Interpreting One Bible: Combining Old and New Testament (Photo Essay Book 24)

Book of Esther , c. Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy. The proposal that Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings make up a unified work the Deuteronomistic history was advanced by Martin Noth in and has been widely accepted, with revisions. Since then, there has been wide recognition that the history appeared in at least two "editions", the first in the reign of Judah's King Josiah late 7th century BCE , the second during the Babylonian exile 6th century BCE. The Twelve Minor Prophets is a single book in Jewish bibles, and this seems to have been the case since the first few centuries before the current era.

The historic Hosea was active in Israel the northern kingdom in the second half of the 8th century BCE [52] The book probably preserves much that is from the prophet, mixed with much from exilic and post-exilic times. The psalms making up the first two-thirds of the psalter are predominantly pre-exilic and the last third predominantly post-exilic.

Song of Songs or Canticles: Scholars still debate whether the Song of Songs is a single unified work and therefore from a single author , or more in the nature of an anthology. Proposed dates for Ruth range from the time of David to the late post-exilic. The book's claim of Solomon as its author is a literary fiction; the author also identifies himself as "Qoheleth", a word of obscure meaning which critics have understood variously as a personal name, a pen name , an acronym, and a function; a final self-identification is as "shepherd", a title usually implying royalty.

Histories Daniel Chronicles Ezra-Nehemiah. Daniel was composed in the time of the Maccabees 2nd century BCE. Tobit can be dated to — BCE on the basis of its use of language and lack of knowledge of the 2nd century BCE persecution of Jews.

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Judith is of uncertain origin, but probably dates from the second half of the 2nd century BCE. Sirach known under several titles names its author as Jesus ben Sirach , probably a scribe offering instruction to the youth of Jerusalem. Baruch was probably written in the 2nd century BCE - part of it, the Letter of Jeremiah , is sometimes treated as a separate work.

The Letter of Jeremiah , part of Baruch, is sometimes treated as a separate work. The additional psalms are numbered —; some at least are pre-Christian in origin, being found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Mark Gospel of Mark , 68—70 CE. It relies on several underlying sources, varying in form and in theology, which is evidence against the tradition that its author was John Mark Mark the Evangelist , the companion of Peter , or that it was based on Peter's preaching.

The community had earlier absorbed the influence of pre-Pauline beliefs, and then developed them further; independent of Paul the Apostle. Some of the evidence comes from the text of Luke-Acts itself. In the preface to Luke, the author refers to having eyewitness testimony "handed down to us" and to having undertaken a "careful investigation", but does not mention his own name or explicitly claim to be an eyewitness to any of the events.

The we passages in Acts are written in the first person plural— the author never refers to himself as "I" or "me" - and these are usually regarded as fragments of some earlier account which was incorporated into Acts by the later author, or simply a Greek rhetorical device which was used for describing sea voyages.

Marcion of Sinope was a 2nd-century heretic, who produced his own version of Christian scripture, based on Luke's gospel and Paul's epistles. He was expressing his hopes to continue his work in Hispania. Another of the genuine Pauline letters. Paul expresses his intention to re-visit the church which he had founded in the city of Corinth c.

The fall or sin concealed man's nature from himself and his fellow human beings, but not from God. According to Barth, man learns about his nature by studying Christ: Westermann shares a similar view to that of Barth. He sees the image and likeness of God in Genesis 1: He says that God created man so that he can have a relationship with him just as in the Sumerian and Babylonian texts, where people were related to the creator god as servants of the gods.

Man is God's counterpart, a creature that corresponds, speaks and listens to God. The major concern of Genesis 1: Commenting on Genesis 1: Clines interprets the image and likeness of God in Genesis 1: The image is to be understood not so much ontologically as existentially: This function is to represent God's lordship to the lower orders of creation. The dominion of man over creation can hardly be excluded from the content of the image itself. Clines thinks that there is nothing in the context of Genesis 1: According to Clines, the fall did not affect the image and likeness of God.

Mankind does not cease to be the image of God as long as they are men, 'to be human and to be the image of God are inseparable'. When he comes to the New Testament, Clines sees a change of interpretation to a substantive view. Christ is the 'image of the invisible God' Col 1: Christ is the logos the image, who reflects the glory of God and bears the very character of God. Christ is the head of the new community of believers. The image of Christ, rather than the image of God, comes to the forefront when the believer's conformity with the image is spoken of.

Bearing the image of Christ is an eschatological concept. The complete conformity with the image of Christ will be fully attained at the end of the age when the believer is glorified. Man is God's representative on earth. Christ in a sensus plenior is God's 'one' representative on earth and the community of believers becomes the dwelling-place of God on earth. In Christ, man sees what being human was meant to be.

Man is in God's image in the New Testament as long as he is like Christ. Clines's understanding of the image of God in the New Testament is not functional, but substantive. He says that the believer is transformed and becomes more and more like Christ in character. The believer is progressively renewed into the image of Christ Col 3: The full image of God is realised only through obedience to Christ. This is how man becomes fully man, thus being in the image of God.

