed. Johnrecorded,

His parents said these things becausethey feared the Jews, for the Jews

had agreed already that if anyoneconfessed that He was Christ, hewould be put out of the synagogue(Jn 9:22).

In the above scenario of legal religi-osity, the religious leaders controlledthe adherents of the religion by fear.

Groups that establish their reli-gious behavior on the foundation ofidentifiable religious rites seek toclone all adherents to the acceptedrites. Since the religion exists becauseof the established traditions, it is im-perative that the traditions of the fa-thers be maintained. If the Bible playsa part in such religions, then interpre-tations are often traditionalized. Alladherents must therefore conform tothe accepted interpretations.

Since all beliefs of a traditionalreligion have been established by thegroup, there is no need to restudy anypoints of the established codes or in-terpretations that are commonly heldby the group. Emphasis is placed onwhat the group believes on a particu-lar issue or passage, not on any teach-ing some individual adherents mightglean from personal Bible study. It isfor this reason that most independentor traditional churches do not haveopen Bible study classes. In indepen-dent churches the “pastor” is the fi-nal authority, and in traditionalchurches, the “heritage” is the final


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authority in matters of faith. It is theduty of the pastor to uphold the heri-tage of the group.

The individual members of bothindependent and traditional churcheshave given their brains over to theaccepted “scholars” of the group orthe traditional beliefs of the fathers.The traditional interpretations of thegroup are then handed down fromgeneration to generation by word ofmouth or in books that the group ac-cepts as “sound doctrine.” This isexactly what the religious leaders ofIsrael did (See Mk 7:1-9).

When we understand the preced-ing point, we can understand why Paulexhorted Timothy to be a good stu-dent of God’s word. “Be diligent topresent yourself approved to God, aworker who does not need to beashamed, rightly dividing the wordof truth” (2 Tm 2:15). Christiansmust know their Bibles well enoughto be able to determine what is bind-ing and what is not binding. A gen-eration of believers who become ig-norant of the Bible is fertile soil forthe germination of the seeds of reli-gion. An ignorant generation is fer-tile soil because legalists can bindwhere God has not bound. Those whoare ignorant of the word of God willallow their leaders to do such with-out opposition because they do notknow the difference between Bibleand Baal. The membership is then

simply held in line by the intimida-tion of the accepted “scholars” and anignorant generation of the church whobelieve the accepted “authoritative”interpreters of the Scriptures. Thiswas the religious environment intowhich Jesus introduced the gospel offreedom.

In the Galatian situation, theyoung Galatian converts were sweptaway by the presentation of thejudaizing teachers. They were beingzealously courted by the religiosity ofthose brethren who claimed to beambassadors of the truth from Jerusa-lem (Gl 4:17; At 15:24). These legal-ists were taking advantage of someyoung Christians they thought theycould bring into the bondage of theirreligion. They would have succeededif Paul had not flatly stated that theywere teaching another gospel (Gl 1:6-9). If the Galatians followed after thegospel of the judaizing teachers, thenthey would fall from grace (Gl 5:1-4).

Because there is always a dan-ger of falling victim to the unwrittencodes and interpretations of legalis-tic teachers and their teachings, Chris-tians must continually be good stu-dents of God’s word. John warned,“Beloved, do not believe every spirit,but test the spirits, whether they areof God; because many false prophetshave gone out into the world” (1 Jn4:1). It is important to remember to


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test the spirits. However, it is vitalthat the standard of testing be the wordof God, not the accepted interpreta-tions and opinions of any particularreligious group. God’s word is theonly final authority concerning reli-gious beliefs. It is for this reason thateach Christian must be a diligent stu-dent of the Bible.

K. Gospel freedom promotes sin-cerity.

Paul caught the legalistic teach-ers of Galatia in the hypocrisy of theirown theology. “For not even thosewho are circumcised keep the law ....”(Gl 6:13). These teachers kept onlythat part of the law they desired. Theyturned away from that which theychose to ignore. They ignored ani-mal sacrifices. They ignored thoseparts of the law that would bring theminto conflict with those parts of thelaw of Christ they chose to apply.

