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The Historical And Theological Significance Of God's Grace And His Holiness

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American mythologist and writer Joseph Campbell can be quoted, “Computers are like Old Testament (gods), lots of rules and no mercy.” Sadly enough, many people, even some Biblical scholars, hold to this stereotype that the Old and New Testaments display different foundational characteristics of God: law versus grace. As will be examined here, the stories of the OT are abundant in both God’s grace and His holiness, and the histories within these books are saturated with the theological themes of covenant, kingship, grace, sacrifice, and prophetism. Each of the five subsections listed will first answer the “who, what, why, when, where, and how” questions. After a thorough explanation of the historical and theological significance of each theme, this exposition will address a crucial debate concerning the theme, if such is applicable. We begin with the theme of covenant in this study of five prominent OT themes. Covenant. The history and use of covenant is crucial to the development of the OT plot. The idea of covenant within the Ancient Near East (ANE) was clearly pre-Mosaic, probably beginning within the Sumerian covenants in the 3rd millennium BC (Thompson ##). According to Old Testament Theology: A Thematic Approach, a covenant can be generally defined as “a solemn bond established between two or more parties (usually on the basis of a promise or pledge) and involved a firm commitment to the relationship established by the covenant and to its obligations” (Routledge

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