Biblical Christianity from Peter DeHaan

Do Christians Need to Read the Old Testament of the Bible?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 14, 2019

Since the New Testament Focuses on Jesus Isn’t It All We Need?

We read the Bible because it reveals God to us. It is the foundation of our faith. But do we need to read all scripture, the whole Bible?

The New Testament Is Enough

As Jesus wraps up a lengthy sermon, the one we call the Sermon on the Mount, he gives us a one liner that we recognize as the Golden Rule. He tells us to treat others the way we want them to treat us. Then he adds a curious addendum.

He says this one instruction summarizes the whole Law and all that the prophets wrote (Matthew 7:12). These writings—the Law of Moses and the prophets—encompass what we call the Old Testament of the Bible.

If treating others right, the way we want them to treat us, distills everything in the Old Testament, there seems no point in reading it. Right?

In fact, the New Testament provides all the essential information we need to follow Jesus and be made right with Papa. This informs our present physical life and anticipates our future spiritual life with God in heaven.

The New Testament is enough. Or is it?

The Old Testament Magnifies the New Testament

Yet early in the same sermon, Jesus says he didn’t come to abolish (that is, do away with) the Old Testament—the Law and the prophets—but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).

If Jesus isn’t tossing out the Old Testament but is instead building upon those writings, aren’t they also foundational to our faith and understanding of God?

Yes.

Though we can view the New Testament as containing all the essential faith information we need, understanding the Old Testament adds meaning; it deepens our understanding of the symbolism, power, and purpose of the New Testament.

For example, how can we fully appreciate Jesus’s sacrifice and dying for our sins, without knowing the backstory in the Old Testament?

We can’t.

That’s why we need the Old Testament. Though the New Testament may be enough, the Old Testament amplifies it.

All Scripture Is Useful

Consider what Paul writes to his protégé Timothy. Paul says, all scripture is useful to inform us in our faith and life (2 Timothy 3:16). He doesn’t say the New Testament is useful, which, by the way, didn’t exist when Paul wrote to Timothy.

From Paul’s perspective, he refers to all the scripture that existed at that time.

This includes what we now call the Old Testament and the Apocrypha. (The Apocrypha was part of the Septuagint, the Bible Jesus and Paul quoted from. The Apocrypha was also part of the original King James Bible.)

From our understanding today, when we read Paul’s words that all scripture is useful, we conveniently include the New Testament in this. It’s not wrong to do so, but it is an expansion of what Paul wrote nearly 2,000 years ago.

Which Is It?

As we study the Bible today, we will do well to study all of it.

Yes, the New Testament is more applicable. Yet the writings of the Old Testament—all them—carry meaningful significance.

Therefore, we should keep in mind to not focus so much on the New Testament that we ignore the Old.

As Paul wrote, all scripture comes from God. It is the Word of God, God breathed. It is useful to us in our daily life. It teaches us, rebukes us, and corrects us. It trains us in how to live right. It prepares us to do good (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Tags Bible, Paul, read the Bible

Personal Posts

Do You Lie to Your Doctor?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 10, 2019

At work I received a shocking press release. In part of it said, “It’s an open secret in healthcare communities: patients lie.”

The reasons were many. Some lie because they don’t want to admit unhealthy behaviors to their doctors. For others, by not voicing a concern they subconsciously deny its existence.

Still, others make their own determinations as to what’s important and what’s not, lying to keep from revealing what they deem to be irrelevant.

Yet I think I understood this.

I’ve made casual comments to doctors and the next thing I know they would want to schedule me for a series of tests unrelated to my visit or they would prescribe a medicine for a minor issue and the drug’s side-effects were worse than my minor ailment.

Sometimes these trivialities were verbally regurgitated visit after visit, long after I’ve forgotten them. As in, “Are you still suffering from blurred vision?”

I respond, “That was three years ago and I haven’t accidentally poked myself in the eye since then.”

Too often doctors only half listen. Once they hear a certain keyword, they tune out the details that surround it. They leap to diagnosis or treatment for a problem that isn’t there.

