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Your Turn / Re: Jews and God(s)?
« on: March 26, 2023, 09:03:28 PM »I know that there are Christians who maintain that neither the Trinity, nor Christ, are revealed in the Old Testament, so that any exegesis that finds a reference to Christ or the Trinity is eisegesis. I find it difficult to see how such a position can successfully ward off Marcionism, however.
Easy. The Old Testament is still the Word of God for us. It points to Jesus. It has "types" of Jesus, e.g., Moses, who brought the people God's Law directly from God on Mount Sinai, and Jesus who brought the proper interpretation of God's Law in the Sermon on the Mount. The sacrifices and their benefits in Leviticus is the necessary background to understanding Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. John shows how Jesus on the cross is similar to the serpents Moses hung on poles.
I've looked at every passage where the Hebrew "messiah" is used. Ironically, it is never translated "messiah," but 'anointed (one)." Those who look to the OT to understand what a messiah is and does will not find the word applicable to Jesus. In fact, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament states with its definition of "anointed one;" "N.B. 'Messiah' as eschatological savior-figure not in OT." Rather, this word is used of the kings of Israel, especially Saul, David, Solomon, and successors; priests and high priests; Cyrus, and patriarchs.
Much closer to Jesus' saving acts are the suffering-servant poems in Isaiah - but the servant is never called a messiah.
Intersting method of argument, affirming the very thing you had previously denied.