Recently, my son got married and he requested a new red-letter edition Bible. As a wedding gift from me and my husband, both he and his wife are receiving matching Bibles, with Jesus' words written in red in the New Testament. This made me wonder if Christians today REALLY understand who Jesus truly is? Why would His words be in red in the New Testament, but not be in red in the Old Testament?
A few weeks ago I wrote a post "Apostasy and the Worship of Two Gods". Here is just another example of the apostasy and false teaching in many of our churches regarding the "God of the Old Testament" and the "God of the New Testament". Obviously for many in our churches, the "God of the New Testament" speaks in red letters, and the "God of the Old Testament" speaks in black letters. The "God of the Old Testament" is a "God of Law", and the "God of the New Testament" is a "God of Love", Who has "done away with" the Law. In other words, we are being taught that the "God of the New Testament" is a "God of lawlessness". I don't know about you, but I definitely would call that heresy!
As I've been reading in Ezekiel this past week, over and over again, I've read: "And the word of the Lord came to him..." Or, "Tell the people, 'Thus says the Lord'". Genesis 1:3 says "Then God said,..." Isaiah 48:17 says, "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer." John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:14 says, " And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Who are these verses talking about, but Jesus! In John 14:9 Jesus says, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father."
Why then are these "Thus says the Lord" phrases in the Old Testament not in red? Because of the false teaching that Jesus is not the God of the Old Testament. Of course, Christians know that if they accept the belief that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament as well as the God of the New Testament - they then would be held accountable for not keeping all ten of God's commandments. Exodus 20:1 says, "And God spoke all these words..." and then proceeded to give the Ten Commandments to His people. The Ten Commandments were first SPOKEN to Moses and then they were WRITTEN down. So, either way, they are God's Word. And, God's Word in the flesh is Jesus Christ!
So, I think I'm going to buy myself a new red-letter edition Bible. However, as I read through the Old Testament and see phrases about "the word of the Lord", "Thus says the Lord", "the voice of the Lord", etc. - I'll be keeping a red pen in hand to circle these as they come across the page. By the time I'm done with the Old Testament, I will have a better understanding WHY at the Name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Mighty God, Wonderful, Counselor, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. Jesus is not the "God of Lawlessness", but the God of Love AND the God of Law - worthy of our love and obedience forever and ever. Amen!
9 comments:
This is kind of confusing to me... and "false teaching that Jesus is not the God of the OT" seems kinda harsh, if you understand the Trinity. Jesus is not the God of the Old Testament. Yes, he has existed eternally as a unique part of the trinity. But part of the mystery of the trinity (and I don't claim to be able to accurately explain it) is that God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are 3 separate persons. Attributing the same experiences to all 3 would also be heresy - i.e. saying God the Father was crucified on the cross. Jesus words in the NT are in red because they were spoken from the human person of the trinity. Hope you get what I'm saying...
Interesting thought, but not biblical. "Jesus" in the New Testament technically is not the same God mentioned in the Old Testament. That's why all the letters in the OT are black. Also, the color of ink is chosen at the sole discrection of the printer. (o:
God is 3 persons, one essence. In the OT there is reference to the Son of God and "The Word" (John 1). However, Jesus did not exist until 2,000 years ago. Jesus is the second person of the trinity taking on human flesh. Jesus is God incarnate, forever tied to a human body - although it is now a glorified body. That's why Phil. 2 says He "emptied himself, taking the form of a bond servant." I don't think we'll ever know what all he had to empty himself of.
Jesus, had a human body, died on a literal cross, and is our savior redeemer. In the OT, the second person of the trinity had not yet taken on flesh. When The Word took on flesh, He was called Jesus. And the things Jesus spoke when He was here on earth are typed in red ink in the NT.
The following is a poor example, but think of it this way: When did Chris Stowell come into being?
Lynn
I appreciate your thoughts on this subject. A couple of things to keep in mind:
1) Jesus was the Creator in Gen. 1:1 according to John in John 1:3 and according to Paul in Colossians 1:15,16. And I know we both agree that our earth is much older than 2,000 years.
2) In the time of Jesus, there was no New Testament (red letter or black). They only had the Old Testament. From our viewpoint today, we see three things: New Testament - Jesus - Old Testament. So we think we can say, "Jesus is the God of the New Testament but not the God of the Old Testament". However, the Jews in Jesus' time only had two things: Jesus - Old Testament. When Jesus claimed to be God,, the Jews KNEW He was referring to the God of the Old Testament -the "Great I AM". (See Ex. 3:13,14 and John 8:57,58)
So I guess my comment wasn't exactly right looking at what Lynn said. God the father, God the son (the Word) and God the holy spirit have existed eternally.
Jesus is the specifically human form of God the son. So Jesus in human form did not exist in the O.T. (he hadn't been born yet!) And so it makes sense that in John 1:3 John is verifying to readers that Jesus is the human embodiment of God the Son.
This comment is for Jan. Blogspot has awkward ways of leaving comments, sorry about that. All through the book of John everyone kept asking, "Who is He?" - referring to Jesus. Even Jesus asked, "Who do you say that I AM?"
The Jews kept saying,"He's not the God of the Old Testament". But Jesus kept claiming that He was by calling Himself the "I AM". Colossians 2:9 says "In Him (Jesus) dwells ALL the fullness of the Godhead bodily." In John 14:8&9, Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father. Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?"
When you see me, "Christine" - you see my body - but you are also seeing my soul and spirit contained inside my body. I'm one person with 3 parts to my being. Col. 1:15 says, "He is the image of the invisible God..." Since we're made in the image of God, maybe it is helpful to think along those lines.
Ok. For the record we totally agree about Jesus being the son of God, part of the Trinity. I completely agree with the scriptures you included. The point of those scriptures were to verify Jesus' true identity as son of God since it was the first time he'd physically shown up on earth.
And, we agree that the Son of God has always existed, even in the OT. But Jesus (part God, part Mary) didn't exist until he (and she) was born. That's partly what makes his birth - the son of God taking on the human body of Jesus - so incredibly significant!
Am I still a heretic? ;-)
This is for Jan. First of all, you are not a heretic. :) Secondly, we do agree that the Son of God has always existed from before creation. Your statement that "the Son of God has always existed, even in the OT - but Jesus didn't exist until He was born" is a little confusing, though. I think what you are saying is that the Son of God was "the Word" in the OT and didn't become "Jesus" until He became flesh. Right? And if that's right - haven't we just come full circle? :) You know, those red letters in the OT, etc. :)
This is for Jan. First of all, you are not a heretic. :) Secondly, we do agree that the Son of God has always existed from before creation. Your statement that "the Son of God has always existed, even in the OT - but Jesus didn't exist until He was born" is a little confusing, though. I think what you are saying is that the Son of God was "the Word" in the OT and didn't become "Jesus" until He became flesh. Right? And if that's right - haven't we just come full circle? :) You know, those red letters in the OT, etc. :)
Ok Chris, I think I may understand what you're saying: the second person of the trinity spoke in the OT and the second person of the trinity (within a human body)spoke in the NT. Therefore, the same God (2nd person of Trinity) spoke in both the OT and NT. Is that correct?
Lynn
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