Imagine for a minute that you are a parent (if you
are not – if you are then just think about being a parent). If your child is
two years old and you are going to explain to him or her about not running into
the road, you would probably point and say a firm “No!” while holding their
hands. There is not a whole lot of need to go into all the whys of you might
die, etc., because the two year old would not understand the concept of death
anyway. At four, you might say, “Honey, don’t run into the road.” A four year
old has more language and hopefully by that point has learned to trust your
direction. You still would not need to explain the concept of death. It is too
abstract for a four year old to comprehend. They might say, “If I died when
would I wake up?” or “Could I come home in time for bed?” But you can see how
they would not grasp the concept and would misrepresent what you said if you
tried to explain it to them.
Now move ahead to your eight year old. To them, explaining the same danger, you would likely say, “You know we live on a curve, and cars are coming around that curve all the time. See how fast they are going around the curve? If you were in the road when one of those cars was racing around that curve, they would not be able to stop in time. They might not even see you before they hit you. And you would be seriously hurt, or even killed. Stay out of the road when you are playing in the yard. Do not chase your ball in the road!” Now you have the ability to explain more about the dangers, offer details and specifics, and even give an explanation of the possible consequences. But at eight, you still would not offer a lot in the way of choices for how to go into the road. For example, since you live on a curve without a line of sight, you would not say, “look both ways” like you would at an intersection. Fast forward to your twelve year old. At that age, you could say, “If you are going to walk in the road, walk down to the stop sign on the corner first. Then look for cars and cross the road there. That way, a car coming around the curve has time to slow down and stop before they hit you.” Now you can offer more choices, and even an option for how to walk safely where they want to go. And at sixteen, you start talking about being the driver on the road, and being sure to go slowly around the curve watching for children playing near the road.
The point of this analogy is this: all along the foundational truth remains the same, and your words are spoken out of love and care. See, though, how the words themselves appear to change based on the needs of your child? God, our Father, responds to us in the same way.
Early in the “life” of God’s people, they were like two year olds. When God explained His creation to them, they wrote it down as best as they could understand it, and He used words and images they would comprehend. The Law was given as do’s and don’ts, and as Paul described it, the Law was given to reveal sin, meaning it was given so His people would know what was safe and what was dangerous. But they did not grasp the deeper meanings of the Law as revealed to us by Jesus. This explains Jesus’ statement that He was not abolishing the Law but fulfilling it, and He added the depth of the heart to the Law when He explained to us that those who hate in their hearts commit murder in their hearts. He revealed through exposing the Pharisees’ hypocrisy the part of comprehension that was missing from the “four year old’s” understanding of the teaching given. The truth did not change, only the depth of the explanation.
How does this impact our reconciliation of the OT with the Jesus we know? On two levels: we can see how God would by necessity use relevant terms and understandable concepts, sometimes appearing strict or controlling to the eyes of a two year old, sometimes appearing to not explain His reasons to the four year old, etc.; we can also see how the two and four and eight year olds, when writing down what God said, could present His words in a confused manner (reference back to the four year old trying to explain death). This does not mean the words are not true, or that the truth of God (or His nature) has changed, any more than it meant that the parent above loved the sixteen year old more than he loved the two year old!
I believe we reconcile and understand all Scripture now through the eyes of Jesus, and that Scripture is “written on our hearts” by the Holy Spirit Who leads us into all truth. Jesus came, in part, to show us through experience Who God is. Now we are given the Holy Spirit, Who can also reveal God’s nature to us, and Who can teach us those things that are not specifically outlined in the Bible, as Jesus told us would happen in John’s gospel. So here is the truth about us: we may be somewhat older children than the children of God in the OT, but we are children still. We are in need of a Father and a Teacher, and that Teacher is Jesus and Jesus alone. If we approach reading the OT from a basic truth of understanding that everything written there is meant to point to Jesus – for example, Noah’s ark points ahead to the cross that will carry us over the water of chaos and sin into a new life, and the ark of the covenant parting the waters before the people into the Promised Land represents the same truth; the story of Abraham and Isaac points to God Himself providing the sacrifice, and the story of Passover points to Jesus Who will be the Lamb whose blood covers us from being taken by death (I could keep going and going but I think you get the point) – then we can “get over” ourselves worrying about the way the writers presented their understanding of God through the eyes of a two year old, leaving an impression of an arbitrary or controlling God. Instead, we can see through better equipped eyes and discern the love behind the actions of God in the OT, all the way through dying on the cross for our sakes.
But let’s don’t ever forget that we are also children, and we “see through a glass darkly.” We need the Holy Spirit’s presence to truly understand the truth that God has revealed to us. So do not try to reconcile OT Scripture with NT Scripture on your own. Ask Jesus to help explain it and receive through God’s Spirit within you the truth that makes the Bible a whole story about One God whose every action is coming from a heart of love for His children. The entire Bible is the story of God’s pursuit of His children to reconcile with them because He loves them so much. For this reason, the whole story points to and centers on Jesus.
Now move ahead to your eight year old. To them, explaining the same danger, you would likely say, “You know we live on a curve, and cars are coming around that curve all the time. See how fast they are going around the curve? If you were in the road when one of those cars was racing around that curve, they would not be able to stop in time. They might not even see you before they hit you. And you would be seriously hurt, or even killed. Stay out of the road when you are playing in the yard. Do not chase your ball in the road!” Now you have the ability to explain more about the dangers, offer details and specifics, and even give an explanation of the possible consequences. But at eight, you still would not offer a lot in the way of choices for how to go into the road. For example, since you live on a curve without a line of sight, you would not say, “look both ways” like you would at an intersection. Fast forward to your twelve year old. At that age, you could say, “If you are going to walk in the road, walk down to the stop sign on the corner first. Then look for cars and cross the road there. That way, a car coming around the curve has time to slow down and stop before they hit you.” Now you can offer more choices, and even an option for how to walk safely where they want to go. And at sixteen, you start talking about being the driver on the road, and being sure to go slowly around the curve watching for children playing near the road.
The point of this analogy is this: all along the foundational truth remains the same, and your words are spoken out of love and care. See, though, how the words themselves appear to change based on the needs of your child? God, our Father, responds to us in the same way.
Early in the “life” of God’s people, they were like two year olds. When God explained His creation to them, they wrote it down as best as they could understand it, and He used words and images they would comprehend. The Law was given as do’s and don’ts, and as Paul described it, the Law was given to reveal sin, meaning it was given so His people would know what was safe and what was dangerous. But they did not grasp the deeper meanings of the Law as revealed to us by Jesus. This explains Jesus’ statement that He was not abolishing the Law but fulfilling it, and He added the depth of the heart to the Law when He explained to us that those who hate in their hearts commit murder in their hearts. He revealed through exposing the Pharisees’ hypocrisy the part of comprehension that was missing from the “four year old’s” understanding of the teaching given. The truth did not change, only the depth of the explanation.
How does this impact our reconciliation of the OT with the Jesus we know? On two levels: we can see how God would by necessity use relevant terms and understandable concepts, sometimes appearing strict or controlling to the eyes of a two year old, sometimes appearing to not explain His reasons to the four year old, etc.; we can also see how the two and four and eight year olds, when writing down what God said, could present His words in a confused manner (reference back to the four year old trying to explain death). This does not mean the words are not true, or that the truth of God (or His nature) has changed, any more than it meant that the parent above loved the sixteen year old more than he loved the two year old!
I believe we reconcile and understand all Scripture now through the eyes of Jesus, and that Scripture is “written on our hearts” by the Holy Spirit Who leads us into all truth. Jesus came, in part, to show us through experience Who God is. Now we are given the Holy Spirit, Who can also reveal God’s nature to us, and Who can teach us those things that are not specifically outlined in the Bible, as Jesus told us would happen in John’s gospel. So here is the truth about us: we may be somewhat older children than the children of God in the OT, but we are children still. We are in need of a Father and a Teacher, and that Teacher is Jesus and Jesus alone. If we approach reading the OT from a basic truth of understanding that everything written there is meant to point to Jesus – for example, Noah’s ark points ahead to the cross that will carry us over the water of chaos and sin into a new life, and the ark of the covenant parting the waters before the people into the Promised Land represents the same truth; the story of Abraham and Isaac points to God Himself providing the sacrifice, and the story of Passover points to Jesus Who will be the Lamb whose blood covers us from being taken by death (I could keep going and going but I think you get the point) – then we can “get over” ourselves worrying about the way the writers presented their understanding of God through the eyes of a two year old, leaving an impression of an arbitrary or controlling God. Instead, we can see through better equipped eyes and discern the love behind the actions of God in the OT, all the way through dying on the cross for our sakes.
But let’s don’t ever forget that we are also children, and we “see through a glass darkly.” We need the Holy Spirit’s presence to truly understand the truth that God has revealed to us. So do not try to reconcile OT Scripture with NT Scripture on your own. Ask Jesus to help explain it and receive through God’s Spirit within you the truth that makes the Bible a whole story about One God whose every action is coming from a heart of love for His children. The entire Bible is the story of God’s pursuit of His children to reconcile with them because He loves them so much. For this reason, the whole story points to and centers on Jesus.
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