Frank Turek wears his doctrine on his sleeve. Sometimes he’ll stop what he is saying to make a clear point about how he feels Christians should relate to commandments in the Old Testament. His podcast released on November 18th is no different. He had to make a clarification that I’ll get to in a minute.
Frank’s guest was Dr. Carmen Imes who was talking about her new book, “Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters”. It was a very good episode where she explained the meaning behind the 3rd Commandment not to take the Lord’s Name in vain. I’ve talked about this in the past and I’m planning on writing a blog about it in the future. Now I’m thinking I need to get her book as a new reference source. She hits the nail on the head. But let’s get to Frank’s comment.
Frank asked the question of Carmen how this commandment relates to Christians today. Here’s the quote:
“So if you were talking to Christians, and you are right now, how does this, one of the ten commandments, which is repeated in the New Testament so it does have some, uh…, we are…, we are…, this command is for us even though it comes from the ten commandments, it’s repeated in the New Testament, so it is a command for us because it is repeated in the New Testament, so what do you say to Christians watching or listening right now how they ought to conduct themselves with this command in mind?”
(Was that really all one sentence?)
There’s something I’ve noticed from listening to Frank. When he wants to clarify that Christians ONLY have to follow the commandments that are repeated in the New Testament, he stutters a lot and repeats himself as though he’s trying to convince himself that what he is saying is true. The question is, is what he is saying actually true?
I had a professor in college that told us at the beginning of the semester that if he said something once, then it’s something we should know. If he repeated it twice, we had better write it down. And if he repeated it three time, then it was going to be on the test. Is that the method we should use for reading the Bible? If God commands it then we should just know it, but if God repeats His commandments then we should write it down and be more aware of it? But most important for us today, should we believe that if one of the writers of the New Testament wrote it down then that’s the only commandments that followers of God and believers in the Son need to obey?
Did the authority of God’s commandments dissipate in the first century if they weren’t repeated by the NT authors? Is what God called sin no longer sin unless someone wrote it down in the New Testament? Do the authors of the NT have the authority to say which of God’s commandments are to be followed and which are to be ignored? It sounds like Frank Turek is claiming that authority.
Frank uses this approach for God’s commandments all of the time. If it’s not repeated in the New Testament, then Frank says you don’t have to obey it. Is that what Christianity has become? Does modern-day Christianity have their own list of do’s and don’ts that we are to follow? Isn’t that the very thing that most Christians call Judaizing? I know that some will take offense for calling Christians Judaizers, but it’s the meaning behind the word that is in question.
When someone uses the word Judaize (usually as a derogatory term), you need to ask them what they mean by that because not everyone uses it the same way. In this case, I’m using it to say that a Judaizer is someone who insists that you follow a certain set of laws or commandments. When someone says we should obey the Torah like the Messiah did because He is our example, a lot of Christians will call you a Judaizer because you want to force others to follow the laws of the Jews. That’s not necessarily true but would be too lengthy of an explanation here. The point is, if a Judaizer is one who insists that someone follow a certain set of laws, then Frank would be considered a Judaizer for saying that Christians today should follow a certain set of rules and not others. He’s doing the same thing that he might accuse others of doing. What’s the difference?
The difference between Frank’s approach and one who would say we should obey everything the Father said is simply the standard by which you follow. It is clear that Frank’s standard is that we should only obey the commandments that are repeated in the New Testament. Is that what the Bible teaches? Stay tuned for more.
Addendum: To read part 2 of this post, click here.
