Friday, September 3, 2021

Nehemiah 9:8 and 13:13 vs. Protestant Theologies

 

"You found his heart faithful before You, And made a covenant with him To give him the land of the Canaanite, Of the Hittite and the Amorite, Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite and the Girgashite-- To give it to his descendants. And You have fulfilled Your promise, For You are righteous. (Neh 9:8 NASB)

 

In charge of the storehouses I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and in addition to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered reliable, and it was their task to distribute to their kinsmen. (Neh 13:13 NASB)

 

"Catholic Nick" (who, in spite of some lousy articles on "Mormonism" does a great job on justification) has a very useful blog post:

 

Did God reckon Abraham's heart as faithful? (Nehemiah 9:8 and 13:13)

 

Neh 9:8 show that Abraham's "heart" (‎לֵבָב; καρδια) was not seen as totally depraved before God made a covenant with him; instead, like Cornelius in Acts 10, Abraham was in some way pleasing to God, while in Neh 13:13, those mentioned in the verse were, in the LXX, τι πιστο λογσθησαν (for [the Greek uses the οτι-clause] they were considered [using λογιζομαι] reliable]).

 

These texts provide yet another “body blow” against Protestant theologies.

 

Further Reading

 

Response to a Recent Attempt to Defend Imputed Righteousness