The NT writers’ view of the OT is one of the most important areas of study especially after New Perspective scholars such as Wright, Dunn and Sanders shook the establishment with really fresh readings. I would be very interested in your “much lengthier version!

My own doubts about Wright’s reconstruction lie not so much with his (proper) emphasis on the covenantal understanding of Judaism as with how Jesus’s new covenant changes the ‘ground rules’.

Jesus own contention is that His Father is clearly visible in the scriptures. That would include His analysis of the Mosaic Law. In fact his prime contention with the teachers of his day is that they have failed to see God as He is in the scripture, and are therefore teaching burdensome rubbish. If so, then our understanding of how to read the OT is faulty when we come up with a picture of God who is significantly different from the Father whom Jesus proclaimed.

The NT authors do not contradict Jesus teaching. I think they are in fact building upon it. If the earliest believers are to be understood as a movement from within Judaism, Paul’s teaching on the function of the law, as a basic signpost to sin, is revolutionary. Stephen’s powerful historical indictment also assumes a God who prefers a better way.

In the face of extreme human stubborness, terrible things happen to innocent people. This is no less true today than it was 3 or 4 millenia ago. In our own times we have seen mass starvation in Ethiopia, genocides take place before our eyes - Rwanda and now Darfur, and in even the most highly technologically advanced nations thousands can die through stupidity as we saw in New Orleans. Other wars such as in Iraq, Uganda and the Congo continue to extract their tolls on civilians with the women and children bearing the brunt.

Looking back on colonial history shows that even supposedly enlightened and civilised nations are capable of terrible barbarism. If we hesitate to blame God for these things today, why should we feel that we should apply a different standard to God in the OT?

Live to serve : Serve to live