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Whats New in the New Testament?

Background

This post is somewhat inspired by another post at Christianity Stack Exchange which asks “What important Mormon doctrines are taught in the book of Mormon that we couldn’t find in the Bible already?”. I’m interested in the disputes between Nicene Christianity and Mormonism, mainly because of the parallels between the disputes between Judaism and Christianity. Where this questioner may see the Mormon scriptures to be a non-inspired book bolted onto the Christian bible, I wanted to approach the New Testament in the same way. I wanted to create a running list of ideas, small or large, which are ’new’ in the New Testament as compared to the Hebrew Bible.

Principles

I started compiling this list with a few axioms in mind:

  • I’m comparing the 27 book New Testament with the Jewish Hebrew bible

  • I’m only examining new doctrines and theology, not new narratives or characters

  • A post-hoc reading of the Hebrew Bible could support New Testament innovations, so I have to look at the text on its own terms

  1. The idea that law was given to man via angels:

Galatians 3:19

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.

Acts 7:53

you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.

This appears solely in the New Testament and potentially extra canonical late Jewish writings like Jubilees

  1. The identification of the snake in Eden as Satan

Revelation 12:9; 20:2 identify Satan as an ancient serpent, later Christians linked this allusion with the snake from Genesis. Genesis itself does not identify the snake as anything more than an animal. In fact the serpent’s role in expulsion from Eden is an etiology for the legless snakes of today.

  1. The idea that Satan rules the world as god

Satan is called “the god of this age” in 2 Corinthians 4:4 and “the prince of this world” in John 12:31. There are very little data supporting the idea of a supernatural being besides YHVH ruling the world in the Hebrew bible. Isaiah 42:8 makes a positive claim that the Lord will not share glory with any other.

  1. The idea that breaking one commandment means that you’ve broken the entire law

James 2:10:

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it

The idea that breaking any one of the commandments is equivalent to breaking all of them is not found in the Hebrew bible and appears to be a new doctrine found only in James.

The Hebrew bible lists numerous sins and punishments, such as idolatry being punished with stoning (Deuteronomy 13:6-10) whereas eating blood means being cut off from the rest of Israel (Leviticus 17:10-14). Breaking one commandment does not yield the same punishment as the others.

  1. That Enoch made prophecies about ‘holy ones’

Jude 1:14:

It was also about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “See, the Lord is coming with ten thousands of his holy ones

Enoch is not a prophet and makes no such prophecies in the Hebrew bible, this is a direct quotation from the pseudepigraphal Book of Enoch written in the late Hellenistic period (roughly the 3rd century BCE).

  1. That Melchizedek is an eternal being

The author of Hebrews makes an extraordinary claim that Melchizedek has no parents, and lives forever.

Hebrews 7:3:

Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever

The idea that Melchizedek had no father or mother, no beginning or end is not found in his story in Genesis 14. This is a remarkably foreign idea to the Hebrew bible. The enlargement of this mysterious character was a favorite of Jewish writers in the late second temple period and it appears New Testament authors continued this trend.

  1. That the dead go to different places in the afterlife depending on divine criteria

The Hebrew bible portrays the afterlife as one place that all went, human and animal (Psalms 49:12, Psalms 49:14, Psalms 49:20), good and evil (Eccl 9:2-3). No one could avoid the destination (Psalm 49:9, 89:48). The New Testament portrays the afterlife as a place where rewards can be given depending on “actions”, see 2 Corinthians 5:10:

For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive due recompense for actions done in the body, whether good or evil

  1. Satan is a fallen angel working against God

The NT portrays Satan as a fallen angel in Luke 10:18, and portrays him as working at odds against God’s plans of spreading the gospel in 1 Thessalonians 2:18. The Hebrew bible contains no references to ‘Satan’ falling from heaven or working against God’s plans and it portrays Satan as one of many ‘sons of God’ who remains in God’s presence in heaven and does God’s bidding in Job 1:6-22.

  1. The concept of humans judging angels

1 Corinthians 6:3:

Do you not know that we are to judge angels, to say nothing of ordinary matters?

The Pauline concept that humans will one day judge angels is a simply not found anywhere in the Hebrew Bible.

  1. The concept of ‘Third Heaven’

2 Corinthians 12:2:

I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows

The idea of a 3rd heaven is only found in this Pauline epistle and is absent from the Hebrew bible.

  1. The eschatological ‘antichrist’/‘man of lawlessness’

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4:

Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God.

Various eschatological previews of an ‘antichrist’ or ‘man of lawlessness’ are given in the NT. The equivalent eschatological ‘anti-messiah’ is not found in the Hebrew bible.

  1. ‘Eat[ing] the flesh of the Son of Man and drink[ing] his blood’ during the eucharist

John 6:53-56:

So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day, for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them…"

The theology presented here is completely absent in the Hebrew bible. There is no positive example of eating/drinking blood in order to receive eternal life or otherwise.

  1. Angels desiring to understand the gospel

The author of 1 Peter 1:12 claims angels are curious and eager to understand the mysteries of salvation:

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things

This is absent in the Hebrew bible, where angels are servants and messengers and do not display curiosity.

