scholarly journals Die messiaanse aard van psalms: hoe dit ’n Nuwe-Testamentiese lees, vertaling en omdigting van die psalms raak

2006 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Helberg

The messianic character of the psalms: how it affects a New Testament reading, translation and re-versification of the psalms The 2001 re-versification of the psalms as well as the 1983 translation in Afrikaans is rejected by some, because the messiah is not rendered in capital letters. This article views the matter from the perspective of Psalm 1 and 2 as an introduction which characterises the whole psalter as messianic. This article explores what this means. The relation between Psalm 2 (re kingship) and Psalm 1 (re the Law/Word of Yahweh) is in- vestigated in able to view the “messianic” concept in its real perspective. The same applies to the relation Old Testament- New Testament and expectation-fulfilment. The regenerative character of the fulfilment in Christ as well as its implication for one’s inclination towards one’s neighbour and how it affects that of the psalmists is explored. The conclusion of the article is that to render the messiah in capital letters in the psalms is to bypass the regenerartive fulfilment by Christ and to ignore the implication thereof regarding enemies.

Author(s):  
István T. Kristó-Nagy*

The contrast between the attitude towards violence of the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament was already explored by Marcion (d. c. 160 ad) before the advent of Islam and has been rediscovered again and again since.1 Marcion saw the former as the creator of the world and God of the law and the latter as the good God, the God of love.2 The character of the former reflects a community’s need for sanctified social norms, while the character of the latter shows the community’s and the individual’s longing for the hope of salvation.3 The God of the Qurʾān is also one of punishment and pardon. This chapter investigates the former aspect and focuses on: (1) the appearance of evil and violence in the universe as described in the Qurʾān; (2) the philosophical-theological questions revealed by this myth; and (3) its social implications.


1986 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Black

To speak, in general terms, of trends in modern biblical study is often to over-simplify; and certainly to claim that there has been, in recent years, a trend away from the traditional classicist or ‘hellenist’ approach to New Testament problems towards a more Hebraic or semitic-centred approach would be to be guilty of the same exaggeration as E. C. Hoskyns in 1930: ‘(There are) grounds for supposing no further progress in the understanding of … Christianity to be possible unless the ark of New Testament exegesis be recovered from its wanderings in the land of the Philistines (sic) and be led back not merely to Jerusalem, for that might mean contemporary Judaism, but to its home in the midst of the classical Old Testament Scriptures — to the Law and the Prophets.’ There is, nevertheless, some truth in A. M. Hunter's later statement: ‘After ransacking all sorts of sources, Jewish and Greek (and, we may add, starting all sorts of “hares”, some of which have not run very well), (scholars) are discovering the truth of Augustine's dictum, “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old is made plain in the New”’ (Novum Testamentum in vetere latet, vetus in novo patet).


2014 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-229
Author(s):  
Michael Straus

AbstractThis article takes as its springboard the well-known text of Psalm 2:7, in which the Psalmist – presumably David, king of Israel – refers to himself as a ‘begotten’ son of God by virtue of his Lord's decree. The article first explores various linguistic and theological options as to the identity of the ‘son’ to whom the passage refers; and analyses the relationship between that son and the one who is stated to have begotten him. In this context, the article addresses ways in which the passage more generally sheds light on the relationship between God and Israel, including through analysis of a number of fluctuating usages of singular and plural terms in the Old Testament to describe that relationship. Second, and against that background, the article examines texts in the New Testament which quote or refer to Psalm 2:7 to see whether they provide a better understanding of the nature of the relationship between the father and the son described in the Psalm; and further to see whether any enhanced understanding of that relationship reciprocally sheds light on the relationship of God the Father to God the Son as revealed in the New Testament. The article then seeks to determine whether these passages, taken as a whole, provide explicit, implicit, or proto-Trinitarian concepts in anticipation of those given fuller expression in orthodox Church doctrine. Finally, the article explores the concept of circumincession, or coinherence, John of Damascus’ highly abstracted and nearly poetic effort at the close of the Patristic era to provide an extra-biblical explanation of the relationship between the Father and the Son as well as the relationship among the three members of the Trinity. The article concludes by finding that his attempted articulation, and quite possibly all such efforts, will ultimately fail, leaving intact the mystery of the Trinity as one escaping, or rather surpassing, conceptual analysis.


1960 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Ragnar Bring

In The New Testament the word ‘Law’ is largely equivalent to what we today call the Old Testament. But there are exceptions to this use of the term. The Law sometimes designates the Pentateuch. This is the case in the liturgy of the Synagogue. But for the Jews the term ‘Law’ also could include their entire religious tradition. It governed the daily life of the people—not only in matters of what we call worship, morality, ethics or religion but also in matters legal, social and political. Additions to the commandments found in the Pentateuch and the commentaries that had been added and still were being added, were not thought to be something foreign to the law. It was thought that they simply applied what the Scriptures said. The phrase ‘it has been said to them of old times’ is often understood as being merely a formula of disapproval, since in the Gospels Jesus criticised these rules. But their original purpose was to continue the tradition of which the Scriptures were the core. Their contemporary significance was manifest in the constantly renewed discussion of how they were to be interpreted and applied. For this purpose casuistic rules were needed, that took into account all the concrete situations of life. Thus a lawabiding Jew could always know how he had to act.


