D4-7: If The Torah has been ‘Nailed To The Cross’, You Can Say Goodbye To The Foundation Of The NT

In my last post, I shared a quote from a respected and prominent theologian from the 1800’s named Arnold Harnack who stated that “to retain it (the Old Testament) in the sixteenth century was a fate from which the Reformation could not escape; but still to preserve it in the nineteenth century as one of the canonical documents of Protestantism is the result of religious and ecclesiastical paralysis.”

I shared that quote because I believed it to be quite representative of the horribly misguided but popular liberal mindset that plagues much of Christendom today

You can read that article by clicking here.

Today, on a more positive note, I would like to share a quote from another prominent gentile theologian who takes the opposite position from what the majority of the gentile church believes today about the Torah and the Prophets.

Enter Dr. Walter Kaiser. 

He was an American evangelical Old Testament scholar, a distinguished Professor of the Old Testament and the former President of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts (he retired in June 30th, 2006).

Let’s take a look at what he had to say concerning the gentile church’s relationship to the “Old” Testament.

“No matter how great the uniformity of opinion has been from the NT writers down to the Reformation, and no matter how great the difficulties in answering the formal and material questions posed here, the OT remains the most central and decisive problem for Christian theology. How we respond to this problem will automatically set much of our Christian theology—whether we do so in a deliberate or in an unreflective fashion.

The implications of this move in theological construction are massive. Our answers to this problem (of how we view the OT) will decide:

. . . how we understand Jesus Christ in his historical character, his Jewish context, and his divine validation. It decides the church’s view of itself as the church of God, as an element in the mysterion of God’s saving action in history. It decides our interpretation of the salvation given us in Jesus Christ, . . . our estimate of earthly and temporal life. .. . It concerns . . . the relation of the church of Jesus Christ to the chosen people of Israel. Our whole understanding of the Kingdom of God—and therefore also of the universality of the Christian faith, the Christian church, and Christianity—is determined by what we think of the Old Testament and how we handle it.

Thus, it is difficult to think of very many areas of Christian theology that are not affected in a major way, either by the inclusion or the deliberate omission of the OT data from its systematization. Moreover, when it is recalled that over three-fourths of the total Bible is found in the OT, it is enough to make one pause before cavalierly bypassing this most extensive record of God’s revelation to mankind.“

So what is Dr. Walter Kaiser essentially telling us?

He is essentially telling us that the Jewish OT Scriptures are the foundational documents from which the New Testament sprang.

He points out that minus understanding the Torah and the other books of the Tanach…

…you will never understand what Yeshua was about…

…nor you will ever understand his mission of salvation or even the true meaning of salvation.

If you ignore the Jewish Scriptures, you will also have no idea what a true community of God is to look like nor be able to grasp the true Biblical definition of “The Kingdom of God“.

I want you think really hard about something.

If the “Old” Testament is really dead and gone or “nailed to the cross” as Christian preachers like to phrase it, what makes you think the New Testament you are basing your life on is on such solid ground?

Think about it.

If these Words of the Torah which God said are eternal and are to be obeyed forever have been “nailed to the cross”, that means the very foundation of the New Testament has been nailed to the cross.

Remember, a full 50% of the contents of the New Testament are practically direct quotes from the “Old” Testament (I’m not kidding!).

Think about that before adopting the false idea that “the law has been done away with“.

Now at this point you may be thinking, what in the heck does this have to do with Moses’ message in Deuteronomy Chapter 4?

It has EVERYTHING to do with Moses’ message in Deuteronomy chapter 4!!!

EVERYTHING!!!

Moses is essentially asking the younger second generation of Israelites…

..are you going to trust and OBEY the entire Word of God?

Or are you going to instead return back to manmade doctrinal filth…

…and worship the false nature gods of Egypt?

Are you going to SHEMA (listen and obey) what God is saying…

…or are you going to compromise so you can be lauded and applauded by society?

Are you going to realize that the Lord’s Wisdom and Knowledge is far greater and superior to man’s intellect and all the spiritual gurus out there in the world combined?

Are you going to choose LIFE which is the ways of the Lord?

Or are you going to choose DEATH which is the ways of the world?

Moses is begging and pleading with his audience to choose LIFE!!!

And I ask you too to CHOOSE LIFE…before it’s too late.