WHAT ABOUT THE OLD TESTAMENT?
LIBERTY AND LOVE #48
The message of the Bible is Jesus Christ. The Bible is about Jesus from beginning to end. “Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (John 1:45). Notice that the “law and prophets” wrote of Jesus. “The law and the prophets” is what we know as the Old Testament. Jesus told some religious leaders of his day, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; but these testify of me” (John 5:39). The “scriptures” he was referring to was the Old Testament. The New Testament had not been written yet. Notice that Jesus said the Old Testament scriptures testified of him. They were about him.
Paul proclaimed to the religious leaders, “Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, testifying to both small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come—that the Christ would suffer, that he would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:22-23). Paul said that “the prophets and Moses” (the Old Testament) proclaimed that Christ would suffer on the cross and be raised from the dead.
Paul also began the Book of Romans by saying that he was “called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which God promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures” (Romans 1:1-2). The gospel was promised and preached in the Old Testament. Those were the holy scriptures to which Paul was referring.
In order to understand the saving nature of the message of the New Testament, we should have some understanding of the Old Testament. The Law of Moses was given to make man aware of his spiritual failings so that he would appreciate the message of the cross of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament therefore serves as a forerunner for the New Testament. The Old Testament is a record of the preparation period for the appearance of Christ and the Christian age in which we are now living.
Paul told Timothy that the Old Testament Scriptures were able to make him wise for salvation by leading him to faith in Christ (2 Tim. 3:14-15). The apostle thus acknowledged that the purpose of the Old Testament was to prepare people to have faith in Jesus. The old law was given to lead men to Christ (Gal. 3:24-25). In this we should all immediately see the importance of the Old Testament. We will understand the New Testament better by studying the Old Testament (Rom. 15:4).
The revelation of God in the Old Testament was given with the final revelation of Christ in view (Heb. 1:1-2). Though the Old Testament is divinely inspired, it is not the final and accomplished word of God—the New Testament is. The Father declared that those living in the Christian age are to hear Christ in a governing way, not Moses and the Prophets (Matt. 17:1-5). Jesus said that we are his disciples only if we continue in his word (John 8:31). Since disobedience under the incomplete revelation (the Old Testament) resulted in punishment, we cannot escape if we disobey the one who has revealed himself in the completed revelation (Heb. 2:3-4). The Old Covenant pointed to a time in the future when God would establish a new and better covenant (Jer. 31:31-34). The New Covenant writers did not point to another covenant to come in the future, but rather affirmed that what they were recording was the final revelation (Eph. 3:1-11; 1 Pet. 1:10-12; Jude 3).
Today, we must abide by the principles and commandments of the New Testament. The New Testament contains our law. The law of the Old Testament has been replaced by the new law of Christ. There cannot be two conflicting laws in effect at the same time. God has taken the Law of Moses away through the death of Christ (Col. 2:14-17), thereby making us free from its commands (Gal. 3:13). We are dead to the law by Jesus Christ (Rom. 7:1-6). He has taken away the first that he may establish the second (Heb. 8:7-13).
What, then, is the purpose of the Old Testament? The Old Testament served as a guardian to lead men to salvation in Christ (Gal. 3:24-25). From its inception it was a temporary law limited to only one nation, the Jews (Deuteronomy 6:1-5; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Galatians 3:19; Ephesians 2:14). This does not mean, however, that it is not relevant to our lives. “For all the things were written before were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). In this context, Paul had just quoted from the Old Testament Scriptures. The point, then, is that though we are no longer bound by the Old Covenant Scriptures, we have much to learn from them, for every word therein is inspired by God.
Dewayne Dunaway
