Martin Luther once said: 'To the unbeliever, the whole of the Bible is Law, even the Gospel; to the believer, the whole of the Bible is Gospel, even the Law.'
To get the most out of the Bible we must constantly remember that the Bible is the one message from the one God. This is not to disregard the natural distinction that exists between the Old Testament and the New Testament, a distinction we have already seen in the study on fulfilment, but it is to avoid either setting up or assuming a division or a conflict between the two with two different Gods, two different messages, two different ways of salvation, and so on. There is not space in this study to identify every aspect of this unity – it contains some of the more significant.
Task 1: Compare and comment on these passages that describe God as holy, creator and redeemer:
Old Testament |
New Testament |
Comment |
---|---|---|
Leviticus 11:44-45 Joshua 24:19 Psalm 99:1-9 Isaiah 29:23 Ezekiel 36:22 |
Luke 1:35 Acts 3:14 Ephesians 4:30 1 Peter 1:15,16 Revelation 4:8 |
|
Genesis 1 and 2 Job 38-42 Psalm 19, 104 Isaiah 40:12-28; 42:5; 45:5-12 |
John 1:1-4 Romans 11:36 1 Corinthians 8:6 Colossians 1:15-17 |
|
Exodus 15:13 Job 19:25 Psalm 78:35 Psalm 130:7-8 Isaiah 43:14 Isaiah 44:22 |
Romans 3:24 Galatians 3:13 Galatians 4:4-5 Titus 2:14 1 Peter 1:18 Revelation 5:9 |
We could look at any other attribute or action of God and find that it is common to both the Old and New Testaments. Perhaps you could make this a personal study project.
Refer back to Study Four on fulfilment, where we saw that Jesus Christ is the meaning of the Old Testament.
|
Note the condensation – from the broad identity as the 'seed of the woman' to the specific identity as the Jesus Christ, the son of Mary.
Identity/Role of Christ |
Old Testament references |
New Testament |
---|---|---|
King |
||
Servant |
||
Priest |
||
Sacrifice |
||
God |
||
Man |
||
Shepherd |
||
Sacrificial lamb |
||
Victor |
||
Victim |
Reference |
Comment |
---|---|
Genesis 15:6 |
|
Exodus 31:13 |
|
Deuteronomy 7:7-8 |
|
Psalm 32:1-2 |
|
Psalm 130:1-4 |
|
Ezekiel 16:1-14 |
Old Testament |
New Testament |
Comment |
---|---|---|
Genesis 2:17 |
Romans 6:23 |
|
Exodus 19:3-6 |
1 Peter 2:9-12 |
|
Exodus 20:12-17 |
Matthew 5:17-6:34 Eph 4:25-5:5; 6:1-2 |
|
Deut 6:4-6 |
Luke 10:27-28 |
|
Isaiah 43:7 |
Ephesians 1:12; 2:10 |
|
Isaiah 1:2-4 |
Romans 12:1-2 Ephesians 4:1 |
|
Amos 5:7-15; 5:18-24 |
Matthew 7:21-23 1 John 2:9-11 |
In both the Old and New Testaments it is God who sets the rules about how a person can approach him or worship him. It is not left up to our corporate or individual choice.
Without reducing in any way the essential unity of the Scripture detailed in part above, it is necessary to recognize the real distinction between the Old and New Testaments. Note – distinction, not division or conflict.
Obviously the two testaments are set in different historical time periods (indeed the Old Testament by itself spreads from the very beginning of time until just over 2000 years ago.) This distinction of time of necessity means that there will be different customs, different surrounding nations, different cultures, different political circumstances, and so on. Each book of the Bible has to be understood in the context of its historical setting. But these factors are just the vehicles of God's revelation.
We have already looked at this in Study Four. The New Testament is adamant that the events of the life and death of Jesus Christ, and the establishment of the church, happen in direct fulfilment of the Old Testament.
This includes the next four distinctions:
The Old Testament was never intended to be the complete revelation of God. In itself it repeatedly pointed forward to the coming of Christ. It is not the last word: Jesus Christ is the last word. In him we see God. In him we understand salvation.
Things that in the Old Testament are veiled or hidden, difficult to understand, are 'out in the open' in the New Testament. Jesus came as the 'light of the world' to scatter the darkness of ignorance, to throw light upon the mysteries hidden in the Old Testament, to bring out the ultimate meaning of things understood only superficially before.
Thus the Old Testament stands on tiptoe anxiously looking for the coming of the New. The Old Testament is like a rose bud compared to the full-blown rose: it contains all that the New Testament is – but it can't be seen, it is a mystery, a secret – until the New comes and the beauty, the truth, the grandeur is out in the open for all to see.
Task 8: Discuss the verses below in relation to points B to F above:Romans 16:25-27; 1 Corinthians 2:6-18; Ephesians 1:9-10; 3:1-12; Colossians 1:25-3:3; Hebrews 1:1; 1 Peter 1:10-12.
|