The author of the article states ,”Although it makes me uncomfortable, I can’t get away from the nagging feeling that Jesus is appealing to a truth that is higher and deeper and, dare I say, truer, than scripture. My evangelical and inerrantist roots cringe at putting those last three words together: “truer than scripture.” And yet it’s there in black and white that, in service of some deeper truth, Jesus does make a significant change to scripture.” This individual displays gross negligence in hermeneutical awareness. Christ fulfilled the law, he didn’t change it. Quibbling over words says some, essential distinctions say I. The deeper truth is covenantal fulfillment of God’s promise, rather than….something, whatever this gentleman is proposing.
To give a brief overview, the above-mentioned post is speaking about changing the Bible. His premise is that Jesus changed the Bible, therefore there are things that can be truer than scripture. As a Pastor, he is pondering the question of what he would change in the Bible and how would it look if we changed scripture.
There is much to think about and respond to here for those of us who are servants of the Lord in the preaching ministry. The author of the article states
“Although it makes me uncomfortable, I can’t get away from the nagging feeling that Jesus is appealing to a truth that is higher and deeper and, dare I say, truer, than scripture. My evangelical and inerrantist roots cringe at putting those last three words together: “truer than scripture.” And yet it’s there in black and white that, in service of some deeper truth, Jesus does make a significant change to scripture.”
This individual displays gross negligence in hermeneutical awareness. Christ fulfilled the law, he didn’t change it. Quibbling over words says some, essential distinctions say I. The deeper truth is covenantal fulfillment of God’s promise, rather than….something, whatever this gentleman is proposing.
“As a pastor in the 21st century, I find myself asking a critical question about Jesus’s handling of the Shema: Do we get to change scripture like he did?”
Again, I would say Jesus didn’t change scripture. There was nothing wrong with the Shema to demand a shift, rebranding, or distance from the Shema. Jesus here extends and furthers (towards an eschatological goal) the law. He’s preparing and signaling a tie back into Jeremiah 31, connecting how he will fulfill the requirements of the Old Covenant and establish the fuller New Covenant. Does this author think that the same God-man who said Matthew 5:18, meant to “change” the law?
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 5:17–20)
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