On Where the Old Covenant is Found

CatechismTheology
Written By Chris Corbin
 

Q. Where is this Old Covenant to be found?
A. The covenant with the Hebrew people is to be found in the books which we call the Old Testament.

Q. Where in the Old Testament is God’s will for us shown most clearly?
A. God’s will for us is shown most clearly in the Ten Commandments.

 

The last two questions related to the Old Covenant are, all things considered, rather straightforward. There are only really two issues I’d like to explore further for these questions and answers.

In the first question and answer, there is an issue of terminology. For many Christians, the fact that there would be an issue, specifically with the language of “Old Testament,” will likely be a surprise. But for anyone who has dipped their toes into the world of academic biblical studies, you will have noticed that there is a tendency to talk about the “Hebrew Bible” rather than the “Old Testament.” The motivation for this is good: It is an attempt to point out that these texts can stand on their own; it serves to lessen the possibility of seeing these texts as simply a prologue to something else, a way to be neutral to the religious commitments of Christianity, Judaism and anyone studying the text without religious commitment. There are some drawbacks, of course, to the use of the language of “Hebrew Bible” for this assemblage of texts since some of those commonly included in this collection were written not in the Hebrew language but in Aramaic. By and large, though this terminology, referencing the overwhelmingly dominant language the texts are written in, works well in the context of non-sectarian biblical studies.

However, there can also be a tendency for Christians with Christian theological and hermeneutical (with hermeneutics being the way we read a text, or the methods and assumptions we bring to a text) commitments to import this language of “Hebrew Scriptures” as a replacement for referring to these texts as the Old Testament. Such an impulse surely springs from noble intentions, often the attempt to avoid denigrating the texts sacred in Judaism as mere prologue or backstory for the “real” event of the New Testament. However, such a move, regardless of the good intentions, doesn’t seem quite right for Christians. To begin with, using “Hebrew Bible” is not actually engaging common terminology with Judaism since sacred scripture in Judaism is known as the Tanakh. Second, the collection of texts used by Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox churches stretches the applicability of language of the “Hebrew Bible” even farther by including books originally written in Greek. Finally, and most importantly, Christianity and Judaism are different religions with different and at times conflicting theological commitments about how to read the text. In fact, one of the central theological commitments distinguishing Christianity and Judaism is the Christian belief that in Jesus Christ the Law has been fulfilled and a new covenant with all peoples established. To affirm that Jews and Christians disagree about the status and role of Jesus Christ is simply to tell the truth that Jews and Christians disagree about certain theological commitments. That this disagreement has tragically been used to justify horrendous violence by Christians against Jews should be neither denied or minimized and it is incumbent upon Christians to repent of this history. At the same time, unless one holds that disagreement inherently leads to violence, which I do not believe to be the case, we must be able to say that this deep disagreement was an illegitimate ground for violence. Otherwise, we place ourselves in a position of saying that violence is in fact justified when real disagreement exists but that the history of Christian violence against Judaism is simply one of tragic misunderstanding. For this reason, I believe the Catechism is correct to maintain language of the “Old Testament” for the portion of the Christian Bible that contains the record of the Old Covenant.

The second issue relates to the second question and answer: How is it, given the number of laws included in the Torah or first five books of the Bible, do we arrive at the Ten Commandments as the clearest indication of God’s will? This, importantly, is not a Christian innovation but an interpretation that had already developed in Judaism. For instance, Philo of Alexandria, who was about a generation older than Jesus, used the Ten Commandments as the headings under which he discussed the other laws. Judaism came to see the Ten Commandments as the theological basis for all other commandments. Furthermore, if one can see them as the organizing principle for other commandments, it seems that one can work the other direction and see them as an explanation of a more basic principle, and this seems to also be what is going on. When we turn to the following Catechism section dealing with the Ten Commandments, we will see that they are divided according to whether they have to do with love of God or love of neighbor. This division then offers the Ten Commandments as a further clarification of Jesus’ claim that the “all the Law and Prophets” hang on the commandments to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-40).

 

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Chris Corbin

The Rev. Dr. Chris Corbin is editor-in-chief for Earth & Altar and is the Missioner for Transition and Leadership for the Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota. His interests include British Romanticism, Anglican theology, ministerial formation, and evangelism. Beyond this, Chris spends far too much time drawing cartoon versions of saints. He likes to think of himself as the Episcopal Church’s Ron Swanson, what with his woodworking and avoiding small talk. He/him. You can check out his book, The Evangelical Party and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Return to the Church of England, or follow him on Twitter @theodramatist.

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