Gerd Lüdemann, Professor of History and Literature of Early Christianity at University of Göttingen and a visiting professor at Vanderbilt University, wrote an article called Liberated from the Christological Madhouse where he postulates that Christians today try to read too much into the Old Testament regarding Christ. Now, I'd personally like to challenge him to a fight with Nerf N-Force swords even though that wouldn't do anything.
He offers up this little jewel though related to Matthew and his use of Isaiah 7:14-
The evangelist Matthew would have us believe that Isaiah 7:14 foretold the virgin birth of Jesus; but since the announcement of this forthcoming birth refers to an event during the reign of king Ahaz (741-725 BCE), Jesus cannot have the child referred to.
Would have us believe indeed?? Yeah, because surely God couldn't have meant for it to say that and mean that. I mean, He just INSPIRED the text to be written the way it was written. I am not nearly as learned (pronouned "learn" "ed"--two seperate words) as the distinuguished professor but I am just foolish enough to believe that when a New Testament author interprets the Old Testament that the New Testament writer got it exactly right because God inspired him to do just that. I guess I'm kinda silly that way.
3 comments:
Also, Matthew wrote 700 years later. He had a text (the OT) to write from, so he could fabricate details to make it fit the way he wanted it to. It's pretty simple to understand once you look into it. The most telling example is Matthew's misunderstanding of an ambiguous Hebrew term that can mean both "young girl" and "virgin." He read it as "virgin," and presto, we have a virgin-birth myth introduced and emphasized by Matthew.
You're right: You're not as learn-ed as the professor. But you seem to have a lot of time on your hands, so go bone up, why don't you?
It leads one to wonder why, if an anonymous commenter does not believe the Bible, he would choose to slander Matthew rather than to dismiss the Old Testament as fiction also.
BTW Joe, I would feel honored to be deemed just as foolish as you.
Lee, I am quite comfortable being enough of a fool to believe God's word. but, as you know, it's not a blind faith. When one examines the evidence, it's a slam dunk open and shut case. In the next week, I'm going to put up a post on the reliability of the Bible, specifically of the New Testament.
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