Can the New be any good without the Old?

In contemporary evangelicalism the focus on teaching from the Scriptures is largely from the New Testament, and rarely from the Old Testament. As a result, a question among Christians in the U.S. seems to be a pressing one. That is, “Why do Christians need the Old Testament when there is the New Testament and the fullness of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ?” This way of thinking among Christians is a dangerous and potentially damaging one. It can lead to an insecure view of Scripture, as well as a faith that lacks the potential for depth. This essay will seek to explore the value of the Old Testament in light of the existence of the New Testament. In particular, it will examine the value of the Old Testament for the Christian in the areas of theology, ethics and worship.

This author discusses the value of the Old Testament with regards to theology, ethics, and worship. But, first he will briefly explain how he understands the Old Testament to be related to the New Testament.

In “The Bible Jesus Read,” Philip Yancey reminds his readers of a Chinese philosopher who once insisted on riding his mule backwards so that he would not be distracted by where he was going and could focus on where he had been.[1] There seems to be this misconception that exists within the minds of many Christians that the Old Testament is no longer relevant or valuable in light of the New Testament. This misconception seems to be birthed from the culture in which the Church finds herself in. It leads to a desire for the newest thing, and somehow convinces Christians that the old is never better than the new. But the truth is, that without the old there is nothing new. The Old Testament is saturated with the history of the Christian faith, without it we are nothing more than a people without a past. And without a past how can we know where we are going or what direction we should be going? Or how we have arrived at the place in which we find ourselves? The Old Testament is drenched with the story of redemption, that story did not begin with Jesus’ entrance or exit. Jesus provides our access into the redemptive story, but He did not begin it by coming to earth. Without the Old Testament, there is no New Testament, and without the Old Testament the New Testament cannot be properly understood. When the New Testament was written and further compiled, it was not done so in an effort to make the Old Testamet obsolete, but to further explain and complete the text.

As N.T. Wright says, “The Jewish canon, without the New Testament, means we are left with…Genesis to Malachi,… and it is a story in search of an ending.[2]” In that same message, he goes on to say that the Old Testament seems to say “Yes…and now what.” No one would deny that the Old Testament is complete without the New. But what many people have either not realized, or do not acknowledge, is that the New Testament is not complete without the Old either. The gospels go on to provide, each in their own way, the climax to the story that began before the garden. Then the epistles and Revelation seem to provide the more practical side of what we do with that story.[3]

Not only is the New Testament incomplete without the Old Testament, but it can not be understood apart from it. One of the most valuable aspects of the Old Testament is that it is very literally “The Bible Jesus Read.”[4] Jesus “traced in its passages every important fact about himself and his mission. He quoted from it to settle controversies with opponents such as the Pharisees, Sadducees and Satan himself.[5]” If Jesus understood Himself through the OT, it only stands to reason that Christians should try to understand Jesus through the lens of the Old Testament as well.

The Old Testament also sheds light on who God is, and how He works both in Christians, as well as the world in which we live. Without it, we cannot know God as the one who dwells within our midst. The Old Testament teaches us about God who loves us enough to “tabernacle” and “covenant” with us. He cares enough to define a relationship with humans, and He has a desire to be with us and lead us. Where the New Testament teaches us how to live with God practically, the Old Testament illustrates what living with God is like. The Old Testament teaches that humans live in a “God-Bathed[6]” world, it is not that this world that is ours and is covered with the finger-prints of God but that it is God’s world and our fingerprints. It is only through the Old Testament that we can learn that God is the father who is both the lion and the lamb, a king and a servant, a judge as well as a shepherd. It is through the Old Testament that we learn of the unquenchable thirst that God has to be with us, which eventually escalates into God coming in flesh to live among us.

