Chapter 2
Reason Two: Our Theology Demands that We Do.
To argue for a high view of the Bible (its inspiration and authority), we often quote 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right” (NLT). However, few people realize that when Paul wrote these words to young Timothy, he was thinking about what we now call the Old Testament. The same is true in 1 Timothy 4:13, where Paul appeals to Timothy to “devote” himself to the public reading of Scripture, by which he has in mind the Old Testament. Very few of the books that would eventually make up the New Testament had even been written at this time. And we don’t know how widely those that were available were circulating among the churches springing up all around the Mediterranean.
To Paul, the Scriptures were those sacred writings that are found in the Jewish canon. Most people who use English translations divide the Old Testament into four parts (Law, Historical Books, Poetic Books, the Prophets). However, the Scriptures to which Paul was referring consisted of three parts and these were arranged slightly differently from ours (see Figure 1). In Luke 24:44, Jesus referred to these three parts as the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. He called the Writings “Psalms” because, according to the customary arrangement of his day, the Psalms were at the front of the Writings.
Like other Jews of that time, Jesus and the apostles would have been appalled that today we separate Psalms and Proverbs and put them at the back of our Gideon New Testaments, as if they have unique authority for Christians. If there were levels of authority, to all in that world—Jesus included—the Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy) would have been the most important part of Scripture. This is reflected in the fact that Jesus quotes from the book of Deuteronomy more often than from any other Old Testament book. And when the Psalmist spoke of meditating in the “Torah” (English “law”) day and night (Psalm 1:2), he had in mind primarily the book of Deuteronomy. Neither David nor any of the other people who wrote the Psalms would be impressed by the attention we give this book, while we either neglect or outrightly reject the Torah of Moses. Paul’s statements for young Timothy apply to us as well.
You Might Also Like