Alien Drums

Wondering about something new January 15, 2012

I’m a follower of Christ, but sometimes the Bible leaves me scratching my head. This is not the place to go into all the details that cause that scratching, but I want to surface a thought.

First, there was the Hebrew Bible, what we Christians now call the Old Testament. It told the story of a covenant between God and “His people.” Then there came Jesus, who said he did not come to do away with the law of the past, but the New Testament clearly indicates Jesus brought about something very new, even a new covenant.

My question: If the first testament and covenant were from God and the second testament and covenant were from God, could there possibly be a third testament and covenant?

The first two seem to be a product of their times. Can we rule out that there might be a third that could be a product of our time or some time to follow?

I have wondered this for some time, but I’m reading a book about New Testament theology that is very traditional, and some of what the author says about the biblical book of Hebrews brought these thoughts back to mind. The book is I. Howard Marshall’s A Concise New Testament Theology.

Marshall said that in the Old Testament “God interacted with his people through his messengers, the prophets; through the agency of Moses …; through the angels and the law that they mediated; through the promises of God; specifically through the sacrificial system; and through their faith.” But this “setup” is no longer valid after the death and resurrection of Christ. “The new covenant has succeeded the old, but the way of faith is still the same.” (242)

In short, two covenants, one faith. It makes one wonder about three or more covenants, one faith. Could Christ reveal more to humanity in today’s context? Or has God already revealed more to humanity in other contexts through, let’s say, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others? I suspect Marshall would answer the questions with a ringing, “No.” But one wonders if a simple “no” is required.

More from Marshall:

“The old setup provides the pattern for interpreting what is going on now. We learn what a covenant is from the old covenant. Understanding Jesus’ work as sacrificial depends upon drawing analogies from the Old Testament system to apply to Jesus’ work. … The old covenant had something wrong with it, or else it would not have needed to be replaced (Heb 8:7).” (242)

He opens the door of possibilities even wider, it seems. What if the first two covenants provide patterns for interpreting new ones? What if something was wrong with the second covenant, just as it was with the first, so that it, too, needs to be replaced?

More from Marshall:

“… [T]he relationship between the old and the new system is not simply one of contrast. There is also a strong element of continuity. This is provided by the concept of faith.” (243)

I think I need not ask questions; the application of possibilities seems obvious.

And, then, to shift gears a little within the same theme of new possibilities.

“At the same time the writer [of Hebrews] can tell his readers that they have come to the heavenly city, so that there is the characteristic Christian blend of the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet’.” (243)

That surely is an accurate discription of the early Christian community, and there is a real sense in which all Christian theologians recognize the “already” and the “not yet” character of the Christian hope. This hope, however, is always within narrowly defined borders set by the New Testament. What if the “not yet” turns out to be as different from the second covenant as second was from the first? Not that there would not be a tie that binds, but that many of us, especially the religious leaders, might not be accurately anticipating what it will look like. We might be as surprised by God’s continuing revalation as the Jewish religious leaders were during Jesus’ time.

I surely do not know if this is the case. Many Christians would call this heretical, but they thought that of Jesus. I am no Jesus, that’s for sure, but I do wonder if the next big thing that God does will surprise us. Will we then see a foreshadowing in the Old and New Testaments that was not entirely clear to us before that new revelation?

Faith, of course, is what would tie such an eventually to the past–not faith in the past but faith in the God of the past, present and future.