Re: NT inerrancy??

Gough, Joshua wrote:
>
> Here's an interesting article about the "he shall be called a Nazarene"
> controversy, thoughts anyone?.............................

        With all respect for Lenski (who BTW taught for many years at the seminary where
I'm now an adjunct faculty member), I think an important point is missed if one fails to
appreciate the freedom that Jesus & the NT writers used in interpreting the OT & the
reasons for that freedom. The situation is not simply that the OT writers certain
pieces of information in the text about future events, including the life of Christ. At
least of equal importance is the fact that the OT is interpreted in the light of Christ.
To put it more strongly, Christ (& the Spirit of Christ who inspired the NT writers)
puts sonmething _new_ into OT texts.
        It's hard to explain this with "he shall be called a Nazarene" because we're not
sure just what OT text(s) Mt might have had in mind. A clearer example is the citation
nearby of Hos.11:1, "Out of Egypt I called my son." In its context this clearly refers
to Israel & the original exodus. But it refers to Christ because Mt says it does.
Another example is Jesus' use of Ex.3:6 as proof of the resurrection in debate with the
Sadducees. It's certainly not obvious from the Exodus text itself that this has
anything to do with resurrection, but for Christians it has that significance (among
others) because Jesus puts it into the text.
        Of course this argument will not carry any weight with those who think that the
NT has no distinctive authority.

                                                        Shalom,
                                                        George
                        
        

George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
Received on Wed Dec 31 13:10:48 2003