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<\/source><\/picture>Noted theologian and preacher John Piper recently listed eight ways he says the Old Testament doesn’t apply to modern Christianity while also believing that the promises of the Hebrew Bible largely apply to the Church.<\/p>\n
In an episode of the podcast \u201cAsk Pastor John<\/a>\u201d posted last week, a listener named Maureen asked Piper, \u201cWhich Old Testament verses are for me, as a Christian, today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes I select a verse that is meaningful to me from my Bible reading in the morning. But then later in the day, as I further reflect on it, it feels like I\u2019ve lifted the verse out of context and misapplied it to myself. How, Pastor John, do I know which Old Testament promises are for me?\u201d Maureen asked.<\/p>\n Piper responded that, while he believed \u201call of the Old Testament is for those who are in Christ Jesus,\u201d there were still \u201cdifferences between the people of God \u2014 the Church \u2014 today and the people of God \u2014 Israel \u2014 in the Old Testament, and how God relates differently to each.\u201d<\/p>\n Piper listed eight specific differences, beginning with how Old Testament Israel was \u201can earthly, political nation-state,\u201d while the modern Church \u201cis a people whose citizenship is in Heaven and who are sojourners and exiles here, scattered among all the nation-states.\u201d<\/p>\n The second difference Piper pointed to was that Israel was \u201ca theocracy to carry out God\u2019s punishments for those who broke His law, including capital punishment for idolatry and various other sins.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Church is not a civil government and is not authorized as a church to carry out God\u2019s punishments. Excommunication from the church through church discipline replaces execution through the judicial processes,\u201d Piper said.<\/p>\n A third difference is that Israel was \u201cbasically one ethnicity\u201d while \u201cthe Church is made up of all ethnicities.\u201d Piper added that \u201cpractices that were designed to separate Israel from the surrounding peoples and ethnicities\u201d are \u201cdone away with as requirements for God\u2019s people.\u201d<\/p>\n The fourth difference Piper laid out was that while Israel \u201chad defined geographic borders and a geographic religious center,\u201d the New Testament Church \u201chas no geographic borders or religious center.\u201d<\/p>\n A fifth point of difference, according to Piper, was that individuals were born into ancient Israel, while \u201cpeople are born again into the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe new covenant is entered by the miracle of God\u2019s forgiving sins through faith and through God\u2019s writing the law on our hearts,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n Difference number six was that Israel did not have a \u201cgreat commission<\/a>,\u201d specifically a call on members to evangelize, whereas the New Testament believers are called to evangelize.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Old Testament religion was mainly a \u2018come and see\u2019 religion, while the New Testament religion is mainly a \u2018go and tell\u2019 religion,\u201d Piper said.<\/p>\n A seventh difference, according to Piper, was that ancient Israel had a sacrificial system in place, \u201cbut that entire system was done away with when Jesus fulfilled it by becoming the final sacrifice and by acting as the final High Priest.\u201d<\/p>\n As a final point of difference, Piper pointed to the Holy Spirit, with the theologian saying that \u201cthe people of God in the Old Testament did experience the working of the Spirit of God, but they did not experience or know the Spirit as the indwelling Spirit of the risen Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cToday, we know the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ. He works in His Church, therefore, in a way that he did not work in the Old Testament, because the Church is His body, the body of the risen Christ,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Despite the key differences, Piper added: \u201cWe can take any text in the Old Testament and make it our own by treating it as fulfilled in Christ, with the necessary changes implied in those points.\u201d<\/p>\n In May 2018, megachurch Pastor Andy Stanley garnered controversy when said in a sermon that Christians needed to “unhitch<\/a>” the Old Testament from their faith.<\/p>\n Stanley referenced Acts 15<\/a>, in which the leaders of the early Church decided that Gentile converts did not need to strictly observe Jewish law to become Christians.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n “[First century] Church leaders unhitched the Church from the worldview, value system and regulations of the Jewish Scriptures,” said Stanley. “Peter, James, Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish Scriptures, and my friends, we must as well.”<\/p>\n Critics, among them Messianic Jewish author and radio host Michael Brown, argued that \u201cthroughout the New Testament,\u201d Gentile believers \u201cwere called to live holy lives, based on Old Testament teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPastor Stanley forgets that the Old Testament also tells us the story of Israel, including Israel\u2019s blessed future,\u201d wrote Brown at the time.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cCut out the Old Testament, and you cut out much of Israel\u2019s destiny, which all believers should understand. Cut out the Old Testament, and you also cut out the destiny of the nations.\u201d<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.christianpost.com\/images\/cache\/image\/14\/42\/144278_w_400_263.webp\")
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