Purity Before Holiness: Reading Toward Christ - Episode 147

Continuing the water series by framing purification and holiness through an ancient Near Eastern lens and a Christotelic (telos-aimed) reading of Scripture. We contrast Christocentric “reading back” with Christotelic “reading forward,” explore holy/common vs clean/unclean as two distinct axes, and ask whether Leviticus was ever meant to be a sin-management system—or a way to host a holy God in sacred space. Along the way: covenant at Sinai, ritual logic, righteousness in OT vs NT, and why Jesus as incarnate Holy One unites holy and common in himself. Bonus at the end: Carey’s first look at The Unseen Realm: Expanded Edition and its nods to frame semantics and christological lenses.

In this episode

• Editing experiment: does lighter editing serve the mission better?
  
  
• Why hermeneutics matters: Christocentric vs Christotelic readings
  
  
• Purity → Holiness: which comes first in human religious imagination?
  
  
• Two spectra, not one: holy/common and clean/unclean
  
  
• Leviticus beyond “sin management”: making space for divine presence
  
  
• Covenant first, cult second; why Israel is unique amid the ANE
  
  
• Righteousness reconsidered across Testaments
  
  
• Word-study pointers: “pure/purge/refine” (gold, oil, incense), ritual vs ethical usage
  
  
• Teaser: upcoming episodes on atonement frames, water vs fire, and Divine Council themes
  
  

Resources mentioned

• Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm — Expanded Edition (new front-matter on frames & christological lenses)
  
  
• John Walton on Christotelic reading (telos-oriented Scripture)
  
  
• Carey’s On This Rock community (October theme: Unseen Realm)
  
  

Support / connect

• Join the conversation in the On This Rock community
  
  
• Share the episode; leave a rating/review
  
  
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On This Rock Biblical Theology Community:  https://on-this-rock.com/  

Website: genesismarksthespot.com   

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Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan

Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/  

Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan