Words Mean Things Post #303 and Neo-Marcionism
I do not believe the Hebrew Scriptures are "old" as in outdated. That God has somehow changed from being that God, or that people have changed either, for that matter. It seems that one of the earliest heretics in the Church, Marcion (2nd century), has had a lasting impact on our view of Scripture. Rejecting anything Jewish in the Scriptures, he was the first to develop a defined canon...one in which He removed any reference that might be considered Judaic or relating to the "inconstant, jealous, wrathful, and legalistic" YHWH who created this evil world. His canon included only edited versions of Luke and some of Paul's writings...rejecting the Hebrew Scriptures entirely.

Lately it seems like there is a growing number of Neo-Marcionites, and I run into them quite often. The belief they hold is that the "Old Testament" is a list of books that no longer has bearing on us (outside of a few cool stories and perhaps the Psalms and Wisdom Literature). However, the Gospels and Epistles (especially the writings of Paul) are of essential value because they are in the "New Testament" list of books. Although, last year I was apparently mistaken to think that the Gospels belong in the "new" list as "the words of Jesus [about how to live] don't matter because they were before the cross".

Words mean things. Because we consistently refer to the Hebrew Scriptures as the "Old Testament" and the Christian Scriptures as the "New Testament", we as Christians promote this neo-Marcionsim. We have forgotten (and taught others to forget) that both the Old and New Testament are covenants (agreements) with God about how he graciously works in our lives; and that the Hebrew Scriptures, like the Christian, speak of both of them. These covenants are not lists of books, and we should stop referring to them like they are. In the same way--for our own benefit and that of others--we should stop invalidating whole sections of Scripture by referring to them as if they were outdated.
posted by Jimmy at 7:16 AM | |