Thursday 28 June 2012

Article VII - Of the Old Testament (39 Articles)

Once, when I was talking to an Anglican minister about Jesus in the Old Testament, and called this the 'Blackham view', I was rebuked and told to stop calling this the 'Blackham view'. This debate in about faith in Jesus in the Old Testament or faith in the promises of God is not a recent, but old one. Perhaps surprisingly, those who came up with the 39 Articles saw this debate to be so crucial that they sought to address it alongside the papist errors of Rome: "The Old Testament is not contrary to the New: for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to Mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and Man, being both God and Man. Wherefore they are not to be heard, which feign that the old Fathers did look only for transitory promises." Those who maintain that the OT saints knew and trusted in Jesus for salvation, are simply following what has always been believed by the Church throughout history, and should be believed by all, not least by Anglicans, since we claim to hold on to the 39 Articles. Article 7 on the OT is strongly worded, especially in the application when faced with those who deny that the OT believers trusted in Jesus. But what do you reckon? Should we stop listening to those who falsely claim that the OT saints trusted only the promises and not in Christ Himself? Should we warn our congregations to stop listening to those who have departed from that which is maintained by the above Article, just as we might warn people against the errors of Rome?

1 comment:

Nicolai said...

I was under the impression that the state-of-the-art version of "only transitory promises" in the OT was put forth by Schleiermacher .. but that sounds like fairly clear language against what almost seems to be the same issue - but a few hundred years earlier. So, who exactly are they "which feign that the old Fathers did look only for transitory promises"?