Sometimes when we lie to doctors, it’s simply to keep them from reaching a wrong conclusion and subjecting us to needless pain.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags health, Sacred-Secular Divide

Bible Insights

Women in the Bible: The Widow’s Oil

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 10, 2019

The widow of one of Elisha’s followers comes to him for help. Her husband left her with an outstanding debt, Since she has no means to pay off the debt, the creditor demands her two sons become his slaves.

Elisha asks what resources she has. “Nothing,” she replies, “except for a small jar of olive oil.”

Elisha has a plan. He tells her to borrow empty jars from her neighbors, lots of them. Then she is to go home, close the doors, and begin pouring olive oil from her small jar into all the other jars.

She does and the oil continues flowing until every jar is full. Then it is gone.

She sells the oil. With the proceeds, she pays off her debt and has extra to live on.

What if she had borrowed more jars? What if she only borrowed a few? When God tells us to do something, do we do it half way (and possibly miss his bounty) or go all out?

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is 2 Kings 1-4 and today’s post is on 2 Kings 4:1-7.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in e-book, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags Elisha, Women of the Bible

Peter DeHaan News

Hear Guest Peter DeHaan on the We Are Saved Podcast

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 5, 2019

Check Out This New Christian Podcast

I listen to a lot of podcasts. And I started a podcast over a decade ago. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work. After a dozen or so episodes I ran out of time. Yet my interest in the medium never waned.

For me, the ideal solution is to make guest appearances on other people’s podcasts!

I’m honored to be a guest on the inaugural episode (episode 1) of the We Are Saved podcast, with my new friend Lyle Perez. Listen to it on iTunes or Podomatic. The whole episode is great, but if you’re short on time, my part starts about 34 minutes in.

In it I tackle two questions:

1. If God is all-knowing, does he know who will be saved and who won’t?

2. Was Moses wrong in his teaching, since Jesus came and made a lot of changes to “the Law?”

These are great questions.

Yep, I was nervous, but I had a blast!

I pray that this podcast will help many people in their walk with Jesus or their journey to him.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Tags Law of Moses, omniscient, podcast, salvation

Personal Posts

Seeing Life Like a Child

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 3, 2019

Lessons From a Kid’s Matinée

I’m a bit of a movie buff and most any genre will do. I still remember when my wife and I went to our local theater to watch the children’s movie, The Smurfs 2. It was a matinée no less; we were by far the oldest people there.

I enjoyed the sequel, perhaps even more so than the first one. As a bonus, both stayed true to the original cartoon series, protecting the theme and characters, while smartly extending the storyline.

Overall The Smurfs 2 provided us with some charming entertainment.

The movie, however, also had some over-the-top, slapstick scenes. The first time this happened, my wife and I snorted a bit and shook our heads with incredulity. “I can’t believe it,” she whispered. She groaned and rolled her eyes in disdain.

Had we been alone, I’d have surely done the same back to her, but before I could, the kid’s laugher overwhelmed me.

Theirs wasn’t a pleasant chuckle or even a spontaneous giggle but a deep, unrestrained belly laugh that permeated the theater. Perhaps, it was the most hilarious thing they’d ever seen.

I couldn’t help myself. I laughed, too. Yes, the scene was stupid (by my standards), but the kids delighted in its excessive, exaggerated buffoonery. They we tended to hold back emotion and restrain ourselves, but I delighted in them.

Similar scenes followed. I laughed aloud. Not that it was funny, but I enjoyed it simply because they enjoyed it. Their laughter became my laughter; their glee produced my glee.

As we grow older, we risk becoming jaded, cynical, and hard to impress. We tend to hold back emotion and restrain ourselves. These kids reminded me just how foolish that is.

May that part of me never grow up. May I always delight in seeing life through the eyes of a child.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags family, movies, Sacred-Secular Divide

Bible Insights

Do You See Jesus?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 3, 2019

The Disciples Walking to Emmaus Teach Us to Open Our Eyes and See God

After Jesus is executed and rises from the dead, he appears to two of his followers as they walk down the road, but they don’t recognize him. They don’t see Jesus. Yet he listens as they talk about him.

He pretends to not know about the events they’re referring to, and he asks them to explain. They eagerly do so.

After they fill him in about the hoped for savior who was crucified, Jesus begins teaching them. He connects Old Testament prophecy with how he just fulfilled it.

When the pair reaches their destination, they ask Jesus to stay with them. He does.

