By Russ Atmore
Marcion lived in the second century. His followers are alive and well
today, even in the church. He believed that the God of the Old Testament
and the God of the New Testament were not one and the same God. He
argued that the God of the Old Testament was a malevolent, vitriolic
Creator/Judge, and the God of the New Testament was a loving Redeemer.
Marcion, thus rejected the Old Testament and declared that it should be
removed from the canon of Scripture, and only the New Testament should
be read. An exceptional liberal German theologian by the name of Adolf
von Harnack (died 1930) also believed the same. The tragedy is that
twenty-first century Christians also seem to believe the same. Now I
know that no genuine Bible-believing Christian is going to deny the
infallibility of the Bible, but by their ignorance of the Old Testament,
they seem to affirm Marcion and von Harnack’s views.
Let’s correct this right
now! I suspect that the majority of us Christians place greater reliance
and emphasis upon the New Testament, in both our reading, memorization,
witnessing and preaching. This is a shame for one major reason. The Old
Testament is simply God’s Word. It has a mandatory, relevant message for
Christians today. It is true that it is often difficult to understand
the Old Testament. It takes perseverance and hard work to work your way
through the Old Testament, but the rewards are life-long and eternal.
You do have to pay attention to differences in culture, life before
Christ, and even the rigors and nuances of the Hebrew language. So, we
must treat the Old Testament as the Word of God, inspired, infallible,
authoritative, sufficient and relevant for us. Such an approach is the
proper way to look at the Old Testament.
The Old Testament is a
veritable gold mine, deposited with incredible riches. A deep knowledge
of the Old Testament opens up the New Testament in ever-increasing
freshness. God’s working through the lives of the Old Testament saints
is of crucial importance for us, for it reveals to us the vagaries of
life. It shows us how weak we really are, and how strong we can really
become. Ignorance of these truths from the Old Testament will leave you
poor and mal-nourished. I suspect that most Christians, despite
encouragement, still have not even read their way through the Old
Testament. This is all the more sad because most of these Christians are
not classified as young people. Some have been Christians for many
years. Imagine getting to heaven and meeting a saint from the Old
Testament and not even knowing who they are.
I have the sneaking
suspicion that there are going to have to be a lot of
introductions in that future day. Why not save yourself that
embarrassment and get to know the people of God from ages past. Reading
and studying the Old Testament requires bravery – bravery to venture
into another time and world. You will discover that God’s people from
time gone by are just like you.
You will expose yourself to
narratives, to poetry, to history, to wisdom and to the prophets. You
will see yourself with all your weaknesses and failures. You will read
about what God can do through all kinds of folk – folk just like you!
This is the attraction of the Old Testament – it hides nothing. You will
find a brilliant king waylaid by adultery. You see a young man defend
his purity and be thrown into prison for twelve long years, only to
emerge as ruler of the world’s most powerful nation at that time. You
will discover mighty women of God who spoke for their God and defeated
ancient kings. You will see prophets maligned for their faithful
witness. You will see all these things – are they any different from us
today. I don’t think so. Rather, I believe that in order to be effective
Christians for our God, let us get to know our Old Testaments and love
it.
Psalm 89:1,2
– “I will sing of the Lord’s
great love forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness
through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm
forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.”
Psalm 119:14-16
- “I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great
riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I
delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.”
Read your
Old Testament – You will meet your God.
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