As always happens, you’ll want to listen to this as I don’t stick to the following as a “script.”
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What do you say to someone who thinks we shouldn’t read the Old Testament? Or that it’s irrelevant or weird?
Hey, welcome to the Saturday Edition of ForTheHope, and I’ll be honest: this is a good topic to know in general, but more than likely the question will not come up just as I have stated it.
More likely is that someone’s objection or question will be something that you sense – either a non-believer with a little exposure to Christianity somehow doesn’t relate or even a believer who doesn’t really read the Bible, doesn’t see the point, or doesn’t see that the OT is essential to the overall narrative.
Yesterday we started the book of Hebrews, and if you heard that, you’ll know we barely got a few verses in before the writer was quoting the OT in making an argument about who Jesus is. He’s writing to people who have familiarity with the Hebrew Scriptures – which have the same books or writings that we have in the OT of our Protestant Bibles. But again, what’s he doing? Pointing to Jesus.
That’s kind of a big deal.
Today our mini-class is going to tackle two things:
I’ll share an excerpt from the Holman Bible Handbook that will very briefly speak to the NT’s use of the OT. This will give you a big picture overview as some background.
I’m going to give you three short ‘isms’ or phrases that you can hopefully remember and use conversationally. I’ll share them now, and then after our lesson in the NT’s use of the OT.
Why read the Old Testament?
The Bible is a unified story that all points to Jesus.
The Old Testament tells part of the story that helps us see God’s holiness, love for us, and faithfulness, and who we are — desperately unfaithful and in need of a rescuer.
So when we read the OT we not only understand more clearly that it’s His work, not ours, that provides the rescuer, but it will move us over and over to fall in love with Jesus and the people in His world.
NOTE: As usual, I interject a bit as I’m reading this. You’ll have to listen to the podcast for that.
New Testament Use of the Old Testament
A study of the NT’s use of the OT must include not only an assessment of OT quotations as they are found in the NT. It also must include matters of a broader scope, such as the relationship of the two Testaments, the nature and meaning of prophecy and fulfillment, methods of interpreting the OT used by NT writers, and their development of biblical themes. These aspects of such an important study can only be touched upon in a survey article of this nature.
The relationship of the two Testaments is foundational to our understanding of the NT’s use of the OT. Without question, the NT authors attributed full authority to the OT Scriptures. The NT is never viewed as being in conflict with the OT but rather as the fulfillment of what God had begun to reveal in the OT (see Heb 1:1–2). The NT writers viewed the OT as invested with divine authority, and in their use of it by way of quotations they treated it as the very Word of God.
We are surprised to discover that 250 quotations of the OT are in the NT. In addition, there are a number of allusions to the OT that are not specific quotations but where it is obvious that an author was employing OT phraseology. Eliminating all allusions that are not of a direct nature, there are at least 278 different OT verses cited in the NT: ninety-four from the Pentateuch, ninety-nine from the Prophets, and eighty-five from the Writings.
Something of the authority with which the NT authors quoted the OT can be seen in their use of citation formulas. Sometimes the NT authors used citation formulas such as “it is written” or “Scripture says.” The former emphasizes the permanent nature as well as the binding character of that which has been written. Jesus with-stood the temptation of Satan in the wilderness by three times introducing OT quotations with the phrase “it is written.” The latter emphasizes the fact that Scripture “speaks” (present tense) to us today. The desire of the author of Hebrews to emphasize the continuity of the old and new covenants is seen in the fact that eighteen of our twenty-five OT citation formulas appear in the present tense.
Many times God is referred to as the Author of Scripture, emphasizing its divine origin. The joint nature of the origin of Scripture is attested in the use of the names of the human authors as well as the divine Author. For example, Matthew 1:22 reads, “What the Lord had spoken through the prophet.” In Acts 1:16 we read, “The Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David.”
In the Gospels there are approximately thirty-nine OT quotations attributed to Jesus. Many times Jesus’ use of the OT reflects a literalist interpretation. At other times He used the OT in a “this is that” or fulfillment type of interpretation. For example, in Luke 4:16–21 the fulfillment theme is prominent in our Lord’s use of the OT. Jesus treated the OT as the very Word of God, giving it the highest authority when He said of it that “not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matt 5:18).
In Acts there are twenty-seven OT quotations attributed to various Christian leaders. Their use of the OT reveals that they understood it from a Christocentric perspective. In the Pauline Epistles there are no less than eighty-three quotations (excluding allusions).
As in Acts, Paul’s understanding and use of the OT was couched in a Christological setting as well. Oftentimes Paul’s OT quotations can be found in clusters as he would seek to bolster an argument with quotations from many parts of the OT (see for example, Rom 3:10–18 and 9:12–29).
The NT writers interpreted many of the events concerning Christ and the church as having been prophesied in the OT. In addition, the NT writers, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, have taken many OT passages and interpreted and applied them in a greater perspective beyond their original context. For example, Habakkuk 2:14, “The righteous will live by faith,” is quoted three times in the NT: Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; and Hebrews 10:38.
Sometimes a question arises when one compares the NT citation with the OT original in that it would appear the NT writers used some freedom in their quotations both in respect to form and meaning. Several factors should be kept in mind. First, modern-day rules of precision in quotation did not apply to the biblical writers. Second, as a result, OT quotations were often-times paraphrased by the NT writers. Third, quotations had to be translated from Hebrew to Greek. Fourth, NT writers often simply alluded to an OT passage without intending to quote it verbatim. These and other reasons account for the fact that some quotations are not “exact.”
In conclusion, the NT writers believed the OT to be directly relevant to them, and they used it accordingly. Their statements indicate that the OT in its entirety is meaningful and relevant for the first-century church as well as for us today.[1]
So, let’s summarize and then repeat our three-fer.
The “Bible” of 1st century Jesus followers was, initially, just the Hebrew Bible…what I’ll just call the OT or simplicity.
Not unsurprisingly, when the NT writers began to write biographies and letters and other bits, they quoted or alluded to the OT…a lot.
They clearly, then, not only saw the OT as relevant, but authoritative.
And they didn’t just see it as authoritative, they saw it as pointing to Jesus.
And that leads to our three-fer: Why read the Old Testament?
The Bible is a unified story that all points to Jesus.
The Old Testament tells part of the story that helps us see God’s holiness, love for us, and faithfulness, and who we are — desperately unfaithful and in need of a rescuer.
So when we read the OT we not only understand more clearly that it’s His work, not ours, that provides the rescuer, but it will move us over and over to fall in love with Jesus and the people in His world.
And that, my friends, is you and me. It’s a beautiful thing.
I love you.
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
[1] David S. Dockery, ed., Holman Bible Handbook (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 1992), 751.