Question:  Dear Greg,

        Could you comment on your understanding of chapter 4 of Malachi?  To what time period (past or future) does this passage apply?  Specifically, I am curious as to whether you feel that Malachi 4:4 (which references the Law of Moses and statutes and judgments) has any relevance to new covenant believers.

        Thanks for your response,

        Doug

Answer:  Dear Doug,

        The book of Malachi was probably written between 450-430 BC.  There are many internal evidences that point to a post-exilic time period; temple worship was in place (no mention of rebuilding), a general laxity in terms of commitment to the covenant of Sinai, intermarriage with non-Jews, the plight of the poor was not a priority, and giving to the Temple was not a priority either, etc.  This would be termed “later old covenant Judaism”--before the cross of Christ.  The period apparently was without a major crisis other than the laxity Malachi addresses.

        His immediate audience is Jews who are under the old covenant.  His themes and subjects support that— the law of Moses, the covenant relationship of God with Israel, Elijah, the law and the prophets, etc.

        Malachi does have relevance to Christians because what he says goes to the core of easy-believism and nominal Christianity as surely as it did to Judaism.  Principles apply, as long as those principles (and most importantly, specifics) are interpreted by a Christ-centered focus.  The old covenant is always, for a Christian, seen in the light of the new covenant, rather than the opposite.

        You specifically ask about verse 4.  It is important to acknowledge the original audience and in order to accurately understand it, we must “remember” who they were, and the reality in which they lived.  They lived before the cross, and the call at that time was to remember Moses— to remember Sinai.  Christians are called to remember as well, but our focus is not Sinai, but the cross and the empty tomb.  We are not to remember Moses, but Jesus; not the Ten Commandments of the old covenant, but the commandments and teachings of Jesus as recorded in the four gospels and elaborated on by all other New Testament writers.

        In Christ,

        Greg Albrecht