use of pld testament

8/14/2019 Use of Pld Testament

1/3

1

Therefore the Law has become our tutor to leadus to Christ, so that we may be justified byfaith (Galatians 3:24).

The importance of a taproot to a tree is theimportance of the Old Testament to Christianity.Jesus and every New Testament writer made useof the Old Testament. Let us look at six ways inwhich every well-informed Christian should usethe Old Testament today.

INVESTIGATING ORIGINS

The New Testament points to the Old Testa-ment for the beginning of creation (Mark 10:6).Likewise, questions regarding mans origin are

answered in the Old Testament: Have you notread that He who created them from the begin-ning made them male and female (Matthew19:4). The New Testament refers to the Old Tes-tament when it discusses the first man, Adam(1 Corinthians 15:45). When asked as to origins,a Christian can refer inquirers to the Book ofGenesis, as did Jesus and Paul.

PROVING JESUS DEITY

By studying Old Testament prophecies, onemay be sure that Jesus is the Son of God. Many

lines of reasoning converge in the one thoughtthat Jesus of Nazareth was and is the Christ, theSon of the living God. Among these are Hisremarkable teachings (John 7:46), His sinlessness(John 8:46), His miracles (John 10:25), His influ-ence (Acts 4:13), and His sacrificial love (John10:11). However, the proof most often appealedto by New Testament Christians was the evi-dence found in the Old Testament.

Peters sermon on the Day of Pentecostpointed to one fact: that Jesus is both Lord andChrist (Acts 2:36b). Peter took most of his prooffor that fact from the Books of Joel and Psalms.

In his sermon on Solomons porch, Peter as-serted that the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets,that His Christ would suffer, He has thus ful-filled. . . . (Acts 3:1821). Since Peter preachedas the Spirit gave him utterance (Acts 2:4), hisuse of the Old Testament must have been exactlywhat God wanted.

Likewise, Stephen, speaking by the Spirit(Acts 6:10), referred to Genesis, Exodus, Deut-eronomy, Joshua, Amos, and Isaiah in preaching

the deity of Christ. Philip used an Old Testamentpassage to preach Jesus to the Ethiopian officer(Acts 8:2638). To the Gentile Cornelius, Peteraffirmed concerning Jesus, . . . the prophets bear witness that through His name everyonewho believes in Him receives forgiveness ofsins (Acts 10:43).

Paul, in a sermon in Antioch, made directreferences to the Pentateuch, to Joshua, to theBooks of Samuel, to the Book of Psalms, toHabakkuk, to Isaiah. In addition, he pointed outthat the utterances of the prophets were ful-

filled when Jesus was crucified (Acts 13:27).Apparently, it was the regular practice of

Paul, as well as all other New Testament preach-ers, to reason from the Old Testament Scripturesthat Christ was predicted to suffer and to riseagain from the dead (see Acts 17:3). This properand perhaps most important use of the Old Tes-tament was employed by Jesus Himself in Luke24:27.

THE CHRISTIANS USE

OFTHE OLD TESTAMENT

HUGO MCCORD

A SUPPLEMENTARY STUDY


2/3

2

UNDERSTANDING SYMBOLS

In addition to the prophecies about Him,Jesus is set forth in the Old Testament by meansof types, symbols, or shadows. When a Christianreads about the scapegoat, the Passover lamb,the high priest, the temple veil, the manna, orthe brass serpent, he sees Christ portrayed. He

also sees Christ depicted in Adam, Melchizedek,Moses, David, and Jonah. He recognizes thestory of Noah and the flood as a type of baptism (1 Peter 3:20, 21). When he reads thestory of Hagar and Sarah, he sees an allegoryof the old and new covenants (Galatians 4:2131).

In the Hebrews crossing of the Red Sea, hesees a sinners baptism; in the wilderness wan-dering, he sees the church exemplified; and inthe Promised Land, he sees a foretaste of heaven.In the tabernacle, he sees a picture of the NewTestament church; and in the priesthood, hesees a shadow of Christianity. In Old Testamentcircumcision, he sees a type of the gospels cut-ting away sins from ones life.

COMPARINGTHE COVENANTS

Similar principles are taught in the old andthe new covenants. The truth that man does notlive by bread only, but by Gods Word also, is just as clearly taught by Moses as by Jesus(Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4). That man is

not to tempt God (Matthew 4:7) is no less truenow than when it was first written in the OldTestament (Deuteronomy 6:16). Man is to wor-ship only the one true Godthat has always been true and always will be (Deuteronomy6:13; Matthew 4:10). Under both covenants, ex-ternal lip service is wrong (Isaiah 29:13; Mark7:6). Commands were written to be obeyed un-der each covenant (Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14; John15:10). Under each, the message of God has beenimparted by teaching (Isaiah 54:13; John 6:45).The two greatest commandments of the old

law (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18) remainthe two greatest under Christ (Matthew 22:3739).

Some key teachings of new covenant con-duct are upheld by Old Testament passages. Forexample, Paul appealed for the support of gos-pel preachers by quoting Deuteronomy 25:4(1 Corinthians 9:9; 1 Timothy 5:18). He quotedfrom the Ten Commandments to show the im-

portance of righteous living (Romans 13:810).He referred to the Old Testament in appealingfor womens subjection to male leadership (1 Co-rinthians 14:34; see Genesis 3:16). James, too,leaned on the Ten Commandments to teachagainst showing partiality (James 2:811).

CONTRASTINGTHE COVENANTSThe principles of the kingdom of God arebetter seen in contrast against the nullified OldTestament laws. Jesus quoted from the Old Tes-tament, adding but I say for His followers(Matthew 5:21, 22). Paul emphasized the con-trast between the circumcision of the OldTestament and the heart-circumcision of thenew creature in Christ (Joshua 5:2; Galatians6:15).

We see the dead animal sacrifices of the Oldagainst the living human sacrifices of the New

(Leviticus 1:3; Romans 12:1), and physical Jeru-salem as contrasted with spiritual Zion (1 Kings9:3; Galatians 4:26). The former law was writtenon stones, but the latter is written on hearts(2 Corinthians 3:3).

LEARNING FROM EXAMPLES

Old Testament figures provide tremendousexamples of faithfulness to God (Hebrews 12:1).Likewise, they demonstrate the consequences ofunfaithfulness. Jesus found reasons to refer to

Elijah and a widow, as well as Elisha andNaaman (Luke 4:2527). He illustrated His ser-mons by referring to Noah (Matthew 24:37),Jonah (Matthew 12:41), Solomon (Matthew 12:42),and Lot and his wife (Luke 17:29, 32).

Paul believed that Christians can be helpedby examples of disobedience among the Israel-ites (1 Corinthians 10:112). The writer of theBook of Hebrews viewed the resources of theOld Testament as so abundant that they couldnot all be employed: For time will fail me if Itell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of

David and Samuel and the prophets (Hebrews11:32).

CONCLUSION

Though there are wrong uses of the OldTestament, it may be gainfully and properlyemployed to the salvation of souls. It shows howthe world and the human race came into exis-tence, and it demonstrates that Jesus of Nazareth


3/3

3

is the Son of God. We see in the Old Testamentthe shadows of Christianity. While it reinforcesmany of the same principles which we are to live by, it also contains stark contrasts which em-

phasize the beauty of the law of liberty. Finally,it provides clear examples to encourage peopletoday to live in obedience to God.

Adapted

Copyright, 1999, 2002 by Truth for TodayALL RIGHTS RESERVED

use of pld testament

Documents