At the meal Jesus breaks the bread, thanks God, and passes it to them. At last they recognize him, they see Jesus, but then he disappears.

The two remark about how he deeply touched their hearts and engaged their minds as he talked with them and taught them from the Hebrew scriptures.

While it is easy to criticize these two for not recognizing their friend Jesus, I wonder how often we are guilty of the same thing.

Though Jesus may not physically appear to us as we go for a walk, I suspect he is all around. Jesus can show up in the things that happen to us and the people we meet.

His Holy Spirit guides us and directs us. We receive spiritual insight and wield supernatural power through Jesus.

Yet how often do we miss this?

Jesus is all around us, but sometimes—perhaps many times —we do not see him; we miss him. We close our eyes to spiritual things, and fail to see Jesus in action all around us.

Jesus, give us the ability to recognize you. Let never miss out on seeing you again. May we see Jesus everyday.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Luke 22-24, and today’s post is on Luke 24:13-32.]

Read more about the book of Luke in That You May Know: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags disciples, Emmaus, Jesus, Luke, supernatural

Bible Insights

We Must Listen to God and Do What He Says

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 2, 2019

God Promises Rewards for Obedience and Punishment for Disobedience

As we read through the book of Leviticus, which is a struggle for most of us, we read instruction after instruction of what God expects from his people.

With precise detail, his commands come forth one after another. Then, in chapter 26, the book begins to wrap up.

Here we see the prior chapters put into perspective. The key concept here is that we must listen to God and follow him.

The chapter opens with a detailed list of rewards for those who listen to God, follow his decrees, and obey his commands. He promises favor, peace, and fruitfulness. Isn’t this a life we all want to experience?

But then the tone of the chapter changes. The word “but” signals a transition.

For those who refuse to listen to God, don’t carry out his commands, and reject his decrees, he adds a list of threats (Leviticus 26:14-16) that contrast to the comforting promises in the first half of the chapter.

He talks about terror, disease, and enemy oppression. We all want to avoid these things.

However, these aren’t to punish us but to get our attention.

After a few verses he says, “If after all this…” It’s like he’s taking a breath and giving his people—and us—a second chance.

We must grab this opportunity. Because if we don’t, more punishment will follow, with dire repercussions.

What follows in the rest of the chapter is a series of chances: a third chance, a fourth chance, a fifth chance, and so on.

God doesn’t want to punish us. He wants us to turn to him, follow him, and obey him. His message is clear. We must listen to God and do what he says. Then we will receive the rewards he wants to give us.

And this all starts when we listen to God.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Leviticus 25-26, and today’s post is on Leviticus 26:14-16.]

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Tags disobedience, Law of Moses, obey God, punishment

Christian Living

Is Your Church Inclusive?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date March 31, 2019

Jesus Welcomed and Embraced Everyone, Especially Those on the Fringes

Have you ever gone to a new place where people warmly welcomed and embraced you? A place where people warmly welcomed and embraced everyone? It’s not the location that matters. It’s the people. I’ve been in groups like this.

Everyone’s accepted as they are. They don’t need to prove themselves first. They don’t need to pass a screening process or fit an unstated list of expectations. There’s no judgment, condemnation, or rejection. There’s love. Acceptance. Harmony. Unity.

This should describe the church. It doesn’t.

Most of my experiences where everyone was welcomed and embraced didn’t happen in a church service or at a church building. It happened in spiritual groups outside the church. And it happened with groups that weren’t spiritual at all.

This is to our shame.

In the various churches I’ve attended in my life, only one warmly welcomed and embraced everyone. Even so, they held some underlying criteria of expectations and behavior.

Questions of Inclusivity for Your Church

Here are some items to consider for your church:

Do people at your church congregate with their friends and ignore others, especially visitors?
Do people at your church only hang out with those of their own age, race, and marital status? What about socioeconomic status?
Do people who visit your church need to meet some unspoken expectations of acceptable attire, worship, and language?

Consider this: someone walks into a traditional mainline church wearing jeans and a T-shirt, shouts “hallelujah” after the prelude, and talks about the Holy Spirit is if he’s their friend. It’s obvious they don’t fit in and won’t find acceptance.

