Saturday, August 2, 2008

Jesus As The Unifier of the Bible

基督论解经是否合适呢?这在新约研究方面的争议或许不多,但旧约学者是普遍拒绝这种释经方法的。我想,坚持在每一处经文都看见基督,那是太偏激了。但是,若完全否定了这种释经方法,我们将失去了认识圣经的一个重要亮光!以下文章是从新约学者Ben Witherington的部落格转载而来的一篇短文:

I am reading a manuscript by Phillip King entitled The Bible is for Living, in which the following comment struck me---

"the New Testament is not necessarily a commentary on the Old Testament, that is to say, Jesus is not to be found on every page of the Old Testament. The Old Testament text is not simply shining in reflected glory; it has rich meaning in its own right. Without the Old Testament, the New Testament is a superstructure suspended in midair. There is both continuity and discontinuity between the Testaments. Jesus is the unifier of the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament; for example, the two great commandments—love of God (Deuteronomy 6:5), and love of neighbor (Leviticus 19:18). These two Old Testament injunctions are combined in the New Testament: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength … You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31; Matthew 22:37-39)." (p. 12 of mss.)

In what way are the two testaments united in and by Jesus, especially since the OT is not in the main about Jesus? One way would be to say that if we fulfill the Great Commandment(s) as Jesus said we should we would love Jesus with all our hearts as God and also love Jesus as our nearest neighbor (and so as our nearest and dearest human relative). A second way to look at this, is our modeling our love of God the Father and neighbor as Jesus himself practiced it, showing us the way.

Think on these things.

No comments: