Articles
 Justice for All
 Church in Decline
 Striking Similarity
 The Efficacy of Prayer
 Are You Ready for Change?
 A Question of Vocation
 The Challenge of Change
 Elul 24
 Elul 23
 Elul 22

Series [All]
 Administration
 Elul 5777 (9)
 Exploring Translation Theories (25)
 Live Like You Give a Damn
 Memory and Identity
 The Creative Word (19)
 The Cross-Cultural Process (7)
 The Old Testament is Dying
 The Oral Gospel Tradition (4)
 We the People (8)

Archive

Monday, 7 March 2016

Christian Teaching II

Seeing Judaism Anew: Christianity's Sacred Obligation,
Ed. Mary C. Boys, Rowman and Littlefield, 2002
Chapter 14, "Covenant and Conversion" (pp. 163-174), page 165

The second point in Joann Spillman's summary of Christian teaching is about covenant:

The Bible teaches that G-d made a covenant with the Jewish people. According that scripture, G-d repeatedly affirmed and renewed this covenant. G-d does not break promises, but rather, "He is mindful of His covenant forever, of the word that He commanded for a thousand generations" (Psalm 105:8). While the people may be faithless, G-d is always faithful. If G-d were to renege on the covenant with Israel, then Christians could not rely on G-d with any confidence.

That sounds all fine and dandy and - as far as it goes - is ok, but we need to ask where our faith is located: do we believe that G-d doesn't break covenants, or do we believe in G-d? Clearly, G-d allowed both the first and second temples to be destroyed against the expectations and faith of the people, but that doesn't mean that He abandonned His covenant with them.

Posted By Jonathan, 9:00am Comment Comments: 0