Or what about the guy wearing a three-piece suit, sporting slicked back hair, and carrying a leather bound KJV showing up at a hipster millennial church? Yep. He doesn’t fit. And the chance of the church accepting him is slim.

Questions of Inclusivity for You

It’s easy to condemn the church for her lack of inclusivity, but what about you? Do you personally seek to include everyone? Ask yourself the same questions:

At church do you gather with your friends and ignore visitors?
At church do you hang out with people just like you, with the same age, race, and marital status?
At church do you expect people to look, talk, and act a certain way?

You Can Make a Difference

If your church is like most churches, it’s not inclusive. At least it’s not inclusive the way Jesus was inclusive. But you can make a difference, for both your church and for the kingdom of God.

You can be personally inclusive.

If you’re consistent and patient, given enough time, some people will follow your example—or maybe they won’t. Maybe they won’t appreciate your efforts to include everyone, and then they’ll exclude you. Then you might be at the wrong church.

But don’t worry how your church might react to your inclusivity efforts. Instead focus on the reaction of the people you include.

This will please Jesus.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Tags church, love, unity

Bible Insights

A Criminal Makes a Deathbed Confession

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date March 27, 2019

Don’t Put Off Following Jesus

While we shouldn’t wait to follow Jesus, it’s nice to know that he’ll give us up to the last minute to make a decision

In Luke’s biography of Jesus, the author sometimes shares details not found in the Bible’s other three accounts of Jesus’s life. One such example is about the two criminals who are executed with Jesus.

One of them mocks Jesus, but the other one doesn’t. Instead this second criminal rebukes the first. He says knock it off. We’re guilty and getting what we deserve, but Jesus is innocent.

Then the man makes a simple request of Jesus: remember me in your kingdom. What a simple statement, one filled with faith.

This man, whose life is about to end because of a serious wrong he has committed, knows there is something more awaiting him after death.

Yet through no merit of his own and with nothing he can do to earn it, he asks Jesus to be part of Jesus’s future kingdom. It’s bold, and it’s sincere.

Jesus could have said, “Sorry man, but you messed up.” But no. Instead Jesus lovingly says “Yes!” And not only is the answer affirmative, but it is also timely. Jesus says, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

While we can wait until the last minute and make a deathbed conversion with full confidence that Jesus will say yes, the risk is too great. We don’t know when our last breath will come and if we’ll have time to ask Jesus to remember us.

So don’t put it off. Follow Jesus today so you can live for him in this life and live with him in paradise in the next.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Luke 22-24, and today’s post is on Luke 23:32-43.]

Read more about the book of Luke in That You May Know: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Tags heaven, Jesus, salvation

Bible Insights

We Must Speak Up for the Accused

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date March 26, 2019

Remaining Silent Is Not an Option

The book of Leviticus in the Bible gives us a lot of instructions about things to do and to not do. It’s a challenging read and many readers skip it.

Yet there are bits of truth scattered throughout it that are relevant in our world today. Here’s one example.

If someone is accused, we have an obligation to speak up for them. To not do so is a sin. If we remain quiet God will hold us responsible for our silence.

Defend the Accused

The most obvious application of this verse is the direct one. If there’s a public charge against someone and we have knowledge that will clear them, we must speak up.

We must come to their defense. To remain quiet when we can help clear them is morally wrong and a sin.

Regardless of the circumstances and the situation that testifying may put us in, we must be courageous and share what we know.

Aid the Prosecution

What about the opposite situation, when someone is accused of wrongdoing and we have information that will help convict them? Does this verse apply to us in those situations? Though not clear, I suspect it does.

In this case, to remain quiet may allow the guilty to go free. This wouldn’t be right. Again, we must speak up regardless of the circumstances and the ramifications of testifying.

Pursue Justice

These are two aspects of justice. Is a wider application of this verse that we are to pursue justice? It could be. Certainly, the oppressed and disadvantaged need advocates to help them receive justice.

By extension, this verse may be telling us that if we have the means to help someone receive just treatment and we remain quiet, that we have sinned and will be held responsible.

Exactly how we understand and apply this verse is up for us to determine, but a good principle to follow is that we must speak up for what is right.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Leviticus 4-6, and today’s post is on Leviticus 5:1.]

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Tags justice