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.

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.