The Bible is provocative whether or not you accept it as God’s revelation of Himself and His purposes. It provokes a lot of questions ranging from its origin to its relevance for today. There is little or no neutrality when it comes to conversations about the Scriptures. But even for those who accept the Bible as being God’s Word, it stimulates scores of questions about how to read, understand, and interpret it… especially the Old Testament.
Many Christians consider the Old Testament to be helpful but not vital to their lives. Their feeling is that some stories are applicable to our lives today, but overall its message is too antiquated either to believe or to apply to our behavior or both. Their presumption and apprehension about O.T. history and theology is that they do not sync with the cultural issues of our time. The way to move past these misconceptions is to simply read it or to learn how and why to read it.
Thirty-nine of the 66 books in the Bible are in the Old Testament; these chapters include at least 75% of the total Biblical content. Many believers – who have been in churches for years – have never been taught even half of the Old Testament in classes or sermons. This is sad and shameful, but it arises as much from ignorance as it does from a spiritual arrogance.
In the following posts, we will discover what Jesus Himself thought of the Old Testament. After that, we will see what several other writers of the New Testament said about the necessity of the Old Testament. You may even want to do some research on how many times the O.T. is quoted or indirectly alluded to in the N.T. Then, we’ll conclude this series with some suggestions on how to read the Old Testament effectively, so that we can understand the New Testament accurately.
That “Pesky” Old Testament… Introduction