Changes Regarding the Temple

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Changes Regarding the Temple

 

“There are fascinating changes that impact the temple, when we look at the complete picture of the Old and New Testaments. In the New Testament, God’s people are called “the temple of the living God” (2 Cor 6:16). This is a remarkable transformation, compared to the Old Testament” (Key Connections 2023, p. 23).

 

Reasons for these changes are explained in Key Connections: Understanding the Changes from the Old to New Testament (Erickson, Wipf & Stock, 2023).

 

“In the Old Testament, a physical temple was established for God’s people, as the one place for sacrificial offerings. Sacrifices were made at a specific place that God appointed for his people (Deut 12:5–15). So the land, the temple, and the sacrificial system were all linked together. In early years, this place for sacrificial offerings was the OT tabernacle; later it was centered in the temple that was built in Jerusalem” (Key Connections 2023, 23).

 

“In ancient Israel, animals were sacrificed on the altar at the temple to atone for sin; this was the foundation for the OT sacrificial system for Israel, which was supervised by the priests and the Levites. In the New Testament, Christ’s sacrifice on the cross fulfilled the ultimate purpose of all the Old Testament animal sacrifices (Heb 9:11–12)" (2023, 24).

 

"If this central purpose of the OT temple was fulfilled by Christ, what would become of the temple itself? The earliest followers of Christ did not disown the physical temple in Jerusalem; they met in the temple courts as well as in their homes (Acts 2:46). However, there is another temple that emerges very clearly in the New Testament—a temple made without physical stones. Christ’s followers are this new temple" (2023, 24).


The Holy of Holies in the Old Testament

"In the holy of holies, the innermost section of the temple, the presence of God could not be represented with a physical form or image. This was a monumental difference between the worship of the God of Israel and the worship of the surrounding nations. The surrounding nations had images of their gods—idols—and worshipped bulls, snakes, trees, Asherah poles, and other objects. In the tabernacle and later the temple, there was no image for God" (Key Connections 2023, 26).

"God’s presence was there, but there was no image. This stood in sharp contrast to the worship of idols—the physical images of idols that were created by man-made religions of that era" (Key Connections 2023, 27).

“Yet, undeniably, God did have an image—for Genesis says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27). So clearly, human beings were created in God’s image. Early Christian theologians also emphasized Christ as the image of God, and here they were following Paul’s insight that Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15). With this understanding, it becomes clear as to why God had forbidden images in the Old Testament. Images were forbidden because God had not yet revealed his image, which is Christ, the Son of God (Col 1:15)” (Key Connections 2023, 27).

 

God's Plan

"In the New Testament, God’s plan expands in order to welcome all nations to Christ through the gospel. The gospel was not designed for one people in one land; the message of Christ would be spread to all nations. As a result, there would no longer be one place, one temple where God’s presence would be uniquely known. Instead, God’s people become the new temple, God’s dwelling place (2 Cor 6:16–18). This would be true no matter where God’s people dwelt: in cities throughout the Roman Empire and eventually throughout the world" (Key Connections 2023, 23).

“In a comparison of OT and NT texts, it is the NT communities of faith that are referred to as the temple of God; they are also called the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16–17; 2 Cor 6:14–16; Eph 2:19–22). The temple of God’s presence is now the people of God” (2023, 29). 

 

“While Jesus taught in the temple grounds in Jerusalem, he also predicted that in the future the temple would be destroyed (Matt 24:1–2). This took place within roughly forty years, when the Romans came and surrounded Jerusalem with their armies in AD 70. While Jewish zealots and patriots resisted for a time, eventually the walls were breached by the Romans and the temple was destroyed. The walls of Jerusalem were torn down. The temple, the center of the OT sacrificial system and the symbol of the presence of God within the nation, was destroyed. To the time of this writing, the temple has never been rebuilt” (2023, 25).

 

 “….The symbol of the temple in the Old Testament finds its more complete expression in the New Testament: individual believers and the united communities of believers are the new temples of the living God. Not limited to Jerusalem, these temples would be established throughout all the nations wherever people receive Christ and churches are planted. This corresponds with the massive shift from God’s work with an individual nation (Israel) to God’s work throughout the nations—because Christ has come as the Savior of the world” (Key Connections 2023, 30).

 

“…in the new temple God was building, Jews and gentiles were being knit together. In Eph 2:11–22, Paul makes it clear that this temple includes both Jewish and gentile followers of Christ. Jesus Christ is the new cornerstone, and “the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord” (Eph 2:21). Because Christ’s sacrifice was offered for the sins of the entire world, Jews and gentiles would share together in this forgiveness. They would be joined together in the new Christ-centered communities of faith God was forming (cf. 1 Cor 12:13). They would be his new temple” (2023, 24-25).

 

“On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came and filled Christ’s followers (Acts 2:1–39). The Holy Spirit was now dwelling in a unique way in the early church—dwelling in individual believers and dwelling in the midst of this Christ-centered community” (2023, 28).

 

“While there are references to the Spirit coming upon individuals or certain groups in the OT, in the book of Acts the Holy Spirit comes and fills all of Christ’s followers, the entire community. Now there is a powerful abiding of the Spirit within each individual believer. The Spirit would also empower the disciples to fulfill Christ’s mission, and the Spirit would empower each believer to walk in God’s ways, rather than the ways of the flesh (Rom 8:1–13)”  (2023, 29-30}.

 

Excerpts from:

 Key Connections: Understanding the Changes from the Old to New Testament by M. A. Erickson (Wipf & Stock Dec. 2023). The book is available in print or Kindle formats at Amazon.com, at:


 Amazon.com, Key Connections: Understanding the Changes from the Old to New Testament

 

 

 

This area of change is also addressed in:

 

Freely Gathered Communities of Faith and the Changes between the Testaments, a dissertation by M. A. Erickson (Wipf & Stock 2019).

 

 

The Temple of Israel....

"Key points concerning the temple must be analyzed and related to their transformed emphasis in the NT..." (Erickson 2019, 77).

 

"The transformation from a physical temple for the OT nation to the community of faith as the temple in the NT is remarkable. No longer tied to a physical temple, the NT communities of faith could flourish as freely gathered communities throughout the Greco-Roman world. The NT communities of faith became increasingly independent from the Jerusalem temple, and the new temple imagery allowed these communities to lay claim to the presence of God as the indwelling reality that was once restricted to the Jerusalem temple. This meant that wherever NT communities would be gathered, the presence of God would be recognized as dwelling within them and among them..." (2019, 85-86).

 

"The emphasis on the community that is based on faith in Jesus as Messiah is tangible in the NT. The presence of God is with the new community because of the indwelling Holy Spirit; the sacrifice of Christ is now the all–sufficient sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins; the barriers between Jews and Gentiles are removed so that the believers can become one body, one temple of God…" (2019, 102).

 

 

Excerpts from:

Freely Gathered Communities of Faith and the Changes between the Testaments by M. A. Erickson (Wipf & Stock 2019). The book is available in print or Kindle formats at:


 Freely Gathered Communities of Faith and the Changes Between the Testaments at Amazon.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

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