Should I read the Old Testament?

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Expand view Topic review: Should I read the Old Testament?

Re: Should I read the Old Testament?

Post by jimwalton » Sun Feb 05, 2017 10:46 pm

The Old Testament is God-breathed just like the NT (2 Tim. 3.16), and the prophets of old spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1.21). The OT reveals God just as the NT does (Hebrews 1.1), and the OT is considered Holy Scripture just as the NT is. I don't know what "a lot Christians" you've talked to, but it concerns me that so many alleged Christians discourage reading the OT.

I can't speak for them or guess very well at what they meant. Certainly Christians believe that the Law was fulfilled by Christ (Mt. 5.17) and we aren't under its supervision (Gal. 3.25), but the OT has tremendous value for Christians (2 Tim. 3.16), and we regard it as Scripture (Acts 24.14; Rom. 3.31).

The NT was created to tell the story of Jesus and to show how the OT was fulfilled by Jesus. It tells how salvation by grace through faith was always the plan (Gal. 3.6-14), and how the "rivers" of the Eden Problem (sin), the Babel Problem (deity falsely construed), God's covenant, God's presence, redemption, and resurrection are integral to the whole (both OT and NT) to reveal God to us and bring us to salvation.

You're right that the OT forms the basis of Jesus' credentials, but Jesus supplied his own credentials in what he said and did.

As Dr. Craig Evans says, "The Old Testament provides the context and framework for understanding the New Testament. In other words, the New Testament wouldn't makes sense to us without the Old Testament."

Please don't disregard the Old Testament. The whole book, OT & NT, is God's revelation for us.

Should I read the Old Testament?

Post by Soul Man » Sun Jul 19, 2015 12:26 pm

A lot of Christians discourage me from reading the OT and push me more to read the NT. They will push the OT aside, saying that Jesus taught differently, whenever I bring up the really messed up stuff in OT. I mean the OT is jesus' credentials! Without the "prophecies"of the OT, jesus would be just another rabbi. So why is it that a lot of Christians disregard the OT when it is the basis of their religion as well as the only explanation given for our orgins?

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