Does the incarnate Word of God require a new paradigm?
Six days later Jesus took with him Peter and the brothers James and John and led them up a high mountain where they were alone. As they looked on, a change came over Jesus: his face was shining like the sun, and his clothes were dazzling white. Then the three disciples saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus..
(Matthew 17:1-3)
Here we have the written Word of God (Moses and the Law), the spoken Word of God (Elijah and the Prophets) and the incarnate Word of God (Jesus). Are each of these to be taken in the same way?
We write to you about the Word of life, which has existed from the very beginning. We have heard it, and we have seen it with our eyes; yes, we have seen it, and our hands have touched it. When this life became visible, we saw it; so we speak of it and tell you about the eternal life which was with the Father and was made known to us. What we have seen and heard we announce to you also…
(1 John 1:1-3)
John articulates it perfectly: he and the others who followed Jesus were eye witnesses to his life. What Jesus said and what he did, they later recorded as accurately as they could. Is there anything, however, to indicate that those words were to be taken as “thus sayeth the Lord” as with the Law and the Prophets? (Anything other than tradition?) As is true with any witness, we need to take into account the context in which they lived as well as their unique perspectives. And so may it be true that each fresh set of eyes looking through the eyes of those who were firsthand witnesses indeed bring forth something new and something old.
“This means, then, that every teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who takes new and old things out of his storage room.”
(Matthew 13:52)
“No one patches up an old coat with a piece of new cloth, for the new patch will shrink and make an even bigger hole in the coat. Nor does anyone pour new wine into used wineskins, for the skins will burst, the wine will pour out, and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins, and both will keep in good condition.”
(Matthew 9:16-17)