The Unifying Word

© 2015 Rev. John K. Wortinger. All rights reserved.

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NRSV

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Website

Published by AuthorHouse 11/11/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-6112-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-6110-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-6111-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015918697

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CONTENTS

About The Book

Introduction

Lesson 1 The Passover and the Last Supper

Exodus 12: 1-14; Luke 22: 7-24; Matt. 26: 17-30

Lesson 2 Creation and the Incarnation

Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a; John 1: 1-5;

Luke 1: 26-38; Luke 2: 1-20; John 1: 6-18

Lesson 3 The Tower of Babel and the Day of Pentecost

Genesis 11: 1-9; Acts 2

Lesson 4 The Call of Abram and the Call of Mary

Genesis 12: 1-9; Luke 1: 26-38

Lesson 5 The Sacrifice of Isaac and the Cross of Christ

Genesis 22: 1-14; Matt. 27: 32-54;

Mark 15: 20-39; Luke 23:33-47; John 19: 17-30

Lesson 6 The Garden of Eden and the Garden of Gethsemane

Genesis 2 and 3; Luke 22: 39 – 53

Lesson 7 The Burning Bush and the Road to Damascus

Genesis 3:1 – 4:17; Acts 9:1 – 22

Lesson 8 The Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes

Exodus 20: 1 – 21; Matthew 5:1 - 12

Lesson 9 The Call of Isaiah and the Call of the Disciples

Isaiah 6:1-9; Luke 5:1 - 11

Lesson 10 The Sacrilege of Nadab and Abihu and the cleansing of the Temple.

Leviticus 10:1 – 11; Matthew 21: 12 – 16

Lesson 11 The Lord is my Shepherd and I Am the Good Shepherd.

Psalm 23; John 10:11-18

Lesson 12 Manna from Heaven and I Am the Bread of Life

Exodus 16: 1-8; John 6: 25-56

Conclusion The Light for our Path

Psalm 119: 1-2, 9, 45-46, 105; II Timothy 3:1-5, 14-17

About The Book

Synopsis of the The Unifying Word

The Word of God brings unity and empowerment to people who were created in the image of God. The Word of God is within itself unified. The Word of God, The Bible, is one book, and it speaks with one voice. All scripture is held together by Jesus Christ who is himself The Unifying Word.

The Unifying Word is a book which demonstrates this truth in every chapter. The Unifying Word thoroughly examines 26 parallels between the Old and New Testaments. This book uses a methodology of asking questions of each passage from the point of view of its parallel as a pattern for the student of scripture. Each of the parallels is a context for its corollary part demonstrating that neither testament can be fully understood apart from its parallel in the other testament. Together the parallels give a greater depth of understanding into the scripture. The parallels give evidence that God has a purpose and a plan as He intervenes in human history. This approach to Holy Scripture was used extensively by the Apostle Paul and all of the Gospel writers.

The Unifying Word has been written as a study of 26 of these parallels, but the book also points to a number of additional parallels that could be explored using the methodology outlined in the book. This book is an important resource for the serious student of the Bible. The book has been designed not only for individual study, but also a guided group study with a group study guide included with each chapter. The book has been field tested with several adult bible study groups.

Introduction

The thesis of this study is that the Old Testament and the New Testament interpret each other. There are numerous scriptural passages that have parallels in both the Old Testament and the New Testament which will be understood best if read and studied together. The Word of God is one! When we seek to live by its guidance, the Word of God has the power of unifying and empowering our lives.

This thesis has often been challenged. As early as 139 AD challenges came, which tried to separate the Old Testament from the New Testament. Marcion was an early challenger. He was the son of a Christian bishop from Sinope on the Black Sea. Sinope is just north of the Galatia region in the north central highlands of modern day Turkey. The Apostle Paul wrote the book of Galatians to these Christians of Galatia. From Galatians we know a couple of issues which have bearing on Marcion and his background. First, there was a Christian community established quite early in north central Anatolla (modern Turkey). It is not surprising that the Christian faith would spread to Sinope, a city of some size on the Black Sea, because early Christianity tended to thrive in city environments, particularly seaports with commerce related activity. This may be because Jewish communities were often located in such settings. We know from the practice of Paul, the proclamation of the good news of Jesus often began in a Jewish synagogue and then spread to the Gentiles.

But this practice of witness also highlights the second point we learn from the book of Galatians. There was a significant backlash to the gospel, as proclaimed by Paul, from the Jewish community and from some Jewish Christians. Paul would describe some Jewish Christians as Judaizing elements in the church who argued with Paul around two issues. First, should Gentiles become Jews before becoming Christians? Second, should the church including Gentiles keep the Jewish Law and practice including the rite of circumcision? For Paul, the insistence to keep Jewish Law and practice negated the good news of Jesus Christ. For Paul, salvation comes by faith not by works. Paul argues extensively in both Galatians and Romans about this issue (Romans 2:17 – 3:31; Galatians 6: 11-16). It is important to note here, that Paul is in harmony with the critical decision of the early church at the Council of Jerusalem. The council was faced with what to do with the Gentile believers in Antioch. Acts 15 records the argument and decision which did not require Gentiles to be circumcised or become Jews before becoming Christians. The decision was that the gospel was for Jews and Gentiles. Christianity would not become a sect within Judaism.

Marcion in 139 AD came to Rome and began to teach. He rejected the Old Testament and accepted only parts of the Gospel of Luke and the letters of Paul. Marcion taught that the God of the Old Testament was a lesser God whose work of creation had to be corrected by Jesus.

Marcion’s ideas were a backlash against the Judaizing elements in the church of his day which wanted to stick with Old Testament practice and were reluctant to accept some parts of the New Testament. The background and behavior of the Gentiles were offensive to the sensibilities of these Judaizing elements in the church.

While the Apostle Paul had argued with these same Judaizing elements in the church at Rome and Galatia, Paul’s approach was to go to the Old Testament to develop his argument. He specifically went to the example of Abraham and showed where the Judaizing elements of the church had gone wrong as Paul brought together both the Old Testament Scriptures and the New Testament Scriptures. Marcion’s attempt to deal with the issue was to cut off the Old Testament altogether and interpret Christianity without its roots and history.

Marcion was excommunicated as heretical in 144 AD. He left Rome and continued to build a following in the East. But this was not the end of attempts to separate the Old Testament and New Testament. However, such attempts are short sighted for they cut off the roots and context of the faith for Christians. Furthermore, the opposite attempt, illustrated by the Judaizing elements, that rejects all or part of the New Testament cuts off the fulfillment and power of God’s promises from the Jewish faith.

In fact, the practice and teaching of Jesus and history of the early church pointed to a blending of the witness of Old and New Testaments. As Jesus begins his ministry, he traveled to the synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath and read from the prophet Isaiah (61: 1-2). Then Jesus applied the scripture to himself as its fulfillment (Luke 4: 16-30). Jesus would continue to use the Old Testament as a reference point throughout his ministry.

After the resurrection Jesus joined Cleopas and his companion as they walked on the road to Emmaus. Cleopas and his companion did not recognize Jesus, but their hearts burned within them as Jesus opened up the scriptures (the Old Testament) to them and taught them. Jesus began with Moses and all the prophets. Then he explained all the truth about himself in all the scriptures. There are over three hundred Old Testament prophecies which are fulfilled in Jesus.

Ravi Zacharias in his book Questions I Would Like to Ask God captures the scene for us. If one could only be face to face with Him from whom life comes, whom to know means Truth and to follow means direction, how delightful would be those moments when the most confounding questions of life are raised. We are not surprised when we read in the Gospel of Luke that the men, who walked on the Emmaus Road, though unaware that they were walking with the risen Christ, said that their hearts burned within them as He opened up the past, the present, and the future to them. When they realized who He was, a light for all history had been turned on. That scene makes it clear that there is unity of purpose in what God has been about through-out history. That unity of purpose is now focused in Jesus Christ, who is now raised from the dead and now revealed for who He is.

Jesus throughout his ministry and after the resurrection sets the pattern of placing his ministry within the context of the Old Testament. The witness of the apostles and the early church practice was to do the same thing. The early sermons of the apostles are heavily rooted in the Old Testament scriptures.

Peter delivers the first sermon of the apostles recorded in scripture on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-42). Peter begins the sermon by quoting the prophet Joel. In the sermon, he connects the experience of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples with the promised out pouring of the Spirit of God which was promised by God through the prophecy of Joel. Peter then quotes David, the great King of Israel, in the 16th Psalm as foreshadowing the resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus is the Holy One of whom David spoke, who would not see decay. The resurrection, Peter says, is not a surprise, but the fulfilment of God’s plan which was of old and is now fulfilled in our presence. In proclaiming both the out pouring of the Holy Spirit and the resurrection of Jesus, Peter reminds the Israelites before him of the witness of the prophets and the great king of Israel, who had promised these very things. Then Peter delivers the heart of his proclamation, Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified (Acts 2:36). Peter is clear that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah, the fulfillment of the promises of God spoken by prophets and kings and recorded in the Old Testament. Peter connects the Old Testament and what will become the New Testament as a continuation of God’s work of salvation for the people he created in His own image. It is all one story which has one purpose, the redemption of humankind.

The apostle Paul reinforces this understanding of one story with one purpose when he tells King Agrippa, I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen (Acts 26:22). More pointedly, the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, makes a case for Gentiles, who were at one time strangers to the covenants of promise, becoming fellow members of the household of God with the commonwealth of Israel. Gentiles and Jews are joined together into a holy temple in the Lord built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20-22).

Not all interpreters see the reference to the prophets as referring to the Old Testament prophets. However this, I believe, is precisely the line of argument that the Apostle Paul has used in Ephesians 2: 11-22 as he pleads the case for unity in Christ. The unity he argues for is the unity of Gentiles and Jewish believers who are united together in Christ. Ephesians