What’s so good about the Old Testament?
I write a quarterly column for Preach magazine, in which I explore a meaning word or phrase in the Bible and the ideas that it expresses. I have written for them on:
- the phrase 'Word of God'
- the theme of 'Mission'
- the meaning of 'Apocalypse'
- the ministry of 'Healing',
- the question of 'Welcome',
- the biblical understanding of 'Justice',
- the biblical view of creation
- what the Bible means past the term 'church building'.
- what the Bible says virtually grief and grieving.
This column explores the question 'What's so good about the Old Attestation?' equally part of a whole edition of the magazine on this issue.
The God we find in the Former Testament is vindictive and cruel. He issues arbitrary edicts; he exterminates people on a whim; he is prejudiced, misogynist and homophobic. As a event, the Former Testament is full of stone age boorishness. Jesus, on the other manus, is loving and inclusive. He is concerned for the marginalised; he restores the broken; and he preaches a gospel of love. Thank goodness we have Jesus to tell u.s.a. the truth about God, in contrast to the misleading impression of the OT.
This might exist a slight exaggeration of a detail view, but in ane form or another, this view is quite widespread both inside and outside the church building today. And it is not new—it was first articulated past Marcion of Sinope (85–160), an important early on theologian and evangelist, who wanted to nowadays Jesus as the loving ane who rescued us from the wickedness of the god of the Old Testament.
Disquisitional to exploring this issue is the question of interpretation, of how nosotros read texts. This is illustrated by the pop reading of John 1.17; near read information technology every bit proverb 'For the police was given by Moses, simply grace and truth came by Jesus Christ' (AV). Nonetheless in that location is no 'but' in the text! John is not contrasting the police force with the grace of Jesus, simply making them a parallel—we have received 'grace upon grace', the gracious souvenir of the law in Moses, and the gracious gift of the new covenant in Jesus. It is more of the aforementioned, non something adept in place of something bad.
Hither are seven things that are practiced nearly the Old Testament, which shows why we need it so much.
ane. Its poetry, promises and psalms. You don't have to be a Christian for long to find sustenance in the remarkable imagery of the Old Attestation, particularly the poetic promises of the prophets. Early in my Christian life, I held on to the hope of management 'This is the way; walk in it' (Is 30.21); like others, I longed to accept 'my force renewed' (Is twoscore.31); and I sang about 'beautiful feet' that bring good news (Is 52.vii).
2. Its fundamental truths about God. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandments, he cited two cardinal OT texts—Deut 6.iv ('You shall love the Lord your God…') and Lev 19.18 ('You shall honey your neighbour…'). But both of these are attached to central claims well-nigh who God is: he is 'one', the central confession of both Jewish and Christian conventionalities; and he is the lord to whom we give account. 'The Lord is gracious and compassionate' runs like a thread through the police, the prophets and the writings.
three. Its theology of practical living. The New Testament was written to a small, fledgling movement, struggling for a place in a mighty empire. Simply the OT was written in the context of a nation finding its identify in the world. Here we find much practical wisdom on how to carry life together as the people of God, and it is here we must go to reflect on questions of work and wealth, of land and environs, of justice and peace.
iv. Its foundational importance for the NT. When Paul speaks of scripture every bit 'God-breathed' (2 Tim iii.xvi), and essential for the life of the disciple, he is referring to the OT. When he urges on Timothy the importance of the 'public reading of scripture' (1 Tim iv.thirteen), he means the OT. When he passes on, as of 'showtime importance' that 'Christ died…and was raised according to the Scriptures' (one Cor xv.3–4), these are the OT scriptures.
5. Its anticipations of Jesus' claims. You cannot go far in reading the gospels before you are stumbling across reference upon reference to the OT—and without realising this y'all will not empathize what the gospels are saying about Jesus. 'You are my son, my honey; with you I am well pleased' (Mark i.11) alludes to both Gen 22.two and Isaiah 42.1; Jesus is the precious son, offered every bit a sacrifice, the true-blue servant who will bring righteousness to many.
6. Its condition equally canon. Everywhere in the NT the assumption is made that and new and the onetime are in continuity, and that the OT are the scriptures of the Jewish-Gentile people of God who now follow Jesus as Lord. We have been grafted in to Israel (Rom xi.17) and the ii (Jew, Gentile, Eph 2.fifteen) have become one; the scriptures of State of israel are our scriptures.
7. Its integrity, reflecting the nature of God. We noted the primal confession of scripture, that God is ane, and in him 'there is no variation or shadow of turning' (James 1.17). At that place are clearly tensions betwixt the ii testaments, and they are not trivial. But if scripture is indeed breathed out by God, so we cannot set them in opposition to one another; we cannot dismiss the one in favour of the other.
This does non answer all the questions suggested at the beginning; indeed, information technology heightens the challenge to read the whole of Scripture with coherence. There is work to do, especially in reading the 'hard' passages of the OT—simply it is work we cannot avoid.
Some other skillful resource in this expanse is the Bible Project video on the loyal dearest of God, part of their 'Character of God' series.
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