The problem in a legalistic ap-proach to Christianity is that one of-ten finds himself in a hypocritical trap.He professes to keep the law, and yet,he must confess that he is not keep-ing all the law.

Paul wrote, “And I testify againto every man who becomes circum-cised that he is a debtor to keep thewhole law” (Gl 5:3). In other words,when it comes to law, one cannot pickand choose. If one wanted to return

to the Sinai law for circumcision inorder to be saved, then he must re-turn to all the law. Paul said the samething to some legalistic teachers inRome: “For circumcision is indeedprofitable if you keep the law [per-fectly]; but if you are a breaker of thelaw, your circumcision has becomeuncircumcision” (Rm 2:25). If onewants to go to the law in order to self-justify himself through circumcision,then he must go to all the law. Hemust give up the gospel of grace.

The law could be profitable onthis basis except for one problem. Webreak law (Rm 3:23). We are thuslawbreakers. And lawbreakers aredead in sin (Rm 6:23). Circumcisionavailed nothing toward the salvationof the Jews because they could notkeep all the law perfectly. Becausethey could not keep the law perfectly,they were judged by the law to be sin-ners, and thus, as sinners they werecondemned (Js 2:10). Those whowould seek to be justified by the lawof Christ must remember this.

A legalist cannot theologicallypick and choose what laws he wantsto recognize and practice. He eitherhas to be theologically consistent bykeeping all the law and taking hischances, or he has to step forward andaccept the grace of God on the foun-dation of the gospel. He has to eithertrust in God’s grace or trust in his ownperfect performance of law. If he


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trusts in his performance of law, thenhe must be perfectly obedient to thewhole law, not just that portion hechooses.

When studying the problem oflegalism, we must keep in mind thatsuch is a digression from the truth ofthe gospel. It is as Paul stated, an-other gospel (Gl 1:6-9). This othergospel leads one into falling fromgrace because it leads one to focus onhis own abilities to meritoriously keeplaw and perform good deeds (Gl 5:4).It destroys the liberty one has in Christ(Gl 5:1). It brings one into bondage(At 15:10; Gl 5:1). It leads one to livein conflict with the truth of the gos-pel (Gl 3:1). It leads to boasting (Ep2:9; Gl 6:13). It leads to cancellingthe effectiveness of the cross (Gl 2:2;5:2).

L. Gospel freedom seeks the guid-ance of law.

We must understand that Jesus’ministry was to a religious people whowere led by legalistic religious lead-ers. The early disciples were estab-lished first among the Jews who werethe product of these leaders. In orderto understand the purpose for whichmuch of the New Testament was writ-ten, one must understand the natureof traditional legalistic religion.

We must not misunderstand whatPaul is saying concerning legalism in

many of his writings. Too often crit-ics accuse Paul of believing that obe-dience to law was not necessary con-cerning one’s salvation. In fact, somein Rome believed that because we aresaved by grace, we are not obligatedto direct our lives by the law of God.Paul rebuked some Roman Christians,“Shall we continue in sin that gracemay abound?” (Rm 6:1). In otherwords, if grace saves to the uttermost,then in order to have an aboundinggrace of God in one’s life, we can liveas we please. In doing this, Judestated that some “turn the grace ofour God into licentiousness” (Jd 4).Some felt free to live as they wishedbecause of an erroneous belief thatgrace would cover all sin. This is theChristian who believes he can get bywith all sorts of sin because we areunder grace. This is also the Chris-tian who feels he has no obligationsbecause we are supposedly saved bygrace alone.

One must not deceive himselfinto believing he can sow to the fleshand reap the fruit of the Spirit of God(Gl 6:6,7). One must not believe thathe or she has no obligations towardhis or her brother or sister, for we must“bear one another’s burdens and sofulfill the law of Christ” (Gl 6:2). Onemust not believe that he can idly sitby and do nothing, for in Christ ourfaith must be working through love(Gl 5:6). If one is doing nothing, then


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it is evident that he has no gratitudefor the gospel of Jesus.

We must not misunderstandgrace. Grace frees one from salva-tion by meritorious law-keeping. Itdoes not free one to do his own thing,and thus, live after the flesh. We mustalways remember that when the Scrip-tures discuss faith, faith in responseto the gospel is assumed. If our faithin the gospel produces no good works,then we are dead (Js 2:17). The truthof the gospel is so axiomatic in thelives of those who live by faith, thatobedience is simply assumed.

