We Become What We Worship
G.K. Beale
Paperback: 341 pages
Publisher: IVP Academic (November 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 083082877X
ISBN-13: 978-0830828777
Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
Amazon.com
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On my last blog, I did a short study on Mark’s view of Christ according to his prologue. Soon, I hope to incorporate that article on this blog and maybe take it a little more in-depth, but when I translated Mark 1:3 I strayed from the traditional rendering. In this entry, I am going to look at why I did so.
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One thing that flows through the Old Testament covenants is the mission of Israel to be “missionaries” to the nations- that is, they were to live in such a way that they make יהוה known. Yet, we also see that there was a definite failure of this mission at times, so that when it was actually accomplished it seems to be an exception rather than the rule. The book of Jonah is probably the best known example of this reluctancy. So when I read Psalm 47.8-9, I can help but wonder what goes through the mind of an ancient Israelite who sang and celebrated the Psalter. Perhaps it is much like the way most Christians sing today? Vapid regurgitation of songs as “worship?” Here’s the Psalm:
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“For without the Old Testament, Jesus quickly loses reality and either becomes a stained-glass window figure- colourful but static and undemanding, or a tailor’s dummy that can be twisted and dressed to suit the current fashion.

We have seen that the Old Testament tells the story which Jesus completed. It declares the promise which he fulfilled. It provides the pictures and models which shaped his identity. It programmes a mission which he accepted and passed on. It teaches a moral orientation to God and the world which he endorsed, shaprened and laid as the foundation for obedient discipleship.”

-Christopher J. Wright, “Knowing God through the Old Testament, pgs. 251-252

I’ve been reading Chris Wright’s book Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament, and have been enjoying it quite a bit. I’m usually on par with everything that has been said thus far, and really enjoyed the chapter on prediction and promise. At one point in the book, Wright discusses 1 Corinthians 15:3,4 and how both the death and resurrection of Christ is “according to the Scriptures.” I enjoyed what he had to say about it, but would like to bring the question to you all.
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As most commentators have pointed out, Paul seems to make an allusion in 2 Corinthians 5:12c to 1 Samuel 16:7. As I am translating this section, I bring this up only to take a look of the use of idioms.

The verse in English is:
“So that you might have an answer against those who take pride in appearances and not in what is in the heart.”

Here is the Greek:
ἵνα ἔχητε πρὸς τοὺς ἐν προσώπῳ καυχωμένους καὶ μὴ ἐν καρδίᾳ.
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I was reading in my text for my introduction to Old Testament I class tonight, and I ran across this great quote:

“Since the covenant is the instrument used by God to effect self-revelation, the Old Testament often appears to be a history of the covenant, or of aspects of it, more than a history of Israel. So Genesis 15-20 is a history of the establishment of the Abrahamic covenant. Exodus-Deuteronomy is a history of the establishment of the Mosaic covenant at Sinai. Joshua is a record of God’s faithfulness to the covenant, while Judges is a record of Israel’s unfaithfulness to the covenant. The books of Samuel and Kings are a history of the covenant of kingship (the Davidic covenant). It is the covenant as God’s plan that is more in focus than the people who are involved generation after generation.”

To this I would add that the prophetic writings (the nevi’im) can be seen as a call back to covenant faithfulness, as well as pointing to the covenant which was to come in Jesus Christ. This perspective of the OT leads me to wonder- what do the wisdom books show us on covenantal history?