The article states that, for the purpose of interpreting the Biblical topos of the Law and Grace, Hilarion refers to the genre of the word. Hilarion takes first place in the title, and then in the text of the work God brings out wisdom. By law, he believes the Old Testament, which has already fulfilled its task, and Grace - the New Testament, which outlines the existence of man, his relationship with God, gives hope for eternal life. The subject of the "Word" breaks the sermon into four fragments. In the first of them, we notice the allegorical meaning of reading the Scriptures in relation to the history of mankind. The second part is devoted to the interpretation of the image of Jesus Christ, which appears as a synthesis of God and human nature. The third fragment depicts events beyond the boundary of the Bible. It is devoted to the baptism of Rus. In the fourth fragment Prince Volodymyr is glorified. Following the best traditions of Byzantine oratory prose, the author of the Word simply pours his text into quotations from the Bible and adds to them a predominantly allegorical interpretation, emphasizing that the work is not intended for proclamation, but for reading, which enabled the author to interpret the Scriptures and in the literal, and in allegorical sense. The advantage of the New Testament over the Old Testament is embodied by the author in the images of the free wife of Abraham Sarah - Grace and his servant Hagar - Law. Laconic retelling of God-inspired text, Hilarion interprets the old-czarist images, as those that represent the new covenants at the level of allusions, presented them in the form of additional parallel antithesis. The same anti-colored color is also depicted by the images of their children. Isaac was born from a free woman, which means that he represents freedom, Ishmael is from a slave, hence his image symbolizes slavery. He who receives Grace receives goodness, love, becomes the son of God, and begins to live a new life in the Holy Spirit through which the believer is through. The overcoming of the Law and the perception of Grace means, according to Hilarion, the acquisition of spiritual freedom.


2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 441-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matjaž Celarc

The article attempts to present Paul’s argument in the Letter to the Romans that Christ is the goal of the Law and the culmination of all Israel’s expectations, as suggested by the propositio Rom 10,4. The article highlights Paul’s thought that Judaism and Christianity are not at odds but are part of God’s plan that leads to Christ from the Law. The author uses the approaches of rhetorical analysis and intertextual reading. An analysis of structure, vocabulary and subject matter shows how all Paul’s thought supports the idea of the continuity of the salvation history of Christ. Not less crucial is the intertextual approach, which shows how Paul bases his thought on the Old Testament parallels tied to the theme of the covenant that characterizes deuteronomistic and prophetic thought. The article points to an additional historical literary parallel to Luke, who presents Christ in the Apostolic Works as the fulfilment of Messianic expectations. The article shows how Paul invites his contemporaries and today’s readers to discover in Christ the key to the history of salvation.


Pneuma ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank D. Macchia

AbstractLevison’s Filled with the Spirit explores the deep difference between the two Testaments in how Spirit filling is understood. While the Old Testament holds Spirit filling to be a flourishing of human life through an interaction of divine and human initiatives, the New Testament sees it as a subsequent gift granted supernaturally through faith in Christ. Yet, there is also a sense of continuity in the midst of this difference, especially in how the flourishing of life resists death. This review appreciatively explores Levison’s understanding of such biblical tensions and continuities in the light of the one-sided accent of Pentecostalism on the supernatural quality of life in the Spirit, but also in the light of the question as to whether or not Levison has unnecessarily widened the gap between the pneumatologies of the two Testaments.


1981 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morna D. Hooker

It seemed appropriate that a lecture given to honour a scholar whose concerns have been centred on the Old Testament, by someone whose field is the New Testament, should link together these two topics. I have therefore chosen to consider one aspect of the problem of the way in which the Old Testament is interpreted by New Testament authors: more specifically, the authority ascribed by one of them – St Paul – to the Old Testament in relation to the revelation of God in Christ.


1990 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Watts

AbstractPsalm 2 is an intersection in which a variety of issues in biblical theology meet. The psalm impacts upon our understanding of monotheism in ancient Israel, the religious nature of Judah's royal ideology, the origins of eschatology, and New Testament Christology. Theological reflection on Ps 2 should therefore not only consider the recent exegetical discussions of the text, but also the theological issues raised by the Old Testament context, the New Testament's use of the psalm, and the history of the psalm's interpretation. In what follows, a survey of all these aspects will lay the basis for a theological construal of this biblical text.


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