Ian Hart agrees with the view of Clines of the image and likeness of God in Genesis 1: Hart also cites Psalm 8: He says that because man is created a little lower than God, he is God's representative. According to Hart, the idea of the image of God was democratised in Israel. The Egyptian and Mesopotamian or ANE concept of a king being in a god's image was broadened to make mankind in general in such an image. The Bible translation in Afrikaans opted for the functional view rather than a free translation of Genesis 1: Middleton interprets the image and likeness of God in Genesis 1: Beyond this royal mandate, the God in whose image and likeness humans are created is depicted as sovereign over the cosmos, ruling by royal decree "let there be".

And who will go for us. The term Messiah or Christ was understood as a royal designation. Jesus explicitly exemplifies what is implicit in Genesis 1 and explicit in the Old Testament, 'namely that the right use of power is not oppressive control of others, but their liberation or empowerment'.

The church is renewed in the imago Dei Eph 4: Berkouwer interprets the image and likeness of God in Genesis 1: He says that the image of God primarily denotes man's relationship to God, but this relationship to God includes a moral likeness to God. Man is unique because he can relate to God; this is the image of God. The fallen man is still man. Firstly, by what it says about the restoration of the image of God in the lives of believers; and secondly, by what it says about Christ, who is the image of God.

Morally, he becomes like Christ. The believer should constantly strive to be like God in God's strength each day of his life Eph 5: The renewal of man into the image of God is a product of God's redemptive work. According to Berkouwer, man will fully reflect the image of God in the life to come.

Kline views the image of God in Genesis 1: The functional aspect of the image of God consists of man's likeness to God in having authority and exercising dominion. The substantive aspect of the image of God consists of ethical characteristics or attributes of God, thus holiness, righteousness, and truth. As well as the formal-physical glory likeness, man's physical body reflects the glory of God not the body of God. At creation, man was made 'a little lower than the angels' Ps 8: Adam's fathering of a son [in his image and likeness, Genesis 5: Kline argues that the same notion is seen in Luke's genealogy Luke 3: The origin of the second Adam Jesus Christ is attributed to the overshadowing presence and power of the Glory-Spirit.

Under the concept of man as the glory-image of God, the Bible includes functional or official , formal or physical , and ethical components, corresponding to the composition of the archetypal Glory. According to Kline, the ethical likeness to God or ethical Glory that belonged to man was corrupted by the fall, when man fell into sin cf. Man was stripped of righteousness, holiness, and love of the truth. Man's original condition can only be restored by divine grace. By common grace, a measure of the glory-image was being preserved in spite of the fall.

The image of God in man is restored through sanctification which is the work of the Spirit where man is re-created after the image of God in true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness Eph 4: Man is restored to the hope of the formal-physical image-glory of resurrection immortality and spiritual existence. Curtis interprets the image and likeness of God in Genesis 1: Like Kline, he points out that Adam's fathering a son in his image and likeness Gen 5: This suggests that the way in which the son resembles the father is in some sense analogous to the way in which the human is like God.

Curtis says that it is possible to deduce from this analogy father-son relationship that the image of God in man is also functional. The son is the image of his father because he functions like his father and on behalf of his father. Like Clines, Curtis also views the image of God in man as the visible corporeal representative of God and man functions as a representative of God in his exercise of dominion.

Like Clines, he thinks that there is nothing in the context of Genesis 1: Because the image functioned as a kind of representative of or a substitute for a god wherever it was located in the Ancient Near East and certain individuals, especially kings, were regarded as representatives of gods and they ruled on their behalf, Curtis thinks that idea of the image of God probably originated in Egypt and was borrowed by the Israelites during their settlement in Egypt and they transformed it to suit their theology.

Daniel Simango sees Genesis as the context in which the imago Dei Gen 1: Humans' relationship to God was based on trust, faith, love, dependence, and obedience. They were tempted and they fell into sin, the moral and relational aspects of the image of God were corrupted. Morally, humankind is like the serpent, for example, Cain and Ham. Relationally, humankind is seen as the offspring of the serpent and enslaved to sin e.

Cain and the wicked in general. For example, Abel is like light, God's new creation. He is a righteous man. He is seen as the regenerate man. General statements, for example, the overall summary of the law found in Leviticus This implies they are in his image since sonship implies image. They are to imitate Christ's moral-likeness and submission to the Father. The modern period shows a wide range of opinion regarding the image of God.

The image and likeness of God in Genesis 1: The image of God is seen as having dominion over creation Gen 1: From the history of recent interpretation, it is evident that most interpreters and commentators do not think that the biblical context of Genesis 1: Many commentators interpret the image of God from a New Testament perspective in which Christ restores the image of God in man, not attempting any Old Testament development of the theme to justify their interpretation of the image of God that may be substantive, relational, functional or a combination of these.

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Although there is a wide range of interpretations of what the image of God refers to, many commentators and scholars agree that Christ is the perfect or true image of God. He is the second Adam, who restores the corrupted or distorted image in man; this happens when he is regenerated and sanctified through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Philo, Irenaeus, Augustine, and Aquinas interpreted the image of God in man as the power of reason. Elsewhere there are a few similar, probably derivative phrases Jdg 2: Another phrase, "To sleep with one's fathers", also occurs and is used restrictively in reference to the kings of Israel and Judah who died peacefully, irrespective of whether they were considered good or evil and irrespective of their place of burial.