Worship

Worship is a vital part of the life of every Christian, and should be central to practicing faith. In order to examine how the Old Testament speaks to the contemporary Christian in terms of worship, it is vital that a definition of worship be provided in light of the different ways that the term has come to be used. Erikson suggests that worship unlike “edification” concentrates solely on God and not self.[7] Although this is absolutely true, it is a bit of a general understanding, Grudem seems to put it into a more manageable definition. He says, “worship is…a direct expression of our ultimate purpose for living, ‘to glorify God and fully to enjoy him forever.”[8] So, if worship means to “glorify God and fully enjoy him forever,” what does the Old Testament have to offer contemporary Christianity?

The Old Testament offers contemporary Christianity authentic worship. But before authentic worship is discussed, it is imperative that light be shed on understanding Old Testament worship in its original form as it was intended to be understood. One of the primary forms by which worship is displayed in the Old Testament is in the form of Psalms. The Psalms are not always the first book to be read by Christians, nor are they the easiest to be understood. However, when the Psalms are read as they were intended to be, they have much to offer the contemporary Christian in worship. Far to often, when people read the Psalms they may be looking for something that it simply will not provide.

Yancey even admits that when he first began to explore the Psalms he found himself bored, disinterested, and extremely motivated to move onto something else. Many who are seeking to make sense of the Psalms attempt to study the Psalms systematically. They may seek to appreciate the “poetic craftsmanship” that is used in Hebrew poetry, they may even learn to recognize the different kinds of Psalms. [9] But even though they can learn all about how the Psalms were written, if they miss why the Psalms were written then they surely miss what the Old Testament has to offer the contemporary Christian in the realm of worship.

The Psalms were not written to be read as dissertations on the finer points of theology or “pronouncements from on high, delivered with full apostolic authority, on matters of faith and practice.”[10] Instead they are personal prayers, and utterances from a variety of people from kings to servants, and noticeable names to the anonymous. The Psalmist is rarely concerned with doctrine, but universally committed to expressing the desires of their inner most being. The Psalms are “poetry, and poetry’s function is not to explain but to offer images and stories that resonate with our lives.”[11] Yancey goes on to suggest that the Psalms are to be read like one “reading over someone’s shoulder.”[12] The Psalms illustrate godly worship, while the New Testament provides the “how-to’s” of godly worship.

Please allow me to follow the above paragraph by saying that just because the author of this essay does not suggest that the Psalms are assertions of the theological, does not mean that I do not understand them to be fully inspired and completely inerrant, within their original autographs. Quite the contrary, because the Psalms are the utterances of those who are passionately pursuing a relationship with the living God and Creator of the Universe, they are capable of speaking more truth about the human condition than some of the most profound theological works available. This type of truth, confession, and raw honesty is only capable by the leading or prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Now on to how the Old Testament leads to a more authentic practice of worship. Unfortunately, many Christians believe that to be a Christian means that you are “happy” all the time because after all “the joy of the Lord is my strength.”[13] This misconception of life has inevitably spilled over into the culture at large. Should you turn your television on to watch the Simpsons you would discover by and large how the public views conservative evangelicals in the family of the Flanders who are portrayed as a family who spends their time sitting around the campfire singing “cumbaya,” and is never grievous even in the face of tragedy. To put it bluntly, there is much more to life than living a lie of happiness when we are dieing inside because of the circumstances that we find ourselves in.

According to the definition provided, worship is living life in a manner that is glorifying to God, and enjoying Him forever. This definition is about the realistic, not the idealistic. Reality is, that the world is not as it should be, as a result there is pain and suffering underneath the “wings of God” sometimes.[14] To illustrate this further, the Psalms are inundated with full poems devoted to people crying out to God…”why?” This is real, raw, authentic worship. Knowing that somehow in the middle of the lowest points of life God has not abandoned us, and somehow knowing that redemption awaits us on the other side. Enjoying God inherently involves taking advantage of the relationship that God has entered into with us, this simply means that God is available for our use. What Christians end up forgetting is that God delights in being our Savior. So, the Old Testament illustrates to the contemporary Christian what authentic worship looks like, and how it should operate within life. This illustration is only available through the Old Testament, and can not be understood apart from it.

