OT vs NT pt 3

How do you understand the Old Testament? 

I remember when I was in elementary school I learned about Old Testament events like they were real. Adam and Eve were real people who created original sin and the flood was a real event that wiped the world clean for God to start anew. Until I got to high school, that is what I was taught. I don’t believe that now. Now I understand those accounts as stories, written for a group of people, to explain how that people got to where they are.

I bring this up because it illustrates how we can change the way we interpret the Bible, namely the Old Testament. The books of the OT were not written by God, but inspired by God. Embedded in that inspiration is the context it was written in, and thus embedded in the stories are the violence, retribution, and war that was useful at the time for the people of Israel.

Now think about the New Testament. We don’t have proven testimony of Jesus, but we have accounts of what he said and how he acted. Who was Jesus? God made flesh. The Gospels are the closest we have to understanding God. So when we say Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament, maybe we are saying he gives us the best understanding of God yet. That does not fully diminish the OT in its entirety, but helps us understand some parts of God better than we could from the OT. i.e. hints at what justice is!

Hope you have been thinking about this relationship more. That’s always my main goal, to initiate thinking. The conclusions I come to don’t always really matter. The conclusion YOU come to yourself is much more important. Until next week!