Old Testament
- 13 minutes ago
- 3 min read
“…for the spiritual meaning is often hidden within a large amount of literal. This can be likened to the most fragrant flowers in the meadows, which are wrapped around with ordinary leaves on the outside. If one cuts them open, he will find and lay bare what is good and profitable. So too, we now come to the figurative meaning…all of the events of the Old Testament are significant, not because they offer us accurate history, but because they prepare the way for us to understand the incarnation of God. This is the very purpose of the entire Old Testament. Thus, it is the spiritual meaning hidden in the text which is important to us rather than the literal, historical facts which convey this essential meaning.” (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“What was the mind that could see Christ in the Passover Lamb? Indeed, what was the mind that could see Christ’s death and resurrection as a fulfillment of Passover itself? Beneath the letter of the Old Testament, beneath the surface of its poetry, its historical stories, its prophetic works, the primitive Church discerned Christ Himself and the shape of the story which we now know as the gospel. The shape of the gospel story is not derived from the Old Testament. It is discerned within the Old Testament, after the resurrection of Christ and His subsequent teaching. St. Irenaeus in the 2nd century specifically references the shape of the gospel story and calls it the “Apostolic Hypothesis.” It is the framework and fundamental understanding of the work of Christ.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“The Fathers held that the truth is to be identified with the end. Both St. Maximus the Confessor in the East, and St. Ambrose in the West, wrote of a three-fold scheme in which the Old Testament is “shadow,” the New Testament is “icon,” while the “truth” is the age to come…Christians see Jesus as fulfilling the Old Testament – not just its prophecies but in helping us to see the very purpose of the Old Testament texts. For Christians, to read the Old Testament as if it has something to say apart from Christ, is to misread those Scriptures.” (Father Stephen Freeman Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“The Church reads the Old Testament as the history of God’s relationship with His people. She understands the New Testament as defining the transformation of that relationship as a result of Christ’s ministry among us.” (Dynamis 12/10/2018)
“The overarching narrative of Israel’s journey in the Old Testament is about whether they will serve Yahweh or other gods. In far too many cases, it was the latter. The gods of these pagan nations are fallen angelic beings, rebels who turned away from God. Their primary sin was seeking to turn the worship of humans away from God and toward themselves. Although God had created them in love to worship and serve Him, which also meant they would lead humankind to do the same, they rebelled and fell, becoming His enemies. Spiritual warfare therefore consists primarily of God making war against these demonic enemies, opposing them and rendering judgment against them (Ex. 12: 12; Ps. 82: 1–7). God judges the fallen gods not only to punish them but rather to put things right, and this consists primarily of dethroning these gods and rescuing humankind from their malevolent influence, because they have been leading humanity into sin and destruction.” (Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick)
Comments