When one understands salvationby grace, he understands that he is notsaved by the traditions of men. He isfreed from human religious traditions.For this reason, those who preach thegospel of grace have the greatest mes-sage in the world to a religious worldthat is in the bondage of their ownreligiosity. In a world that strugglesto maintain the religious traditions ofthe fathers, the freedom of the graceof God comes as a message of deliv-erance.

When one understands salvationby grace, then the law of God is es-tablished in his life by faith. Paulwrote, “Do we then make void the lawthrough faith? Certainly not! On thecontrary, we establish the law” (Rm3:31). When one through faith rec-ognizes and trusts in the grace of God,he cries out, “Abba, Father.” He seeks

to obey the Father as an obedient childof faith. In gratitude to the Father,therefore, he seeks to obey the Father.His life under grace is thus more abun-dant than a life of self-sanctifying law-keeping. Paul wrote of his own life,

But by the grace of God I am what Iam, and His grace toward me was notin vain; but I labored more abun-dantly than they all, yet not I, butthe grace of God which was with me(1 Co 15:10).

While a legalistic Jew, Paul wasknown for being a diligent laborer forGod. However, when he discoveredthe grace of God that was revealedthrough Jesus, he labored more abun-dantly. Therefore, when one discov-ers the gospel of grace, he labors moreabundantly for God than when hesought God through meritorious obe-dience. Legalistic theology puts lim-its on the obedience of an individual.However, the gospel frees one to spiri-tually grow without limits. Legalismlimits; gospel causes growth.

As we venture into the marvel-ous letters of the New Testament, wediscover the nature of God’s heart ofgrace that sets men free. Jesus cameto set men free. Jesus said, “And youshall know the truth, and the truthshall make you free” (Jn 8:32).“Therefore if the Son makes you free,you shall be free indeed” (Jn 8:36).


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Jesus came to set the captives free (Is61:1; Ep 4:8,9). The captives are notfree from law, but they are free fromthemselves in reference to meritori-ous performance of law. They are freefrom religion through the gospel ofJesus. They are set free in order toobey God rather than man.

In a religious sense, legalism isreligious humanism. Secular hu-manism makes people the center ofreference to life. It is believed thatthe power of existence centers aroundthe ability of the individual to controlhis own destiny. The secular human-ist discards God for the sake of trust-ing his own egocentric ability to behis own person.

The religious humanist main-tains belief in God. In the Galatianand Roman context, the religious hu-manist believed in the gospel of graceon the cross. However, he also trustedin himself by emphasizing his abilityto perform law or do meritoriousdeeds in order to sanctify himself.The legalist, therefore, becomes thecenter of reference for his own reli-gion that he has created after his ownsystem of religious self-sanctification.

However, all such beliefs enslaveone to himself. The legalist usuallydoes not have a conscience that is freeof guilt. If it is free of guilt, it is arro-


gant, for he assumes that he has per-formed law sufficiently in order tosave himself. Such a one is self-cen-tered. In his or her self-centered reli-gious egotism, dependence on thegospel fades into a distant past as onearrogantly assumes pride in oneself toself-sanctify oneself through the per-formance of religious rites.

The more we understand the truementality of legalism, the better wewill understand why Holy Spirit wasso stern against its invasion into theGalatian and Roman churches. Thebetter we understand Spirit’s argu-ment against legalism, the better wewill appreciate the tremendous graceof God in our lives to save us fromourselves.

It is through this grace that wereceive the peace of God that sur-passes all understanding. It is becauseof this grace that the Christian canhave confidence in his salvation. Hecan have confidence, not because ofmeritorious good works, or his abil-ity to keep law perfectly. His confi-dence is in the grace of the gospel re-gardless of human imperfections.Therefore, because of His grace to-ward us at the cross of Christ, we liveout thanksgiving to Him for the rev-elation of the gospel.

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The Bible - Roger E. Dickson, 1990, 2018: Africa ...africainternational.org/files/Book 1.pdf · Roger E. Dickson CONTENTS Introduction ... The Old Testament Scriptures were written