A New Approach to Bible Publishing

Around 140 A.D. a church bishop named Marcion published a canon of Scripture that left out the Old Testament as well as any reference to it in the gospels and the letters of Paul.  It appears he was motivated by his inability to reconcile the character of the God of the Old Testament with God the Father as revealed by Jesus Christ.  His final product was a severely edited gospel of Luke (no Matthew, Mark, or John) and ten abridged letters of Paul.  He was excommunicated from the church as a heretic.

Marcion’s angst is still with us today.  Ten years ago, Christianity Today magazine dedicated an entire issue to the theme of “Grappling with the God of Two Testaments.”  But it doesn’t have to be this way.  When we understand the huge differences between the old and new covenants, when we understand the unveiling of the salvation plan of God that was completed in Jesus, when we stop trying to mix the Old and New Testaments as pathways to the Christian life, when we understand the facets of God’s character revealed under each covenant, when we recognize the old covenant as out dated and obsolete (God’s words, not mine), then we will see how the big picture fits together.

The church fathers in the second century, in direct response to Marcion, said that the New Testament does not supersede the Old Testament, but stands beside it to form a complete set.  I am not one to quibble with the church fathers, but one of the claims of the New Testament itself is that it DOES in fact supersede the Old.

The new covenant proclaims itself as completely different and better than the old.  The book of Hebrews is a thirteen-chapter dissertation on the main idea that Jesus is better.  Jesus is better than the angels, Jesus is better than the Old Testament prophets, Jesus is better than Moses, Jesus is better than the Law.  And the new covenant introduced by Jesus is superior to the old covenant.

The provisions for righteous living are far superior under the new covenant than under the old.  The whole book of Galatians is based on this idea.  The Law was nothing more than a schoolmaster, condemning us and pointing out our sin.  But this ministry of condemnation, identified by Paul as the old covenant, has “come to an end” (II Corinthians 3:11).  It has been replaced, not added on to, by the new covenant; a covenant described as the ministry of life, the ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of righteousness, and a ministry that “is ongoing and remains” (II Corinthians 3:6-9).

As a first step in elevating the new covenant to the place it belongs, I think we should flip things around in our Bible publishing.  What I mean is, let’s publish our Bible with the New Testament first and the Old Testament second.  Let’s publish our Christian Bible with the Christian message first.  Let’s print the new covenant – our current arrangement with God – first, and include the old covenant second as a prequel or appendix as it were to the new.  Don’t you think that the Christian Bible, if it is to represent the Christian message, should start with the founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ?

What do you think?  Do you like the idea of publishing the New Testament first in our Bibles?  It is an approach that is not that uncommon in literature or film-making.  Think about the Star Wars franchise, for example.  As you recall, Episodes 4, 5, and 6 – the heart of the story – were produced first.  Episodes 1, 2, and 3 were produced many years later as a prequel.  If it had been shown the other way around, starting with episode 1, would the impact have been the same?  Would we have lost interest long before the pivotal quote, “Luke, I AM your father”?

Just a thought, but it causes me to wonder if it is an unfortunate part of our Bible publishing that one has to read through 931 chapters of the Bible before hearing God say, “Jesus, I AM your Father.”