Messiah, מָשִׁיחַ, Mašíaḥ, Māšîªḥ, Moshiach, משיחא, Μεσσίας, Məšîḥā, المسيح‎, al-Masīḥ, Messias, מלך המשיח, Méleḫ ha-Mašíaḥ, Khristós, Χριστός, Μεσσίας, Messias, Masih

I am a bit out of my element here but I'll give it a try:

If the Sinai Covenant rests on obedience, then falling out of obedience through sin would lead to ejection and leave a person filled with existential angst. This would be the supersessionist view of the Sinai Covenant.

If, on the other hand, the Sinai Covenant rests on grace, expressed through God’s selfless gift of Exodus, then it should be possible to remain within the covenant even when we sin. This would be the covenantal view. This concept of remaining perpetually within the context of a covenant with God, even when we sin, is likewise articulated in the covenant through Christ.

So, if the role of Christ is not to establish a covenant that will not reject us when we sin (because such a thing already exists), what was or is his purpose? Does the covenantal view of the Sinai Covenant lead to a different expectation of the Messiah?

The Messiah is mentioned roughly 39 times in the Hebrew Bible, usually in the sense of the “anointed.” [There is an interesting blurb on the etymology of the word “Messiah” at http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=messiah.]

The Hebrew Bible uses the concept of an anointed one as the individual who will deliver the Jewish nation, the future king of Israel from the Davidic line and herald in the Messianic Age of global peace. That concept of deliverer, however, is largely different from the Christian notion of deliverer.

The Jews already had sacrifice and other vehicles for repenting following sin. And they did not fear being dropped from God’s covenant, according to the covenantal view as articulated by Lester. For Christians, however, there appears to be a popular view that God’s covenant with the people was not secure until Jesus was born, lived, died and was resurrected.

If Christians were to fully accept the Jewish covenantal view, in particular that another sacrificial lamb really was not needed for redemption, then what should Christians seek from Jesus?

I think this is about where our lecture left off. I can imagine a million additional gifts that Jesus and the Gospels brought, but the permanent forgiveness of sin may not be one of them. Thoughts?