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The Continuity of the Bible

Adult Class

Winter 2005/2006

Lesson 1: Dealing With the Old Testament

            The New Testament deals with events that happened over about 100 years, from the birth of Jesus to the writing of Revelation. The Old Testament, though, deals with events that happened between creation and the coming of the Lord. It is within these books that God has revealed Himself to mankind and provided a Law for the life of His people. It is here that He promised a Messiah. But now that the Messiah has come and provided redemption for all humanity, what is the purpose of studying the Old Testament? Why did Paul claim that it was written for us (Romans 15:4)?

            As we approach the Old Testament, there are some ways we should not treat it, but there is a responsible way for us to deal with these 39 books.

• We should not ignore the Old Testament. One of the earliest church heresies denied the importance of the Old Testament for Christians. Marcion was expelled from the church because he claimed the Old Testament had no value for Christians.
• We should not allegorize it, trying to find spiritual meaning in the details of various passages. For example, the Song of Solomon is not about the love of Christ for the church.
• We should not pick and choose what to keep and what we can discard. Even if some of the prophets speak to their particular situation, they speak a word from God, and we should hear His entire word.
• We should start with Genesis and see the entire Old Testament through its own time and development. God did not reveal His entire will all at once, but over some long time. Noah may have known which clean animals to sacrifice, but he couldn't have known about the need for Israelites to avoid marriage with the Canaanites!

            Here are some of the things we will see while moving from the Old Testament to the New Testament. These things are most acute in the prophets:

1.      We will see direct fulfillment of Scripture. For example, compare Malachi 4:5-6 to Matthew 17:10-13. In many cases, God notified the Israelites about future events bearing on man's redemption.

2.      We will see double fulfillment. Sometimes, a message had a fulfillment in its own time and then again many years later. For example, Isaiah 7:14 plainly dealt with events at the time-yet also prefigured the birth of Jesus as told in Matthew 1:23.

3.      We will see typological fulfillment. In some cases, items in the Old Testament serve as "types," symbols that foreshadow some greater reality in the New Testament. Consider, for example, the "offering" of Isaac in Genesis 22 with the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

4.      We will see appropriated texts. The inspired writers can use the Old Testament in ways that we may not. Consider Matthew's use of Psalm 78:2 in Matthew 13:34-35. We would never use Scripture that way!