Part of the Reformed and Covenantal argument for infant baptism is that OT patterns continue to apply in the NT, even as externals change. If the NT doesn't change the principle of marking your children with the covenant sign, then keep doing it, *even if the NT is silent about it*.
I see it the same with worship. Hebrews tells us to stop sacrificing animals (Heb 10:11-14), since Jesus has come, but the lack of direction about the externals of NT worship isn't a conclusive argument for minimizing them. They change with the coming of Christ. And perhaps there is less of them (most Reformers went this way - no incense, etc.).
But there is no requirement to do away with them altogether, or as much as possible. We are free to improvise according to OT principles. Mainly,
- annual feasts that commemorate God's acts of redemption for us,
- a pattern of weekly worship (Lev 23:3) laid out in Leviticus 9 (approach God, confess sin, consecrate yourself, commune, benediction), at the beginning of tabernacle worship,
- the NT adds preaching the Word, and celebrating the Lord's Supper
It's hard to apply the Leviticus 10 passage to this, since the explicit instruction of what to do is now absent. Nadab and Abihu were told to do A through H, and they went and did V. We don't have the command to do A-H. Profane fire today is outright contradiction of instruction (think 1 Cor 11:17-24, or 1 Tim 2:8-12), or irreverence, perhaps. But it is not profane fire just by the addition of any worship element, unless it violates a command (worship of images, for instance).
No comments:
Post a Comment