Week 28 Isaiah 58
One of the standard ways to differentiate between the OT and the NT is something like this:
A) the OT is out-of-date & irrelevant & legalistic & – basically – of no value
B) the NT has some useful & beneficial things to say.
So anyway I was looking at some of the things Isaiah listed in this chapter.
• Don’t oppress your employees
• Treat your employees fairly & equitably
• Don’t tyrannize helpless people
• Quit your interpersonal bashing
• Don’t fake your religious practices
• No legal malpractice
• No two-tiered justice system (same justice for everyone)
• Help poor people
• Help people who are in trouble
• Look out for the welfare of your family
• Don’t lie
• Don’t treat the Lord’s day like just-another-day
• Don’t do just the things you want to do
• Watch your language…watch the way you talk
And there’s a cumulative wrap-up: honor the Lord in everything you do.
I look back over Isaiah’s list. Since they’re all in the OT I wonder if it would be possible to discard all of them. But I don’t think it’s as simple as that. Q#1: what can I get rid of? Q#2: can I toss any of them?
I can understand that a case can be made for the OT being different from the NT. But with a reading like today’s it’ll be hard to argue that “different” is equivalent to having-no-value.
Note: Isaiah’s list is in 58:3-13. It’s his ideas but my words (and it’s slightly reordered). Quote from 58:13 (NLT)