Chinese original: 有關聖經（二）：我們是屬於新約的基督徒，為什麼還要看舊約聖經呢？
Question: If Christians live under the new covenant, why should we still read the Old Testament?
What kind of book is the Bible? Jews and Christians regard Scripture as the word of God, but we still need to pay attention to what Scripture itself claims and to the characteristics we actually find in it. In this series, I am trying to examine those features from the biblical text itself.
The Old Testament Was the Scripture of Jesus and the Apostles
For Jesus and the earliest disciples, the “Scriptures” they read and quoted were primarily what Christians today call the Old Testament; the books of the New Testament had not yet formed the complete New Testament canon we now possess.
Jesus learned and knew the Old Testament from childhood, and when he was tempted by the devil he answered from Deuteronomy 6 and 8. The teaching of Jesus and the apostles did not abandon the Old Testament and begin again from scratch. They repeatedly quoted and interpreted Israel’s Scriptures to explain what God was doing in Christ.
Luke 24:27 (ESV)
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”Luke 24:44–45 (ESV)
“Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”
The Old Testament Remains the Word of God
Although the old covenant is not the covenant God made with people living under the new covenant, the Old Testament remains part of God’s revelation. It makes up roughly three quarters of the Christian Bible. If we neglect it and read only the New Testament, we neglect a large part of the revelation God has given us.
2 Timothy 3:15–17 (ESV)
“…from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”Romans 15:4 (ESV)
“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
In the immediate context, Paul is clearly speaking first of the Jewish Scriptures Timothy had known from childhood—what Christians call the Old Testament. At the very least, therefore, Paul did not think that the coming of Christ had made those Scriptures useless for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.
When Paul asks what advantage the Jewish people had, he writes:
Romans 3:1–2 (ESV)
“Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.”
Paul regarded being entrusted with God’s words as a major privilege. Neither Jesus nor the apostles treated the Old Testament as obsolete or useless.
If we imagine the whole Bible as a thousand-piece puzzle, Jesus Christ is the focal point of the whole picture. But much of the picture and many of its details are found in the Old Testament. We need those pieces if we are to see more fully the picture God intends us to see.
The Old Testament Is Foundational for Understanding God and the New Testament
Imagine joining a meeting several hours late. A great deal has already been discussed and decided before you arrive. Would missing all of that have no effect on how well you understand the rest of the meeting? Of course it would.
The same problem arises when we read the New Testament without knowing the Old. New Testament writers develop many ideas that begin in Israel’s Scriptures. They quote the Old Testament directly and also draw on it through images, allusions, comparisons, and contrasts. Biblical ideas about humanity, God, creation, sin, and God’s saving purposes do not begin on the first page of Matthew. Without the Old Testament, our understanding of God and his redemptive work is inevitably incomplete.
Matthew 5:17–20 (ESV)
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them…”
Of course, Jesus’ statement that he came to “fulfill” the Law does not mean that Christians must continue observing every regulation of the Mosaic law in its original form. That is a separate question that requires its own discussion.
In other words, the whole Old Testament is Christian Scripture, but that does not mean that every sentence and every command in the Old Testament was addressed directly to Christians under the new covenant.
This distinction matters. The Old Testament was first written within particular historical settings to Israel and other original audiences, yet God continues to teach later believers through these writings. We should therefore neither treat the Old Testament as an ancient document that has nothing to do with us nor skip over its original historical and literary contexts and apply every sentence directly to ourselves.
Conclusion
The Old Testament can feel unfamiliar and difficult to many Christians, but for all the reasons above it is worth the time and effort required to study it. With appropriate help, the Old Testament greatly deepens our knowledge of God. The faith, struggles, failures, and perseverance of God’s people in earlier generations can also instruct and encourage us.
Psalm 119:14–16 (ESV)
“In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.”
May every disciple have this same desire to know God and his word.
Once we understand why Christians should still read the Old Testament, the next question naturally follows: How should we read it? The Old Testament is not a single literary genre. Narrative, law, wisdom literature, poetry, and prophecy cannot all be read in exactly the same way. Besides asking what a passage says, we need to ask about its original setting, its literary genre, and how we should respond to it today.
About the Bible Series
- Was the Bible Written to Us, or for Us? What Is the Difference?
- Why Should Christians Still Read the Old Testament?
- How Did God Inspire the Bible? Did God Take Over the Authors’ Minds and Hands? — Coming soon
- Does the Bible Have a Modern Scientific Worldview? — Coming soon
- Why Are There So Many Bible Translations, and How Should We Choose One?