A gracEmail subscriber writes: "I am spiritually confused. If you surf the net, you will virtually see a Holy War between Christians and Christians. [One particular website] contains exposes of most of the better-known Christian teachers both past and present, including established pillars of the faith. I am not sure whom to believe. How do we effectively wade through the sea of information that is out there? How do we know what is doctrinally safe and accurate?" * * * I appreciate your concern and I understand your confusion. Jesus himself said we are to test teachers and that we can do … [Read more...]

Several gracEmail readers have asked about the Apocrypha, books found in the Catholic Old Testament but not in most Protestant Bibles. * * * The term "Apocrypha" is a Greek word meaning "hidden (books)," and it usually refers to 13-15 books of Jewish origin, written between about 200 B.C. and A.D. 120. The Palestinian rabbis did not include these books in the Hebrew Bible (which Christians call the "Old Testament"). The Egyptian Jews did include them in the Septuagint, however, which was the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures made in Alexandria a century or two before … [Read more...]

Someone asks why Matthew selected and arranged his Gospel material as he did, and why we believe that Matthew was written especially for the Jews. * * * Just as the Old Testament begins with five books of Moses (Pentateuch), Matthew structures his Gospel in five sections -- each consisting of a teaching by Jesus (chaps. 5-7, 10, 13, 18, 24-25) followed by a piece of the Gospel story (chapters 8-9, 11-12, 14-17, 19-23, 26-27). Matthew introduces these five sections in chapters 1-4, and he follows them with an epilogue in chapter 28. All five teachings of Jesus concern the Kingdom of God. He … [Read more...]

Psalm 118:22-23 foretells Jesus' rejection by others, as it portrays the rejected building stone which God selects and uses as the cornerstone for his Temple (Matt. 21:42; Acts 4:11-12; Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Pet. 2:4-8). Psalm 16:7-11 expresses the faith of a righteous man that God will have the final word over death, and it is fulfilled in Jesus' resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:31-32; 13:34-37). Although the New Testament does not make the point, Jesus' ascension and entry into heaven then fulfill the scene portrayed in Psalm 24:7-10, which is the reward of the godly life described in Psalm … [Read more...]

New Testament authors quote the Book of Psalms more than any other Old Testament book except Isaiah (Deuteronomy has third place), echoing at least 101 of its 150 individual Psalms. Small wonder that Jesus taught his disciples about himself from the Psalms (Luke 24:27, 44-45). If we read the Psalms as Jesus' disciples did, with the Savior in our minds, we will see even more "fulfillments" in Jesus which are not quoted in the New Testament. Read Psalms 1 or 23, for example, and notice how Jesus best personifies these portrayals of God's faithful.servant on the earth. The imagery of "Son of … [Read more...]

Someone has said that the New Testament is the Old Testament plus Jesus. Jesus "fulfilled" the Prophets' inspired predictions, but he also filled full the highest prophetic dreams, ideals, aspirations and hopes. For example, the virgin Mary conceives a son (Isa. 7:14 in Greek), who is born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2-5). Jesus is born to be the consolation of Israel and a light to the nations (Isa. 42:6). The infant Jesus escapes from Herod, then returns from Egypt (Hosea 11:1). Bethlehem's infants are slaughtered amidst great weeping (Jer. 31:15). Thirty years later, John announces in the … [Read more...]

The New Testament Scriptures are the primary witness of Spirit-enlightened men to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the implications of that story for humankind. These Christian writings also are a reflection upon the meaning of the older, Hebrew Scriptures in the light of Jesus Christ. All the Old Testament Scriptures -- the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, as the Jews divided their Bible -- foreshadow and prefigure the Messiah and the great rescue he would accomplish (Luke 24:27, 44-48). Reading the Old Testament points us to Christ, beginning with Creation (Gen. 1; 2 … [Read more...]

Responding to a recent piece about the Hebrew and Greek words which the King James Version translated as "virgin" in Isaiah 7:14 and in Matthew 1:23 respectively, a gracEmail subscriber asks for more discussion about Matthew's use of the words "fulfilled" in connection with Old Testament language and events. * * * We saw earlier that when Matthew tells the story of Jesus' supernatural birth, he quotes the Greek word for "virgin" (parthenos) from Isaiah 7:14 of his Greek Old Testament, although the original Hebrew word (almah) simply meant a "young woman" (Matt. 1:18-23). Matthew then … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber writes: “I am in conversation with a Reformed Jew about objections to recognizing Jesus as Messiah. Can you help me understand why Christians interpret Isaiah 7:14 as referring to a “virgin” but Jews do not. I have also heard that the Hebrew Bible has a definite article before the word in question. Is that true?” * * * As Isaiah 7 opens, the kings of Israel and Syria have joined forces to invade Jerusalem. God sends Isaiah and his son Shear-Jashub to tell King Ahaz of Judah to trust God. God even invites Ahaz to request a divine sign for his assurance. Ahaz refuses, so … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber asks how someone can support a literal contruction of scripture but not wish to execute rebellious children as the Old Testament prescribes. Did God decide that the Old Testament was too harsh and replace it with a milder set of rules? Why is the Old Testament still in our Christian Bible? * * * The real issue here is not one of literalism but of audience and purpose. The Hebrew Bible, which Christians call the "Old Testament," is the record of God's dealings with his covenant people the Jews, plus the Jewish oral traditions of God's earlier involvement with pre-Jewish … [Read more...]