Bibliographic information:
Otten, Jeremy D. “Why Do We Study the New Testament (And Not the New Covenant)? The Translation of Berit and Its Impact on the Book of Hebrews.” In Off the Beaten Path: A Festschrift in Honor of Gie Vleugels, edited by Jacobus Kok, Martin Webber, Jeremy Otten, and Mark Paridaens, 46–56. Beiträge zum Verstehen der Bibel. Zürich: Lit Verlag, 2021.
Description:
Description
The subject of this short essay is a simple phenomenon that is often unnoticed: the Greek word διαθήκη, used to describe the portion of Scripture we know of as the New Testament, is rightly translated as “covenant” in every major translation in nearly every instance of the word within the NT itself, and yet we speak of this body of literature not as the “New Covenant,” but the “New Testament.” While, at the end of the day, what we call it is not half so important as what it says, a brief exploration into the reason why will reveal to us some of the richness of God’s Word and the gracious nature of his work of salvation for people of every tribe and tongue. We will look first at the meaning of covenant itself before looking at the phenomena of translation that led to our question. Finally, in an examination of Hebrews 9:15–18, we will look at the new layers of theological depth that this word choice afforded the New Testament authors.
Publisher:
Lit Verlag (website: https://www.lit-verlag.de/isbn/978-3-643-91465-1)