Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 10
The speaker says these books “serve as a spiritual bridge” and challenges the “400 silent years,” citing martyrs in 2 Maccabees (linked to Hebrews 11), the crucifixion-like prophecy in Wisdom of Solomon, demons in Tobit, and Sirach’s proximity to James plus its discourse on free will; if those claims are true, what practices (reading plan, preaching, discipleship, doctrinal disputes) would need to change in your church life—and what resistance do you anticipate in yourself or your community?
Another way to ask: If these books really connect the Old and New Testaments in important ways, what would need to change in your church (reading, sermons, discipleship, debates)? What pushback do you expect from yourself or others?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
If the speaker’s claims are true, church practice would need to make room—at least devotionally—for reading these books as part of understanding God’s work between the Testaments and as background to NT themes. The biggest resistance he anticipates is inherited suspicion: many will feel these books are “Catholic,” unsafe, or “not for doctrine.”
- He urges a minimal step even for skeptics: “at least accept the judgment of Martin Luther… read for… spiritual edification.”
- He calls them a “spiritual bridge” between “Ezra and Nehemiah and the New Testament,” insisting “God was not silent during those 400 years.”
- He says Maccabees fills a knowledge gap: without it “we wouldn’t know anything” about those centuries; he notes “secular historians acknowledge that 1 Maccabees is a reliable historical book.”
- He links 2 Maccabees martyrdom to Hebrews 11: “Others were tortured… that they might obtain a better resurrection.”
- He highlights doctrinal/teaching connections: Wisdom of Solomon’s crucifixion-like prophecy; Tobit as first OT place mentioning “demons”; Sirach’s closeness to James and phrase “gates of hell”; and Sirach’s strong “discourse on free will.”