The Greek equivalent for which is used in the New Testament, is. In this regard, Lewis Sometimes is used to denote the abode of righteous and the wicked Lk However, is used with a definite connotation of judgement and punishment as conveyed in the account of the rich man and the Lazarus Lk There is a further distinction to be drawn between and Gehenna which is understood as the eschatological fiery hell in which the ungodly will be punished after death Mt 5: As discussed and have been interpreted to denote 1 the underworld as the place of the dead, or 2 the grave which indicates the state of the dead.

This article is aligned with the latter view. The reason for this is because there is not sufficient evidence to suggest that the Bible strongly supports an intermediate state as the place where all who have died lie and await the final judgement. On the contrary, the New Testament indicates that the believer will be united with Christ immediately after death.

This denotes a blissful state beyond our present understanding and expectations. The Bible teaches that the believer is immediately reunited with Christ in heaven 1 Th 4: The believer exists in Christ's presence as a disembodied being while the physical body returns to the ground and becomes dust again. Therefore, this contradicts the premise of ancestor worship which implies that the righteous dead will return and communicate with the living.

Therefore, the soul of the dead cannot be recalled by a medium who is acting contrary to the will of God Heb 9: Furthermore, the dead ancestors do not remain on earth to interact with the living. The ritual practices associated with ancestor worship are heavily reliant upon the premise that the dead are able to return to the living and have an influence on the lives of the living; that it is acceptable for the living to communicate with the dead and lastly that the living are able to exert an influence on the destiny of the deceased ancestor. In fact the preceding sections have made it clear that the Bible condemns necromancy and associated practices, and therefore it is not in alignment with the Bible's principles.

Secondly, the discussion has pointed out that although some individuals do experience what appears to be the spirits of deceased ancestors, the Biblical evidence which has been presented makes it clear that these experiences or apparitions should not be taken "at face value". Furthermore, the Bible makes it clear that once a person has died it is impossible for him or her to return to communicate with the living. It is clear from Romans 6: The only incident in the Scriptures which has been the source of dogmatic controversy is the incident where Samuel "appeared" to the Witch of Endor 1 Sm The explanations which have been put forward have made it clear that what was "seen", was a result of the special working of God's power, and by His permission for His purposes.

As the Bible clearly admonishes, those who dapple in necromancy or spiritism commit what is considered to be spiritual prostitution. The abode of the dead which is expounded in the Scriptures is known as or.

The aforementioned sections have conclusively shown that and refer to the common grave of mankind where all souls are destined to go once they have died a physical death. The final destination of the righteous souls is heaven and therefore the analogy of Lazarus and the rich man cannot be construed to prove that the living can communicate with the dead or that the living can have a bearing on the destiny of the dead. It was not possible for the rich man to communicate with his living relatives to warn them of their imminent fate if they did not mend their ways.

The Scriptures clearly indicate that the righteous who die, are immediately reunited with Christ cf Lk At the resurrection those who have died will be changed and resurrected with a spiritual body to allow them to enter into a fuller state of fellowship with God. The notion of the immortality of the soul is a major precept of the ancestor cult. However, the New Testament's promise of a resurrection refers to the resurrection of the whole body. The notion of the soul existing in an intermediate state or a deep sleep which is fundamental to the ancestral rites is contradictory to the teachings of the New Testament.

Passages in the Bible which deal with death as a sleeping state such as Matthew 9: Some scholars have tried to prove that Christ descended into after his death to minister to the dead or to proclaim his victory over them. It became clear however that scriptural proof of such doctrine is contentious and that the meaning of 1 Peter 3: The living are not able to effect a change for the good of the dead.

The salvation of mankind is based on Christ's ransom sacrifice on the cross and therefore sacrifices which are made for the dead are of no value. The notion of vicarious baptism which has been suggested by some scholars does not have sufficient evidence in exegetical or hermeneutical terms to make it a credible argument.

Paul denies the interpretation of vicarious baptism when he says in 2 Corinthians 5: Therefore, it is clear that the final destination of each individual is dependent on their own faith and actions while they were alive. Each individual is accountable to God and once a sinner has died the wages of his or her sins cannot be paid by the living. In other words, the central premise which underpins the theology of ancestor veneration is flawed. It is impossible for the dead to communicate with the living and it is impossible for the living to improve the destiny of the deceased ancestor.

The New Testament is clear that there is no way for the dead to change their fate. Albright, W F Yahwe and the gods of Canaan: A historical analysis of two contrasting faiths. Amanze, J N Christianity and ancestor veneration in Botswana. Studies in World Christianity 9 1 , Arnold, B T Necromancy and cleromancy in 1 and 2 Samuel. The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 66, Bae, C S Ancestor worship in Korea and Africa: Social function or religious phenomenon? Verbum et Ecclesia 25 2 , Beuken, W A M The prophet as hammer of witches.

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 6, The Christian approach to ancestor worship.

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Bible Contradiction? Old Testament Vs New Testament? Marcionism? Jay Dyer

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Authorship of the Bible

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