WHO DOESN’T BELIEVE THE OLD TESTAMENT?

Bob Myhan

t is often said that churches of Christ do not believe and teach the Old Testament. This, of course, is certainly not true. The problem is twofold. In the first place, most of the people who make such statements do not understand the Old Testament. In the second place, most of those who consider themselves Christians do not understand that people are now living under the New Testament.

he thirty-nine books of the Old Testament can be classified as seventeen books of History (Genesis through Esther), five books of Poetry (Job through Song of Solomon) and seventeen books of Prophecy (Isaiah through Malachi). The first five books of history are also designated "Law." The law is variously called "the law of God," because God gave it, and "the law of Moses," because it was given through Moses (Nehemiah 8:1-18; Ezra 7:6; 2 Chronicles 34:14). Throughout these thirty-nine books God was dealing almost exclusively with those who had descended physically from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

ost people do not realize that the Old Testament predicted a time when it would no longer be authoritative. Before the Israelites entered the promised land, Moses told them, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear.” “And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him” (Deuteronomy 18:15,19). The apostle Peter tells us that Moses was speaking of Jesus (Acts 3:19-23).

n the book of Jeremiah, we have the following prophecy:

"Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Is­rael and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord" (31:31,32).

he writer of the book of Hebrews quotes the above passage concluding, "In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete" (8:13). He later says that Jesus “takes away the first [testament] that He may establish the second” (10:5-9).

aul, concerning the Old Testament, wrote that Christ has “taken it out of the way, having nailed it to His cross” (Colossians 2:14). Paul also called it "a tutor" (Galatians 3:24), which the Jews were ”no longer under” (3:25).

hen Jesus told of a conversation between Abraham and a certain rich man who had died, He pointed out that the rich man’s brothers needed to hear “Moses and the prophets” (Luke 16:29-31), because their writings were authoritative in the Jewish economy. On the Mount of Transfiguration, however, when Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus (Luke 9:27-35), God said to Peter, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!”

o when one looks into the Old Testament, he is sent to the New Testament. Thus, members of churches of Christ are the only ones who do believe the Old Testament.

hus, churches of Christ do not look to the Old Testament for their authority. They therefore do nothing by the authority of the Old Testament. Rather, they practice ONLY what is authorized in the New Testament. &

SEEING SIN FOR WHAT IT IS

Bob Myhan

he Greek word most often translated as "sin" literally means to "miss the mark." Thus, when we sin, we "miss the mark" which God has set for us (Romans 3:23; Ephesians 4:26). But there are other things that we need to know about sin, if we are to truly recognize it for what it is.

here are at least three words used as synonyms for sin. The first of these is transgression: "Primarily a going aside, then, an overstepping, is used metaphorically to denote transgression (always a breach of law)" (Vine, page 1172).

he second of these is iniquity: "Lawlessness" (Vine, page 600); “In 1 John 3:4, the R.V. adheres to the real meaning of the word, ‘every one that doeth sin (a practice, not the committal of an act) doeth also lawlessness: and sin is lawlessness.’ This definition of sin sets forth its essential character as the rejection of the law, or will, of God and the substitution of the will of self” (Vine, page 657).

he third word is unrighteousness: "The comprehensive term for wrong, or wrong-doing, as between persons" (Vine, page 1197).

here are two types of sin or ways of sinning: sins of commission—doing what God forbids or does not authorize (1 John 3:4), and sins of omission—failing to do what is right (James 4:17).

here are several Biblical figures for sin that will help us to see it for what it is.

ne such figure is that of "a heavy burden" which the Lord will gladly replace with a lighter one (Psalm 38:4-6; Isaiah 24:20; Matthew 11:28-30).

nother figure is that of "foolishness" (Numbers 12:11; 1 Samuel 13:13; 2 Samuel 24:10).

in is also symbolized as "a hard taskmaster" from which sinners can be made free (John 8:31-34; Romans 6:6,16-18; 2 Peter 2:19).

t is "a putrefying disease" from which sinners need to be healed (Isaiah 1:4-6; Hosea 7:1; 14:4; Psalm 41:4).

t is "a polluting filth" from which sinners must be cleansed (2 Corinthians 7:1; 2 Peter 2:20-22; James 1:21).

t is "a binding debt" which sinners can never repay but from which they can be released (Matthew 6:12,14,15; 18:21-35).

t is "a blemishing stain" which can only be removed by water and the blood (Psalm 51:1,2,7; Ephesians 5:25-27; Acts 22:16; Revelation 1:5).

t is "an impenetrable darkness" which can only be dispelled by the light of God’s word (2 Corinthians 6:14; 1 John 1:6; 2:9,11; Psalm 119:105; John 1:1-9; 3:19-21).

od’s word describes sin in the most negative of terms. It seems that He wants us to be as repulsed by the idea of sin as He is. Sin makes God sick (Revelation 3:16) and it should make us sick, as well. &