"Wm. Taylor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Judy asks, "Is it possible for you to show me where you are at by scripture without feeling threatened?"Bill responds, I will earnestly try to do this. On March 3, Terry wrote me in reply to my post concerning the go'el aspect of Christ's atoning work. He said, I understood what you said about a kinsman reedemer in the old testament. I just don't agree that it has to be that way with Christ.In a later correspondence the same day between you and Terry, you wrote, The kinsman redeemer concept is a beautiful one for Ruth and Boaz who were God's OT covenant people after the flesh. We as gentiles become God's covenant people in Christ after the Spirit - at least that's the way I understand it.It seems to me that both of you are saying the same thing, but I beg to differ. The Old Testament did not leave the go'el behind when it became the New Testament, neither did its fundamental meaning change in its NT usage.The go'el or kinsmen redeemer is a beautiful concept, I agree with you. But it is greater than Ruth and Boaz. The Ruth and Boaz story is a precursor to the Kinsmen Redeemer of the NT. They shed light upon what would become the fulness of revelation in the age in which we are liiving -- when the Father would speak to us through his Son.Furthermore, the go'el of the Ruth and Boaz account is not only confined within an OT covenant (God-and-his-people-after-the-flesh) context. It is this, to be sure, but it is greater than this; it is inclusive of gentiles too, through the promise given to Eve.The Book of Job will shed light on this discussion. Most scholars seem to think that Job was written in the period of the patriarchs, in the time of the cutting of the covenant with Abraham, and certainly many years before the giving of the Law to Moses. Job is the oldest of our Writings.Yet in Job's affliction, he did not make his plea by way of the covenant: LORD you promised me ... ; instead he looked forward to the coming of go'el :Job 19:23-27 -- "Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!"
The word "Redeemer" here is go'el. The question is, Who is this Kinsmen Redeemer who lives, and shall stand on the earth? Who is He that Job will see long after his death, yet still in his flesh? Job identifies him in two ways: in terms of flesh and as God; i.e., "He [the go'el] shall stand at last on the earth" and "I shall see God."
Is there any question here that the Kinsmen Redeemer-God of Job is Jesus Christ, come in the flesh? I don't think so. And how is it that Job will see God after his death, yet still in his own flesh? Job knew something about the Kinsmen Redeemer that you are unwilling to admit. The Kinsmen Redeemer was going to redeem Job's flesh by becoming like him in His own fallen flesh (we see this in Luk. 22.41-44; Rom. 5.12ff; 8.3; I Cor. 15; II Cor. 5.14ff; Gal. 4.4; Phi. 2. 5-11; Heb. 2.9-18; the list goes on). Why is this so difficult for you to see?
Judy, I'm not being vicious here, quite the opposite! You told me if I could show you these things in Scripture, you would pray about it. Judy, will you pray?
Love and Grace to you,
Bill
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