Over the past couple of years, I have had the question “What new does Christ bring to the table?” It might be an ill-crafted question, but perhaps a fair one as well. It is often asked by those who give more weight to the Tanakh or ‘Old Testament’ than The apostolic writings or the ‘New Testament,’ or by those who lean into the ‘Hebraic’ understanding of the practice of faithfulness.
The consistency and perpetuity of Torah, ADONAI’s instructions for living, are somehow at stake if anything ‘new’ is allowed to enter the conversation. But according to Romans 6:4 and other passages, the newness of life, as brought to fruition by the resurrection is ‘new.’ Beyond its novelty, it is absolutely necessary to the walk of covenantally faithful. For without the newness of life, as wrought by the resurrection, ‘our faithfulness is in vain.’
The proposition that something new is being brought to the table by a post ‘Old Testament’ figure is not something to be feared, but something to be examined in the very light of scripture. Some love ‘game-changer’ events that have colored outside the lines of dogma and history. Many do not. But the Resurrection which brings about the newness of life was both new as an event then, and is new with each unfolding implication in both the comunal and individual’s present life.
The resurrection is a ‘game-changer,’ it is a new thing that The Father brought about in history and it remains a new thing in the lives of all who embrace and grow in the newness of life. What new does Paul, or Peter, or James, or Luke, or John, or even Christ bring to the table? I’d love to read your responses to this question.
“Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them…”
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