Being, Doing, and Replacing the Old

We worked our way through Heb 8:8-13 today – some excellent material came out in the discussion.

A couple of things to note:

1.     The mention of wickedness and sins in v. 12 – interesting in that wickedness, or lack of righteousness, relates to character and “being”, while sins, or missing of the mark, relates to activity and “doing”. A major achievement of this new covenant, written on hearts and minds, is that both the motivation and the ability to live correctly have been provided for.

2.     The emphasis on the provision of a new covenant, replacing the old and obsolete one (v. 13), would surely have been a tough sell for an audience convinced of the durability of the law, of Torah and its attendant structures. How poignant, then, to realize that both writings, the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jer 31:31-34) and its citation by the author of Hebrews (Heb 8:8-12), were followed by the destruction of the Temple existing at that time. The writers could not have known that was coming, but the overall Author surely knew how to make a point!

I love it when such insights are suggested in discussion, and made use of some technology to immediately add this to my notes so that I could research and explore these ideas further. For more info on what I use to keep things current, check out the newest entry in my tech blog at http://techroadshow.blogspot.com/.

Another blog worth following (and not just because I think the author is an incredible and lovely person, to whom I am also married!) is http://peacefulones.blogspot.com/. Often provocative, never boring.

Yet another resource worth knowing are the sermon mp3 files from the chapel at Northwest University, where I teach. We’re currently in a series on Colossians, and our President, Dr. Joseph Castleberry, has preached two excellent messages that I  commend – have a listen at http://eagle.northwestu.edu/chapel_mp3/20110204.mp3 and http://eagle.northwestu.edu/chapel_mp3/20110216.mp3. For a chapel schedule and links to existing mp3 files, check out http://www.northwestu.edu/ministry/chapel/schedule.php. And of course, you’re welcome to come join us. The worship is almost always pretty exuberant!