by
Sylvia Dooling
I have two concerns about this lesson:
1. The author underscores VOW’s major objection with this Horizons Bible
Study when she writes, “Some of these narrative are relatively accurate,
historically speaking, but others are not. However, no matter how much
scholars agree or disagree about the historicity of particular narratives,
we read these stories with a different intent. We read to discover the word
of God for us, here and now, and to be nurtured spiritually.”
Hearing the Word of God, here and now, is a laudable goal. But, it cannot
bypass the hard work of dealing with the history of the narratives, and the
meaning of the text to its author(s). But, the study’s writer tries to avoid
this step. Rather, she tries to apply the meaning of the text without first
determining the meaning of the text. This is a flawed process. For example,
does Joshua really speak to saving our environment, preventing pollution,
and protecting our atmosphere? (p. 86)
2. The author correctly points out that there are several kinds of covenants
in the Old Testament, but her discussion about God’s covenant with Abraham
is a bit confused. She is right to point out that we are part of the people
of God to whom his covenant with Abraham pertains ( Galatians 3:6-7 “Just as
Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, so, you
see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham.”) However, she is
unclear when she states :
all the nations of the world receive God’s blessing. Jesus Christ, who gave
himself for the life of the world, is the one through whom the divine
blessing is transmitted to all.
What she says, of course, is true in a sense — salvation is through Jesus
Christ for all people, and the entire world is blessed by Christ’s work
(general grace). But, his work is only effective unto salvation for his
elect. So, if she is saying that all people are God’s people, and that all
people benefit equally from the life, death and resurrection of Christ, she
is out of step both with Scripture and our confessional standards as
Presbyterians.
Once again she runs into trouble by failing to deal with the context of
Joshua. The people, during the time of Joshua were living under the Old
Covenant which would be replaced by the New Covenant with the coming of
Messiah.
As the prophet Jeremiah spoke years after Joshua:
The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the
covenant that I made with their ancestors when I them by the hand to bring
them out of the land of Egypt — a covenant that they broke, though I was
their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with
the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law
within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say
to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least
of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity,
and remember their sin no more. Jeremiah 31:31-34
The New Covenant was cut in the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. It is a
Covenant of grace. The last section of this lesson, Choose This Day Whom
You Will Serve is written in a way that sounds like a Covenant of grace and
works. (FYI this is the real issue of the Reformation. The Catholic Church
insisted that we are saved by grace plus works; the magisterial reformers
insisted that we are saved by grace ALONE.)
It would appear that for the lesson’s author grace only goes so far– Joshua
lays out the challenge: “Choose this day whom you will serve” (24:15). God
continues to come to us freely and graciously. It is for us to respond by
returning the divine love to God and sharing it among ourselves. This is
indeed the covenant — the law — that secures our fellowship with God.
I heartily disagree! Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have
been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of
God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
Scripture from the opening pages of the Old Testament until the end of the
New Testament makes it absolutely clear, as Luther put it, that when it
comes to the Covenant, God does it all. Human beings are incapable of
obeying the Law because sin has broken our relationship to God. We are dead
in sin. So God graciously does for us what we are unable to do for
ourselves. This we must be very clear about or we miss the point of the
cross and the resurrection. We cannot choose to obey God on our own. It is
the abiding and transforming Holy Spirit that enables us to grow in a life
of obedience, which we will never fully attain until Christ comes again and
we are taken into his eternal kingdom with resurrected bodies. On this the
church must be clear.
Be careful about mixed messages in this concluding lesson.