  1. Prohibition of males covering heads during prayer, calling them a disgrace

Paul prohibits Christian men from covering their heads during prayer, calling them a ‘disgrace’ in 1 Corinthians 11:4:

Any man who prays or prophesies with something on his head disgraces his head

The idea that head coverings are a disgrace is not found anywhere in the Hebrew bible, which actually prescribes head coverings for priests in Exodus 28:40 and indicates that they are ‘for dignity’:

And for Aaron’s sons also you shall make tunics and make sashes for them and make turbans for them for dignity and adornment

  1. The celebration of celibacy

The NT makes several positive statements about celibacy in the gospels and Pauline epistles. Paul encourages those who can hack celibacy to follow his example in 1 Corinthians 7:8-9:

To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain unmarried as I am. But if they are not practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion

In the Hebrew bible marriage and procreation are a positive and expected state. It includes positive commandments to have children, and provides laws governing marriage and family life, indicating that it takes marriage and reproduction for granted. Celibacy is not spoken of positively in the Hebrew bible.

  1. The prohibition of oaths/swearing

The NT authors flatly prohibit swearing oaths and encourage Christians to simply let their word be their word (Matthew 5:34-37; James 5:12).

Oaths and vows are very common and regulated in the Hebrew bible in Numbers 30:2 and Deuteronomy 23:21. YHVH’s name is commonly used to swear oaths upon. Swearing falsely by YHVH’s name is prohibited Leviticus 19:12, so swearing truly is obviously permitted. The name אֱלִישֶׁבַע (Elizabeth in English) means God is my oath.

  1. ‘Son of man’ being equated with ‘Son of God’, use as a title

The Hebrew expression בן־אדם simply means ‘human’, and in context it is often used in contrast with the divine. It is also never used as a title, every single occurrence of ben-adam lacks the definite article.

NT authors like John use the title ‘son of man’ and ‘son of God’ interchangeably. In fact later scribes rendered the phrase interchangeably, like in John 9:35 where υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου is interchanged with υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ. This appears to be a continuation of second temple elaborations on the Messiah, late deuterocanonical forgeries like 4 Ezra explicitly identify ’the son of man’ with a pre-existant Messiah figure.

  1. The ‘New Covenant’ from Jeremiah 31 applying to non-Jews

The famous ’new covenant’ from Jeremiah is made between YHVH and the House of Israel. Jeremiah 31:33 reads

כִּי זֹאת הַבְּרִית אֲשֶׁר אֶכְרֹת אֶת־בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל אַחֲרֵי הַיָּמִים הָהֵם נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה נָתַתִּי אֶת־תּוֹרָתִי בְּקִרְבָּם וְעַל־לִבָּם אֶכְתְּבֶנָּה וְהָיִיתִי לָהֶם לֵאלֹהִים וְהֵמָּה יִהְיוּ־לִי לְעָם׃ (MT)

But such is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after these days—declares Hashem: I will put My Torah into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts. Then I will be their G-d, and they shall be My people.

The NT changes this verse to apply more broadly in Hebrews.

Hebrews 10:16:

Αὕτη ἡ διαθήκη ἣν διαθήσομαι πρὸς αὐτοὺς μετὰ τὰς ἡμέρας ἐκείνας, λέγει Κύριος· διδοὺς νόμους μου ἐπὶ καρδίας αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν διάνοιαν αὐτῶν ἐπιγράψω αὐτούς (NA27)

This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws on their hearts and write them on their minds

This curious change is used to make a theological point that the ’new covenant’ is actually made with more than simply the ‘House of Israel’.

  1. That there is one unique ‘Son of God’

The NT presents Jesus of Nazareth as the unique Son of God in John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son (μονογενης υιος, monogenēs huios), that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The concept of a single ‘son of God’ is not found in the Hebrew bible. The phrase bene-elohim/בְּנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים (sons of God) are referenced several times in different contexts. Several named characters such as Satan are called bene-elohim, such as in Job 1:6:

“One day the sons of God (בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים) came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.”

However no single character is identified as ’the unique son of God’ in the Hebrew bible.

  1. The practice of exorcism, casting out of demons

The gospels portray several exorcisms, and in Matthew 10:1 Jesus gives this power to his followers:

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.

Acts 19:11-16 portrays Paul performing exorcisms later on.

There are no equivalent practices anywhere in the Hebrew bible. The nearest equivalent appears in 1 Samuel 16 where music would relieve Saul of his melancholy, but there is no ’exorcism’ per se where a demon is commanded to permanently leave its human host.

  1. The theology of humans getting to sit on the Divine Throne

Revelation 3:21

To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

No human is promised to sit on this throne in the Hebrew bible. Ezekiel 1 and Isaiah 6 portray the Divine Throne as an unapproachable space filled with awe, and a symbol of Gods exclusive sovereignty.

  1. Humans participating in the divine nature

The second epistle of Peter promises believers a transition from “corruption” to “participation in the divine nature”:

Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust and may become participants of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4)

Some Christian denominations interpret this to refer to a kind of apotheosis. The Hebrew bible does not promise this.