Theology

This is most likely the easiest of the three features to write about. Simply because without Old Testament theology, it is impossible to understand the Gospels or the rest of the New Testament. It is the foundation by which we are provided access into the Kingdom of God. It the foundation by which we know that there is a Kingdom of God, or even how it works.

Let’s examine a few doctrinal points. The Old Testament allows Christians to understand that God is Creator. That is, Creator of everything both generally as well as specifically. This has great significance in a world that is run upon a foundation of evolutionary thought. Viewing God as Creator allows one to see that there is intention behind everything that is created, and that the universe is not the result of an act of chaos that results in more chaos, which leads to more chaos, that eventually culminates into order. This also provides hope for every individual in knowing that humans are not created from chaos either, instead there is intentional, intelligent, and loving design in the making of every human being on earth. With that intentional, intelligent and loving design comes a plan for everyone which leads to further hope in knowing that life is not meaningless, instead it is full of purpose. Now that purpose is either realized or potential, which is entirely left up to personal decision. Nonetheless that purpose is there and is very, very real.

Secondly, the idea that God desires to live among His people. Many Christians think that this was a new idea that was introduced when Jesus entered the scene. However, this could not be more untrue. God from the very beginning of history, from the time of Adam and Eve, God has shown a strong desire to be with his beloved Creation. With Adam and Eve, God was walking with them in the desert. With Noah, God shut the door to the ark, possibly suggesting that He was present with Noah and his family on the Ark. God is seen in a dream by Abraham walking between two piles of animal carcasses sealing the covenant that He initiated with Abraham. God physically wrestled with Isaac on his way to meet Esau at Penuel. Then lastly, but certainly not least, God had Israel make him a home in the form of a Tabernacle while they were on the sojourn in the wilderness. Now in the Tabernacle, there would always be a table and a chair with offerings on the table as though God were having dinner. There would always be incense burning that would exit the Tabernacle in the form of smoke, which would allow all of Israel to know that God was present within their midst. For the Israelites, this was not merely a spiritual presence, but a very real physical presence as well. God went so far as to have Israel create the Ark of the Covenant so He could be seen as going into battle with Israel. God has always wanted to be with his beloved creation. It was not a new idea that came into existence during the beginning of the New Testament. But it was preparation for the coming of the Messiah, God wanted to be with his Creation and he did so in the form of flesh and blood in the person of Jesus.

Ethics

As Luck suggests, “unless willing to live as brutes or beasts, all men must live by some sort of system of ethics or morals.”[15] Everyone lives by some system of ethics that more or less dictate their actions. This portion of the essay will examine how the Old Testament applies to a Christian system of ethics.

The greater question to be examined is “how should Christians apply the Old Testament ethic today?” If Christians are to take the Old Testament as a whole, literal, regimented, ethic then there is a considerable amount of change that must take place in the lives of Christians everywhere. For example, Leviticus 19:19 mandates that clothing of more than one type of fabric should not be worn at anytime by anyone. Surely this mandate is no longer applicable today right? But in the same breath in Leviticus 19:18 there is, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neightbor as yourself.” Now, this mandate would be seen as applicable to everyone everywhere right? As you can see this can create a fair amount of confusion as to what should be considered ethical for Christians in the contemporary world.

Dr. William Webb from Heritage Theological Seminary, has come up with a method by which various types of mandates can be differentiated and applied today. He wrote a book entitled Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis.[16] And in his book, he suggests that in Scripture there are two different types of mandates or commands. First, there are transcendent mandates. These are commands that transcend culture and time. This just means that those commands or mandates are timeless. An example of a transcendent mandate are the ten commandments. Next, there are cultural mandates that are not timeless and are relative to the culture and time in which they are written. For example, I am sure if you look at the clothes you are wearing right now, you will realize that at least one article of clothing is made up of more than one fiber. So are you wrong to be wearing that piece of clothing (or perhaps even your entire outfit)? Well no, of course not. Does this mean that Scripture isn’t true, authoritative, or inspired by God? Absolutely not! It is only acknowledging that Scripture was written BY GOD in a REAL TIME through REAL PEOPLE in a REAL PLACE. Moses was a real person who had real concerns for a real group of people that he really wanted to see obey God. At the time, God was wanting to illustrate to the rest of the world that his people were different, they were pure, they were committed to him and him alone. It was a message to the rest of the world that instead of serving many gods, Israel was committed to Yahweh. By wearing clothes of more than one clothing today are we breaking the law of Moses and screaming to the world that we are no different then they are? By and large no! So is it ok for you to wear clothing made of more than one fiber? Yes, as long as you are not forcing someone else to sin by doing so.[17]

Daniel Hays also suggests that the traditional method of breaking up Old Testament laws into civil, cremonial, and moral laws is not a sufficient interpretation of the Old Testament ethic, he further suggests that it, as well as other hermeneutics of Old Testament Law should not be divided up into applicable and non-applicable mandates. Instead, he suggests that principlism is a better method of interpretation. Principlism is a method of iterpretation that suggests finding the underlying principle that exists within an Old Testament Law. Examining that principle in light of New Testament teaching, and then teaching the principle not the mandate. Hays suggests a five step process in coming to a proper understanding of the text. First, what did the law mean to the original audience? Second, determine the difference between the original audience and contemporary Chrisitians. Third, develop universal principles from the text. Fourth, correlate the principle within New Testament teaching. Fifthly and finally, apply the modified universal principle today.[18]

When it comes to ethics, the bottom line is that Old Testament ethics existed for multiple reasons. One of which was to come along and help society to progress, it is one of the methods by which God has used to bring the world to where it needed to be for Jesus to come, and to get to where it is now. Now, obviously this does not mean that because society progresses humans are somehow better, or that humans are somehow in less need of God. Quite the contrary, the progression of society should further illustrate to everyone that the need for God is greater than ever. Because the more that someone has (whether it be material or moral goods) the more they seem to know that it isn’t enough and everything in the world cannot satisfy the human soul.

Conclusion

Why is the Old Testament valuable when we have the fullness of God’s revelation in Jesus and the New Testament? Simply put, because without the Old Testament, the fullness of God’s Revelation would not be full, rather it would seem disjointed and out of place. The Old Testament provides a context in which we can fully understand the fullness of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ and in the New Testament.

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[1] Yancey, Philip. The Bible Jesus Read. Pg. 24

[2] Wright, NT. The Bible for the Post Modern world. http://latimer.godzone.net.nz/orange_lecture/orangelecture99.asp

[3] Ibid.

[4] Yancey, Philip. Pg. 24

[5] Ibid.

[6] Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering our Hidden life in God. Ch. 3

[7] Erikson, Millard. Christian Theology. Pg. 1066

[8] Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: A practical Guide to Biblical Doctrine. Pg. 1004

Grudem is quoting the “Westminster larger Catechism.”

[9] Yancey, Philip. The Bible Jesus Read. Pgs. 111-112

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Nehemiah 8:10

- First off, I am not sure that a passage can be taken more out of context than this. I would normally leave a string of expletives following this, but come, on this is seminary.

[14] Yancey, Philip. The Bible Jesus Read. Pg. 20

[15] Luck, Coleman G. “Christian Ethics”

Bibliotheca sacra, 118 Jl-S 1961, p 228-238.

[16] http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/008/31.64.html - I have to admit, that I have not read the book, but I have done a fair amount of research on the web. All of the information that I am referencing in this paragrapaph comes from this source or from the source referenced in footnote 24.

[17] http://assets.cornerstone.edu/pages/2077/File/PAPER%20for%20Webb%20event%20at%20Heritage.doc.

[18] Hays, Daniel. How to apply Old Testament law Today.

Bibliotheca sacra, 158 no 629 Ja-Mr 2001, p 30-32