An Apologetic for Reading the Old Testament

The Old Testament is hard to read and understand.  There are historical-cultural difficulties, meaning that there is quite a gap that separates us from this Old Testament world of temples and animals sacrifices, sabbatical years and dietary laws.  How could this different world be relevant to us today?


There are also theological difficulties as we face a God who does things like ordering the wiping out of the Canaanites without mercy.  The question, "Is God the same through both of the Testaments?" is not trivial, and it does not come out of nowhere.  (I definitely believe he is the same, and that conviction presses me into the Word to wrestle with what the resolutions really are to seeming contradictions.)

There are ethical difficulties.  Are we still to execute witches, idolaters, and even stubborn and rebellious children (Deut 21:18-21)?  As Marcion (who is an enemy to my purpose here) points out, "In the Law it says: 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.'  The Lord, however, the good, says in the Gospel: 'If any strike thee on one cheek, offer him the other also..." 

There are also simply practical difficulties.  Reading the Old Testament requires a great breadth of knowledge of history, literature, and theology.  While the New Testament basically covers one century, the Old Testament covers about eighteen centuries of history and twelve centuries of literature.

In spite of all the difficulties, I want to commend a serious reading of the Old Testament as exceedingly worth the effort.  In doing that, I want to give a handful of thoughts, which will all be brief, though all of them might also reasonably merit their own blog entry.

1)  The Old Testament is part of the Christian canon.  It is no less true than the New Testament, and when Paul wrote 2 Timothy 3:16, he was writing it primarily about the Old Testament documents.  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness...  If we are to trust the testimony of the New Testament, it points us in so many places - and explicitly so here - back to the Old Testament.

2)  The Old Testament reveals a long, beautiful, glorious history of God's redemptive acts that the New Testament simply assumes and moves toward completion.  There are so many stories of God's saving and restoring activity that occur in the Old Testament.  We see the Exodus, the reign of King David, and the return of the exiles.  We see so many things that we would miss if we don't read it.

3)  In addition to a record of God's redemptive acts, there are also teachings that we find in the Old Testament that we do not find in the New Testament.  For instance, we have a detailed account of the Fall, promises made that the New Testament assumes, and the establishment of a whole worldview centered on the one true God, a worldview that was unique among the polytheistic ancient world.  We find fuller accounts of what it means for God to be King, his sovereignty over all nations, his incomparability, the suffering of his people, our responsibility in regards to social justice, and a hopeful view of the new earth.  Let's not miss these teachings, or we will descend into theological shallowness and mediocrity.

4)  The Old Testament helps us to understand the New Testament.  There are scores of allusions to the Old Testament as Christ proceeds to define everything in the world, all our hopes and dreams and prophecies and everything else, in terms of himself.  When he says something like, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins," we are pressed with questions like, "what is a covenant?" and, "what is the connection between blood sacrifice and this covenant?"  These are questions that send us to the Old Testament for answers.  Just read the book of Hebrews.  When my body is described as the temple of God, what in the world does that mean?

5)  The Old Testament also heads off different misunderstandings of the Old Testament.  For instance, when the Jewish roots of the Old Testament were abandoned among some, it led into a slide into Greek dualistic thinking in which the material body and the material world are seen as evil, as enemies, and so salvation became merely an escape from the physical.  That view is called into question when we think of God calling his (physical) creation good and very good.  People initially reading the New Testament or experiencing it would have been very well versed in the Old Testament worldview, so they would have seen things that we will miss if we do not soak ourselves in the Old Testament.

6)  The most compelling reason for me to read the Old Testament is to understand Jesus.  It was from these texts that Jesus preached from and declared himself to be the Messiah.  These texts contain the way Jesus understood himself and his mission.  On the road to Emmaus he explained rather ironically to those guys that the Old Testament was really about him after all.  When the Apostles first preached, especially Paul, they would preach from these texts and explain how they were really about Jesus.  Jesus himself is the link between the two Testaments.  The Psalms were Jesus' own prayerbook.  As I pray these Psalms, I pray knowing that they have been prayed by Jesus!  There are hundreds of prophecies pointing to his coming.  There are so many types foreshadowing him.  John 1 reveals that he was active in creation, and so Jesus, though not explicitly named, has been active throughout all of history, not just beginning with his birth.  Jesus quotes the Old Testament pervasively.  Ultimately, I should know and value and trust and study the Old Testament because Jesus did!

I want to address a few more issues before I end this post.  These concerns move a bit beyond the specific apologetic to read the Old Testament.

1)  What are my motives in reading and studying?  Am I simply looking for a practical bit of info on something to feed me today?  If so, I will probably not like the business of study.  I think this goes to the root of an epidemic in our culture of trading in the concept of truth for the concept of usefulness.  The effect of this devaluing of truth for the Christian religion is that it becomes a psychological game aimed at reducing our guilt feelings and giving us something to do socially.  (Most people would not put themselves in that category, but we should examine ourselves as to whether we believe this stuff is true or if we are just playing games.)  The effect of this devaluing of truth for Bible reading is that I will read what I think is useful, which is usually some practical or feel-good passage from the New Testament.  I read for the vibes I get, not be trained in God's ways.  On the contrary, a high view of truth will lead to a valuing of the whole counsel if we believe God himself breathed out the whole thing.

2)  I am guilty of this.  I have come to Scripture with preconcieved notions about what I think is important, and in doing so, I have created a canon within a canon for myself.  I feel myself going from any passage to Jesus, then from Jesus to Paul's letters.  I quote Paul more than anyone, and I am sure a re-reading of my blog would bear this out.  It has been suggested by some that we should go back and just read Jesus for awhile and become the sort of people who quote mainly from Jesus.  I don't necessarily like this as a permanent solution because it sows the seeds of this thought: Jesus was preaching something different from Paul.  No!  They are preaching the same Gospel, and Paul was concerned about that and met with Peter and others over it.  When the Apostles, wrote Scripture, it was the voice and breath of Jesus' Spirit speaking through the Apostles and others.  As I realized that Paul had become my canon within the canon, I felt the need to go back and reclaim Jesus for my thought and heart-life, but I knew that the only possible solution wasn't to go straight back to the Gospels alone, but to go back to the whole canon.  It can't be anything other than that.  If I am to really understand Jesus, I must understand the Old Testament.

3)  I learned this in my education class: what you learn is a function of what you already know.  The more you know about a subject, the more you will be able to make memorable connections when new material comes your way.  In terms of trajectory, I have grown stagnant in my knowledge of the OT, while I have grown more and more knowledgeable about Paul's letters.  The problem is that I see all these proper names of obscure places and tribes and genealogies.  I do not see their immediate relevance for my day to day life, but I have also noticed that I have been subconsciously skeptical that knowing any of those things is going to be helpful in the end anyway.  I have, in my fallen and clouded and sinful judgment, brought some very horrible preconceived notions to Scripture that are keeping me from reading it in its fullness.  In order for me to study profitably, I have to soak myself in it and believe that ALL Scripture is profitable - even the parts for which I see little immediate relevance.  In that way, I believe that the more I learn, the more I will be able to learn.  In order to really trust God, I need to trust in Scripture and not my poor, chopped-up caricature of it.  To be sure, God has blown my world up and given me life even with a poor understanding of parts, but that is simply testimony to the power of his Word.  What if I were to diligently open myself up to having the whole thing unleashed on me?!

Pray for me in my reading of the Old Testament.  And may this post encourage you to go back to it.  Grace be with you.